I can't begin to fill in the gaps

So as you may well have noticed, before my little Crete "journal" there was a not insignificant gap of about 8 years! (It actually really doesn't feel that long, but that's life as we know it) 

 Can I fill in all that time with you?

 Not really. But I can begin to tell you about a few journeys that seem to have happened almost without me knowing.  

It's quite strange to realise that it is only 4 posts back that i shared my poem to Mum that i had written for her funeral.  That makes it feel more recent than it is.  It will be 10 years this November.  But although she no longer inhabits this same time and space continuum that I do, it often feels like she has had a hand in things that have happened in the intervening years.

For example:  Only 6 months after i returned to my little cottage in Guildford, my lovely neighbour passed away.  I was quite devastated as I had been away in the last years of her life and although she had plenty of people to help, we had often gone to do the grocery shopping together and such like.  

The knock on of that, was that someone wanted to buy her house and really wanted mine as well, to be able to rent them out together.  As much as I had always loved that house, it was on a particularly noisy junction, and returning from the Sussex countryside after living with Mum and Dad for those 2 years, it had become apparent that I had lost a great deal of patience for noise and cars and traffic jams outside my front door.  So, in some ways the timing was good.  But it was still soon, and i was still bruised and tired and Dad was still in the care home in Guildford so i knew i didn't want to be moving away anywhere.  

One conversation led to another which led to another, and to cut out all the middle bit, I ended up buying my sister's bungalow as they were ready to find a different family home as the boys headed towards their secondary school years.  

And the point? Well the point was that despite the neighbours death being in March, and probate and all that had to be sorted, and negotiations and conversations....... our completion date for me to move to sis's bungalow and she to move on up the road (just a mile, we can still send smoke signals)........ our completion date was 2 days before the first anniversary of Mum's death in November.  It kept us busy enough, it gave Dad a focus and some fun in planning our DIY projects, but we were in and done by the day itself, to be calm but distracted just enough.  It took the sting out of that first year.  And in turn made the date a happy time, new beginnings. New Challenges (plenty of those to come!) 

I thought at the time I was buying a short term home, somewhere Mum knew and had been to in the years sis lived here, which felt nice for me. I wasn't ready to be somewhere she didn't know.  But it turned out not to be just moving house; it turned into a whole new chapter....... well several if we are honest ;)

'Til soon ❤️

Tah-Daaah

This has been finished a couple of weeks now, but it took me a while to find space enough to photograph it! Even now it is bordered by a tea urn! Ah well, a bigger house beckons :D

More blogging soon, i'm out of the habit!

T'il soon ❤️

Hi Honey, I'm home!

I'm back in Guildford. Mum and Dad are settled (somewhat) in a residential home. Their house has finally been sold, and I have moved back to my house.  It's not very nice most of the time if I'm honest. It's noisy and dusty and hot and noisy and busy and did I mention Noisy?  But we have been busy trying to get it to be a home again and not just a collection of somewhat derelict bricks!  I wanted to tell you all the things that we have done, but there's too much and we've done it all a bit quick really!

The first room was the lounge- i needed a haven that was finished. It really only needed a good scrub and a new carpet, so as you can see lady Spot is already installed!







We had gutted the bathroom when my tenants moved out (word from the wise - don't rent to male students!  - bless them, they weren't bad or anything but I guess the generation down doesn't think about things like wiping down taps after a shower, or opening a window to let the steam out (mould everywhere!).  So since moving back a new suite has been installed (a bad buy on my part as it seems it's really a bit big for the room, but it's in and it's fine), and we have protected the wall with bathroom cladding instead of tiles. The room will be finished by the carpet fitter soon, with a vinyl floor.

The kitchen has never been anything much in my home. Don't get me wrong, i've loved it. But it was always a totally free standing affair with a dresser and a range oven and a butchers block and it suited my lackadaisical style. But since moving back i have wanted something maybe more grown up (! first time for everything) and certainly with more storage space as I brought a fair amount of pots and pans from Mum's kitchen (well why wouldn't you she had excellent and expensive taste!) So I got a second hand kitchen on eBay and it's been "Krypton Factor'd" together to fit the best way, and it's looking awesome. Not finished yet, as we need to put a little electrickery around for appliances and gadgetry. And the worktop will be finished off with a splash back. There'll be more photos when it's finished. (there was also a purchase of an impulsive orange fridge)

Of course we bought fire with us (you didn't think we would leave it behind did you?_)

and consequently all patios and the conservatory were pressure washed to within an inch of their lives (and in the case of a few bricks - beyond their lives!)  
















