A Friday catch up

It's Friday..... thank flippin' goodness!

It's been a long few weeks ....

Partly as I have been busy putting in a few extra hours here and there with my work and partly self inflicted as I have been staying up way way too late in the evenings working on my crochet blanket and getting totally addicted to the new BBC channel on Foxtel TV!

Thank you, thank you, thank you Foxtel for bring BBC First to Australia. Burton and Taylor was superb!

So what else has been occurring?

Well the Winter has not disappointed with glorious crisp mornings and sunny afternoons. The fire has been lit a few evenings...just for the sight, sound and smell really as to be honest it hasn't been particularly cold.

The Winter school holidays were a bit of a blur as Sibs was involved in a pretty big production of CATS.

When I say pretty big, I mean huge! There were over 500 cats involved with Marina Prior as the star attraction. I did start to write a blog post about it but never quite got to finishing it. I probably should, as it was such an incredible experience for her and it would be good to capture the memories. I was involved back stage and got to witness the excitement and thrill that the young performers experienced. It was pretty magical.

So after that I took Sibs and a friend for a little break up to Noosa to visit Nana and Papa and we did the holiday stuff - meal out, market wandering, walk on the beach, paddle boarding, whale watching on her uncle's boat,  people watching. Just chilling out really - bliss.

The second half of the school year has reminded me how close we are to coming to the end of a childhood milestone - finishing primary school.
Last week Sibs and I went to be fitted out with her high school uniform. Yes, it's a full six months before she starts high school but I got a call to gently let me know that I hadn't booked in a fitting and hey, ho there was a cancellation and could I pretty please get myself organised and be at the school for 7am on a Monday morning!
When Sibs tried on the school blazer I expected to be confronted by the sight of a grown up young lady, instead I saw my little girl looking back at me. It didn't help the emotions that the high school sports fleece was the identical colour to the fleece she had when she first started primary school back in the Yorkshire Dales as a just turned four year old. Talk about flashback with a twist!

So the spare bedroom is full of uniform, bags, hats, textbooks and various school paraphernalia. Sibs keeps going in and trying things on - which I think is a good sign that she's looking forward to the change.

This boy has yet again been in the wars, we reckon he's getting pretty close to his ninth life!

We didn't see him at all last Sunday and he didn't come home that evening for his tea. I eventually heard the cat flap swing open in the early hours of Monday morning and a rather bedraggled looking Twmff appeared. He spent the day sleeping and when I checked on him he had a number of little scratches and cuts. He has since spent the week curled up and hasn't even shown any interest at all in venturing out. Something or someone has definitely spooked him. He's been getting lots of cuddles, 'cwtches' and  'maldod' so I'm sure he'll be right as rain soon.

In more exciting news.... I've finished my stripe blanket - yay!

I've really enjoyed working on this one. It's pretty heavy and warm and is just the right size to drape over two laps on the sofa. Every now and again I would question the riot of colours but when I put a border of three different tones of blue to finish it off, it seemed to work.

I'm pressing pause this weekend and going away up to the mountains for a get away weekend and I'll be taking my blanket with me. It's a place we've been to before. Somewhere to completely switch off. There's no TV, phone reception or internet connection. The only noise is the wildlife - and there's plenty of that.
I've packed two books, my toothbrush, my Ugg boots, some chocolate, my camera,  my crochet bag and not much else!

So let's hope I come back revitalized and refreshed.

Happy weekend,