January Photo an Hour.

The lovely Louisa from Duck in a Dress  has taken over the mantle from Janey of organizing Photo An Hour every month. For January she chose last Saturday. We happen to be on holiday at the moment in a cottage on the Cumbrian coast. Wils brother and his wife came over for the night.So my pics include some sea, booze and food. 🙂

9am. A lovely lie in ( hurrah!) and a spot of breakfast telly.

10am. Hugo is still small enough to be picked up for a cuddle. 🙂

11am. Out and about on the beach in the front of the cottage.

Noon. Cheesy lunch!

1pm. Headed out to Ulverston ( the nearest town) and we are about to climb up to the John Barrow Monument on Hoad Hill. This pic was taken at about half past really. It didn’t take an hour to get to the top!

2pm. View from the top of Hoad Hill, looking out toward Morecambe Bay.

3pm. Rainbow in Ulverston. :))

4pm. Sheltering from the rain in a pub in Ulverston.

5pm. Back to the cottage and Wil lit the fire. Its toasty!

6pm.  Watching ‘Pointless Celeberities’ before we go out for tea.

7pm. Enjoying a cider….and another toasty fire in the Farmers Arms at Baycliff, the tiny village we are stopping in.

8pm. Tea in the pub. An amazingly tasty burger.

And thats it for my photos.But when I get home I’m sure I will post a few blogs about my stay here. Its such a lovely place and we adore the cottage. 🙂

A bloggers Christmas gift swap.

My most anticipated present to open this Christmas was without a doubt a well wrapped parcel I recieved in the post.

I took part in Janet’s ‘Thrifty Christmas Gift Swap’ which she has organized in the past too. I’m glad she decided to do it again this year.

Janet who blogs at Words that can only be your own made sure that everyone was randomly given a name of someone also taking part to buy for. I ended up getting Janet herself.No presure there then! :))

The aim was to be thrifty with your purchases.Find or make little gifts. Look in charity shops etc. Here is what I got Janet.

I made her a teacup candle ( I can’t sew , but I can make candles! ) as she likes vintage treasures. I also purchased a couple of cute and Christmassy brooches made by talented craft fair friends and luckilly Janet loves this time of year so a birdie tree decoration went in the box too. Finally I found a book of short stories by feminist authors from a second hand book shop in my home town. I think they went down well.:)

I too recieved a package in the post and above are all the lovely goodies that it contained! I was delighted when I saw that my parcel was from Louisa.Her blog Duck In A Dress is another of my faves. 🙂

Louisa really did her homework as all her gifts were so thoughtful and I love them all. She truelly spoilt me! Look at my beautiful Cath Kidston mug and Christmas card.

There were edible Christmas goodies galore too ,including a tasty selection of baked goods from her local farm shop Farringtons.

There was even a mini bottle of prosecco to wash them down with. And my goodies came with Alice in Wonderland ‘Eat Me’ and ‘Drink Me’ tags.

My favourite item from Louisa is without a doubt this childrens book from 1949 called ‘Plant and Animal Ways’.

It is packed full of gorgeous wildlife illustrations.Its an American publication and chapters include ‘Slippers and Sliders’ ( about snakes!), ‘Monkey Manners’ and ‘Fiddle Heads, Fronds and Ferns’. 🙂

Thanks to Janet for organizing the swap and Louisa for my fab pressies. X