Camping Marathon Over

Last Weekend - Second Camp

So I am searching for the perfect campsite that we can go to every year that has everything one could ever need.
Perfect showers (they don't have those at Wowo and those respiratory issues should be advised to stay well away), campfire approval, good views and nearby attractions (by this I mean some kind of village with museum or foodie joint) and a good camp shop. There must also be room to swing a cat.

I think that this place will be found in Northern France in a few years when the girls are a little older and won't mind a chunk of the day traveling. I will also be thin enough then to carry off cotton slip dresses that take no space in a bag.
In the mean time we are looking for our idle within an hours drive or so.

I thought that I had found this in the Witterings near Chichester so paid a deposit and got my hopes up but it turned out to be a false alarm because all the reviews that I read for the site that I had pinned my hopes on were of condemnation.

Whats a girls to do at the eleventh hour ? Hang the cost - search the internet for an alternative for somewhere different but in the same direction as we were meeting friends......again, but a different set this time.
The man of our companions had recieved a tent for his 30th birthday and had been itching to erect and there was no way that tent wasn't being pegged out this weekend.

A quick call to a farmer who had booked out his pitches till September on the off chance that he had a cancellation secured us a corner at Mellow Farm Adventure near Farnham.
Luckily for us there was to be a 100 campers on a works do with a sportsday on the Saturday but they cancelled the camping and just came for a BBQ in the evening.
Lucky for the farmer they paid so he was easy with the sudden change in our arrangements

So it was us and 3 other tents in the Oxbow and it was perfect.

I love her face even more when she is happy

This year I decided what our tent needed was carpet and it did make a difference

Hours of fun - I couldn't believe it could be this pretty

P couldn't decide if this was a good thing but we all went in at some point

Gas canister refill and ice cream at the garden center. Its a posh cone near Farnham

Playtime before conking out

Always waking up too early. Vintage linens and Cologne&Cotton pillow cases - odd choice

This was T's personal swan

We were in that thicket a bit of a walk to the loo if you are a girl

I can make anything but it doesn't mean that it will last. More fun sending it down river

View from the washing up station.

You can hire these for a fiver!

We will definitely come back here and see what its like when there are more people booked, its reasonably priced you get the most enormous amount of wood for a fiver even if its a bit wet and difficult to burn. The facilities are clean, 50p for a shower but so what and there is plenty of hot water to wash up with.

No camp shop as such but you can buy eggs and sausages from the farmer.

We drove past a place called Frensham Ponds. It could have been the weather and the foliage, misty damp and olive green but the place looked like a dream or somewhere in a Jane Austin novel. There was a wedding going on in the pub the bride was having a pint next to the lake and you can swim in there too. Providing the algae count isn't up!

Would also like to see Farnham which will be on the list for another time.

We had another friend join us on Saturday Eve for dinner and he stayed over. In the morning whilst P slept on the tent floor and we packed away he Sat in the car and read Bramly Hedge to T. I love that when I said to the girls do you want to bring toys they packed books.
Unusual first choice but a good one.

So I think I am happy
The camping stuff is washed aired and in the loft ready to be stowed and there is a toad in the hole in the oven for dinner this eve.

I am off to help a friend sort through her wedding decorations this eve.
All good
CM

Two Campsites in Two Weekends - Imagine That!

Weekend Before Last - First Trip

We went with our friends camping, we have camped with them before and as our children play well together and we seem to keep the same routine it seems to gel. We also do our own thing as well as share the load and it just works well. So off to Waspbourne Manor Farm in Sussex also known as WoWo.

They have the most amazing rope swings and you can really travel some distance on them and it was the highlight of the weekend for my girls. 

The camp site has this dry river bed that runs through it, it's what it is known for, along with soup served in one of the fields on a Saturday night and a barn with table tennis etc for the children should it rain which it did.
We took shelter under the trees.

