A picture tells a thousand words...

I could easily find at least a thousand excited words to tell of the most wonderful time I had yesterday with blog friends from all over the world!

For now, though, a picture will do instead:

I could easily find at least a thousand joyous words to tell of the reunion with two very special ladies I'm so honoured to call my friends!

For now, though, a picture will do instead:

I could easily find at least a thousand bittersweet words to tell of the difficulty bidding farewell to my dear friends...

For now, though, a picture will do instead:

And actually, as the memories flood back and I relive the moments and the emotions, the chatter and the laughter, the joy and the tears of yesterday, I find myself lost for words after all. Thank goodness for the pictures!

A Wordle for the Weekend

I felt in a Wordle kind of mood :) So here's a Wordle of my recent blog posts:

 

 

Favourite books? Bible first, of course! Lovely thinking ;)

My Precious {March Edition}

Better late than never...!

It was World Book Day this week, and as I was in school that day I was quite heavily involved! I provided some pocket money for The Boy to choose a book from his Book Fair; I helped The Tomboy to dress up as George from the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton; I dressed up myself - as Little Red Riding Hood, complete with basket of goodies for 'Granny'; I attended a rather lovely assembly led by the Reception children in which they shared some of their favourite books and book characters; I helped Year 2 children to write a description of a book character; and I accompanied the Year 2 class to our local library.

The children's librarian shared a selection of books with the children, and asked them about their favourite books and characters. In particular, she asked them which one book they'd choose to have with them if they were marooned on a desert island, and which one book character they'd really like to meet. Their answers were interesting and varied! But the questions got me thinking, too.

We love books in our family. We have literally hundreds. There are books in every room of the house (including the bathroom, though I do try to discourage that!) We all of us have at least one book on the go at any one time. The Doctor has just finished Bring Up The Bodies; I've been reading the Gervase Phinn series; The Boy is re-reading The Lord of the Rings; The Tomboy is avidly working her way through our Enid Blyton collection. Which one book would I choose? I mused. Which one character would I like to meet? I considered.

The answer, when it came to me, was pretty obvious really. If I was limited to just one book then, as a Christian, it would have to be my Bible. And the character I'd love to meet would be Jesus.

Which leads neatly on to my choice of 'precious' for this month! I was presented with this Bible when I was baptised in November 1994 (I was baptised by full immersion as an adult, having become a Christian while at university). I try to read it every day, and even though I don't always manage it I think you can see from its battered state that it has been pretty well read! If my monthly 'precious' posts are going to sum me up over the year, as I'd like them to do, then my engagement ring represents my relationship with The Doctor, my camera indicates my love of memory-keeping, and now my Bible is a symbol of my faith. I'm already thinking ahead to what I might choose next month! :)

This post was brought to you by Sian's Storytelling Sundays

Good Times :)

There were challenges :)

This was my favourite bit of my challenge project!

There was tea :)

Vanilla Earl Grey might just be my new favourite drink! Currently trying to find a local stockist

There was Malteser Cake :)

Briefly...

There was craft :)

Much craft. Lovely craft. Inspiring craft.

There were photographs :)

I took nearly 100 photos myself - not all of which are in this post, you'll be thankful to hear!

There were demos and workshops :)

How did I never know til now how easy it is to make a yo-yo?! Or how cute they were?!

I even led one myself!

We made 'M' books...

 

...in which to display the Twinchies we swapped!

There was washi tape :)

YAY!!

 

 There was a severe shortage of food...*

*This may not actually be true.... ;)

There were lovely lovely people :)

Hello, lovely lovely people! :)

There was a Platform Three Quarters experience :)

Don't disillusion me, OK?!

There was a rather disappointing First Class upgrade on the way home...

London Midland? Seriously, don't bother. In my vast* experience of First Class, this was by far the worst. The 'upgrade' just barely took it up to the same level as Standard Class on Virgin.

 

*Um. 'Vast' as in, I've been upgraded to First Class twice before.... But both other times it actually felt like First Class, while this most definitely didn't!

There were Rice Crispie escapees when I unpacked my suitcase!

I'm sure I sealed that packet before I put it in my case! I'm still finding Rice Crispies even now, tucked between pages of my Bible, caught up in bundles of ribbon, hiding inside projects, etc!

There were good times indeed :) *happy sigh!*