Mission Accomplished

As you know, the Roses' summer wasn't the best on record, it was a very up and down affair and by the end of it we all desperately needed a holiday. We hadn't actually been away together as a family for five years and were beginning to feel it... At the end of every week, M and I would have this long chat about whether we would/wouldn/t be able to manage a short break away and as my dad's health was so up and down we felt that the answer would inevitably be no...



So you can imagine my surprise when two days before M was due his annual leave, my father gave the thumbs up to us going away, our dream holiday destination had a last minute cancellation and it seemed that the "Holiday gods" (to coin a phrase from the incredibly funny book "The Tent The Bucket And Me" by Emma Kennedy) were smiling down on us.
So we set out on a wet, dreary Friday 13th on our summer adventure...

And I should have known as soon as I saw the front door everything would be alright. With its colours resembling our very own Emporium and a sign waiting to greet us, I knew it was meant to be...



To be continued ...

Sweet peas, honey bees & daisies

If I type this very quietly maybe nobody will notice that I'm not behind my sewing machine, beavering away. I promised myself a sewing day but I Just wanted to say that I hope you are all having some of this beautiful sunshine today. Sun shining from the moment I sprang out of bed (well 'sprang' not really the word, since I seem to have broken yet another toe!), all day long and I even managed to eat my lunch in the garden too.




You could almost be forgiven for thinking it was summer - the summer that never was... There is of course the whiff of Autumn in the air and we have woken up this week to seamists, the whiff of changing seasons in the air and holly trees bedecked in frosty jewelled cobwebs.



So when days like these come along, you have to seize them and enjoy. Almost as much as I am enjoying these lovely posters that we have recently added to our Emporium - let the sunshine in indeed!
Enjoy your week.
PS Holiday photos have been uploaded! And some time between now and Christmas at this rate I'm going to share them with you. Here's a clue - we went on a mission....

Almost tea time...

I sat down this afternoon, put the kettle on, put some cupcakes in the oven to bake, found the magazine I'd been wanting to read all week, planned out what I was going to share with you about our holiday in my next blog post and in true "Would you believe it?" fashion, the phone rang, my youngest daughter was feeling poorly and needed collecting from school.
Apart from being one of the longest sentences I've written, it goes to show you that you just can't have your cake and eat it ... well not until you've driven to school, the tea's gone cold and you've spent an hour or two administering calpol and run out of time to read your magazine.
I WILL, I WILL get those holiday photos uploaded - promise!

September Sunshine

Thank you all so much for the lovely and kind comments on my last post. I am very relieved to say that my father seems to be on the mend, although it is a very slow process. Unlike the hands on the clock which seemed to have whizzed round this summer and we now find ourselves in September...
Whilst it may not have been the best of summers for us here at the Ragged Roses house, there have been many, many reasons to smile. Days of sitting on a sunny beach were few and far between but moments of sheer happiness have been savoured:

Seeing my father last week, up and dressed and being his usual naughty self...

The sound of my eldest daughter's voice when she rang home to tell us her GCSE results - amidst all the doom and gloom, her hard work had been rewarded, her dream results were achieved and the maths calculator banished! I don't think I will ever forget the sound of her voice on the phone that day...

Mr Roses surprising us gals with a very unexpected return trip to see "Wicked". A show made to make your spirits soar if ever there was one. Only to be matched by the size of the beams on my daughters' faces when the curtain rose...

Watching Little Sister trundle off on her first day to Secondary School last week. Completely swamped by the size of her schoolbag and PE kit and returning home relieved and just a little bit older...

Spending the day with her yesterday as she completed her first bit of homework. Rewarding ourselves with a batch of homemade brownies and a much awaited cuddle on the sofa whilst singing along to DVD of Mama Mia...

Emails and phone calls from friends who have been so kind to me this summer and, yes Dottie, what would i have done without you?

The first evening of our holidays when I started to laugh hysterically and realised that I hadn't laughed for a very long time... Oh yes, we even managed a little holiday and i have lots to say about that very soon!