Its beginning to feel a bit like Autumn

Here in my little part of the UK, right on the east coast it is cold and rainy today. All the water butts are overflowing and the goats are sulking in their shed. I have just had a serious hunt for logs for the wood burner. It led me to think about the good times/weather I have had this Summer (?) holiday.

Before FoQ I spent a relaxing time in Shaldon, Devon waking up to this every day. Living in the flat Fens the perspective was very different for me and the different roof tops intrigued me. DS2 finds change very hard to cope with so we are very lucky to be able to stay in a cottage owned by my parents-in-law. We managed to have a typical beach holiday and dodge the rain showers. I was excited though because in the village and 2 minutes from the cottage was a new yarn shop

There was a lovely lady inside and I bought some lace wight baby alpaca for a simple shawl I saw in the Yarn Forward magazine I had for the car journey. It will be my treat after my C&G is completed.

On the first Saturday in August Shaldon has a water carnival and one element is a decorated boat parade round the harbour. I was amazed that all kinds of boats (please excuse my ignorance) took part.

We managed to do a short part of the coastal walk (4 miles) with both DS's which gave fantastic views as we climbed upwards. Above is Teignmouth, below The Ness beach, this has red sand due to the clay cliffs (I think)

Each year since we have been going down there Teignmouth has had a sculpture walk along the seafront with various artists making things out of found or reclaimed materials. This year I noticed that some local schools had got involved and people were very creative with white plastic milk bottles.

                                         

After Devon we drove back to Cheltenham to visit relatives and managed a day out in Gloucester before trekking home. We wandered down by the docks and this massive basket of flowers was outside the craft centre. I should have stood DS by it to give an idea of scale, I am 5ft 4" and the top (of the basket not flowers) was above my head. I took a quick photo of the cathedral from the docks and told DS that some of the earlier Harry Potter films were shoot there.

Despite my travels I have managed to get some stitching done so I will be back with a show and tell. City & Guilds work is also progressing well but I think I will have to get a short extension.