Clearing the Camera

Hello there! We have a holiday looming, so I thought I'd take half an hour and clear my camera of this month's photos. To be honest, I'm not exactly looking forward to the holiday. I know I sound incredibly spoilt and I should be very grateful that we can afford to even have a holiday (which, of course, I am) but I find that I'm feeling rather anxious of late. I think it's my hormones - I'm of an age! - and find that I'm awake at night fretting about the silliest things. I hate flying at the best of times and the upcoming travel has sent me into a bit of a downward spiral.  I'm sure it will all be fine (although, things do tend to go awry when we're let loose on the world!) and I'll look back and think what an idiot I've been, but the thought of this holiday has marred an otherwise lovely summer. Which is ridiculous.

Anyway, here are a few of the displacement activities that I've been up to as I've tried to distract myself:

The Bristol Balloon Festival - E was coming home for a while, so we thought we could combine picking her up with seeing this famous event. Unfortunately, the day was too wet and windy and things had to be cancelled. In the evening, we paid an arm and a leg in parking fees to park in a field a 40 minute walk away from the supposed action. We walked downhill across fields to see a funfair (I'm never that keen) and then sat under umbrellas waiting for the famous 'Night Glow' where balloons are illuminated in time to music. Because it was so windy, however, the balloons themselves weren't attached to the baskets. We found ourselves singing along to The Wurzels' 'I am a Cider Drinker' in the rain, whilst people  lit the burners in time to the beat! It was surreal and also not very environmentally friendly for a city known for its green ethos!

After 30 minutes there were fireworks and then the heavens opened again, just in time for our 40 minute walk uphill back to the car. We were absolutely soaking and the car steamed up nicely on the journey home. It was memorable though!

Hamish moulting on the sofa!

Harvesting my comedy veg!

Knitting my first pair of 'Rose City Rollers' socks. The yarn is in the colourway 'Mind the Gap' and the colours represent the different lines on the London underground:

I spent some 'about to expire' Tesco vouchers on an English Heritage membership. Our first trip was to Avebury. It was a lovely summer's day, made more quintessential by the presence of Morris dancers:

My friend, S, and I took a trip to Montacute House in Somerset (Unfortunately, National Trust, rather than English Heritage!). It was lovely and has been home to many a film setting. Wolf Hall was filmed here, as was some of 'Sense and Sensibility'. It was also the inspiration for Tottington Hall in 'Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Were Rabbit':

More lovely lilies from my neighbour. People keep buying them for her, not realising that she is allergic to them!

Driving by Stonehenge (R was driving!):

A trip to Lyme Regis. We ate Teriyaki Tofu Bao in the sunshine, washed down with lime, cucumber and mint Kombucha - delish!

On the way home, we stopped off in Salisbury for Indian street food:

Bank Holiday Monday was wonderful. We store L and J's inflatable kayak in our garden shed. As it was such a lovely day we decided to borrow it (call it rent!). We paddled along the Kennet and Avon Canal, watched flocks of swallows scooping up water as we ate our sushi picnic, and spent ages just drifting whilst watching a kingfisher fishing. It was magical.......................... then R put his back out as we lifted the kayak out of the water to go round a lock and we had to paddle very slowly back to the car!

A visit to Crofton Beam Engines:

Another pair of Rose City Rollers, in cotton this time. The colourway is 'Watermelon', which I like but I didn't enjoy knitting with the cotton.

A trip to the Southern Wool Show at our local Racecourse:

A knitted version of our town!

Finally, spotting a new fawn in the garden. Apologies for the blurry photo - they were moving very quickly and the fawn kept pronking about!

Well, that's all for this month. Enjoy the last bit of the summer and I'll get back to my fretting!
Toodle pip for now. x