Moonlit Waters February update

I wanted to post my updates a little more often so that I can keep a better record of how I'm getting on, so here's where I'm at with Moonlit Waters at the moment.  I've had a couple of solid stitching days recently and I'm glad to get back onto the moon colours.  It's quite hard to take photos which show the detail in the left hand side, but I think this one came out ok!

I am very much hoping to get this page finished by the end of March.

Moonlit Waters cross stitch - page 4 of 36

Thanks for looking!

ricketyjo-in-london

Hello everyone,

I've decided to start a new blog specifically about my adventures in London and to talk about good things to do here if you are visiting, as I get asked for ideas quite often.  Please feel free to come and join and follow, I'd love to see you there.  Just getting started for the moment, but I have lots of posts being planned out and want to include plenty of photos :)

http://ricketyjo-in-london.blogspot.com

Thanks very much!
ricketyjo

Weekend in Filey

This weekend, the hubby and I decided to get away from it all for a long weekend out of London.  We headed up to the North Yorkshire Coast, to Filey.  As you'll see from the photos, we were so very lucky with the weather!

Sunrise at Filey

Growing up, Scarborough was always the seaside that I would visit with my parents, but in more recent years, we've visited Filey more.  The beaches are vast, perfect when the tide is out, with many dog walkers and families during the daytimes, but so quiet and peaceful late afternoon and into the evening. Filey itself has a small town, with many cafes and fish and chip restaurants, a few pubs and a mixture of small shops.

Cliffs near Filey Brigg in the afternoon sun

The thing that I noticed most of all was that through the weekend it felt like the days before the internet came and took over.  Families were outside splashing in the sea, walking in their wellies, eating ice creams (yes, in February!) or fish and chips on the beach, popping into the arcades to play on the 2p slots.  It was a really lovely and refreshing break.  We walked about 30 miles over the weekend and I can see my stomach muscles starting to return, so it was a very good and healthy break!

Panorama of cliffs, beach, sea and Filey Brigg

On Saturday we popped into Scarborough, just under 15 minutes by train.  This is much, much busier, especially on bright and sunny days, the arcades were full, town was busy and there were plenty of people walking round the North and South bay.  I was particularly impressed by the addition of a skate park where the old mini golf course used to be on the North Bay.  It was absolutely packed with kids on their bikes and skateboards with a gorgeous sea view... fantastic to give them somewhere to be at the weekends.

South Bay at Scarborough

Scarborough for me is still the seaside which has everything - walks, arcades, fish and chip shops, sea life centre, Peasholm Park, a little fun train, a high street... we even saw a few donkeys giving rides to the children.

Lighthouse and Fishing Boats, Scarborough

But if you are at all able to get to this bit of the UK coast, I highly recommend it for a lovely long weekend getaway.

Happy Valentine's Day

To all my fabulous followers,

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day.  And if you don't have someone to buy you a box of chocolates, then buy a box for yourself.  Or flowers.  Or something that makes you happy.

Love to you all,
Jo

Superbowl 47

Well, that was exciting, wasn't it?

Since we enjoyed watching last year, hubby and I decided to brave the late start time and watch again this year.  It took a while to get to grips with all the rules again but we soon got back into it.

We got stocked up with snacks and drinks.  We flaked out on the sofa.  It was pretty emotional to watch the Sandy Hook kids singing before it started.

Since neither of us really knew much about either of the teams we didn't really pick sides.  I thought the Ravens did a great job in the first half and that fantastic long run down the entire pitch was brilliant at the start of the second half.

Beyonce was so entertaining in the interval... slightly too much stomping and not quite enough clothes, but it wouldn't have surprised me if she had used up all the power and caused the power cut in the stadium (I'm sure that's not true though).  The Destiny's Child reunion was a great thing to see, although we weren't left in any doubt as to who the girl in charge was.  Seriously, I felt like I needed to immediately join the gym again and work at getting that fit that I can stomp-dance like that for 30 minutes in those heels.

Back into the second half of the game and it was great to see the 49ers come back so strongly and to close the gap right up...I had thought that there really wasn't going to be any chance for them but they really went for it and it seemed to be paying off.

One of the things I also enjoyed was following along on Twitter with what was being said about the game, it makes it a much more immersive experience, especially when you're in a completely different country and still picking it up.

I thoroughly loved the game, a shame about all the stop starting - 4 hours for 60 minutes of gameplay was very frustrating.  I'm also pleased that the UK is getting a taste of it with a couple of games at Wembley later this year, and I believe that they are already sold out.  I can see this sport taking off in the UK, hopefully one day I'll get to go and see a live game - I don't think it would be as frustrating to be dragged out for this long when you can pop out and have a beer and have the stadium atmosphere (and when it's not the early hours of the morning).

Until then, I'll just have to wait for the next one.   If you watched it, who were you rooting for and what did you think?

Back to the 90's

Those of you not in the UK, my apologies, you probably won't have a clue what I'm talking about. I've just watched the first episode of The Big Reunion on ITV2. (It's recorded from Thursday).

The basic premise is six 90's pop groups reforming for a one off gig, and being followed by cameras in the run up to it.

The 90's was my era - it was such a lot of fun. So many boy bands, girl bands and mixed groups. Smash Hits. Top of the Pops. They were everywhere. In the summertime, my sister and I would go to the local radio station's big summer party in the park and all these bands would turn up, mime their best songs and prance around on stage. They sold a lot of singles. To me, it was magic.

So I was excited about this TV show. On this week were 5ive and Liberty X. There was so much going on behind the scenes that I never had an inkling of, and for an innocent teenager, I'm sort of glad about that. But it did make me feel terribly sad to hear what some of them had been through. Having said that, they all seem to have come out of things relatively unscathed and grown up with families and husbands and wives and generally seem quite nice now. In the weeks to come, we will see Honeyz, B*witched, 911 (probably my favourites here along with 5ive) and Atomic Kitten.

I will look forward to the rest of the series (even though it makes me feel REALLY old), and I hope they will be recording that one off show at the Hammersmith Apollo, because it seems there are no tickets left. Such a shame, I've got a real urge to go and see them all again!