This Weekend at the Duckpond

We have mostly been...



Participating - in February's photo an hour challenge which ended up being a day filled with two outings.

Meeting - up with a couple of other students also doing the Aberystwyth MSc Information and Library Studies degree (the first outing). Doing a course by distance learning can get pretty lonely so it was good fun to see a couple of others, tuck into a hot chocolate and have a natter about how far through (or how far behind!) we are with the all the modules.

Making - some little decorated boxes at a craft evening held at the local church (the second outing). Mother in law suggested it a few weeks ago and lured in by the offer of a free evening complete with dinner and cake, I went along and took part. We were all given a pack of pre-cut card and embellishments and shown how to make little 3D collapsible boxes. Mother in law's is the one in the middle, her friend's is on the left and mine's on the right - the plain looking one as I seemed to be the only person on our table with less interesting bits of card!

What did you get up to at the weekend?

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 19th April

April's Photo an Hour Challenge was set by Jane (from Is That You Darling) on Saturday 19th - a good day to choose because of the Easter holidays!

 

 

My Easter Saturday panned out a bit like this...

 

 

8am - as always at the moment, my day starts early with IVF drugs and injections.

 

 

9am - Breakfast was on the way, we had Chicken and Cheese Quesadillas!

 

 

10am - About to head out for a bit of sightseeing and the view from our cottage window had not a cloud in the sky.

 

 

11am - I actually missed the 11am shot and ended up taking this at 11.30ish, mainly because I was too busy trying on and buying dresses from a charity shop for £2.50 each!

 

 

12pm - After buying up several things, we walked back to the car through the churchyard of St Cybi's Church in Holyhead.

 

 

1pm - Then we stopped off at Asda on the way out of town as I needed to buy a card for our wedding anniversary on the Monday.

 

 

2pm - We ended up in Rhosneigr where we stopped for a delicious ice cream which we ate on the beach.

 

 

3pm - We headed up towards South Stack in Anglesey but it was absolutely packed with everyone else doing the same thing so instead we thought we'd go back and have some tea and cake in our cottage.

 

 

4pm - I unpacked some of the morning's purchases...

 

 

5pm - My brother and dad popped round to our cottage to collect us on the way to the holiday park swimming pool.

 

 

6pm - We were actually in the pool at 6pm (which I couldn't really photograph) but when we got back at 6.30pm I remembered I hadn't yet unpacked this little tulip basket I picked up earlier that day.

 

 

7pm - Dinner tonight was BBC Good Food's Sticky Apple, Sausages and Bacon.

 

 

8pm - Dinner is served!

 

 

9pm - I know, I'm very sad. I thought the holiday would be a good chance to catch up with some coursework reading for my degree.

 

 

10pm - Treated myself to a bedtime snack of Harry Hopalot before listening to my IVF relaxation CD and falling asleep!

 

 

 

Hop on over to Jane's blog to see when May's Photo an Hour challenge will be - it's always great fun!

52 Lists - Things To Do Before You Die

This week's theme is Things To Do Before You Die. I was about 16 when I wrote my first bucket list, I wrote it on a piece of notepaper, folded it tightly and hid it inside a secret pocket of my purse. I actually still have it now, tucked away in a bit of my (now slightly larger) wallet.

 

So my 16 year old bucket list looked like this...


Meet Adrian Lewis Morgan (he played Roger in the 1998 West End musical Rent, every girl in my drama class fancied him) (x)
Visit New Zealand
Visit Reykjavik (*)
Visit New York (*)
Get my NPLQ qualification (I spent several years as a Rookie Lifeguard in my local pool) (x)
Learn BSL (x)
Learn to fly a plane (x)
Be a Carnival judge (*)
Visit the Scilly Isles
Trace my family history (*)
See Rent on Broadway (*)
Go on a cruise round Scotland on the Hebridean Princess
Organise a school reunion in 2009 (it didn't happen, I thought that a 10 year gap really wasn't that long!) (x)
Get married (*)
Have children
Do a wingwalk
Live in West Cornwall (x)
Visit the New Orleans Mardi Gras


I've managed to cross some of them off already (the ones marked with *) and a few of them I really don't need or want to do now (the ones marked with x).


There's a few though that would definitely feature on my 31 year old bucket list (along with a few added extras)...

Spend a month living in Iceland
Live in Edinburgh
Own a vintage showman's caravan
Work for the National Fairground Archive in Sheffield
Finish my MSc degree
Qualify as a Chartered Librarian
Pay off our mortgage in 10-15 years


All very boringly grown up ideas don't you think?


What's on your bucket list?
 

This post is part of Ema's (Made in Hunters) 52 Lists Project

For a full list of all the other lovely bloggy people taking part, visit Scarlett's site (WorkRestPlayLove) for a nosy!

That Was The Year Duck...

Most people posted a summary like this on New Year's Eve but I thought I'd do my own thing and post it a couple of days into January!


So 2013 was the year Duck...

