Easter trip - Part II

Canvey Island sits in the mouth of the River Thames and its history dates back many centuries. The island was finally reclaimed from the surrounding marshes by Dutch engineers in the 17th Century and for years before that was infamous for the poor quality of the air. The men who farmed the island marshes used to go across to the mainland across the creek to find healthy wives. Once on Canvey these healthy women were known to sicken from mosquito bites due to the dampness of the marshes.

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Charles Dickens in his novel "Great Expectations" used the pub shown above, the Lobster Smack, as the eerie location for Pip to meet his benefactor-to-be, Magwitch. This is the location of the boats we were photographing. The island looks across to the coast of Kent and when the tide is full large container ships come up the river to Tilbury docks.

As you can see himself was busy catching the shots too! :)

Needless to say, I can't let this post get away without some shots of lovely rust!

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At the risk of having Blogger throw a complete wobbler I'll attempt to upload some pics of the treasure trove I brought back.

You can see how long Mum's been storing some of this stuff! I thought the wallpaper might be useful for a background sometime.

All of this lovely lace turned up in the sorting. I really love these larger pieces above.

Lots of buttons too!

What do you reckon? These monkeys get everywhere! lol This chilled out chappy was relaxing at my uncle's house! He had a bad case of indegestion tho. I picked him up and there was a lot of sloshing around going on! Oh, all right then...........he's a hot water bottle!!!

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My efforts on the art front have been zilch just lately and I have several projects that are looming large. Maybe if I list them here I might manage to keep tabs on them (and even get them done!):

# Make bookmarks for trade at Fiber Art Traders Failed completely :(

# Washer and button ATC for Anna Yep posted it!

# Brown Paper Bag challenge for Fibre & Stitch

# Take it Further Challenge which I have been thinking about but can't seem to get to grips with this month.

# ATC for Susan Found the one I originally thought I would send her so now don't need to make one :)

# Graffiti Postcard for MixedMediaATCs_UK Yahoo group

# Several other swaps that I'd like to do but daren't at the moment.

Maybe I should blog less and work more!!!! lol