Our Next Challenge

Good Friday Morning Ladies, 

Woohoo It's Friday!! I am glad as it means I will get to spend some time with Paul, he has been super busy this week, hopefully he will be home early afternoon today. we can then get the shopping done leaving the weekend to do as we please!  

Lilian we could do with your sewing skills, we seem to have several wasp nests in our loft, we has managed to kill one nest off, but he and Sophie said could Lilian whip them up a Bee hood to protect them!!  😂 It's hilarious listening to them both working together to try and kill the nest that is just on the edge of the loft access hatch, had Paul opened the loft from the other side he would have knocked it out of the loft hatch! Imagine the terror of hundreds of angry wasps buzzing about Sophie's bedroom, well the whole of the upstairs really.  I bought some powder that you 'dust' the nest with, I got a long lance tool with a puffer at the bottom which you fill with the powder, this means you can squirt it at arms length, rather than having your face near the danger zone!  Now picture the scene, Sophie and Paul both at the top of the ladder, Soph holding the torch and the loft hatch, Paul has the powder in it's lance, they are basically carrying out a 'squirt/puff and run' method, Sophie has had a fit of the giggles every night so far, it's probably Paul's serious/terrified facial expression that starts her off, she also has my weird sense of humour!  Anyway this nest has no activity, it has taken 5 nights to get them all, you have to wait until dusk as that's when the wasps have all returned to the nest for the evening, that way you get them all at the same time.  So we thought that was the end of it, although it doesn't sound like it's a very big nest, considering the large amount of wasps we have seen coming and going. As Sue was leaving yesterday late afternoon we both stood watching and we were really surprised how many wasps there were still arriving and entering the loft, they are going under the flashing around the chimney, we must have seen 20-30 arrive in 5 minutes.  We are hoping that the dead nest can be removed now and Paul can get in and have a look to see where these other nests are.  They could be in the wall I guess, they have been dropping the dead wasps out onto Sophie's bathroom windowsill. Please keep your fingers crossed for us.

Maria I have to say that the 'Palt' I shared a picture of yesterday looked quite nice, I did look up 'Blood Palt' after reading your comment and it didn't look as nice, some of the photos looked like British Black pudding which is also made from blood and fat of pigs, some of the photo's looked like the one I shared yesterday but the filling looked like the blood palt. Either way I think I would give it a miss!! Can you tell us what your favourite Swedish dish is ??  XXX

Karen, I am glad to read that you had a lovely day at Wimpole Hall, it's a shame the upper level wasn't open, I love looking in the bedrooms and bathrooms.  My favourite part of the houses though is definitely the kitchens, with the old range cookers and all of the copper pans and jelly moulds etc, the children were always fascinated with the size of the kitchen, we went to one and they got the children to help churn butter, or break chunks of sugar off of a huge block with some big tongs.  The staff can definitely make or break a childs experience of visiting a NT house, we have experienced both!  We ended up taking turns to go in the houses, while one went to look around the other would entertain the children in the gardens, it's not the same though, which is why we stopped our membership, re-joining in last couple of years, it's much easier walking around just the two of us!  Are you and Alan members of NT ? XXX

Janet I hope your visit to the vampire went ok yesterday, have the dreadful roadworks outside your house finished?  You were much braver than I was trying the game that our Dad's hunted, there is a traditional old butchers in Lechlade and you often see a Brace of Pheasants or rabbits hanging inside, I do wonder how many they sell, I guess they must have a demand for them, I can't help thinking that they are food that the older generations would eat, unless it becomes 'Trendy' of course.  I am curious what rabbit tastes like?? XXX

Our Next Challenge

You may have guesses from the pictures above what the challenge is this week, however if not I will explain....

I would like you to take a die set or Stamp set or a Paper Collection, Embossing Folder, Mask etc and use it to create card or project for 2 different occasions, they can be any occasion you choose, for the example above I use the 'Merries Moments' die/ hybrid Embossing folder to create a card for Christmas and Birthday.  

You could choose flowers that would work well in Christmas colours as well as any occasion, some papers are sold for a particular occasion but could be used for anything, so have a rummage around and see what you can use.  This will be a fun challenge.

I hope that you all have a fantastic Friday,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                                                                                                          xxxxxx