A little bit of everything!

Yet again, it's been a week or so since my last post BUT I am happy to report that a fellow 'hooker' from our charity knitting group on moneysavingexpert.com came to visit us at the weekend!  Check out her great blog, Chalky's World (link in the sidebar). From that you will see that Chalky and her husband divide their time between Spain and the UK; they are driving back to the UK from Spain, and part of their journey took in our little bit of France, so I nervously but boldly invited them to stay for the night and they did!  They arrived on Sunday and you'd have thought we'd known each for years! You couldn't hope to meet a lovelier friendlier couple. We had a lovely time. Sadly, the weather was cooler than it should have been but we still managed to show them a little bit of the area and, in the evening, we sat and chatted and even did a bit of hooking - although I have to confess that Chalky did more than I did!

Here we are standing in front of their Sunshine Bus!

They came armed with some lovely home-made Seville Orange and Brandy Marmalade, Aubergine Chutney (both delicious),  a bottle of Spanish Rioja, and a bottle of Spanish Brandy,  some fresh lemons, some of which I made into lemonade from Lucy's lovely recipe on Attic24 - see photo. It's delicious and really easy and cheap to make, especially as it needs diluting like squash so a little goes a long way. It makes a lovely refreshing drink during this hot weather.

Another treat which Chalky sneakily left behind for me to find when they left was this absolutely gorgeous bunting. When all the renovating here is finished, I shall find the perfect place for it. Meanwhile, we have a gazebo which we will be putting up in the garden soon  - it will look lovely on that (only in dry weather, of course!).  Having Chalky and her husband here - after  months and months of chatting via the online forum - was wonderful and we thoroughly enjoyed their company.

Another pretty thing in my life right now is this lovely little dress I bought for my youngest granddaughter's first birthday in August - I have found  a pattern for a little crochet bolero that will go with it, along with a doll that I hope to make for her.

Not quite so pretty but progress nonetheless is this that the Husband has been working on outside  - it's a wall beneath a window. The left side shows the wall as it was, the right side shows it now that 'chaux' has been applied between the stones which, once dry, will make it look more.... how shall I say it?..... more organic,  I suppose.

The Husband has been working hard in the kitchen but the work in there has been so intense (and difficult to work in for me!) that he gave me the choice of a couple of  days off while he worked outside, or carry on with the kitchen. Of course, I opted for the first choice, although I know it's only putting off the inevitable!  Still, the weather is so good, he might as well make the most of working outside.

Hope the weather is good where you are!  Thanks for reading!