Weekendy

Hello!! And how are you all today? Good I hope.

Sorry I wasn't around to post on Friday, but many thanks to those of you sweetly noted my absence and asked if I was OK. Yes, very OK I am thank you, just managing to beat the backside of a short head cold and doing great. Just busy is all.

On Friday morning straight after the school run I jumped in my car (an old bright red Mazda if you'd like to think of me zipping along, singing loudly and tunelessly to the radio) and drove the forty miles over the hills, past the windmills, on past the reservoir, through the outskirts of the Big Town, across the big hairy-scary roundabout, over the motorway and onwards through rolling countryside to the place where I used to live. It takes me exactly one hour to make this journey on a good day.

When I got there I made my first stop at my old supermarket, which happens to be huuuuuge and is one of the things I shamefully miss about where I used to live. I like that it has a large clothing section where one can purchase such luxuries as new socks and pyjamas and undergarments at very reasonable prices. Ok well I confess I don't get much of a thrill about purchasing new bra's and knickers, but socks and pyjamas, oh-yes, quite high on the thrill-o-meter for me. I just love getting new socks, although it's not something that happens very often. I wear my socks to the death, till they get to be completely worn out, so it's probably been a couple years since I had the ditsy pleasure of personal sock buying. See the ones I chose up there in the top photo?? Aren't they just FaB???! I can tell you they put me in the best mood to start the weekend.

 

As did my new pyjamas (the bright pink pyjama top is a super-soft jersey hoodie, the bottoms are cool printed cotton. They're sold as mix and match separates, which I love :: read more here if you like). As well as the socksies and pj's, I also managed to get much needed new pj's for the Little People as well as a whole bundle of Eastery crafty bits and bobs.

After the supermarket sweep on Friday, I jollied along to visit with friends for a few hours, which was so enjoyable (the same friends that came to visit me a little while ago)..coffee and easter buns, chitter chatter and laughter, the morning passed in a whirl and it was soon time for my drive back over the hills. Wave goodbye and see-you-again-soon. Drive straight to school, screech into the car park, only 5 minutes late for the assembly where I get to witness my Little Man standing up in front of the whole school to read out a poem he'd written. I very nearly break down and sob with the sheer pride and happiness but manage to just sniffle into my sleeve and dab my eyes because other Mums are looking at me oddly.

Get Little People Home, flop for ooo 35 mins or so, then cook dinner, eat dinner, go back to school to help out at the school disco. Then straight out of that mayhem into town to meet friends in the pub for our monthly book club meeting. And nope, I didn't manage to read this months book either, damn it. I am the worst book-club-member ever ever. I beg for thin books with the least number of pages. Perleeeease don't expect me to read a thick novel, I just don't have it in me. It was my turn to choose a book this month and I've picked The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. It has twohundredandfortypages, I hope I can manage it because it will be embarrassing to say the least if I can't get through my own book choice.

Gosh aren't I waffling today? Lordy I do appologise, lets try and speed up a little shall we or we'll be here all day....So, after all the rush-rush-rush of Friday, how was my weekend? Welllllll, thankfully it turned out to be extremely Weekendy, with plenty of slow bits and that was a Good Thing. I did from time to time remember how to be still, how to not go anywhere.

Saturday morning and ooooooo joy of joys, it's a weekend with No Plans. My favourite kind of Weekendy weekend. An early start 6am or so), and an hour or two in bed with tea, toasted crumpets, a magazine and some crochet and all is extremely blissful in my little world. The day unfolded and it turned out to be sweet and cheerful :: some baking with the Little People, a trip out to the shops for some toys and a new bit of equipment for me (more will be revealed later in week), followed by a scenic car drive homewards over the moors and a spontaneous stop in a very lovely pub for our dinner. Think high hill top, characterful building, old beamed ceilings, huge fireplaces with roaring log fires, stone flagged floors, large picture windows with panoramic views, fine food. Happy children with new toys and tummies full of pasta. Relaxed Mum and Dad with wine/beer respectively and a tasty meze platter to share. It was lovely. Then home to number 24 to light the fire and read/crochet/build lego/play with dolls before bedtime.

Sunday dawns bright and clear, the first day of our British Summer Time here in the UK when our clocks move forward by one hour. After a leisurely start involving a hot bubble bath and a magazine, I take myself outside to the front of the house to sit on the front step in the sun with my coffee. I am wearing another pair of my new socks and I enjoy wiggling my toes in the sunshine and admiring my polka dots.

