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.

2 ROWS OF 45 CIRCLES weigh 18 g so I should have yarn for 3 more rows....

It looked very Royal blue/ Turq on the ball but has LARGE amounts of purple, grey blue and even some burgundy...

Colour: 18 A and very very thin as well as rather thick in some places. Nice organic look. I think there's some green coming up...
Bye bye for now. No blue print today due to computer problems: it stops every minute to save! This post has taken me ALL DAY!

A sunny Sunday walk

Water divining don't you know? Such silly fun.

The dogs were in their element, running amok in the ankle deep carpet of crispy brown leaves.

Oh and the rolling around that went on, you would not believe. Girls giggling and dogs wiggling and JJ and I sharing the fun, hand in hand. Bliss.

I think this is where the water diviner turned into a horse's harness?

Trying hard to capture Pips in mid-roll.... Such fun she was having it was a joy to watch.

Waddya mean I have leaves stuck on my back?

The obligatory King of the Castle position. Yes milady.

T'was actually Sunday last, I wasn't allowed to Marlow today as they went on a secret ( Mother's Day) foray apparently...

JJ leads the way as it's a ''new path'' he discovered a few weeks ago.

Pips back on the lead in case of sheep worrying. Lucy avoids sheep.

Lucy: are you lot coming then? She always has to lead the way.

Oops I may have got the order of uploaded photos mixed up a little?

At the top of the hill we rest.

Sorry photos straight into the sun, not used to new camera yet.

Very relaxing.

Pant pant pant, what a lovely long pink tongue. Lucy hot and thirsty.

What is that road, you ask? M40 as it cuts through the Chilterns.

T'was a long steep- ish warm/hot-ish climb up to the brow of the hill.

I'm so HAPPY! i'm also glad not to be in one of those cars down there.

Bit breatlless too. Bothersome asthma.

Well done! You did it despite much moaning and a tantrum about walks, hills and so on. We also saw a roe deer in the woods but she was too fast and far to capture on camera.

What a magical day!