2014!

Happy 2014! 

I can't quite believe how quickly 2013 zipped by. It's been a good year for us. We went to South Africa at Easter. An epic trip (as daughter would say :)), far, far better than I would ever have imagined; I turned 40; he turned 40; we went camping with my cousin, best friend and the kids to a farm in the Peaks with a stream as the star attraction; the hubby and I cycled to and around Guernsey on our little folder bikes; at Halloween the girlie and I went to visit my brother and his newbaby twins in Chicago eating much frozen yogurt (froyo :)) and Dunkin' dogs and went on a cupcake tour where I dressed as a bumblebee. I'm sure we did loads more but those were some serious highlights.

Now it's time for me too take a good look at myself, get organised, sort out my eating and fitness and get myself healthy. New year, new start eh?!

We've no plans to go anywhere big this year as we are going to finally extend the house. It'll be exciting and definitely awful at the time as we live in a terrace and everything will have to come through the house, including the dirt. It WILL be worth it though!

A very happy new year to anyone who may be reading - fingers crossed for a good'un!  Xxx

My new favourite place

Colour Accents

For my BIG birthday I have been lucky enough to get two pressies.  One is a smashing swinging hammock, something I have always wanted (reminds me of swinging up my parents back garden in the Summer reading a book, and of my folk's BBQ parties too :) ).  It's currently sitting in the shed in it's box waiting for the sunshine to be put up. I guess it's a bit old fashioned, but I prefer to think of it as 'retro' (along with my new addiction to crazy paving)!  The other is a quality 'point and shoot' camera.  I've ordered a refurbished, factory sealed Canon S95 which although a few years old now gets great reviews and takes exactly the sort of pictures I want to take - it also allows me to take fully manual photos too.  During my investigations into which camera I want, I found info on using the colour accent facility on my old Canon IXUS - much fun has been had this morning!

 

The Nature Reserve

It was an absolutely gorgeous weekend - perfect temp, sunny and a slight breeze. We spent most of the day in the garden sorting it out (nothing like party preparation to get you tidying), it now looks really, really lovely (pics to follow when I'm totally finished). Anyway the hubster and I decided to got for a wander around the local nature reserve in the evening. This is at about 8pm....


....gorgeous!

Feet travels

I saw an idea in a photography magazine where you take photos of your feet in the interesting places you have been. Like a kind of travels journal. I really liked that idea so here is my first entry. As I haven't actually been anywhere this weekend - just spending the time in the glorious weather making my back garden look lovely, this is where my first piccy is from.

The Folder Trials

We went to collect the hubbies bike on Saturday and popped to Rother Valley Country Park on the way back to test them out. Fab!  So light and comfortable. We followed the mountain bike map that you can pick up there which certainly gave them a workout but also gave us some gorgeous views.

Things I really liked were steep hills were easy to push your bike up, steps down I practically carried the bike and it felt like you were supposed to mooch along on them looking at the scenery which meant the hubby meandered along with me rather than racing ahead :) . It was a gorgeous day weather wise as well, what more could you ask for? Can't wait for my jollies now!



Parked up for a spot of lunch on a bench

The view from the lunch bench.  Rother Valley Country Park is actually rather lovely!

Folders!

I went and bought another bike :) The hubby and I have made plans for a bit of touring. We have a plan to hop on and off of various types of transport and cycle around when we get to wherever we are going. For this we decided we needed folding bikes :) ! I looked around at some of the great and classic folders and even managed to sit on a few, but as they are usually unisex some didn't feel comfortable and some were downright uncomfortable! Dahon, while being said to be one of the best, and though hubby liked it, it really didn't fit me (too short in the arm department). Bromptons are way beyond our budget and others such as Tern (just didn't like it) and Raleigh (too heavy) weren't right either. So what to get? In the end I chose a Hoptown 5 from Decathlon. Not the most popular or coveted folder but it seems great so far - it got good reviews and is supposed to have links with Dahon (though it still needs a proper test drive, so time will tell).  Hubs likes it too, not too girlie either, this one had to fit me comfortably and be function over form (though I do like how it looks too!).

My lovely little B'twin folder

I've ordered a pannier rack for it and i need to find some baggage and we're good to go!

The hubby has also chosen a bike, a Carrerra Transport which we pick up on Sat - watch this space :)

A Little Bit of Love

So I walked up the hill to begin my run from the usual hightest point and as I was nearing it I walked by a tree.  Up hanging on the tree was the sweetest  little crocheted lilac heart.  I stopped and had a good look at it, it really made me smile.  I really would have liked to take it from the tree and keep it, but I wasn't sure if you were supposed to or if by doing so it would make someone really sad - so I left it where it was and went off on my run(/shuffle).

