the great outdoors

We've been having such lovely weather these past couple of weeks, so one Sunday we decided to get out there and enjoy it. We did the circular walk around Old Redding, which is about 3 1/2 miles. Katy moaned and moaned about doing a lon walk. The she asked if it was like a hike, so we said yes, it was just like a hike. 'Oh, I want to do it if it's a hike' she replied. See, it's all about the packaging!

It was beautiful out there, we all really enjoyed it.

Katy was very excited by the reindeers, thankyou to the kind people for sharing their reindeer food.

And with Aleida in mind, my first in my commitment to get more photos with me in.

And lastly, some layouts. The first two are using the via airmail kit from Studio Calico.

George in Sri Lanka, 1998. And below is our first stop on the Big Trip of 96-97, Sanur in Bali. Those were the days.

The layout below uses the Confections kit from Studio Calico. Love all the bright colours.
And this is using a gorgeous kit from Little Red Scrapbook.

changes

Looking back from one year to the next; Katy's first day of reception and year one. Look how much she's grown!

Don't you just love those shiny first-day-of-school shoes. Needless to say they are already scuffed.

Been in a thoughtful mood this weekend since those of us who spend time over at Studio Calico learned of the tragic death of Aleida in a car accident leaving a husband and two young children. She was a huge part of the board and was a lovely warm, kind and oh so funny woman. I looked back through some of my layouts yesterday and she had left comments on nearly every one. Recently on her blog she had been thinking about how she needed to make more of an effort to step out from behind the camera and be in more of her photos, that one day she wouldn't be here and there wouldn't be any photos of her with her kids. Apart from giving me mega shivers, that definitely gave me something to think about. And something to work towards.

My mosaic

My mosaic, originally uploaded by cathann1.

1. Lake Cathrine Panorama, 2. Colorfull Thai Mini Snack, 3. Joan of Arc, 4. ♫ YO Yo yo, there's no place like a green penthouse... so i told the genie i wanted to be well hung. ^o^ ♫ nah... wildlife from singapore♫, 5. armitage, 6. blissful moment, 7. One Night in Bangkok, 8. mango cheesecake, 9. True Mystery, 10. Clumber Bridge, 11. Bairro Alto de Lisboa, 12. 18. Cathann doin' the Somnambulist Twist

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

I've seen this on a few blogs lately and have always fancied trying out a mosaic, so here is mine. I think it's quite 'me'. It's fun to do.

Here's how you do it:

Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr search. Using only the first page of results, choose your favorite image, copy and paste each of the URL’s into the mosaic maker (4 columns, 3 rows).

The questions:

1. What is your first name? (Cathrine)
2. What is your favorite food? (Thai Food)
3. What high school did you attend? (St joan of Arc)
4. What is your favorite color? (Green)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (Richard Armitage)
6. Favorite drink? (cup of tea)
7. Dream vacation? (thailand)
8. Favorite dessert? (cheesecake)
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? (novelist)
10.What do you love most in life? (katy)
11. One word to describe you. (calm)
12. Your Flickr name. (cathann)

home from ireland

Mum's birthday party was great fun. Katy stayed on the daancefloor all night and went to bed at 2am! She was so good throughout the night, especially as she was the only child there.

Here she is looking out at the Shannon waiting for everyone to arrive.

After most of the birthday celebrations were finished, we moved the boat back to its marina. Katy hadn't been on 'her' boat for a while and she really enjoyed it this time. I enjoyed it more too as she was a much better age to understand the safety aspects of it all and was really good.

We went up the Shannon and onto Lough Ree, where Katy enjoyed waving to all the other boats and wildlife spotting.

She then had a go at the helm and took the boat through the markers onto the inner lakes. With a little help of course. The inner lakes were beautiful, it was so quiet and calm. We met more family at the marina and went for a gorgeous lunch in Grogans. I had my usual - steak sandwich and my only Guinness of the trip. Yummy.

It's nice to be home now, we have a week of uniform shopping and last minute sorting to do before life gets back into its normal routine.

been here, done that

I had a great weekend in London with the girls. It was lovely to be a tourist in my hometown for a change.

I had hoped to take loads more pictures but the day we went on the open top bus tour it was too wet to risk getting the camera out so I only managed a few.

But it was great fun to show the girls London, thankfully they really enjoyed it. i have just about recovered from the late nights.

Below are the first offerings from my new and improved craft room.

one for the grannies

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I've been meaning to do this for ages - here is Katy's first 5 years. Aww. Just click the photo to see the montage.

what I've been doing while the blog was down

Welcome to the home of wonky photos! I was super busy and productive befoe the holiday. Here's what I was doing.