So Harvey

A Fathers Day post.

Once, long ago, but not so very far away, I went to buy a suit. It was for a boy who was getting married that summer, and - after - starting his very first job. 

We knew nothing about buying suits. My dad had been a tweed sports coat man, teacher chalk in the pockets; his, always a modest clerical charcoal. We were starting from nothing. we walked to the far end of the town, to the Co op, and we looked for cheap, in the last of those days when "serviceable" was a real word, and we found it.

And we got married; and, in the years since then, there have been many more suits: the navy wool, the Prince of Wales check, double breasted, single, narrow, wide, accommodating, sharp. We had a son; and, standing in Zara last Saturday afternoon, I realised how the world has moved on. He knows what he wants, he has a plan. He has two parents to stand beside him and tell him that, yes, looking like Harvey from the TV show "Suits" was entirely possible and probably just exactly the right way to go.

He's almost the very same age, now, that his Dad was when I met him. It's the same, but it's different. That's right. I think.

Happy Fathers Day!

Swap Sorted?

Today I want to do one last, final swap round up before we tie it all round with a big bow and think about something new.

Lots of you have been in touch to let me know it has all gone smoothly for you. Thank you! That's much appreciated. PLEASE, if you haven't received your swap by the beginning of next week, do email me and I'll do everything I can to make it right. I've been ticking names off my list and spotting the photos as they have been appearing on blogs across the world, so I'm hoping EVERYONE is nearly done. I've had a lot of fun with it. Maybe in another six months or so we could do it again? 

Every time I have spied a picture of a parcel it has felt a bit like Christmas: maybe you've seen some of these too, but I wanted to give a big shout out and thank you to everyone who has posted. Click on any one for a peek of what we have been posting..

- There's Sandie and Linda and Alison and Fiona

- then Jane and Amy and Estelle and Miriam

- or how about Alana, Lisa- Jane, Rinda or Alinor

- not forgetting Abi, Ifa, Nathalie and Julie

- quickly followed by Kirsty, Jennie, Deb and Louise

- or Susan, Chipper, Cheri, Jennifer and Alexa

Aren't they a wonderful collection? My Group One partner - another lovely Jo - sent me a beautiful parcel which I've been putting to good use this past week. Thank you Jo!

Thank you, everyone!

What I Think About When I'm Cutting and Sticking

Today I'm wondering what's on everyone's mind when they are doing a bit of cutting and sticking? Do you think big, heavy thoughts? Mull over the events of the day? Or idly muse on something simple?

Last week I gathered up all the scraps on my desk and made a few "blank canvas" cards: deliberately leaving a space at the bottom to add to at a later date. As I stuck them together I pondered:

- It's true what they say: a little Glossy Accents goes a very long way. And "dries clear" doesn't actually mean "dries clear" in any meaningful sense. Oh.

- Anyone who eats while scrapbooking has my admiration. I have a scampi fries dusted layout to prove it's not for me.

- A big bow looks lovely. But only if you can tie a lovely bow. And that's not always me.

- That sky blue enamel dot which I noticed stuck to the lid of the breadbin would be perfect right now. But it's not here because it fell off some part of me in the kitchen yesterday.

- I'd like to find the person who invented that red extra sticky double sided tape and shake her by the hand. Non- sticky hand, of course.

- It's so warm up here that I really need to open the window. But if I do, a freak breeze will blow everything off the table and scatter it down the stairs in some kind of weird paper art installation. Or I could just suffocate.

- That was the doorbell. was that the doorbell? Someone else will get it. No, no one else has got it. maybe it was the postman. Maybe it was the window cleaner who really needs paid. Maybe it was that nice man from the American Consulate again (long story, needs a layout).

- The coffee and biscuits are downstairs. The coffee and biscuits are downstairs....

Yes, that last one won in the end. How about you? Any thoughts?

A Little Bit Rock and Roll

Read a bit about Yoko Ono in the paper last weekend.

"Energy is so important," she says. "If you don't have it, don't bother with rock and roll." 

Oh.Right. Part of me is feeling energetic. I've certainly been scrapbooking; but it all has to be saved up for now. My Get It Scrapped pages will start appearing in July. Part of me feels like putting my feet up with a bit of knitting. It's not even new knitting at that; but maybe it's a little bit rock n roll?

Photos by Carmen

A hat I made a while back for the handsome son of my blogging friend Carmen. Who rocks Rocking My World Friday like no one else. It's one of my favourite blog memes ever. Definitely worth a look! And Logan? I'll try to get rolling on a bigger sized hat. just as soon as I can.

And in the End There are Dreaming Pants

Oh, Little E, with your head in the clouds. ..

I've always thought of that nephew of mine (you know the one: winning smile, Very Wise Glasses), as a man with his feet on the ground. he knows what's what, does Little E. But, it turns out, he's a dreamer too.

He loves a good sleepover, for a start. Take the one he had at Granny's a couple of weeks back. I heard they spent most of the day playing taxis. Which means that Little E climbed into the driver's seat of Granny's special take-my-wheelchair-anywhere van, and Granny sat beside, in her wheelchair on the drive while they travelled. To the moon, to the Post Office, to Kathmandu, most probably to the sweet shop. And, at the end of it all, he put on his pyjamas, crawled onto his camping mattress and fell fast asleep.

We managed to wear him out the day he was with us, too.

"Dad, your Play date is here," said The (Not So) Small One, looking out of the window at the small boy clambering out of his parents car. And within minutes her father had bustled Little E into the garden to do Man Stuff. 

"Mum, you've got to come and see this," The (Not So) Small One came running back round the corner. "He's actually making him work. They're pouring sand into all the holes in the drive. But worse than that...they're wearing matching outfits. It's like something out of The Chuckle Brothers. I'm going to take a picture."

So she did.

And then they worked on, and it was time for Little E to go home, and within five minutes of his getting into the car, I got a text from his Mum. Good Job. He's fast asleep.

Not all texts are like that, though. last week there was word of A Very Bad Day. It's terrible! Teddy Pippin got left in McDonalds and he's gone. No one will sleep in our house tonight..

It was true. Teddy Pippin had vanished; and, despite everyone's very best efforts, he couldn't be found. We were all gutted. Little E tried to be brave, but he was sad, no doubt about it, and sleeping was hard. Until his auntie and his cousin on the other side came to the rescue. Teddy Pippin had come from their house in the first place, and it turned out that they had another one: loved, but outgrown, and now passed on by a very kind cousin. You rock, Molly! And so harmony was restored. sleep was back on the to-do list.

Life settled back down to normal and Little E found some time for a bit of shopping: new underpants. He slipped them on with some satisfaction, admired himself and looked up at his Mum, with a smile on his face..

"They are," he said, They are Great Dreaming Pants"

I could do with some Dreaming Pants of my own. Couldn't you?

If I had a pair, I expect they would make it to Storytelling Sunday. Thank you for the stories so far this month. Don't forget you have until next Sunday to write your story and add your link. Newcomers, old timers, everyone is very welcome!

For Little E, of course, but with a wave to another little boy I know: one with a big new bed and some new pyjamas. You sleep tight, too!