Autumn break catchup

So my gypsy travelling is now over for another year, I spend most of my Spring and Summer weekends heading out to the beach. With the last half term holiday of the year I headed out one last time to stand on a deserted beach, feel the sea breeze through my hair, take in the sights, sounds and smells of this special place, this place that makes me feel at peace with the world no matter what is going on in my life. Yes indeed, I have said it before and I will say it again, the beach is a special place for my the soul...
At this time of year it offers a place of solitude and empowerment, its vast expanse of sand and never ending sea makes me happy to be alive. So the children and I spent as much time as possible here, we set up camp near the sand dunes, a little camping stove to make a bowl of pasta and pesto to keep the chills away.
Whilst the babes played in the sand and ran their little legs off I snuggled up under a blanket and pulled out my yarn, yes many things have been knitted and hooked on the beach this year.
We stayed each day until the warmth from the sun dissipated and the light started to fade...
Of course time on the beach would not be complete without a paddle in the sea...
But it is Autumn break and this means lots of walks through woods, the simple pleasure of kicking up leaves and listening to the children giggle as they lose themselves in the piles of fallen leaves, collecting token gifts from the season, rich blood red leaves and acorn cups...
Yes the delights of the season we enjoyed to the full. It was a difficult time for me personally, this holiday marks the first anniversary to the devastating changes that have gone on in my life, this time last year my life was in a different place and I was indeed a different person, it fills my heart with sadness at the loss and pain. Then I look at the year I have been through and I gain strength through all I have achieved on my own, I am ME, if anything I am now a better ME as I am indeed happier. The people I spend time with now want to be with me, like me for who I am and allow my creative spirit to shine.
I am a Mom and my creativity is a huge part of who I am and why I mother the way I do. I have learnt a lot this year, I still have some learning to do. BUT... my children are the absolute centre of my world, the gift that they are fills me with awesomeness. Indeed my life my be different, with worries, uncertainty and instability BUT... it is filled with love, riches beyond the material world and full of existing opportunities...
When the going gets tough this family gets the paint out, finds a creative space and we do 'our thing' until our soul is settled again.
So the week drew to an end the leaves are now nearly all on the ground, the land is snuggling up under the earth to rest, ready to flourish and bloom again next spring...

I hope your week was filled with memories to warm you through the coming months, its that time when the nights draw in, getting cosy under quilts, watching movies, eating pop corn, red wine, deep baths with candles and fluffy white towels, flickering fires to warm your toes up on, beautiful wool yarn and creative evenings and wet weekends splashing in puddles...

Enjoy

Playing catchup and giveaway update

Time flies when your having fun and despite a few coughs and sneezes along the way my little family had a great week... We took off for the week and stayed in this sweet little cottage in the beautiful Yorkshire town of Pickering.  Its not our usual style of cottage, we normally go for a cottage in the middle of some hills and nothing else, so it was a nice change to be able to go out for breakfast and eat out in an evening and walk home to the cosy fire and snuggle up on the sofa with a good read or my knitting...
Of course as you would expect a lot of outdoor time was had, we really enjoyed all our Autumnal walks...
the first snow of the season caught us off guard... chilly chilly chilly...
We went to visit lots of interesting places...
Stunning views to be had at the top of Whitby Abbey.  You really can see and feel why the book Dracula was inspired by this place.  A book I must mention in its true form is a treat to read, a pure love story rather than a horror tale.
With all this fresh air and running around I did have very sleepy little people at the end of the day.  However Autumn Watch was a problem.  My oldest child loves Autumn and Spring watch when its on the telly, he watches it with wide eyes and asks lots of questions when each programme finishes.  It is on at eight o'clock which is actually past bedtime, but whilst away and the little one was all tucked up in his nest, we would snuggle on the sofa (lots of snuggling took place) with our hot chocolate and we would enjoy the delights of this program.
One day we ventured into the city (York) and we shopped till we dropped... as you would expect the children found every toy shop in all the out of the way places and I enjoyed a poke around Sheepish the wool shop situated in the beautiful part of York called the Shambles we also spent too much time in book shops.  To keep us going we had a few breaks to enjoy the coffee culture and ended up in our favourite family restaurant chain... we watched the sun go down over the river and then with full tummies we explored the city all over again in dark evening light with all the twinkling lights...
A holiday without a trip to the Sea, well that just would not do, so covered in waterproofs, sweaters and our wellies on with a basket of snacks and flask of Hot Chocolate we headed off to the beach... 
and guess what...we were the only ones on the beach that day and we had so much fun...
Yes some special days...  the weather was different on each morning and we made the most of it all... and on the days we felt a little poorly we would just walk to the end of the road and feed the ducks...
Do not let me disappoint you, all the while I was knitting, sewing, cutting and sticking... it will all be revealed on the run up to Christmas... YES Christmas, it feels like its on its way, and that's a good feeling...

I will announce the winner of the giveaway on Wednesday when I have had a chance to unpack... Oh I have so many new goodies to unpack and a beautiful shop I would like to share with you...see you soon.

Hooray for the weekend...

Hooray for the weekend, its nearly here.  What an emotional roller coaster of a couple of weeks its been.  I looked in my blog archives at this time last year, guess what? Yep, I was struggling with the transition from Summer to Autumn (and all that it brings) then too.  Missing the children, finding my new rhythm, re-establishing my friends as peoples 'life roles' change, Moms returning to work no longer have time for chats, new Moms in the playground, so much change.  I like the  'familiar' , I spent my adult life travelling, moving and spending time with lots of new people, I have now found a base, a place to put down roots and raise my own family so suddenly change is not so exciting anymore. Content am I.

So when finding that new rhythm is tough, I head off to the beach to sooth my soul, I am EXCITED about the weekend, even the weather man is promising sunshine and warm weather.  So its on with the crocs...

Heading off to this beach with my guys...
We will be staying in our cosy beach house, our caravan;-)
I will be knitting more of these...
We will be watching the sun go down in that wonderful light that you only get in the evening, when the day trippers have all headed home and the only sound is the waves and the seagulls. We hope to be snuggling up under  blankets and drinking our Hot Chocolate tired after a day in the fresh air...

Returning to our beach house! To curl up with a good book...Ahhh yes soon I will acknowledge that autumn is on its way, just for now though I will cling on to every last bit of the summer...

The winner is....

The winner is French Knots.   I am so thankful for all the lovely comments and I wish I could knit quick enough to send you all a calorie free cupcake, instead I want to thank you for actually taking time out of your day and leaving such lovely comments.  I indeed had a wonderful summer and your good wishes made it perfect...I thank you!So we returned last night at 9.00pm and the children went to their beds very sleepy and slightly grubby...I then ran around like a mad women getting all their school stuff ready and unloading the bags from our time away.  This morning we had tears (mostly from me) as the little ones went off to school after our seven weeks of 'full on' time together...  we spent most of it by the beach and despite lots of rain we still managed to get a swim in most days either in the sea or the pool...our last week took us to the end of Britain for a camping trip, we had a lovely little spot in the woods and the kids really got back down to basics just playing with sticks and helping Mom cook beans on the fire ( a windy night for sure). So I am home and sadness fills my heart as I can clearly see the changes in the season... the leaves are dropping and there is a chill in the air...

I HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF CATCHING UP TO DO THEN ITS ON WITH THE SEWING AND KNITTING...Oh my and sorting through all those summer photographs...