Our companions suggested a trip to the Bluebell Railway which is just located over the fields but we took the car and took in a pub lunch, I had a ploughmans with cheese, enough cheese to feed a family for a week. Why would you put that much heart attack on a plate.

The railway is wonderful and I think all my brood want another day out there so might explore activities more to see what journeys are available.
In the the engine shed there was a board at the end with drawings that children had sent in and I thought that these were delightful. The engines themselves were huge, the size of houses you can't believe the size of theses things until you are standing next to them.
The Railway Children just doesn't give you the full feeling of how mammoth these things are and it must be like traveling in a rocket when you are up front.

I adore the colour and character in these pictures

Every year after camping we buy a new bit of kit to improve the situation. This year is was waterproofs for the girls. I still just about consider my Birkenstocks acceptable foot wear in the rain.

Next year we are going to get army style stoves that will use the gas more efficiently because it took ages to boil the water for hot water bottles and tea and I am sure that our contraption is getting slower at delivering the gas.

Despite this amazing picture of P the weather was awful and on the Sunday night it poured so hard you couldn't hear yourself talk.

P loves a wellie boot and refuses not to wear them even if they belong to her big sister
They are a death trap in the stairs.
Who am I to stand in the way of physical development.

 

I had cramping pain on the weekend that got worse on the Sunday and my lovely friend took me to the out of hours GP which actually turned out to be A&E. I only managed half hour in the building before I could feel myself loosing it with anxiety clearly the stay in the hospital for the ankle and all the usual health fears that I carry didn't help the situation.

Luckily pain started to improve as soon as we entered the department and we returned to the campsite with a low grade temperature, the all clear and some shrugging shoulders from the triage nurse and the uncomfortable lucky feeling that my number wasn't up that day. 

I think that my fear couldn't decide whether is was my appendix, hernia or a cyst with and evil center.

This week has been dealing with shock really. I have never been happier than I have been this past four weeks really am just satisfied with my lot and one bit of abdo pain raised all the anxiety that I used to carry on my shoulders and rocked my little world slightly.

But we are a week and a half on and we camped again the following weekend and I feel fabulous

Well not really but getting there!

CM

Vintage Manolo Blahnik Boots For SALE

Is it vintage if it is less than 10 years old?


Some Boutiques at the car boot sale seem to think so and often say vintage when you query the price they think of charging. I think that I am old school unless its smells a bit musty, needs a dry clean and is dated before 1979 it isn't vintage. Anything after 1980 is just old, still has its merits, but is something else, often very cool but not vintage.
Maybe I need to re think that as I realise 1980 was over 30 years ago

Having said that I have some 'vintage' boots to sell.

Here you go!

I have a pair of boots to sell, size 41, great for Autumn.
They were a gift from a friend who worked for a designer through the late nineties, I believe the boots were only worn once for runway or an editorial so as far as I know they have not been outside and I do not know if they were in production so they might be quite rare although I remember this style with the floppy tongue having a fashionable season.

Softest green leather and black suede and fabric heel and tongue.

The right heel plastic bit is damaged and will need repair. There is NO damage to the fabric.
I never took them to my local cobblers as I wasn't confident in his ability to fix them without care.
They do not come with a bag or a box.

I have never worn them as they are a size too small but I have tried them on more than once. They have been well stored away and I just always thought they were so beautiful I didn't want to loose them unnecessarily.

I will be putting them on ebay or vintage clothing page from the 15th august 2010 in the mean time they are available by contacting me in the comments section below.

I am looking for sensible offers.

I am selling thses as I need new specs and I have seen two pairs, that could see me happily through to my forties. One pair fits me like the perfect jeans or wedding dress but are out of budget.
If you have ever tried something on and felt tears then you will know where I am coming from.

I can't keep these boots wrapped up for ever and this is a good trade.

Please forward this post on to anyone who you might want to take these bad boys on, they need a good home, and they are deathly comfortable.