 Roses the shed has been given a new roof:

And finally (for this post - there's loads more going on in the house!), the hen house was renovated with every colour of paint from the shed (geez I have kept some stuff! - luckily i suppose!)  I refrained from buying orange just for the heck of it though!

And these little ladies (and one other) arrived on Friday.  Not laying yet but they have added to help start making it feel home again.














T'il Soon ❤️

Doors.................

Mum n Dad's house has many doors (it's a laugh when we get new carers, we leave them to see where they go, but no one ever gets the right door first time!) it was a cottage and was extended to the side so somehow it ended up with four doors, then mum n dad added a conservatory so now there are 5.  It's all good tho', doors provide mobility exercises - steps, narrow spaces, thresh-holds, so we find ourselves using as many of them as we can to ring the changes and keep Mum challenged! It's all good fun.

This is my favourite one tho'  ;)

Life got in the way

You know how you leave a blog post thinking the time isn't right, and the longer you leave it the worse it gets? Well that's about how it's been here.

Suffice to say that our family's world was shattered 3 days before Christmas when my beautiful Mum suffered a massive brain bleed. The short story is that she is now in a rehabilitation centre, coming to the end of her stay there before coming home. The long story is that it has been (almost exactly) 6 months of emotional roller-coaster, deep despair swiftly followed by hope and expectation (repeat thrice daily) and endless hospital meals,  absolute exhaustion in the way that you can't even feel yourself any more, and the best kind of joy for the first hand squeeze, the first smile, the first words, the first (and every subsequent) hug.  The mourning, to some degree, of a life that will never be the same again (for any of us) snatched away in a moment without any warning, but the corresponding elation that Mum is still here, and while her cognitive state is somewhat impaired, she knows who she is, and who her family are and how many yards of fabric you need to buy to make a pair of lounge trousers (!) so although the rest needs attention, she's got the important stuff nailed.

So, that's been it for the past 6 months.  Within the next month she will be home and we will begin our next journey, honing the thinking skills, keeping her motivated to try new things and not get lazy or complacent. To restore her love for crafting in a way that she can achieve it. It'll be a challenge but one that must be met to ensure that her life is what I know she would want it to be, independent and full.

Needless to say crafting has pretty much been off the agenda. I have knit some bits and pieces, while waiting aside hospital beds for something (anything) to happen. And as part of Mum's progressive discharge she was home last weekend and we made the aforementioned pair of lounge pants. Mum watched me as I cut a pattern and affirmed my choices of which seams to sew in what order. (I think secretly she just didn't want to leave me alone with her fancy pants sewing machine! and quite rightly so)

My baby, The Crafters' Barn is still growing from strength to strength. Kris has been amazing and has taken on the contact side of the site and dealt with the (very few) issues that have been experienced. And I have place a few magazine adverts and tried to keep the social media side engaged, with Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and a couple of Email Newsletters for sellers. We were a year old this week - that feels kinda strange but very exciting.  I have big plans for the site, but need more time and planning for them than I am able to give at the moment.

So hopefully now I've broken the ice i will be writing here again a lot more often. I have missed blogging.... but then i've missed quite a lot of things these past few months.  Onward and upward as they say.

T'il soon ♥

Weed Control Products

 A couple of weeks ago I was asked to do a sponsored blog post for Roundup gel - never one to turn down an opportunity to blog about something new (I do sometimes find it hard to get inspiration) I jumped at the chance.

Now, it turns out that since then, we appear to have had pretty non stop rain. I had tried the gel a couple of times but I am pretty sure it got rained off before it had been there 2 minutes to be honest.  So, in light of the fact that this post has been waiting a while, and we have the promise of a dry afternoon, I have started again and will call this, somewhat optimistically, blog post #1 of 2 !

The reason I was happy to do this is that I don't really like using weedkillers or any other non-organic means of any kind of pest or weed control where I can help it.  I have chickens, and if I use spray weedkiller that means I have to be a lot more careful about where i let them roam, and what i do with rakings and cuttings. (My hens are my compost bins normally) So this seems ideal, a thicker consistency weed control product that I can apply more particularly, exactly where i want it.

It comes in a plastic container, a similar shape to a stick deodorant, (but bigger)

You take the lid off by squeezing two tabs either side of the container just under that green lip (I am saying that cos it took me a while to see them) and you get this:

(Well you get that when you have taken the foil protector off and clicked that blue button on the side for what seems like 50 times to get the gel up to the top)

We have a little bit of land next door that the chickens had had their run on a few months ago - the grass has all been cleared (they're good at that) but quite a large patch of deep rooted weeds have regrown):

The Roundup gel is easy to apply, and it tells you on the container how many "clicks" of gel you need for different types of weed.  It's sticky, thick consistency means it definitely does only go where you put it, but the downside to that is that i found you had to hold the back of the leaf to smear the gel on - that really wouldn't work for stinging nettles !! (Well, not without a good pair of gloves anyway).  I did try it on the lawn weeds as I have a lot of dandelion type weeds, and i was doing a review it seemed a good idea to try, but again the need to press fairly firmly against the leaf made the application difficult in those circumstances, and I think I got as much on the grass as i did on the weeds.  

