1940's Weekend

As promised here is a glimpse of the lovely 1940's weekend in my home town last weekend. There were lots of people dressed as WW2 soldiers and nurses and a living camp with lots of people staying on site in authentic tents. There were others who looked very glamorous in their 1940's outfits.

There was a vintage fair and memorabilia of all kinds. 

There were even people demonstrating household tasks from the 40's.

There were also lots of vintage vehicles on display......

and even a Spitfire....

Unfortunately it was very cold and wet so I spent quite some time in the tea shop! I also had a look around the town and a few of the shops had made an effort to join in. The local hospice shop made a great job of it.

They were also offering a free sherry to their customers so that helped to keep me warm :))

All in all it was a good day. The only thing I was disappointed about was the tent where the dancing and the 40s fashion show was held was way too small and lots of us couldn't get in. I love the 40's music and was sad I couldn't watch the dancing. Never mind.... there's always next year.

Summer isn't over yet

The weather hasn't exactly been warm here but I am not ready to say goodbye to Summer just yet. I love all the different seasons but one of the things I love in Summer is the agricultural shows. I just love how English they are. I adore browsing around the competition tents full of cakes, biscuits, craft work, home produce and home grown veggies. Then there are the adorable animals, the dunk the farmer game, the tug of war and the tractor pull.  Here are some of the highlights for me this year...........

Where else can you get to see all of this in one place???

Gorgeous quilting

Afternoon tea competition

Beautiful rare breed sheep

Aren't they adorable??

They were so friendly too!!

and the incredible Lamb National....

complete with jumps ..........

and jockeys!!

I am planning on entering a few competitions next year ;))
Just one more show to go this Summer in a couple of weeks time which I'll report back on another day. Now I'm off to another special annual Summer Event - Lytham's 1940s weekend.  I'll share that with you in my next post. What are you up to this weekend? Have you been to any Summer events lately? xx

I love Saturdays

Saturdays are wonderful. I love waking up knowing I can do anything I would like to and that there are no specific demands on my time. Today is one of those days. I woke up quite early and decided to get up rather than stay in bed and read which I normally do. The weather was stormy and I felt like bread making so I made up a batch of dough and put it on to rise.

Then I picked tomatoes and fed the plants.I checked on the peppers and chillis which are doing well now.

Next  I put Minnie out into her run - Minnie is my very well loved bunny!

 I weighed my courgettes to see if I had enough to make chutney tomorrow and then the dough was ready to be 'knocked back'.

Whilst waiting for the dough to rise a second time I enjoyed browsing a few blogs and making a list of other things I want to try. On the list are soap making and knitting a cable cushion cover amongst many other things. The bread went in the oven and we had some potato salad and tomatoes for lunch. The maincrop potatoes were ok in the end and make lovely roast potatoes so I will be having some for Sunday lunch tomorrow. They aren't the best for salads though and needed plenty of seasoning.

With the bread baked, I went off to the lotty for a couple of hours. The girls had a little free range and I caught them rummaging around in the parsnips!!

Whilst they made mischief around the plot, I painted a small area of the inside of my shed to see if emulsion would be ok to use. (The man at B and Q thought it would!) but it's going to need a few coats I think.

I harvested the last broad beans, some more sugar snaps,some lettuce leaves, some raspberries, a few carrots that looked reasonably big and collected the eggs. Only two today - Ruby didn't lay one today. 

My allotment neighbors grow artichokes and I had no idea how beautiful they look when they flower. Aren't they gorgeous vegetables? I've never tasted one so I don't know if they're are as nice to eat as they are to look at.  I took the photo (at the top of this post) then it was back home for tea. I had planned to have an omelet but didn't fancy it and plumped for a slice of bread and homemade raspberry jam instead! Yummy .....

The evening was spent knitting, relaxing and watching the proper Star Wars! (ep 4)  What a lovely Saturday. Hope you had a good day too. What have you been up to?? x