 

11am and the phone rings, it's my in-laws. They explain that they've just been to a car boot sale and purchased a new barbecue, and would we like to join them by the river for a spot of barbecue lunch? Would we? Why most certainly we would! So a few hastily packed provisions and off we go to Bolton Abbey to enjoy the delights of eating al fresco.

I like barbecues because generally speaking it puts the cooking firmly in male hands. And I like lunching out with my in-laws because generally speaking it takes a certain amount of childcare out of my hands too. Both of which leaves me free to sit, look about me, relax, stretch my feet out (ooooo look, haha polka dot pink socks in my crocs, I suspect it's probably very un-cool to wear socks with crocs?), get my crochet bag out, drink beer, crochet a little more. This day I sit wrapped in a blanket, snug as a bug because despite the blue sky and sunshine, there is a cold wind blowing.

So officially we enjoyed our very first barbecue of the year this weekend. I have to say it was super to be able to sit and watch as J expertly cooked, to know that the most I had to do was get up to squeeze tomato ketchup onto my burger. I enjoy that element of a barbecue lunch very much.

The Little People had such fun :: playing football, climbing rocks, throwing stones into the river and finally stopping very briefly to sit and eat their burgers. They have a chair each but truthfully their bottoms very rarely rest there, too much to do, too much playing to be had, can't sit down.

But me, oh yes, I most certainly can sit down. I can sit and watch the teeny tiny fluffy little clouds scud across the bluest of skies. I can sit and listen to the sounds of children playing and the river babbling. And for a moment I can appreciate that my life can indeed feel still at times, that my internal accelerator pedal has not jammed after all, that I am capable of braking, slowing and coming to a halt every so often.

Thank heavens for Weekendy weekends.

xxxxxxx

Comments

[Birgit]

Ich verfolge deinen Blog schon seit einiger Zeit und finde ihn echt toll. Seitdem ich deine schönen Handarbeiten sehe, habe ich auch wieder angefangen zu häkeln. Für manche Handarbeiten spinne ich meine Wolle selber, das sind dann 2 Überraschungen. Dabei kann ich sehr gut entspannen. Die Gegend in der du wohnst finde ich auch sehr sehr schön.
Ich wünsche dir eine schöne Woche.

[PinkCat]

I too were one of the many a little worried about you when there was no Friday blog - glad that all is well and you were having sock and PJ fun! I seem to have so many socks and yet I never seem to wear them out like I did when I was small. My favourites for putting on and relaxing when I've had a really hard day are pink and grey with funky owls on - they really cheer me up.

Looks like you had a lovely sunny bbq too. The first day of April is lovely in London -so I'm hoping it's a good sign for the rest of the month. I have a hen weekend at Easter and a wedding in Wales to look forward to! No rain please!

[Jules]

Hey Lucy!
Lovin' the new socks! But here's a question for you ... what becomes of the old ones, which presumably are so worn out they no longer provide satisfactory service as socks? The reason for asking is that I have a rather lovely pair (grey and turquoise, super soft wool) that had a run in with the puppy. They no longer provide satisfactory sock service (as one has no toe left and the other has a hole in the sole) but there is still much of the sock that is still in fine order.

I realise that the answer may well be "put them in the bin" which would in fact be the sensible thing to do with worn out socks, but you strike me as the sort of person who may well see the value and potential in the not-worn-out-bits and have a lovely craft idea you may be willing to share. Hope to hear!!!

[Bairbre Aine]

Oh what a lovely weekend you had!
And the sock with crocs...I do that all the time at work.
My wee students even started doing it, once they saw my cutie socks poking through.
:)
High fashion with the 4,5,6 year olds. LOL

[kristina]

That sounds like the perfect weekend! And there's nothing better than a pair of new socks--my favorites are argyles in trendy colors :) K x

[vanessa]

Love the socks. Looks like you had the same weather as us, wasn't it glorious?
Thinking about your drive, there's nothing more pleasurable than that sort of little journey on your own is there? Music blaring, feeling carefree, I rarely get to do that these days.
Love Vanessa xxx

[Nathalie]

Hi Lucy, love the Pj's. Belgium is covered in spring to this week: Lot's of sun and nice temperatures. I wanted to share a recipe I tried recently, which I think you'd love : http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/18744/blueberry+and+vanilla+cake. It's delicious!

PS A little tip if you wouldn't get through 'The reader' in time. You can always watch the movie with Kate Winslet ; ) I loved it. Enjoy!

Nath

[Kristin]

What a treat to hear about your lovely weekend! Looks so pretty there and the new socks are fab.