My verdict for the application of the Roundup Gel weed killer is that for areas of a few, large weeds - bindweed, bramble, etc it would be great. It would negate the need to spray everything in sight, and if you were planning  something where you just needed to rid an area of a certain few large weeds, or if you have a rambling bramble climbing across your best perennial bed,  it would be perfect in terms of ease of application. But if you have a lot of dense weeds or small leaved weeds (it says it will do couch grass but i have no idea how you would apply it to something so thin and flexible, maybe using an old paint brush) then I don't think the gel would really be the right product.

Hopefully, if you tune back in in a fortnight or so I should be able to show you the result of it as a weed control product - well that's if it doesn't rain again of course.

At least I can put snow and frost on my blog.......

I love winter. There I've said it, I love cold weather that makes your hands hurt, and frost with sunlight glinting on it, and snow....... I love wrapping up in my blankets, throws and handknit jumpers and snuggling in front of an open fire. I love walking the dog and hearing the ground crunch beneath my feet and seeing her camouflaged in snowy bracken, and coming home to a treat of hot chocolate steaming in a mug.

However, this year's winter has been a little disappointing so far (I know there is plenty of time yet). We had 12 degrees on Christmas day, and really apart from a good dose of bad wind (I guess even mother nature gets affected by Christmas dinner?) our weather has been very unentertaining. We're averaging around 10 - 13 deg C, and the sky seems to be grey more often than not. (There have been some beautiful blue sky days but just not many of them)

So, in celebration of my love of winter, I have slightly redecorated my blog in anticipation of just a few decent weeks of winter weather.

In other news the crochet blanket is going well. I have to wait for some more wool now as two of the colours were out of stock, and I've done all I can in what I have. 

I've also resurrected the wii fit, to try to lose the somewhat shocking 4 lbs I put on in just one week over Christmas! ooopsey! So that's what I'm off to do now

Have a great week everyone xx


Dec 2010, I am smiling in there - really! ;)

Well this is embarrassing!

When I had my loft insulated at the end of last year, it needed to be emptied. It was - all into my 2 spare rooms.  Now I have to admit at this point, that I have a huge problem with throwing stuff out. Not because I am emotionally attached to any of it, but because I have a guilt complex about landfill.  But really the time has come - don't you think???

I don't understand though -  why, when you decide to tidy up and clear out - all you seem to do is make more mess? - I could get in the rooms yesterday morning - today they are declared health and safety hazards! - You need a hard hat to enter.  it turns out I haven't really thrown any clothes out for around 15 years (some of those things I am never going to get into again!) and I have an abundance of old computer cables. As well as obvious yarn stash and other crafting type equipement, accessories and notions.  I have now reached a point of stalemate as I've run out of bin bags, and having continue to make "throw away" and "for the charity shop" piles of stuff, it took me some while to negotiate a way out of the rooms!  Still I know when I get rid of it all, and get some shelving and other storage type furniture that it will all be better for it. At the moment though it feels like a bit of a disaster!

17th April 2010 - Spring!! ;)

Finally

The sun is shining, the bread is in the oven, the ham in the pressure cooker, the sausages under the grill, I have an abundance of eggs (36 at the moment) (I won't be eating them all in one go!) My potatoes have been planted and now I can sit in the garden and enjoy a lovely lunch ........ eeeeeeeeeeee don't ya just love the spring time!

How was January for you?

Well my goodness already a month of the year has gone - where does the time go?

In view of the fact that it seems to have sped by, I thought I'd have a think back over the month to see where it all went!!

Well I have been knitting furiously, so that accounts for a lot of the spare time - the Sunday cardi was finished (I'm wearing it now and it's snug!!) and Mavis was started and finished..... AND I've done the back and one and a half fronts of the Graffiti hoodie. I also made a little bag, for a round robin gift exchange on the forum, and made two dishcloths for another swap, one knitted and one crocheted. Hmmmmm that does explain some of the swift passing of the month then!

