With Love From Both Of Us

 

Hello everyone. 

Yes, we know it's Friday and early for our usual post, but as it is Valentine's Day here in the UK, Beverley and D wanted to wish you all lots of love today and thank you for your support as our blogging and visiting friends.

St Valentine's Day is celebrated by those who wish to celebrate it on 14th February each year. The day chosen to celebrate Valentine's Day in the Eastern Orthodox church falls on the 6th July.

Valentine was a priest who lived in 3rd-century Rome and was martyred during the rule of Claudius II. Many stories and legends concerning Valentine exist, one of which suggests that before his execution, Valentine wrote a letter to the daughter of his jailor, whom he had converted to Christianity, signing it 'Your Valentine'.

The celebration of love on St Valentine's Day has evolved over the centuries into the cultural, religious and commercial activity it is today.

If you are celebrating, we hope you have a wonderful day. If it is just another day, may it also have been a happy day for you.

We looked around the house to find a few heart-felt items and found these.

Cards we made in a crafting session.

Cross stitch ' Heart of the Home'

This was a garland of crochet hearts and flowers placed all around the ceiling of Bev's craft room. Although each heart is stuffed, inside each one are the names of family and loved ones.

Finally, here is a delicious cheesecake we made for someone we love very much.

Have a lovely weekend, everyone, and enjoy what you do.

Beverley and D

XX

Night Skies

Hello everyone. 

After I posted here last week and snuggled down on the sofa, Hubby stirred me from my slumber to look at the moon. February, sees a planetary alignment of the moon and Venus. Venus was visible in the night sky, shining brightly on Saturday night. Here are a few photos that we took from our front door.

This one looks more like a crochet hexagon!

In my last post, I shared a few pictures of St Albans Cathedral, which we visited, and promised to share a few more with you.

Alban lived in the Roman town of Verulamium, not far from where the cathedral now stands on the hill. Christianity was illegal then, but Alban sheltered a Christian priest and became a believer himself. Refusing to give up the priest and his new faith led to his execution and martyrdom. The earliest church on the site was probably a simple structure over Alban's grave.  

The Victorians discovered this wall painting, painted about 1400AD under whitewash paint, and carefully restored it in the nineteenth century. It depicts the story of Doubting Thomas in the Bible.

This is the shrine of St Alban. 

The cathedral had so much more to see, and our guide was very knowledgeable. It was a shame we couldn't stay longer, but a return visit is necessary.  

Back home, my new crochet blanket is growing beautifully and can almost keep my knees warm while I work. The colours are so bright and cheerful - almost like having a lap full of pretty jewels. There are 18 colours, just as Lucy from Attic24 used on her granny stripe blanket, but some colours are different due to my yarn stash. 

D decided to leave the kitchen this week and visited a local coffee shop. She even ordered a warmed chocolote orange brownie with a dollop of ice cream! It looked very delicious.

Meanwhile, it was my turn to play in the kitchen, so I borrowed D's favourite cookery books and made some Carrot cake blondies. I had some shredded carrots left over from a meal earlier in the week and wanted to know what to do with the excess carrots. 

They are proving to be just as popular as some of D's baking. Does she have a challenger to her crown? Probably not. However, my success is encouraging me to try out a few other interesting-looking recipes in the near future.

That's all for today. Whatever your plans are for the coming week, D and I wish you good health and hope things go well. Take care.

B and D xx

I'm Back Again!!

Hello to you all. 

Thank you for joining me here today. I am so grateful to D for looking after the blog while I was battling the germ bugs that were still hanging around. I feel much better now, although I still have a cough. 

So, what have I been up to this week? 

The crochet blanket gets brighter by the day, and I enjoy the gentle rhythm of the stitches while watching 'Midsomer Murders' on television. I still have a long way to go, but there is no rush to finish. 

Wednesday was a beautiful day here, so I ventured into the garden to clear my lungs and start some gentle tidying in the woodland part of our garden. I cleared a small area where the Hellebore and Hazel are planted, along with the twisted Hazel. I have removed some weeds and left the self-planted ivy to scrabble across the ground. The soggy fern leaves have been cut back, leaving just enough to protect the new fronds emerging this year. I also replanted a holly that had been a free seedling from the birds a few years ago. 

Since then, hubby and I have made a short trip to Essex to visit family, stopping overnight near St Albans. While there, we visited the Verulamium Roman Museum. There were many exhibits of everyday Roman life and some historical background to the area. I enjoyed seeing all the mosaics and wall paintings - all those tiny pieces fitting together to make wonderful pictures. Seeing a group of schoolchildren enjoying visiting the museum was also lovely. They were so excited but well-behaved.

I was also happy to be classed as a 60+ concession, as our entrance tickets were nearly half the regular price. Well worth the visit! 

😊

We also managed to visit St Albans Cathedral, but I will show more of these pictures next time.

D has returned to baking in the kitchen this week and made 'Cookie Dough Bars', another recipe from Jane's Patisserie. It is cookie dough covered in a chocolate ganache and absolutely delicious. However, we can only manage a small piece at a time, which is not bad! It just means it lasts much longer!

After a rather up-and-down week, I'm looking forward to a more settled new week. I hope you all have a great week, whatever you have planned.

B x

Starting A New Crochet Blanket

Hello everyone.

It's D here this week, standing in for Mum. Thank you all for your kind wishes last week when I was feeling unwell. Unfortunately, although I'm better, those pesky germ bugs are currently visiting Mum.

Earlier in the week, she found time to take some photos in the garden, and I thought you would like to see them.

As many of you know, Mum was working on one of her 'big' projects last year with the wedding cross stitch for my brother and sister-in-law. Her new project involves yarn, of which she already has a lot. She is going to make a new blanket using a pattern from Lucy. I know she will enjoy working on this pattern and can take her time with it. Here are a few of the first rows of crochet. 

I hope you all have a good week.

D

January 'Wolf Moon'

Hello everyone.

It is halfway through January already, and we have had our first full moon.

On Tuesday evening, hubby and I took photos of the January full moon, also known as the ' Wolf Moon'. We thought it was spectacular. According to folklore and legend, wolves are more active at this time of year and can be heard howling on winter nights.

This first moon of the year is also known as the Ice Moon, the Old Moon and the Moon after Yule. Whatever the name, it was a sight to see and enjoy. Mind you, later on, we locked the doors and drew the curtains just in case a wolf decided to visit!

The rest of the week saw progress in finishing off a few outstanding jobs that I had been putting off: a cardigan had buttons reattached, a cross-stitch picture was framed, and a bag was washed and a button replaced - all little jobs, but they have been around for long enough now.

Meanwhile, Hubby has been painting and starting work on the kitchen floor. There has been lots of noise and some mess, but I can cope with that in the eager anticipation of a lovely new floor.

Poor D is feeling a little unwell at the moment because those nasty little germ bugs have decided to visit her. She wishes they would disappear into the night, along with any lurking wolves. 

I hope you are all well wherever you are in the world and that you are cosy and safe. Have a lovely week ahead.

Beverley and a very cold-infested D

😀