Oh, it was lovely!

Wasn't the weather amazing? The last few days of the holiday have just got warmer and warmer with the blustery winds finally dropping here yesterday. Bliss. Dave and the girls made malteser ice cream which was just delicious and not as sickly as it may sound. So nice to come home from a day on the beach to a bowlfull of this...



Lucy and some friends asked to be shown which herbs were edible in the garden and went on a tasting tour, happily scoffing chives, marjorams, oregano, rocket and mints of all kinds. They set up a herb stall outside our gate and bellowed at the world to come and get some for free. The dear souls in the road came and even tried to buy some (though the girls refused, thank goodness). It was so funny and so sweet as we hadn't a clue what they were up to until we heard the booming of Lucy through the living room window.



Obviously we did a lot of this (that's Davey swimming in the background. We all swam a lot in order to stop ourselves dissolving into little puddles in the heat):



and this...



and a fair bit of this...



We have also seen a lot of sealife, everything from anemones, sea slugs (not so cool), fish and crabs, both beautiful spider crabs and yummy brown crabs like this chap.



I also managed - finally - to finish two knitting projects which have been on the go forever it seems. A little lilac jacket for Isabella which is so soft and snuggly, especially when she had made herself absolutely freezing in the chilly sea. (And yes, I was supposed to have finished this an age ago as promised on my blog, but well, you know how it is!). Modelled at home...



and on the beach with one of the dresses I made for her last year.



This is Lucy's which is a different pattern, but fairly similar in overall appearance. She chose the colour (!) about three years ago - lucky I knit loose isn't it?



The dear little soul has lived in it since I finally gave it to her and I must admit to a small smattering of pride as I looked at Isabella in her dress and jacket, Lucy in her cardigan and Mr Davey doing some marking in the shirt I made for him last summer. Very lovely indeed.



So funny to watch Isabella lying on Daddy's back while he worked. I was able to complete lots of hand embroidery whilst watching the waves and had the very virtuous feeling that comes from seeing your workload go down while you are actually having a good time. Even nicer when you arrive home to find another lovely and very large order waiting on your computer. It's the time for beach bags I guess!



So, a lovely holiday of beach trips where my lovely son Tom and his pretty girlfriend Lynne joined us on a couple of occasions (it does make you feel great when older children actually choose to spend time with you on a family beach rather than head off to a surf spot!), where meals at home were relaxed and eaten after glasses of wine in the garden as the heat left the day, where homemade ice cream seemed to last forever and where, hopefully, the whole is a taste of the summer to come.



Have a lovely Monday x