Deal beach and high street

My sister recently turned 30th, which was a bit of a shock to us all.   We celebrated with a lovely picnic on Deal beach.  The weather was good and we managed to eat our picnic without getting stung by wasps, the Great British seaside experience! My little niece and nephew enjoyed the sea.  My nephew loves to throw himself in with gay abandon where my niece is a bit more circumspect, staying on the waters edge studying her brother.  I'm sure it's a phase which won't last long!

We rode to the beach in my sister's camper van, my first ride!  Thankfully it lived up to its name 'Hope', as we made it to the beach and back.

On the subject of beaches: I heard a very nice story at a friend’s birthday picnic, a friend of hers collects and paints stones with her grandchildren, they then take the stones back to the beach and hide them for someone to find.  It’s up to the findee whether they keeps them (she paints ‘finders keepers’ on the back) or leaves them there for everyone else to enjoy. A nice idea.

Fish stones by Laura Cameron

Deal High Street has some really lovely shops.  I discovered some really nice lamp shades by Lush designs.  You can find out more about them on their blog. I have my eye on their 'wild pig' in spring green lampshade!

Finally I’ve signed up for a Japanese Wood Block Printing Workshop with Laura Boswell at ArtworksMK in December, I’m looking forward to it!