[Anna]

Hi Lucy,

I really enjoyed reading this post - your description of Friday was wonderful, I could picture the drive and the scenery. On a side note - on the other side of the world in Australia I had a very different start to the first Sunday morning of Europe summer time- the Grand Prix in Melbourne was on this weekend so that it corresponded better time-wise with the start of European summer time - it was a much noiser sunday morning than yours

[Hope]

I love buying socks too! Although for me my other big favorite is umbrellas... Your socks and pajamas are Lovely!

[Kelly]

Now, that is a good day! We are sock lovers around here and holidays of any kind are a great excuse to buy socks. Dozens pass hands. ~Kelly

unDeniably Domestic

[Gerda]

Dear Lucy,

I stumbled upon your weblog after I stumbled upon Jikkes weblog last weekend during my nightshifts, and I immediately did fall in love with it. The colours that spring off my computer, the photo's, everything is so beautiful!! I used to chrochet 20 years ago, and I will start again. I didn't want to wait so I bought some Rowan cotton. (thanks internet and the webshops nowadays). I like the homour in the way you write very much, light and easy and sparkling, you enjoy your life.
So you can have a barbecue near the river, well, I'm a little jealous. i don't know if there are may places in Holland where you can have barbecues near lovely rivers. Nice!!
Yesterday I thought about sending you a gift, because I'm going to use your patterns, and I had something planned. And when I read your blog an hour ago I had to laugh!

I wish you nice and colourful days.
Oh, and wearing socks in crocs is very cool.(See Ravelry). it is nothing like men wearing white socks in sandals.

Love, Gerda

[Mandy]

Oh my goodness Lucy, I swear I could almost hear your voice reading this post. Thank you so much, I've been sitting here chuckling and agreeing and loving your socks, most especially in their crocs.

[kelly]

Yay - I'm not the only one who loves buying socks and pajamas! No matter how you about the rest of your clothes, they never let you down.

[bethel of bethania]

G'day Lucy
So glad your feeling OK again - headcolds are the pits...Socks & Corcs they are the 'thing', ever so comfy - also love the rest of your socks buy...all so groovy...
Pleased you had a nice quite 'full stop' w/e no doubt did your cold the world of good including you whole well being... have a great week...OOroo... Bethel

[Ann]

I just love reading about your days. You have a wonderful way of detailing your life that makes it sound perfectly idyllic. Combined with your lovely photos and I always feel like I could just put on a pot of tea, sit back and sip whilst slowly scroll through your day. It's relaxing and a treat for the eyes!

My little corner of the world, unfortunately, hasn't seen the sun for the better part of a week and isn't scheduled to see it for several more days. 'Tis very blah...gloomy, cloudy and wet. Not much to inspire! Though I did finish a cheery little spa cloth and soap sack in lively bright colors!

Have a lovely week!

[Sue]

Lovely socks and PJs and a lovely weekend! I've just started reading the Reader too! Hope you enjoy it!

[driftwood]

perfect sounding weekend.
great description of your journey, I agree with you about the roundabout!
love the socks!

[Emma]

AHH! Had my Attic fix again THANKYOU LUCY - yes I did mean to shout that! I love my crocs too and also wear them with socks as too cold for bare feet ... fashion gurus can go suck easter eggs!

Looking forward to the next episode

Emma x

[fleur]

Oh, but if you like socks, you definitively must learn to knit some, it's one of the great pleaseure in life, like a beer in the sun!

[Lucy]

Wow what a busy bee you are! I always think new pjs and new socks make a girl feel a million dollars! Glad you had a lovely weekend. So envious of the beautiful countryside and river walks you post about so often. Just got back from seaside hideaway weekend, and have uploaded loads of pictures! Had a great time.
Lucy x

[Simply H]

Sounds like a lovely weekendy weekend!
And I actually thought the spotty socks & crocs combo looked very cool!

[Linda O]

Hi Lucy, missed you Friday, glad all was well xx
What a busy Friday, but a great relaxing weekend.
Love the socks and PJ's, It was my birthday over the weekend, and had money, yea!!, and I am also in desperate need of socks, love your dots and stripes!!, will have to check out the local supermarkets!!
Well done on the first BBQ, love it when the menfolk take over the cooking!!

[louise]

I need new socks, how did you know? Off to find out where they came from now.

Your weekend sounds perfect and what a great spot for a bbq!

Louise x

[Jess]

I love the new PJ's, and can't wait for my first BBQ of the year, am very jealous! :) x