Tuesday 6 September 2011

Bloggers' Block and a Photo Gallery

I haven't written a blog post for ages. More than two weeks. It's not that I haven't had anything to write about - life is busy and there's been lots going on.  It's not that I have no interesting photos - I've taken quite a few, of our few days away by the sea, of books and projects I've been working on, of the cat, even of my computer... 
I think I have writer's block - or blogger's block at least.  I've kind of run out of steam... or just don't feel like putting the kettle on anyway.
I'm not tired of blogging - I like having a blog and writing posts.  I love reading what my blog friends have written. I'm not depressed, or too tired - I'm fine and quite contented (other than not having written any blog posts).  It's not even "can't-be-bothered-itis" - if I could come up with something, I'd have written several posts....
I just don't know what to write about.  Yet, I have plenty of subject material. 

Perhaps I will have a little "Photo Gallery" of my favourite pictures from the last three or so weeks.  That might produce something interesting...

22nd August - Wells-Next-the-Sea, North Norfolk


 We stayed at the YHA....
 This house is the one we want to buy and live in, if we happen to win the Lottery any time soon.
After our tea, we went "out for pudding" - there's a Dutch sailing boat, called the Albatross, which sits in the harbour all summer.  They have a restaurant and bar.  You can sit downstairs and play games, then eat the most fabulous Dutch Pancakes - mine was apple & cinnamon!
Then we had an evening stroll along the harbour, before heading back to the hostel for a good night's sleep.

Tuesday 23rd August - Hunstanton

My two nieces came to Hunstanton for the day, along with their respective "Other Halves" and babies.  We drove over there to meet up with them.  The weather was so different to Monday - it was cold, drizzly and misty - quite horrible. 
The little ones played on the rides at the "slots", then we went to the Beach - hardened Britishers like us.... we're not afraid of a bit of wind and drizzle... (but it was blooomin' freezing cold!)
The babies had a rest, while E determinedly played in the sand...
J made sand-drawings and K was busy with her camera....
Some serious Sand-castle building was done by all...

and we all went to a cafe to warm up (hot chocolates and cups of tea!)... before heading to the fairground to have some more fun. 
The "grown-ups" went on the Waltzer and Bumper Cars. The Teacup Ride was a reward for E. and A, for being good girls and waiting with Auntie, while their Mummies and Daddies - and Uncle and Cousin - had fun on the Bumper Cars. E. was upset that everyone went on these without her. It took a bit of ingenuity and determination to distract her and stop her screaming the house down (she isn't quite 3 yet)... The Disney Princess Teacup was a very useful distraction!

So, we had a lovely time together, in spite of it being about ten degrees (Celsius) below the normal temperature for August!

Wednesday 24th August - A Day at the Beach

We walked along the harbour wall...  This is the view across the saltmarsh and back towards Wells.  It just feels like being "home"... sigh...

We lazed about...
while DS buried himself in the sand...
...and satisfied his boyish soul, by digging a large hole, just for fun...
..before going off for a long wander with his dad, down to the sea...
This is why we come here!

Talking of "houses"... A Beach Hut very like this one was for sale in the window of the local Estate Agents... Three Guesses how much it would cost.... £10k? £15k? £30k?
* * *
* * *
Study this closely... it's the bottom corner of the Estate Agent's details in the window... !!!! Breathtaking!
If you fancy your own tiny piece of on-the-beach real-estate, at Wells in North Norfolk, you need a healthy £60-£75k in your bank account!

Thursday 25th August - Just Pottering About...

We had another walk around the town and harbour area.  Did a bit of shopping, spent some time relaxing at the hostel, as it rained for a while...
In the evening, we went down to the harbour and J had some fun...

Rhino the Hamster has nothing on J!
Then D got fish and chips for our tea,
which we ate sitting on the seats by the old harbour...
...watched by our neighbours..
..followed by another nice evening walk, along the harbour-side, back up the hill through the edge of the town and back to the hostel.

We came home on Friday - just as well, as the weather turned nasty and it poured with rain.  We drove across the Fens with rain lashing down the whole way.  It was a bit of a relief to reach home!

Someone was pleased to see us anyway!

