Tuesday

 Good morning, everyone, and thank you for your lovely comments made to my rather sparse entries over the weekend.  

I'll start with Sunday which turned out to be a gloriously sunny day, none too warm, especially on the cliff and by the shore, but the sunshine was fab.

Instead of heading south again, I went north.  The tide was still coming in so I went along the 'promenade' type path rather then the sand and a stiff (and very cold) breeze created some lovely sea horse waves, white and splashy.  I took some photos - obviously!

Just imagine the wave power that moved the rock from the right of the picture over to the other side of the path.  Amazing!

The above were taken before breakfast.  In the afternoon I went back and there was space to walk up the sand and I was able to go a fair bit further up along the water's edge which was lovely!  The wind had died down too so it was absolutely lovely.

Potters really is very pleasant.  The accommodation (they call them 'bungalows' although there are also some hotel rooms too) are more very nice Butlins than Center Parcs.  Not luxury or eloegant but perfectly comfortable, cosy and warm with efficient radiators and plenty of hot water plus a very good WiFi and serviced every day. 
The all inclusiveness is fantastic.  You truly don't have to spend a penny more - all the food and the drinks are inclusive, the daytime and evening entertainments are better than my experience of Warners and even the bookable activities like shooting and archery, things that require supervision, are included.  The only extras are things like massages/nail treatments, etc
When you fancy, for example, crazy golf or a game of tennis, just go to reception to pick up the necessary equipment.  If someone is already there, you wait, but I didn't see any 'waiting' going on.

As for the staff - they were all, without exception, excellent, going far more than the extra mile to make the stay a good one.  In the restaurant, you have your allocated table and the same waiter or waitress for each meal so you get to know them and they you.  And as for the food - mmmmmmmm.

Lindsey had been given a nice large room for her classes, two on Saturday morning and two on Sunday.  I did one class each day and thoroughly enjoyed them.  The rest of the time I swam (nice pool with sauna steam and a whirlpool), walked, went to some quizzes (very, very funny) and pre dinner music, chilled in my room . . .
There were a whole lot of things I wanted to do but didn't have time for.
Can you tell I had a good time?

Yesterday, the journey home was very easy.  While the A12 was quite busy, everything was moving at a good lick and there were no holdups or diversions.  I really couldn't have asked for more.

Almost the first thing I did once I had unpacked was to take the poor car to the car wash.  Let's just say it had undergone the Potters seagull experience to the extent that I ummed and ahed about scraping it all off and selling it as fertiliser!
Then I popped down the road for tuition.
Things are really back to normal now - for now, anyway, but I might possibly be going to the other Potters place at Five Lakes, much closer to home, for a Monday to Friday break at some point before too long.  Bad me!

So - today, Tuesday, is my Nothing in the Diary day.  I do need to get some fresh stuff in so I think I will go to Sainsbury's as I need a photo for my driving licence and the booth at Morrisons is out of order.
I have washing, drying (sunny day forecast - yay) and ironing to do but the house is tidy and clean so I am going to chill with my sewing and reading.  Getting back to healthy eating will be hard work, I think, so I must plan some favourite meals to help.

And look forward to the next short break which is a few days in Bury St Edmunds in April.  Nice.

And, most of all - I want to catch up on everyone else's blogs over the weekend.  xx

Monday

 Good morning, everyone.  After a lovely day yesterday, with wall to wall sunshine, it's pretty much time to leave and go home - just breakfast to go and then we're off.  
I'll be back once I'm home.

xx

Sunday

Morning, everyone.  After a really dull, slightly damp day yesterday, we have sunshine right now.  It's almost half past seven and I need to get a move on, have my shower, get dressed and stroll down to the beach because I suspect the sun won't last all that long.

Sadly, I didn't get much of a sand walk yesterday because the beach is divided into sections with wave breaks, either wooden or rocks, so you can't go very far before having to stop.  I took this photo at one end of the Potter's section and you can see the other end.  The sand is lovely though.

Not to worry.  I walked south along the path above the rocks (a man made barrier, not natural) for a while and it was nice - cold, damp but nice - until I came to this  . . .

. . . and here's the reason.

You could see where part of the cliff (not a rocky cliff, more a very, very steep sandy slope) had broken away and the path didn't look any too secure either.  Where there were some concrete steps going down to the sand, they had moved and were very wonky.  I'm not sure how well the wonkiness shows but it was - very.

It was a really nice walk, all the same, and I got some more nice, splashy wave photos.

This was the afternoon.  Before then I'd done one of Lindsey's classes in the morning and had a 45 minute swim so it was a pretty energetic day really.

I'm not a late night person in any way so, after dinner, I came back to my room and chilled.  

Today is more of the same really and I'm going to stop this now, get washed, etc, and make the most of the early sun.  Have a great day, everyone.  xx

Splash!

 Just a few splashy photos from the (private - ooooooooh) beach at high tide earlier this morning.  I'm going back down shortly to see if the tide is lower so I can walk along the sand.  I love a beach walk.

Saturday

 Well, here I am at Potters.  The weather when I started out yesterday was horrible but as I travelled up, the weather improved considerably, the sun came out and it was lovely.