 

 

March

...started a blog

 

April

...spent a week with family in North Wales
...went on a day trip to the Emerald Isle
...revisited the town where she gained a degree

...had a fun-filled holiday in Blackpool

...laughed her socks off at Blackpool Pleasure Beach

 

 

May

...started her own weekly musical feature

..completed Rosalilium's Blog Every Day in May challenge

...spent a day at Carters Steam Fair

...investigated a new heritage cycle path in Bath

...dressed as a steampunk girlie at Frome's Steampunk Extravaganza

 

 

  

June
...completed the Bonjour Blogger Comments Challenge
...complied a 32 Before 32 list
...enjoyed a fab gig by Eddie Izzard at the Eden Project
...met lots of other lovely bloggers at Rosalilium's Blognix event
...saw lots and lots of bands with her free ticket into Glastonbury Festival

 

 

 July

...made her friends fall in love with Kneehigh Theatre Company
...redesigned her blog header with the help of some friendly ducks
...had a sun-filled day out in Weymouth
...felt very grown-up attending Library Camp South West
...put together a little present for a newborn baby

 

 

August

 ...bought a sweet little necklace from Claireabellemakes
...stumbled upon a gorgeous pair of Poetic Licence shoes in a charity shop
...ate baked potatoes cooked in a steam engine
...watched far too many shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
...studied the artwork of the fairground

 

September

...took a bear on holiday to Great Dorset Steam Fair
 ...completed the Gromit Unleashed trail around Bristol and the South West
...won a Liebster Award
...went back to University for the second study school of her postgrad degree
...took part in her first Photo an Hour challenge

 

 

October

 ...educated everyone about the very Somerset reason why she loves Autumn
...went to her very first ever swishing event
...was referred to the chief consultant to start IVF treatment
...ate far too many samples at Wells Food Festival
...enjoyed a fabulous vintage day out at the Pretty Nostalgic Vintage Gathering

 

 

November

 ...completed Rosalilium's Blog Every Day in November challenge
...wondered when she'd got so old
...took a little bear to see some big fireworks and Carnival floats
...took part in her second Photo an Hour challenge
...saw the amazing production of The Little Mermaid at the Bristol Old Vic

 

December

 ...almost bought far too many things at Frome's Christmas Super Market

 ...raised over £200 for Save the Children's Christmas Jumper Day
...sent and received some wonderful gifts for Hannah Bee's Secret Santa and Janet's Thrifty Christmas Gift Swap
...took part in the Share Advent challenge
...and turned 31!

Here's to an equally great 2014!

 

A Share Advent Round Up - Days 1 to 25

All 25 Share Advent Instagram Photos

(for more info click here)

 

 

 

For more information about each day...
Days 1-5
Days 6-10
Days 11-15
Days 16-20
Days 21-25

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Share Advent Instagram Photos - Days 1 to 5

Share Advent Days 1-5

(for more info click here)

 

 

1st December - Joy to the World

(taken from an old hymn book)

 

 

2nd December - Write and Send a Letter

(first post circle Christmas package on it's way across the oceans)


 

3rd December - "...dance like there's nobody watching"
 

(everyone loves Elf Yourself!)


 

4th December - Wreath Wednesday

(courtesy of my lovely friend M)


 

5th December - Been Putting This Off

 (yeah, I should probably get round to reading these for my essay...)

 

 

 

If you've got Instagram, feel free to follow me for daily Share Advent updates. :-)
 

Day 30 - The End

Day 30 of Rosalilium's blog every day in November challenge

The End

(Blog Every Day in November is over! *sad face* How was it for you? Best bits? Any final words? Anything you've been dying to write about but didn't fit it in? Today is a free for all to go out with a bang!)

 This is called going out with a bang...


So yay...blog every day in November is over (I mean yay that we've all completed it, not of course, yay that it's all finished)

This is going to sound a bit like the last post of 'blog every day in May' but once again, I've discovered some lovely new blogs to follow, enjoyed reading some of my old favourites every day and also quite liked the challenge of thinking up something different (and hopefully interesting) for each prompt.

I was planning to go back to blogging three or four times a week but looking at my calendar for December it seems that I might just be posting something every day in December as well!

I'm planning to take part on Instagram with Share Advent (more to come on that tomorrow) and then I'll do a round up post every few days plus Bonjour Blogger have another (Christmassy) Comments Challenge which I'm going to try and do but I'm not sure I'll have time to post a round up each day.

The main reason being, although I love doing blogging challenges, the one thing that gets a bit neglected is the coursework for my degree - and I need to have written a review and an essay by mid January.
Anyone fancy researching folksonomies and user-based tagging for me?

September Happiness

Five things which have made me smile this month...

 

1. Finally, after 3 hours and 20 minutes of hanging around, getting into The Greatest Dog Show on Earth exhibition to see all 81 Gromits.

 

 

2. Getting a free ride on a fun house at Bridgwater Fair and taking my brother very slowly round - he certainly had his money's worth!

 

3. Meeting up with my Uni friends again at Aberystwyth for the second study school of my degree - lots of drinking, a bit of studying and lots and lots of laughs.

 

4. An impromtu firework display (courtesy of the local country club) at the end of the golden wedding anniversary steam party.

 

5. A simple bag of chips and cup of tea shared with Andrew at a lovely viewpoint overlooking Bristol.

 

 

What little things have made you happy this month?
 

This Weekend at the Duckpond

We have mostly been...

 

Queuing - to see The Greatest Dog Show on Earth exhibition housing all 80 (plus one extra) Gromits from the Bristol's brilliant Gromit Unleashed trail. It took us 3 hours and 20 minutes but it was well worth it.

Studying - well I had to make the most of those 3 hours somehow!

Enjoying - all the Gromits, housed together in one big happy kennel.
I did a post about it yesterday (which can be found here)

Thrifting (and Eating!) - on the way back from Bristol we stopped off at our local "lazy" (2pm start) car boot sale for spot of thrifting and a delicious slice of cake from the tea caravan.

Demolishing - part of one of our bedrooms; a cupboard which used to house our old boiler (before it decided to conk out on Christmas day morning last year). The room looks so much bigger now and on top of that, I get to browse for paint and wallpaper!

The obligatory before, during and after shots...




Watching - Frome Carnival, part of South West England's annual Carnival season.
This is now pretty much a part of almost every weekend until the 16th November; I'm going to write a post all about it in early October (for anyone who doesn't already know about our spectacular illuminated Carnivals) but I'm sure by November you'll all be completely bored by it.

What did you get up to at the weekend?