A busy week and a Strawberry in colour pencil.

Its been a busy week in the Su+2 household.  On Monday evening we went along to the local Marriott hotel and watched the Teen be presented with her Baden Powell Award.  There were 55 other Girl Guides who were also presented with their awards.  The BP award is the highest that can be achieved as an ordinary Girl Guide and is awarded after a girl has completed a considerable number of tasks, activities and acts of service.  Each girl is then presented with a certificate and a pin badge.

The Teen was pleased to have achieved this award and was quite motivated by seeing so many other girls; some of the older ones were being presented with higher awards which the Teen now says she wants to aim for.  We are very proud of her achievement so far. 

At work one of my colleagues retired and we, of course, had a bit of a bun fight (tea and cakes etc.) with people who had worked with and for her in the hospital.  There was lots of lovely food and some speeches which made me (and others) feel quite emotional.  Everyone donated to a collection and we bought her a sewing box as a retirement gift (its what she wanted).

That evening we had a barbeque dinner with just immediate work colleagues and partners to celebrate the ending of one journey and the beginning of another. 

Its going to be difficult going into work and knowing she isn't there; she was not only a good team leader but a compassionate friend and a big support for me when life outside work got tough.  She had a wicked sense of humor and could bake the best cakes.

On Friday evening we dropped the Teen off at Guide camp.  The following morning we put a breakfast picnic together and went down to the beach.  It was gloriously sunny but very windy and the Engineer's corn flakes kept flying away.  We ate and watched the kite surfers storming along and the dog walkers throwing stones for their excited charges.  In the end the wind was so strong (and a bit cold) that we went and sat back in the car to drink our tea. 
We tried to have lunch in Lilly's at Wickham and when we arrived I was surprised to see a number of empty tables.  Unfortunatly there was no electricity in the whole of Wickham square so Lilly's could only sell tea and cakes.  We stopped for a drink but then left as we wanted some lunch. 
We went down to Salt on Wicor hard; its a pretty little café with stunning views and amazing chocolate brownies.  We avoided the cakes as we were going on to Guide camp to have afternoon tea.

It was a special afternoon at the camp as the Teen and a friend were being presented with their BP awards (again) in front of their own Guide pack.  They were able to choose when, where and how the award was presented and chose to receive it at camp and then have posh afternoon tea with little cakes and proper tea cups.

The Teen being presented with her award.

Afternoon Tea.

A beautiful afternoon at camp 

It was also the Teen's birthday on Saturday and as she was at Guide camp then, she opened her presents from us when she got home.  When did my adorable little toddler suddenly become 15? Time certainly flies!

I started doing a strawberry in colour pencil a while ago.  My plan was to do a botanical drawing and an oversized one.  But I am not at all happy with it.

I got so excited about doing it I didn't pay proper attention to the initial drawing hence my seeds are not really in the right place and the whole thing doesn't look right. There is not enough detail; when the fruit was magnified that much you can see the hairs and I haven't put them in. (I borrowed the Engineer's binocular magnifier, strawberries are very hairy).  The leaves look flat and there are no veins and blemishes visible as I haven't transferred the detail I should be able to see with it that big.  I think I will stop work on this one and learn from it.