THE LONGEST DAY,TREASURE ISLAND, A HAPPY HOOKER & BACKDOOR BETTY!

Yesterday, being Summer Solstice... was the longest day of the year.

So we filled our day with fun and adventure, just me and my boys.

We found our own Treasure Island.

With skills learnt at Boy Scouts...

They had a camp fire going...within minutes

Grilled Korvs - Swedish Style

Youngest son Little J

Another Bear Grylls in the making...?

Little Bro teaching Big Bro how to...

...using these

Take A Running Jump... into the River

Wild Swimming!

Brrrrr...that was cold!

I'm Hungry...AGAIN!

Treasure Island

Just a Perfect Day...

If you are wondering what all this talk is about 'Treasure Island' then
 Jump into a Book 
It's a wonderful idea by Valarie whose blogs I follow
 A place like this... and Learn Sweden

My teenage boys are almost 13 and 15 they LOOVE the great outdoors...

Can I get them to read a book anymore?   Do they want to read books anymore?  NO! NO!

Apart from Fishing books for Little J, I suppose that's better than nothing and for Sonshine, it's Bush Craft and Survival books, oh and Charlie Boardman and Ewan McGregors Long Way Round.  

So I rocked the boat, when I told them the other day that we would be starting Family Read Aloud time together, 1 chapter, every night...
They just looked at me like I had gone mad.

They humoured me.

A few days later...

" Mum why have you got this book from Ebay?"

After an intial bout of the giggles.

 Me and my sons, together, read the 1st chapter aloud, to each other, with each other, together.

That was Special...just like they used to do when they were little.

Another book also arrived from Ebay, just for me, which I had been eagerly awaiting...

I have been meaning to teach myself to crochet for ever...

It has taken me all of the weekend to master chain stitch and obtaining the right tension.

I am in awe of all you's accomplished hookers, like the lovely Lucy at  Attic 24 and my friend  Helen and  Vanessa at Coco Rose Textiles  who I must say, kindly today, at the drop of a hat sent me a lovely email with useful tips and more importantly encouragement. SOO kind. Thank you.

I've been fighting and struggling with 'Backdoor Betty' it's the terminology used in the way that you hook the first row after you have chained...
And that's another thing,
it's a whole new language to learn, of hooks and turns and stitches...eurgh 

Boy I can't tell you how many times I've undone the stitches and started again,
and again, and again...

by hook or by crook ...I'm going to master it, I AM!

So that I may crochet a lovely colourful strippey blanket just like this

I was soo lucky to find this beautiful crochet blanket

  at a local 'loppis'a couple of weeks ago...

Well I'm off to bed now it's already nearly 1am ...and it's still light!

Tomorrow  we will be visiting an old Cobalt mine which is now a museum
more of that later...