Back from our annual holiday in Germany today. While I enjoyed the 'time off' from work, it wasn't all nice as first I managed to tear a muscle in my left calf (1 day before the holiday, just by walking in the garden)and then my son Dan got seriously ill. He was admitted to hospital with neurological problems, he had an MRI scan and EEG's. He is much better now, but it still needs further investigation.

I will change the format of this blog a little bit as I don't want to focus purely on my cross stitch, maybe change the title and will try to write more often. For today, I'm just dog-tired and nothing more. brain empty! The plane journey was sort of ok, but as I am a very polite person I hate pushing myself in the front for the best seats (we are talking Easyjet - I quite like flying with them, they have enabled me to see my family more often then I could otherwise afford, but as you all might now, they don't allocate seats so it's everyone fights for their own. ) Anyway, yes, I'm too polite to push myself in the front and ended up almost last on to the plane with my 3 children. we all had to sit seperately, all the kids and me had places in between other people and I kept having to shout down the plane 'Dan , everything ok?' 'Ruby, do you want a drink' etc. Then arriving in Luton and the trains were all messed up. We had to get out in Kings Cross and take the Underground for part of the journey - what a nightmare up the stairs, down the stairs with 1000 people pushing about. I got well stressed.

and here, once more, is the framed wedding sampler. Sara was really moved and obsolutely surprised, she gave me a big hug.

I haven't posted my updates earlier this week, so here they are. Unfortunately, can't get a good picture of the Monet picture, especially as it is pre-printed as well.

Done! I finished the wedding sampler yesterday. Now it's only the small matter of framing, which unfortunately is always a big deal for me, as I can only go the Hobbycraft for supplies (or a general store like Wilkinsons), and whatever they have is usually very limited to standard stuff. But it sure is impressive and I hope Sara will appreciate it for what it is - if you know what I mean. I think she is the type to appreciate this kind of gift. It sure was fun to stitch and I think it is very beautiful.
Now this is what I'm currently stitching in the train on my way home every day. It will be a Labrador eventually. I'm that sort of stitcher that I'd like to stitch about things which currently go on in my life, e.g. if I visit the Zoo, I feel like doing a tiger picture ... I started to get into Labrador pictures when we got Bonnie in March (funy enough!), and I'll show my progress every week. It's not a large picture, but I only manage to put in about 3 thread lenghts 4 times a week on the train. (whenever I finish at 2pm)

Today it rained finally after a long time, all the grass and flowers were already really drying out, so we needed the rain. On Saturday I was chased by those big clouds when I walked Bonnie and was glad I made it home in time, but believe it or not, nothing came down - it only started to rain today.

Every day I walk with Bonnie in the area which is basically right across the street from us. You have to cross a footbridge to reach it, as it runs right past a busy A-road. It's the area from our houses right down to the River Thames. The old Joyce Green Hospital used to stand on this site, but it was pulled down in 2000 (if my information is right, this was before we moved to Dartford in 2003). There is also a Powerstation on the land, and a sewage plant. After the hospital closure the area became a bit of a wasteland and was claimed by groups of teenagers who used it to ride their motorbikes and ..aehm, whatever teenagers do I suppose! (All I know is that in the summer we saw fires ever so often over the site, burning cars etc).

About 2 years ago, developers moved in and the whole site will be re-designed. They will build many residential houses and flats, even a school and a leisure centre and lots of office buildings, they call it a mixed-use site.. It's being advertised as 'sustainable living'. I guess because the developers kind of build around the small lakes which are on the site..I bet they didn't tell prospective homebuyers about the sewage plant LOL .Anyone who is interested can have a look on: http://www.thebridgedartford.co.uk/. It's great that they made pathways which we can walk on now, but unfortunately, mostof the wonderful green space which we have now will of course go... not much point then for me to go walking there, I might as well walk the streets of Dartford.

