Mud & Mischief

Photo heavy here folks - a warning for those on dial-up and a cause to celebrate for others. You know who you are…

Firstly, here’s RJ on the ferry, having refused to sleep more than 2 hours in the cot, finally crashed out and fast asleep on my bed (note the 8″ of bed I was left with, and the duvet hanging over the edge should he decide to wake up and roll out whilst I was in the bathroom). He then slept through the 6am announcement, the chappy knocking on the door with my tea and the girls all piling into my room from next door demanding breakfast at 6.20am. That’s continental time, and therefore, was really 5.20…

Our ferry, the Pride of Hull, as we disembarked in Rotterdam.

Bit of a gap here, as most of the really good photos are on James’ camera, but as he forgot to pack the gadget that swaps them from camera to PC, you’ll have to make do with my little camera shots. Shall take more on the way home!

< whole lot of 2 days in Germany missing here >

Apart from this-

I finished these in Germany, just before we crossed the Austria border. That morning, however, we’d been greeted with this:

and this:

Gorgeous.

We then spent the night in Bled, Slovenia and the following day drove to Croatia. Where we’re being put up in a very nice, new apartment for absolutely nothing (well, a few days of James’ time on the offroad course as a marshall) and these were taken today.

Tea and Piglet’s room.

Myf’s room (same as ours)

View from front door.

View from door next to fridge (bathroom)

Oh, and RJ has discovered the joys of standing in Daddy’s seat and pretending to drive.

You can’t prise him out of there!! He swings off the column shift and waggles the wheel, all the while bouncing up and down and grinning like a loon. After the first few times when he stepped off the edge of the seat and surprised himself by hanging from the wheel with one hand, he now doesn’t put a foot wrong.

And this afternoon, he spent over half an hour playing with a cardboard box. He chased it round and round the floor for ages - you can see him in the first apartment pic.

That’s your lot for today. xxx

Managed to get 15minutes of online time for €2. So what do I do with it?

Today we drove to a small town called St Goar, right on the Rhine in Germany. We have the most fabulous view from our window, right across the river and we can watch the car ferry go to and fro from our little balcony. We’re staying in the Hotel Hauser, http://www.hotelhauser.de/indexe.html.

The ferry trip was good, although I didn’t get much sleep. About, ooh, 4 hours at a generous estimate.

Right, internet time up. Catch you all later. xxx

“Oh no,” they say. “There’s no proof that there really is such a thing as global warming.”

Oh really?

My google homepage has a countdown timer on it and today it’s telling me that it’s 4 days until we go to Croatia.

I haven’t packed a ruddy thing. Not a stitch or a spoon or a scarf. Or a nappy or an anorak or an atlas . Or a book or a (knitting) bag or a boot.

And I need to put together my next parcel for my Secret Pal. In the last one she got a Simply Knitting magazine, some laceweight silk, a little Lush bath bomb and a package of Thorton’s fudge. And something else small, but I can’t remember what. There goes my brain again.

I can’t tell you what’s going in this one, in case she finds my blog. As theoretically we’re supposed to stay a secret from our spoilees, although I do know of a couple of folks who’ve figured out who their spoiler is.

But I digress…

Croatia. Hmm, yes. I have to pack for two adults and four children, for a fortnight and a bit, (Thursday 18th to Sunday 4th), for a transcontinental road trip. I do, however, have the added advantage of knowing there’s a washing machine in Wayne and Angela’s house for me to use. As we stayed there a couple of years ago. (scroll down to the 20th May)

Ok, shall go kick James out of bed so he can entertain RJ whilst I shower.

Then I might get back on track with what I was going to blog…

Spent a hour last night learning provisional cast on, and started knitting the Norwegian beanie my Secret Pal sent me the wool and pattern for.

Got halfway through the first fair isle row before I realised the dark green wool is, in fact, 4ply, and not DK like the other two. *sigh* One day, my brain will return. Until that day, please keep all sharp objects out of my reach and speak to me slowly using words of no more than two syllables.

I got the first parcel from my lovely Secret Pal today. Lookee!

It was a little delayed because of all the nonsense with Royal Mail, but it was worth the wait - I love merino wool! Thanks Pal

She also emailed me a couple of fair isle patterns, for mittens and a Norwegian hat, so I guess she’s hinting big time sending me three shades of green. The soap has olive leaves in it, and the cards are clues to her location. (I’d never look at the return address on the envelope now, would I?)

Got a few books from Amazon yesterday, two of which are ‘Living in Rural France’ and ‘Buying a house in France’. Shall go draw myself a bath and have a read and a soak.

edited to add - I knew there was another picture I was meaning to post!!

Yes, Cheesecake popped again. Three live girlie piggies and a stillborn one. They are so, so cute. And no, they aren’t hamsters.

The post below is passworded, as I don’t want it leaping out of the page at everyone and anyone. However, if you want the password, leave a comment here.

Ravelry here I come…

For some odd reason, this reminds me of my father. Sorry Dad