T is for I forgot it was Tuesday

Happy T day, I totally forgot today was in fact Tuesday until I saw Elizabeth's post when I was drinking my coffee on the Paseo this morning.

It’s been a fairly busy week here, we seem to have been spending quite a bit, on updating the villa mainly but I’m very happy with the results, well I will be when it's all finished

I mentioned the new lights in the bedrooms, they look lovely and make the rooms look bigger now the fans aren’t hanging down, although I chose bulbs or lamps as my son tells me to call them, well he is a lighting and design Engineer so I suppose he knows what he's talking about! Anyway I decided on natural light but they give out a strange glow that I'm not sure I like but as they cost half the price of the lights I know someone will not want to buy more! Fitting was also included in the price and the man came and within twenty minutes they were all done.

Steve’s new chair looks good, although he is still going on about not having the colour he wanted. We have cream leather sofas but they are a very creamy colour, so the chairs only came in off white or dark brown, seeing as our carpet is a dark cream, brown and terracotta I thought the brown would look better, which it does, I’ve also bought two brown cushions for one of the other sofas, I’m really pleased with how it looks. I know he’s only trying to wind me up really but he is colour blind so would you let him loose with choosing!!! lOL

I made this card from some free papers I got in a craft Mag, The tiny spotted paper I already had in my stash, I thought it matched the flowers better than the turquoise stripe paper they had put in to use, the circle and the flowers were on a sheet to just push out so no cutting needed as was the silver sentiment. I used some stash to line the inside too. A quick card to put in my box for an emergency!

This is my ticket to the T party over with Elizabeth and Bleubeard, I've had these mugs for years, our DIL bought them on her first trip abroad with work, from Germany, I very rarely use them as I would be upset if I broke one, they must be about 18 years old LOL! I know, crazy but I was very touched that she bought them as she had just left Uni and didn't have much money.

This is all the way from Japan, it originally contained Tea Leaves. Our son's VP in San Francisco is Japanese and travels over there quite a bit with work and visiting family. Our son was telling her that I craft and that he saves fancy boxes and tins for me, the next day she gave him this tin to give me and also a couple of boxes but by that time my case was too full to fit them all in. I'm not sure what I will actually use it for but I can never resist a fancy box or tin!!!

The temperature has been in the 20c's so we have switched to solar water and cleaned out the log fire, next week we will order a ton of logs ready for next winter, that's what I love about Spain, winter doesn't last very long here on the south coast.

Have a great week, thanks to all my visitors last week, I hope I managed to visit everyone but it's always a challenge on my ipad but I'm back on my PC now so fingers crossed it will be easier to comment. Jan x

Try it on a Tuesday

After seeing some lovely techniques on T for Tuesday I thought I might join, it’s a first for me!

Products used

Glossy stamping card

Peacock feathers distree ink

Versamark Dazzle watermark pad

’Ive had the watermark stamp pad for a few years and only used it once before, I wasn’t overly impressed but seeing this challenge I decided to give it another go.

After the stamped image was dry I wasn’t entirely happy as the stamp only covered the bottom half so I used the spot stamp too. This was a freebie from a craft mag I bought in the UK.

I love the Peacock Feathers distress ink so I used it to cover the stamped images.

I did ink a little Antique Linen distress ink over parts of it as it seemed a little bland, I cut the silver outline and stamped the sentiment, and stamped the butterfly which I them fussy cut.

Have a great weekend Jan x

T is for Traveling home

Happy T Day! It’s good to be home in the sun, it’s been quite a busy week. Our journey was good, we were off the boat and on the road by 8:15am even though three drivers didn’t come back to their cars and we had to wait as none of the cars could get past to go down the ramp.

I took a few photos on the way, the first one is Burgos, from a distance but if you look closely you can see the cathedral, we’ve never stopped off for a closer look as we are always eager to get home.

A couple of quick snaps of two lovely old building in Lerma, the town is set on a slight hill, very typically spanish with the houses clinging to the hillside.