Last night I thought I would have a quick look on line to see if I could find out anything about it or if there was a reason behind why someone would be hanging little hearts on a tree and I couldn't believe it when there on the second site I clicked on - was a photo of the little heart (or one of it's brothers at least).  I clicked on a link to the blog and there was my tree! 

Dominiques' blog

I contacted Dominque who made the hearts and asked if I she would mind if I went back and collected it and then popped back in the dark last night to do just that.

The little heart still hanging on the tree when I returned to fetch it.

Up Close - so sweet!

I absolutely love it, it's so sweet and somehow really special - made all the more so by the fact that I found out who had made it :).  I did have a look around for the others from the pics, but they were gone, I guess to new homes!

I then returned and spent the rest of my evening learning to make crocheted hearts (from here - Little Birdie Secrets) with scraps of yarn and a crochet hook I dug out from the depths of a drawer.  Then this morning I made a granny square (get me, I know all the lingo now :) ) (from here - Bethintx1 on Youtube).  The Girlie had a go at crochet too and I gained a simple (but lovely) necklace from it :).  We then popped into town to buy some more yarn, better needles and a book (I know I can find all the info I could ever need online, but we really liked this one).  The next couple of days are now planned and I feel a new fad coming on!  Thanks Dominique!

My first attempts at hearts and a granny square - in fact my first go at any sort of crochet other than a chain, plus the new book :)

Do pop over an have a look at her blog where she explains what she got up to! My Other Loves x

Spuddies!

They look like they're having a meeting :)  They've been happily sitting on my kitchen windowsill for the last couple of weeks.

4 sorts, 5 of each Charlotte, Red Duke of York, Anya and Apache all from Wilkos.

I really don't need any more than this.  I don't like storing them, I just want the 'just dug up - going to eat them straight away'ness that you get with growing your own early/new spuds.  I will still buy jackets etc. from the shop as I'm really quite particular about my jackpots.  These fellas will go in the garden border wherever there is a gap as a bit of pot luck surprise when we dig them up.  Can't wait now!

Beginning with the Herby Patch

So I had planned to sow seeds today, but it was such a nice day that the garden called me instead.  I'd not really been out in ages (or at all this year so far) but I could see that the herb raised bed was in need of some attention and as it is right outside my kitchen window I had the urge to attack it. 

Pre ambush...

I needed to pull out the sage on the left that was really straggly and I'll replace that with a new variety in a month or so, plus the oregano also needed a haircut.  I then went on to tidy the peony and spirea behind it and then the bushes and fatsia top left.  Swept up and 'voila' much neater!

You can see everything now, the pot in the middle of the raised herb bed is full of lovely, lovely alpine strawbs, there's nothing in the pot back left, but that's where I usually put a french flat leaved parsley (as it tends to get a bit crowded otherwise).  There are a variety of mints in a terracotta pot sunk in the bed at the back and chives back right.  There is also a marjoram in there somewhere, though not sure where as it tends to get smothered by the oregano and can only see it when it grows up and through it.  

I fancy having another go at growing a rosemary again too this year.  I used to have a smashing one in the bed before we raised it, but is was old and didn't survive the cull.  When I re-planted a new baby one in the new bed I think it was perhaps a bit too rich for it and it died, as did the next two so I haven't had one for a few years now.  I think the bed has been sufficiently neglected now though to have another bash.  I might mix some grit in there too before I plant one.  Actually, I might buy two and pop the other one somewhere else in the garden as a back up!

So Sad!

I can't even begin to understand why anyone - even kids - would think that this is an okay thing to do!  It happened while I was on the school run.  On the way home I saw a lad throwing a huge snowball at his friends and when I got there realised it was the Snowdog (sock ear, twigs, satumu and snow all over the road) and they had been onto our garden to push over the Snowman too.  I was so sad and so angry for the girlie who was absolutely devastated, it was heartbreaking. 

We were in the process of remaking him when more (the same?) lads threw a snowball at us and ran away.  I then decided that the Snowman was not at all safe in our front garden and moved him to the back (where I must admit that he looks much happier - if a bit shorter :) ).  It was a bit of an effort - I had to saw him into sections to be able to lift him through the house - we then put him back together and filled in the gaps.  The Girlie and I then made Snowdog II.  The Girlie told me that Snowdog I is now in that place where the snowmen all go to play/ski etc. waiting for the other two to come when the snow melts - I like that!

A New Year!

Ahhh, the new year has arrived and so has the snow!  The Girlie, her mate and I made The Snowman and The Snowdog (plus woodland pal) for the front garden.  They look great standing guard, though we did have to remove a layer of new snow this morning - the Snowdog's head was completly covered!  The snow is really packable and perfect for making snow creations.  

