My little girl is off to camp

Amber is off to camp tonight, along with the other Grade 8 team leaders. Not a huge event for most 13 year olds, however neither Jemma or Amber have ever been great fans of sleepovers or school camp, so it is quite a big deal for her, so she has been feeling nervous all day. Craig has just come home after dropping her off, along with her huge overnight bag and hiking boots! Unfortunately when they arrived she and her friend Jennifer were told that there were no beds left in the cabins! I am not sure exactly what that means, but as an overprotective Mum I am a just a little worried :(

The grade 8 leaders are there tonight to set things up ready for all the grade 6, 7 and 8 students, who will be arriving bright and early tomorrow morning. They then return later in the week to prepare for a second lot of kids organising, games, hiking, campfires etc.

Craig has been a busy beaver this week, building a carport on the side of the garage to protect one of our cars from the snow during winter. I have to say I am very impressed with his carpentry skills, it looks pretty nifty and only has the shingles to go on and it will be finished.

Amber ready to leave, standing in front of Craig's handiwork
Today has been a glorious Autumn day, blue skies, warm sunshine and lots of golden and red colours as the trees continue to turn.

I got a bit of a fright earlier in the week when I was on my early morning walk up the hill. Listening to my I-pod (Mika, I think) striding along I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye. A huge porcupine was standing just few feet away on his hind legs. I had no idea they were so big! At first I though it was a bear and continued to walk at the same brisk pace making sure it didn't decide to follow me. I am not sure if they are aggressive at all, but have heard nasty tales of pet dogs and cats coming across them before and being speared by their sharp quills. So far on my walks I have come across chipmunks, squirrels, groundhogs, raccoons, skunks and now a porcupine (I really DO NOT want to add a bear to this list).

This week I got two special order requests in my shop, one for 3 little embroidered doves and another for a mobile for a baby boy, due in late November. Five tiny animals sold last night, so I will need to replace those tomorrow.

Our friend Doris popped in for a cup of coffee yesterday, her family used to own our house, she was actually born in the front room! Now in her 70's she still likes to call in occasionally to see the changes we have made to her childhood home and tell us stories of when they used to breed chickens in the barn. She was happy to leave with a punnet of tomatoes from the garden.

I will be doing another paint project I have decided, even though the dressing table was going to be my last for the summer. A chest of drawers bought in South Africa about 8 or 9 years ago which is stained a rather garish orange colour, definitely needs a little face lift. At the moment it is sitting in the library empty, but I plan to move it to the study as storage once it has been painted and fixed up. Hopefully I will have a photo to show on my blog post next weekend if I finish it by then.

Other projects on the go this weekend have been drying more hydrangeas, making some new curtains for the kitchen and sewing a duvet cover in cream cotton for Amber.

Hazel x