Our first stop is just past Lerma, we always have breakfast here and fill up with diesel. I take over the driving from here until Madrid.

Our breakfast, bacon bocadilla with sliced tomatoes grilled, a la plancha, as they say, delicious especially when you are hungry! My drink for this week too, our first Spanish coffee, goes down a treat.

I took this photo of our Sat Nav in the car, at 5.15pm an hour from home and it was reading 26c, not bad for February, I took it to show our sons, I’m sure sometimes they don’t believe how hot it can be in winter.

Steve finally got his new armchair delivered although at the time he was at the dentist, he broke a tooth, would you believe he was only eating Rice Crispies for his breakfast, trying to encourage our GS to have some

We are having two new lights fitted in the bedrooms tomorrow, we are having air con in the spare bedroom on Friday so we can finally get rid of the ceilings fans, they get so dusty and it’s hard to clean them as they are over the beds so they are going at last, the new lights are very glitzy, silver and sparkly, I’m just hoping they don’t look like a disco glitter ball when they are lit, LoL

Well that’s all my news for this week, I hope you are all safe and not flooded or snowed in, we’ve had high winds today, we felt as if we had been sandblasted walking along the Paseo this morning. Take Care Jan x

T is for Home Sweet Home

Happy T Day to one and all, by the time you are reading this I will have arrived home!

Our final week we spent most of the time taking our DGS out to soft play and the park, I actually met quite a few of his friends and their mothers which was good and he enjoyed running around with his friends from Kindergarten.

One morning we walked into Whitstable, the wind nearly blew us off our feet sometimes but we like to get out if it’s dry, we didn’t even go near the sea, just walked along the high street, coming back we past through the church yard as it’s not so steep.

We also pass this pub/restaurant often but it’s quite quaint looking.

Our Sunday lunch, we stopped off at a Restaurant in Portsmouth, it’s just outside the docks so its a good place to eat before booking in. I had roast beef and Steve had chicken, our drinks, white wine for me and a non alcoholic beer for Steve, not as good as Steve cooks but it was very good and only cost £13 for both meals, good value I think!

I wrote this on the boat coming over as we decided to pay for WIFI in the cabin, with all the problems with the virus we decided we would take all our own food and drink rather than risk catching anything, a bit extreme I know but Steve has heart problems so not worth risking.

Thank you to everyone who visited me last week and left kind comments, it’s very much appreciated. Jan x

T is for to Pack

Thanks to all my visitors last week, after seeing all the artwork on display I’m looking forward to getting home to start some of my own, I also have plenty to scrap too. I’ve been watching some YouTube videos of photo journals too to give me some ideas.

Some of you commented on the beach huts so I’ve taken a photo of them from the beach side.

I think they are used for storing chairs etc to take on to the beach, some have camping stoves to make tea but many people like to sit outside of them enjoying the views. When I was young you could rent them for the day, my grandparents did once as grandad loved nothing more than having a cuppa on the beach, in those days there was always a cafe selling a jug of tea but he was very excited to actually be able to make his own, we also had a little camping Gaz stove and my dad would fry sausages to make sandwiches for Lunch.

Around here the cheapest I’ve seen for sale was somewhere around £26,000, I saw one once for sale for £56,000, I’m not kidding, it had been beautifully decorated and had a mezzanine with a day bed, as far as I know they don’t even have running water they are quite small as you can see, some are decorated better but it was too cold to walk further to find one!!

We took a quick visit to Canterbury, we didn’t go into the city centre but this is the Westgate Towers, you drive through it going into the City, it has a museum apparently.

This street is very Olde Worlde, this is a Pub as we call them in England, I couldn’t get a good photo of the whole street as we were in the car and too much traffic was passing but most of the houses are very old with timbers on the outside walls.

This week our GS is only at Kindergarten for three mornings so it’s going to be very hectic as he’s not one to sit still for very long! It’s also our last week in England. Fingers crossed the gales die down and the ferries are on schedule as they’ve been cancelled the last two weekends on our Sunday night sailing!