I absolutely love wildflowers. I love watching them and taking pictures of them, for me wildflowers are much more beautiful than, for example, cultured roses and similar. And I like them best were they belong - in the countryside or where-ever really. For most people, and especially developers, I suppose their are just weeds. And I'm always so disappointed when I go for my walk and find that another row of wildflowers has been ripped out. They usually put lawn, very short and very uniform... Or worse, it gets concreted over. All I can do for the meantime enjoy it while I can. Oh, I just wish I could move to a house where I'm just surrounded by countryside and lots of wildflowers with no-one to 'develop' the area.

Ruby and me went to see 'High School Musical' in London Hammersmith Apollo on Thursday. I had booked the tickets a long time ago, and Ruby had been counting the weeks, days etc. Now the day was finally here.

I took Thursday and Friday off from work - ghosh, it felt so nice and I realised I hadn't had a day off during the week since April. I picked Ruby up early from school and she changed into her 'HSM outfit'. That was a dead giveaway of course, and when we bought our underground tickets at Embankment station and I told the ticket guy we have to go to Hammersmith, he said straight away 'You are off to see High School Musical? Nice guess. Coming out of Hammersmith Underground station, you arrive in a shopping centre, and the first thing you almost fall into is a big Disney store.... packed full with HSM stuff... Ruby sometimes doesn't know her limits, so I told her she can have ONE thing - and she chose a school bag (which at least is going to be useful!). Then we had some time to spare, and we walked down the roads of Hammersmith when this huge thunderstorm started. We sheltered as much as we could in shop doorways, and sprinted across the street to find a Chinese Buffett Restaurant. The food was not exactly high cuisine, but hey, it filled our tummies. In the subway going to the theatre, illegal sellers were offering memorbilia etc, pompoms for £5 - no thank you.

Once inside, we walked around a bit, it is actually not that big place. Our seats were in the stalls, right at the left end (seats 1 + 2). The place filled quickly, though it was not fully booked, I'd say probably 80%. And then it was off to enjoy the show! The mostly very young actors were brilliant, and the choreography spot on (lots of dancing!). I was pleaseantly surprised that quite a few of the actors/dancers were not exacly super-slim - nobody can tell me that a big girl can't be as fit and dance and move as good as ultra-slim versions! The only 'famous' name in it was Letitian Dean (x-Eastender's actress), however, she did not had a lead role, and I think I wouldn't even have recognised her. My favorite part was the young guy who acted as a worm (crawling on the stage). I won't tell you how much I spend on 1 plastic cup of Coke which Ruby urgently needed (!!) during the intervall...There was lots of singing and dancing in the aisles at the end, and Ruby and me also got up and danced in the aisle(me) and on the seat! (Ruby)

We'll certainly remember this day for a long time!

Here is finally my update from last week. Nearly done! the needle seems to be flying now that I'm nearing the end. I had to go again to Hobbycraft this week because I'd run out of DMC221 again. Luckily they had the colour. And I finally got a frame for Rani's picture (my cat). I don't like framing because I always think I'm gonna mess it up! I will try my best maybe tomorrow.

Stephen King ' Dolores Claiborne '

After every 5 books or so I read, I sneak a Stephen King book into my reading rotation - as many of you know, I am a biiig Stephen King Fan and hope to visit 'his' state Maine one day!

This book is rather different in style and story. The story is told as a monologue by the main heroine, Dolores. Right in the first pages, she tells the police chief that she did not kill her employer, Vera, for whom she was a housekeeper, but she did kill her husband...and then the story unfolds and she tells us the story of her life. She is a very brave women.

If you look for blood and guts, you won't find any, but there is plenty of suspense, and as always, King paints his characters beautifully. He talks about domestic and sexual abuse in the way only he can describe it, and it doesn't ever get boring. I finished the book in 2 days. Some scenes from the book will stay with me, for example how Dolores tries to trick her bedbound employer Vera whom she has to literally clean the 'S&*t' she produces, and Vera seems to know how to trick Dolores so it always ends up in the freshly made bed. great stuff.