We went on a trek to find an new sledging run yesterday and best of all I got a snow day today - hoorah! (or it would be hoorah, if I didn't have loads to do! - at least I don't have to dig the car out!).  I'll try to squeeze in a bit of online seed shopping today too, the garden is obviously covered in snow, but oddly that makes me more keen to get sorting it for this year.

A Fresh New Bloggy Start

So I'm not sure where to begin, it's been so long since my last post, 16 months in fact.  A long time I guess in blogging world. 

Quite a few things have changed.... 

Sadly I no longer have my allotment.  We decided at the end of last Summer that the shine had gone out of the experience and it no longer fitted in with our life.  In the Winter we were on top of things, we would spend time planning and preparing for the year ahead, but then all was done and we really didn't need to go as much.  Come Spring and Summer fruit and veg was starting to grow in abundance - as was the weeds.  We just couldn't keep on top of it.  As our kids have grown older the weekends seem to be filling up with kid and family related activities and it was hard enough getting to the plot once a fortnight last year - let alone having to then spend the time first tackling the weeds.  This left the minimal amount of time to plant and harvest. 

The plot has now officially moved back up the garden.  I had already moved the tomatoes out of the greenhouse on the plot back to our sheltered back garden and I made a comment to the hubby when we were at the allotment along the lines of  'wouldn't this be easier if all our veggies were back up the garden', we realised that it really would and the decision was made.  We harvested the last of the veg, kept the worst of the weeds down, bought anything we wanted to keep home and gave away numerous fruit trees and bushes.  Our lease ran out on the 23rd April 2012.  I hope the next people to have our plot like it as much as we did - they're getting a corker and a plot that has had a lot of time spent on creating it from a bare, muddy, weedy patch. However sad I am, if I am honest, I am relieved.

I was insired by a book by Alys Fowler called the Edible Garden and so the empty borders were all stocked up with a mixture of flowers veg and fruit. Can't tell you how nice it was just to wander up the garden for rasperries or alpine strawbs for my cereal or to dig up some spuds or onions for dinner. I fell back in love with it. It was a bit slap dash though, I shall try to be a bit more organised this year.

Jewellery.  This has also come to an end.  Maybe temporarily, but currently I am not making any.  I am a creative person and LOVED making the lampwork beads.  I needed an outlet for my beads, especially as I was making so many, so I set up my company.  I was beginning to be successful, but then realised that I actually didn't enjoy selling my work at all.  I'm just not that sort of person, if I'm buying something I will not haggle.  If I feel the price is too high I just walk away and you lose my custom.  With my own work I was so uncomfortable pricing my work.  I felt I always needed to justify my price and was never sure if I'd gotten it right in the first place.  Also most of my orders were commissions for one-off pieces.  Unfortunately, one-off doesn't mean one bead as I always needed to work out how to get the effect wanted in the first place and allow for cracks or seconds.  It took all the fun out of the bead making for me having to make many of the same beads over and over.  I'm not saying that I'll never do it again, but I'm taking a break for now and have wound down my little business.

The running.  I'm back at that.  I loved it first time around and was going great guns, then I pulled my hamstring and had to take a break for a few weeks while it healed.  I then went to my brother's fantastic wedding in Chicago (feeling amazing) and when I got back I kind of lost all the motivation for why I was running.  I kept going for a bit - maybe 4 months, but then it kind of fizzled out.  I've been for the odd run in the last year, but nothing regular until now.   I'm back into it now though, I've completed Week 6 Run 2 today on the C25K programme and feeling okay - running really is the best exercise for me. Got some amazing looking new trainers. Nike Pegasus. Not as supportive as my Asics, but more cushioned, I bought some new insoles too and which make them feel great.

(note the genuine mud :))

Other new interests (I really have had a bit of a 'fad' overhaul in the last couple of years :) )....

The ukulele :):)  I love, love, love playing this.  My music teacher friend wanted to test out her new ukulele lesson and I came along with the Girlie as students(guineapigs).  I absolutely loved it and bought my own within a couple of days, a lurvely red one.  After a few weeks teaching myself the basics courtesy of Youtube I then plucked up the courage to join my local Ukulele club -it's brilliant!  At Christmas last year I got a new 'grown up' uke - a beautiful Ohana concert. I've never been able to play a musical instrument before and I totally adore the fact that I now can. 

Next up is Land hermit crabs.  Yep, hermit crabs that live on land, now also live in my house :) Such interesting pets when you get to see them, unfortunately they are nocturnal so it's not that often, heh!  I do spend a lot of time preparing food and feeding an empty tank.  They will get more confident and settled eventually, I just have to be patient - it'll be worth it (I hope :)).  They were originally the chosen (and quickly tired of) pet of the Boy, but now they belong to me.

