Time out..

This weekend started with a whimper and ended with a whimper..in fact there were no bangs to be heard apart from my head imploding today as I embarked on packing my recent card orders into numerous cardboard boxes ready to be shipped to London tomorrow morning.. As I counted the orders out and packed each one into a separate box I had an uneasy feeling that I had miscalculated my production ...and so it was.. the final count should have been 1036 cards and I ended up with 1060 cards..
Either this meant that I had left some out of certain boxes or that I had made too many.. At this point I have to admit that I was close to tears.. this final stage of the whole process was most unwelcome on today of all days.. when the sun was shining outside and I could hear the world going about it's recreation whilst I spent several hours rearranging boxes to fit into one large container...
Well now I can say.. it is done and dusted and a huge weight has been lifted from my mind... I set myself a deadline and I met it... but I think next time I must learn to pace myself because my nerves are shredded and my family have talked about leaving home.. due to the psychotic tendencies I have shown over this past week..

On a much brighter note...
Yesterday I wanted to salvage some of our weekend together and so we headed off to the fantastic National Trust Estate of Stourhead in Wiltshire...It is a magnificent house and parkland designed by Capability Brown.. the finest landscaper of the British countryside.
The sun shone through and despite the protestations of my darling 13 year old son.. who would much rather have remained welded to his computer for the day.. we all had a thoroughly enjoyable walk around the lake and woodland of this fabulous landscaped setting..
The snowdrops carpeted the slopes and rhododendron flowers were bursting into blossom...magnolia buds waiting their turn.
Spring really felt as though it had sprung already.. despite the nippy wind blowing.




Snowdrops galore..


Must return soon to see these Magnolia buds opening..


One of the finest examples of Palladian architecture to be found in the pavilion next to the lake


Now I could happily move in here..today?


Lovely mossy bowers cloaked with ferns..


This brief outing was the perfect antidote to a very stressful week and it managed to recharge my batteries so that I could face the final onslaught today.

I hope that you have all managed to have a restorative weekend and I look forward to catching up with you all in good time..XX