Two unfortunate things - the sat nav got confused and sent us a way I hadn't planned for and then we hit several 'road closed' signs.  Not to worry - we got there eventually and I am so glad I had someone else in the car.

The other was that I hadn't been well over Thursday night so was significantly short of sleep and still not feeling all that great.  I excused myself from the evening's events, went to bed and have slept the clock round.  I feel fine now, so that's good.

No photos yet but I found this on Facebook which will resonate with any primary teacher readers.  I laughed out loud when I read it.

It's always good to start the day off with a chuckle, isn't it?  xx

Thursday

Morning, everyone.  Sorry I'm  bit later with this - I had a late start so everything is correspondingly later too.
After another wet and miserable day yesterday, things have improved considerably and, right now, the sun is shining and I'm hoping I can dry my washing on the line. 

The only diary thing is coffee and chat with Chris.  It's really my turn to host but it was so, so noisy next door yesterday that I asked if I could go to her and, snap, she was about to ask me over because they could hear the noise over the other side of the cul de sac!  I'll make up my share when things are calmer again.
I don't mind - you have to break eggs, as the saying goes and anyway, it'll be noisy in my garden when they start the garden room.

And talking of garden rooms - I've started buying stuff!  Aldi are getting in another lot pf their 'egg chairs' and I've ordered one!  Woo hoo.  It's something I've rather fancied for a while but it's not something that can be left out in the gardenand storage was a bit of an issue.
This is it.

As Eileen said, I've been thinking and planning furnishings, etc.  I rather fancy some wicker furniture with chintzy fabrics and, on the back wall, framing the freezer (which will have to go in), some neat, maybe Shaker style, probably white kitchen units.  I'll be looking round to see what I can find - I have no idea what the style is at the moment but I think I want white, not the grey you see everywhere nowadays.
I could even have some of my cross stitch picture on the walls, couldn't I?  That would be very nice!

Anyway, as you can see, I have 'ideas'!  lol

After coffee and chat, although there's nothing in the diary, I shall be very busy getting everything sorted out for the weekend and I want to get those buttons from Hobbycraft.  Also, as I am now driving and taking someone else too, I need to get the route sorted out.  It's further up than Southwold so I do know the route a bit but you know what I'm like with journeys - I need to be 100% sure and even then I worry!  :-)

So that's today planned out.  I'll probably post tomorrow but I can't guarantee the weekend.  It all depends on what the internet connection is like.  I hope it will be fine but, if I don't appear, don't worry.  That's all it will be.

Have a super day, everyone, and be happy!  xx

Wednesday

 Good morning, everyone.  After a very damp day yesterday, it is damp again this morning and doesn't look like clearing in the next hour or so anyway.  So isn't it good that I don't HAVE to go out until mid afternoon and, after the usual houseworky daily stuff, I can sit and indulge in more cross stitch and/or applique.

Yesterday was good fun.  The Garden Room chap (Matthew by name) arrived bang on time and spent a good three quarters of an hour with me going through everything, explaining, showing me nice pictures and advising.
There was no sales talk though, no pushing, thank goodness.  Nothing is more guaranteed to put me off than a hard sell.  
I was pleased that there was a lot more flexibility than their brochure indicated and things like an internal wall (to create a 'shed' area with its own outside door), a water butt, different colour on the outside, etc, were all perfectly do-able.
That's the first one.  Now to organise a few more so I really do have a choice.

Oh, and best thing - it was well within budget.  Yay!

Tuition went well too - my student is so much more confident as they progress through year 6 (they have a very good teacher) and it's a pleasure to work with them.  Yesterday was things like finishing off a piece of extended writing, sorting out the conversion of miles to kilometres and back (we both had a bit of a blind spot with that one but no longer - it's the one pre-metric measure they need to know because miles are still in common usage) and some geometry formulae (just basic ones).

The rest of the day was pottering around inside.  As well as the homey stuff, I did more cross stitch and it's coming on nicely now.  I've gone wrong in a couple of places, one of which I need to deal with (it's just one stitch out of place so not a disaster) while the other is just not noticeable.

I played around with the applique again.  This is what I made - I don't like that button, it doesn't sit well but it's all I had.  Maybe I will pootle off to Hobbycraft as they sell jars of buttons for crafting and I rather like the idea of adding buttons to applique.  I love buttons!

I experimented with different edgings - blanket stitch, chain stitch and herringbone stitch and the outline is 'a la Sharon Blackman' who uses outlining a lot in her creations.
I rather like the effect (it can become another card) and want to extend the idea by having a few leaves scattered around.  I can't add them because they should have gone on first.

I also want to try turning the edges under using a suitable shape - a heart, perhaps - and I'd love to do a stylised beach hut picture.  

Just imagine - maybe, come the autumn, I can sit in my garden room, bifold doors wide open, in an easy chair, stitching away . . .   < happy sigh >

Back to reality!

Today is another easy day until it's time for personal training when Lindsey will, as usual, thoroughly wake me up.  She was away a few days ago so I'm looking forward to hearing all about it.

Also, I must start thinking about Packing for Potters (good film title, that) and start getting things out and ready.  I won't have time to pack on Friday.

Enjoy your Wednesday, everyone.  What's the weather like your way - nicer than round here, I sincerely hope.

Take care, stay safe and be happy.  xx