So, that's about it for now.  Quite a long one so if you made it to the end, well done you!  And if you have waited 16 months for a post from me, sorry to keep you waiting and thanks for still being around! x

Dunnock update No.1

They are looking a wee bit fluffier now. Hair is still very Jedward!

M.D. is still in and out so all seems good!  Not a great deal of room in the nest :)

Meet the neighbours.

There I was on Sunday, making some beads, when hubby came in and told me he had a present for me!  It turned out to be a dunnock chick that the kids had found on the path to our front door.  An ugly, but fiesty thing, he (she?) won me over a bit with his mad hair.  The kids affectionately named him 'Jedward'.....

We had a good hunt around for a nest and found it eventually in the hedge next to the path along with 4 of his brothers and sisters.  So we popped him back in - he seemed happy enough, and hoped that Mummy Dunnock wasn't too put off.

The next day we found the little fella had fallen out of the nest again!!  This time I thought he was a gonner, but no, still alive, though very cold, so I warmed him up for a moment or two in my hands, then popped him back in his nest again, this time making sure he was properly snuggled in.  All the time M.D. was sitting in the tree next to the hedge chirping angrily at me!  When I checked later all looked well and a mass of fluff with five beaks were spotted. 

If you were wondering I also watched Mum fly in and out this morning feeding them, so it looks like she's not been put off!  However, I suspect that 5 baby dunnocks are not going to fit in that tiny nest for long. I guess that this is the order of things, but the fella was cute and I couldn't just let him die.  I'll keep you posted on developments!

Jedward is the one with his gob open!

A smiling rainbow and other bits and bobs.

Yesterday I saw a fascinating sight.  An upsidedown rainbow!

It was wonderful, if a little freaky to begin with as I'd never even heard of one, let alone seen one before.  I dashed in for my camera and to quickly google it too :)

Officially it's not a rainbow as there was no rain.  It was a gorgeous sunny evening with a few wispy clouds. Normal rainbows are formed when light passes through raindrops and as it shines it shows as arcs of colour on the other side.  Yesterdays (non)rainbow, or to give it its posh name - Circumzenithal Arc, is formed when sunlight shines down and bent through a thin layer of ice crystals found in the atmosphere. 

From what I have read, it's not brilliant that we can see something like this, it's really, rare and usually it is only seen in conditions found in places like the North Pole.  However, we can now see it every now and then in Britain.  Showing that the planets weather is changing!?  Amazing though!

Picked some more strawberries from the allotment and made them into an extremely bad for you (but quite yummy I thought) icecream.  We've had loads and loads so far this year, however some of the strawbs have started to take on a bit of an odd shape.  I've had a few of these now and wonder if this means my oldest plants are starting to be a little past it?  They're in their fourthish year.

Still tasted good mind you!

In the back garden - I've had a general tidy up and made a start on digging the border that hasn't had anything in it since we had the new fence in (so ages then!) - I think I'm going to try chucking a few things in to see what I can get from the last part of the Summer.

I've got toms on the go, still no fruit yet, but flowers galore.  Chillies - a few but not going very mad yet.  My fig tree is loving the renewed attention, amazing what a top dressing, and regular watering can do!

Website shop back online!

After a little absence from selling my work, my jewellery website is now back up and running.  Please take a look!

Glass & Clay

I'm still in the process of adding more of my pieces, please check back for another look in a few days.

Off to the plot

What a gorgeous, glorious day today.  Perfect for a visit to the plot. 

The most exciting thing about our visit today was the obvious interest in our shed by our friendly pair of plot robins.  When we last went we noticed that a nest had been built in the corner on top of a shelf.  It was interesting, but we left it as we found it, thinking that it had probably been abandoned.

Then look what we found today!

Babies!!  Five of them :)  The robins didn't seem in the slightest bit worried about us being there and kept flying in and out of the gap where the plank is missing off the shed door with worms and the like for the babies to munch on.  They basically ignored us, or waited for us to get out of the way.  Needless to say, we did keep out of their way and went in the shed as little as possible (although we did have to go in as all our tools are in there!).  It was fascinating to watch them!

This pic is purely to show the gap in the shed door :)

We had spuds to get in - I wanted to sow most of the rest of my Anya salad potatoes in (holding a few back to put in when I take my first lot out - it's an experiment to see what I get :) ). I also wanted to get in a row of maincrop (Cara).

We are in the process of forcing some of our rhubarb - we did it last year and it was great.  You can see the unforced ones on the right hand side of the bin.  Granted they are younger than the one in the bin - however we were still amazed to see what awaited us......

It was monstrous (in the nicest possible way!)!!  We had Rhubarb Fool for pudding - yum yum!

Finally a photo of my cute bike all laden with rhubarb and flowers!  Set for a pleasant cycle home in the sunshine! Generally a very nice day!