S forgot to post my drink related pic, a senior moment, this was my breakfast yesterday, bacon and grilled tomatoes sandwich with tea, I had started to eat it before I remembered to take a photo!!

T is for Tankerton

Happy T day, so happy to be joining you all again this week over with Elizabeth and Bleubeard for the T party.

We have been walking every day, it’s been pretty cold here, our car has been white all over with frost in the mornings until the sun gets on to it but as long as it’s dry we can go out. I have bought myself a winter coat, I never need a really thick coat in Spain so I will be leaving it here when we go home,

We had a walk along Tankerton Slopes, we don’t go down to the beach as there’s quite a few steps to go down so we walk along the footpath on the top. The beach is shingle all along this part of the coastline until you reach Margate but It’s a lovely place, quite small with shops on the back street, they have a really good Fish and Chip Shop too, normally our last nights treat before we head home!

All along the beach front you can see the multicoloured beach huts, they are so expensive to buy nowadays, you used to be able to buy a house for that price, ha,ha,

This is the Seaview cafe where we stop halfway for a cup of tea, they do have tables outside but I’m afraid it’s too cold for us, it cools the tea too quickly!

It’s quite small inside but they have quite a good selection on the menu, especially breakfast items. To me it’s a typical English cafe much as you would have found years ago

Of course I need to show you my drink for this week, a mug of tea, my Mother in Law always used to say, “Let’s have a nice cup of tea” , always made me smile as if we would want a horrible one!!

Mind you we have had some awful tea, once Steve told the waiter in Macy’s Cheesecake Factory how to make a pot of tea, it came with lukewarm water so the tea didn’t mash, tasted like dish water!

Peet's do make a good tea as they have a special boiler that heats the water to boiling point, I know this as the manager was a tea connoisseur and I think quite pleased to have someone actually order black tea! With milk for us of course, he even gave us a few samples of different black teas to try!

The sun is out today and hopefully the gale force winds have died down a little so we will off for another walk later, I hope no one has suffered any storm damage! Take care and Happy T Day. Jan x

T is for Trip

Good morning and Happy T Day from England! We had a good journey and a arrived a little earlier than we thought, we were off the boat and through customs within half and hour and on our way, it was rainy which wasn’t helpful when you are driving on the opposite side of the road to normal and trying to listen to directions from the sat Nav, the traffic was awful, plus roadworks which really didn’t help!

I thought you might like to see a few photos from our journey through Spain and on the ferry.

We left home at 5.30 am and made good time to Albecete where we stopped for breakfast. I had bacon and sliced tomatoes’a la plancha’ doesn’t look much but it was delicious and the bread was fresh from the oven and Steve had the usual, sausages!

The shop inside the restaurant selling cheeses and baked goods

Two hours later we had reached just south of Madrid and time for a quick coffee, not too busy this time of year!

Thankfully the snow from the previous week had gone from the road through the mountain pass, you can see it’s only on the top of mountains

Our last stop before the hotel was here in Lerma, just a quick coffee and off we went.

This was on the dockside In Bilboa, that’s our ship just arrived, two hours late due to storms in the Bay of Biscay, luckily the storm had died down a little so by the time we woke up the next morning it was calm again and amazingly they had made up the time so we arrived on time in Portsmouth.

We treated ourselves to breakfast in the restaurant, orange juice, breakfast was eggs, bacon, sausage, hash brown, mushrooms and toast, a pot of tea and croissants with jam, a very nice treat and my drink for this weeks T Day.

Inside the restaurant, we had a window seat but not much to see in the middle of the English Channel.

We spent Sunday out with our GS , first at soft play as the weather was cold and wet and then at the ice cream parlour , it’s been revamped since our last visit and GS was most impressed by the lights as they look like balloons and flowers!

We are off to Canterbury today to shop for some things to take home, mainly shortbread to take back for our friends in Spain, the restaurant owner asked when we would be going back as they are the best biscuits he’s ever had! Fingers crossed my link works this week, thank you Elizabeth for sorting it out for me yet again last week. Happy T Day Jan x