Confessions of an Oxfordshire stitcher: Best ever Birthday!

Woke up to breakfast in bed on my birthday this Good Friday: a big number plus one. Miss Y and E had made this together: a yummeeee Dutch B'day breakfast: with pressies too!

The cheese and salami were the Dutch bit, Gouda don't you know, with ''MUM'' on it! DELISH GREENGRAPES AND ORENGE JUICE AS WELL . All of the family on the bed, cuddles etc

Duc D'O choccies, a necklace with inspirational message and lapis and silver earrings: boy was I happy with those!!!

Miss E baked apple cakes : just sooooo lovely! The baby chicks are growing and are fine but leaves now obstruct a good view of the nest.

And THANK YOU GOD for the most brilliant amazingly HOT sunny weather ever!!! Pippa sunbathed. The girls played in a large paddling pool: endless laughter and giggles and JJ and I relaxed in the garden with paper and crochet respectively.SUCH UTTER BLISS.

Plans to walk chapter 9 or 10 of the South Downs Way were revised and put on hold for another day as we did NOT want to sit in the car for hours on SUCH a sunny blue sky day. So we just chilled and were blissfully ecstatically HAPPY together.

A chilled happy JJ.

Miss Y and I played brain master and we watched the beloved G - girls too.

JJ made lunch: BLTs! Mine had a birthday candle!!!

Such a lovely sunny day: cuddles galore

Then just after 5 pm we went for a walk on the South Bucks Way: Great Kimble to Ellesborough.

A rare tree : still in bud! All others are fully ''in leaf'' now.WHAT A BLUE!!!

Steep climb at the start but with views on the way.

Red kite in tree

My photo

Miss Y 's better one- more intimate.

Miss E is taking photos too: dad's camera.

The views were STUNNING. Dry chalky paths. 5 miles in 2.5 hours. Much stopping for photography and admiring the view.At 7 pm it was still very warm.

Lucy on the lead all the way as she's in season. That too was a challenge both for her and us.

Ellesborough church in sight, we've not ever walked this bit before.

Back on the road back to Great Kimble was not the best route.

home for the dogs and back out to the Bottle and Glass for a birthday dinner out: SUPERB!!!

Then all went to bed as we were nicely exhausted.

Next day photos of some of the birthday CROCHET:

Crochet on the day was a new scarf with NORO SEKKU : 50% cotton, 17%wool,16%silk, 17% nylon: my first NORO yarn and it is a pain to work with. Spools back on itself, twists and knotts continuously and the colours though fab are in very loooooooong repeats. Too long for me.

Worked with a 3mm hook for a lacy effect. Bought in London on Wednesday: I was abhorred to find Oxford St John Lewis does not stock Patons DK or 4 ply cotton as for my b'day project ( tradition since 2005) was to be in the new Delta blue in this yarn. So I decided to try the Noro as we'd taken a rickshaw from Regent St especially to buy the yarn at JL.