Thanks a lot
CM

Grey Hair Forever or Red Hair Soon

I used to be slightly alternative, which is easy when you are size 10 at art school wash board stomach and 17 because you just go to the charity shop and pick your ball gown or slinky cocktail dress throw on a pair of shoes/clogs/boots/heels what ever. Matt dark red lipstick and black liquid eye liner - no smudges anywhere and off you go.

But then I gained weight had two children got a proper job ran out of time in the day.

The charity shops played their part in making looking fabulous difficult, have you seen the prices and everyone shops there and all those lovely ladies that donated their beautifully made clothes are getting a bit thin on the ground now with the passing of time.

Its also not the nineties either, must remember that when reminiscing about the bleached cropped hair.


But I have plans for new glasses so I decided with Autumn not far round the corner (I know!) I might deal with my hair.


It started going grey at exactly 30 and I am lucky that its a slow process and isn't too apparent my mother tells me the ladies in our family grey up the sides like badgers. Not too keen on that idea just yet.


So in the Spring I bought a pot of red orange something hair dye, it is so buried in a drawer in the bathroom I can't remember what the actual colour it is.


I am not sure what style I will be going for but these pics are my fears and inspirations.

Note - None of the photos are my own and I don't have long hair!

 

Gotta love everything about the Grace

I do love grey hair but I don't have the bone structure for it, too much cake in the face over the years.

I have never really managed the natural look that well. Its more ghastly than gorgeous!


Also T is about to start a new part of her life at big school and I will be making an appearance twice daily at the gate.
It is going to be like a show and I suppose there is a part of me that wants to look like the parent that can hold it together.

Its all a thought and when we get back from camping then I am going to make some decisions.

Thats It!

CM


- RGrint - LYaeger - HBCarter - ADeyn - VWestwood -

Some Thoughts

Yesterday we had a play date with the most perfect family, another one! I know!
But it was cut short as T took her second tumble of the week and landed on the same knee and although its not broken it is busted.
Bloody Scooters

This is her this morning cleaning the wound.
That is a Liberty Print Lacoste Dress that was a gift from her uncles and P has one too. Super Cute.

It took a life time to get the plaster off and she was being a real woos about the whole thing but she cleaned it up herself and really impressed herself at her capabilities in the end.

So yesterday when it came to cleaning the knee she wouldn't let anyone near it and tried everything in her spell book to distract us. Anyway I lost it BIG TIME and administered first aid using the sink the kitchen table and finally the sofa where she yelled I hate you.
As the afternoon dragged on and I could see all the cracks in my parenting it pretty much worked out to be one of those days where everything is rubbish.
Thankfully G made dinner or that could have been the icing on the cake.

This last week or so I have walked round with a cloth bag from a shop that I am to fat to shop in, there was no first aid kit packed when I really needed it. I always thought I would be prepared with the most excellent stuff to make any situation better.

In fact the last time I saw the plasters was when they were all attached to the legs of the dinning room table after T asked me if she could have one for her bear and in fact couldn't control herself and opened them all. I suppose at the time I wasn't that bothered because I had bought them when she was born and we never really needed them.
That time has now changed and I feel like crap.
Because I feel disorganised.
I think about times I have felt rubbish as a teenager through till now and its because I have been unable to organise my self and then I have tripped up.

So I am having a bit of a mope which of course I know will do nothing so in about half an hour I will pull myself together. Grab the reins, saddle the horse get my gun what ever. Probably buy a really lovely expensive saddle bag to carry stuff and get on with it.

I took these of the poopster last week. she is learning body parts.

She is pushing four painful teeth at the moment and enjoying making noise about it.

I think that is enough talk of children for a while.

Yesterday marked one year until the London Olympics and I thought of writing a list and seeing how much I could achieve to change in my habits/daily living by the time I reach the opening ceremony. Eddie Izzard was on the radio this morning saying we could all achieve more this coming year.
He probably meant something a whole lot more than the route I will be taking but it's a thought anyway!

Off to get pen and paper
CM