You know, that was only a very short holiday - just three-and-a-half days really, if you allow for the driving each way - but it was the best holiday I've had for a very long time!  We didn't do anything specially extraordinary - just enjoyed ourselves relaxing and going with the flow... and meeting up with the Gang, which was great.  I just had the Best time! 

It was quite a wrench to leave Wells and come home again... it usually is a bit of a struggle, but this time I was really down for several days.  I get "home-sick" for Wells - we have to go there at least once a year.  I would dearly love to live there, if it was practicable (it's not - at least not just now, for so many reasons)...  One day....

* * *

So, that was our short break in Wells.  Since then, we've had a week of jobs, housework, general "stuff" and getting ready for DS' return to school, which is tomorrow. 

I've still been working hard on some course preparation and book commissions:

Example pieces for a Christmas Papercrafts course, for the Frontiers Club.  I hope to teach this in December - the submission went in over the weekend along with three other courses - two sock-creatures and one about making books.

A scrapbook, for a lady in USA, which was made along with a set of 20 page-labels with mounts cut from this same patterned paper. 
The binding is sewn in two colours - red and chocolate linen together.  The edge of each pair of pages is wrapped with both patterned and red paper.
The page-wraps also act as spacers, making more room inside the book, for the customer's scrapbook pages.

Today I completed another book project, which I sent off in this afternoon's post.  It's a Wedding Guest book, which I will post about soon, when the photos are ready.

So, you can see I've had plenty to keep me occupied.  Perhaps, now I have got over my "Wells-sick" spell and settled back at home properly, I will get over my Blogger's Block and find some good stuff to write about!

Hope this post wasn't too photo-heavy.  I know it can be dull, looking at someone's endless "Holiday Snaps" - hopefully this felt like just the "edited highlights"!

I'm gearing myself up for a good session of scrapping soon - I certainly have lots of photos to choose from.  Watch This Space!

10 comments:

  1. Lovely to see you back, and I'd never have guessed you had bloggers' block from this rich and varied post! Super photos - and I can see you have a real attachment to Wells - did you live there once, or is it just somewhere you really feel you can connect with and feel happy in? Look that stab (?) binding - having it every two pages is so pretty ... Hoping to 'see' you again soon. :)

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  2. Good to see you back Lizzie...I was hoping things were OK with you! Great holiday snaps
    Alison xx

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  3. We were at Wells just a few days after you - staying at the caravan park - and we had a fabulous time there too. I love Wells and we also had a wet day at Hunstanton! We would love to live there too and came home feeling low - loved seeing it through your eyes (lens?) as your photos are lovely :)

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  4. Looks like your had a great time!
    Beautiful pictures!

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  5. I think the fact that you say you feel contented shows that you are happy living life rather than simply writing about it at the minute - and that has to be a good thing!

    And you are right to go with the way you feel and not force blog posts if they aren't there in your head. There is no point in making hard work out of it.

    It's still good to see you back though and to enjoy your happy holiday pictures :)

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  6. Thanks everyone! Alexa, that is a Coptic style of binding. It connects the pages together by a sort-of chain stitch all down the folds of the pages, but it doesn't stitch over the edges like a stab-stitch. That means the pages open totally flat throughout the whole book, whereas, with a stab-stitch, they fold back along with the cover. The Stab-stitch binding is pretty and looks nice for things like guest books, but Coptic stitch seemed more suitable for a scrapbook, as she will want to view all pages flat.
    Thanks Alison, nice of you to think of me!
    Helen, I would have loved to stay on in Wells... it was so tempting to see if we could book a few more days, but DH had to return to work and our old cat would have gone on hunger strike - and was already recuperating from the weight-loss he suffered during our 9 days away in Herefordshire.
    Thank you Maya, I was pleased with my photos too.
    And Sian, you are right - I didn't want to force myself to write, when I just didn't want to!

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  7. I simply enjoy whatever you blog so don't worry about it being photoheavy. it is perfect!

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  8. It's a great post,Lizzie....and so glad you enjoyed your holiday so much.

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  9. Welcome home Lizzie and I think the shots you took of the harbor are stunning.

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  10. Hi Lizzie, well I'm never bored of looking at your pictures. Makes me realise how many beautiful places there are in the UK (that I haven't even been too!). I fancied that beach hut, till I saw the price, oh my! Glad you had a great time! x

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