In making Mavis I finally learnt how to do matress stitch properly - and boy am I glad I did. I referred to my Stitch n Bitch book (which is great in times of crisis as the instructions are always sensible and easy to follow) and I am so happy with the result. I have always hated sewing up with a passion, not because of the time it took, but because to me it always spoilt my knitting - frankly I was crap at it!!! In recent years I've taken to knitting most garments in as close to one piece as possible and it has for the most part, worked. But knitting huge pieces can be tedious, and in some instances can spoil the shape........ so I'm REALLY happy that I've finally learnt to sew up properly. It did take a long time - and I got dreadful back ache (I was doing it on the ironing board - well let's face it, it needs to feel like it has a purpose in life), but the result was so pleasing and I'm chuffed. (Can you tell?)

I also registered for the race for life this month - and have been training 3 times (yes only 3, but hey it's January, it's dark, it's cold, and the race is 5 months away... and I started the month with a cold (sniff).......... okay I know that's not quite the attitude, but come March I'll be much more pro-active!)

What else happened??? - Well I had to work a bit, which is always time consuming.... and has culminated in the filing of a self assessment online on a website which apparently doesn't work when more than three people try to use it! (Or some other such reason for it being down on the 31st Jan) Honestly the slogan of "tax doesn't have to be taxing" has never rung so untrue!!! - I wouldn't mind but it wasn't my fault it was left to the last minute (something I don't usually do - the last week maybe, but not the last day) but I was let down by the accountant when I needed an answer to a question........ which took him a week to answer. I know it's his busiest time of year, but I was doing him a favour by filing the SA myself anyway - he should have been doing it. Methinks we will be finding a new one!

So that's kind of where January went!

February is already shaping up to being an exciting month! - I have decided to raise some more chickens. Some will be table birds (sorry !!) and some will be to extend the laying flock, especially as apparently the hybrids don't lay too well after a year/18months. I want to raise these new chickens from eggs though, and, what's more, in a natural way with a broody hen, not an incubator. So the first thing to do is to find a suitable hen for sitting, which I think will be a silkie or a silkie/sussex hybrid, which apparently turn broody at regular intervals through the year. Then as soon as she is settled and hopefully goes broody in a month or three I will get some hatching eggs of different breeds. (I really want an egg basket of different coloured eggs, so am looking at Legbars, barnvelders, and Dorkings - for blue/green, dark brown, and white eggs respectively ...... if I've got my breeds right!! and Sassos for the table birds) If the silkie doesn't go broody - well at least I'll get a few more eggs!!! LOL

So that's how the time has passed round here - how was the start to your year?

2 in one day - Eco-Cleaning!

Just a quickie. As many of you have heard before, I use copious amounts of bicarb of soda in my cleaning regimen (ha ha who am I kidding - cleaning regimen????? - what I mean is I sprinkle it liberally on the dog when she gets a bit whiffy!) I also use white vinegar for most household cleaning, and in the rinse cycle of my washing machine in place of fabric conditioner. So am very pleased to have found this online store:- Summer Naturals who stock vinegar in 5 ltrs. P&P is quite a bit (I guess 5 ltrs of vinegar is pretty heavy) but as you can get all your other stuff there; bicarb, borax, soapnuts etc.... it evens out eventually!!! Just thought I'd mention it for anyone else that live down south in the "hard water" areas and for whom a bottle of vinegar from the supermarket is lucky to last a weekend.

Autumn Days...

Aren't they just the best. Glorious sunshine, fabulous colours, not too hot to do things, a tiny bit of frost on the ground, wrapping up warm, coming in to hot drinks and soups, amazing earthy smell everywhere, bonfires....................... ahhhhhh ...... t'is my favourite time of the year.


And here is Spot to prove it's hers too!

I ordered my first ever organic veg box today, from Riverford . I'm really pleased with the contents, and will probably continue to do it every week, although may change from the mini box, which this was (£7.50) to the potato free winter box which I think is £9.75, but not available until 5th November. It's a tad more expensive than the supermarket, but it's all organic, and it could save me a supermarket trip once or twice a month, as I often only go to get veggies...... I always have meat and fish in the freezer, so it could end up saving me meoney in the long run!

As promised here is an updated piccie of the blanket..... My sister has gone to hospital today for a "gentle induction" (can there be such a thing? - the whole process doesn't sound very gentle to me at all - she says sitting with her legs crossed!!). So hopefully the next post will be some exciting news!

I am still loving knitting it, although have realised it needs to be at least twice as long as it is now!!! - but I've just downloaded the Magician's Nephew (read by Kenneth Brannagh) and the Horse and His Boy (read by Alex Jennings) as audiobooks, as I didn't get around to my usual summer read of the Narnia Chronicles, so it is all working out rather well!.

Hope you are all getting this wonderful sun too!

Lessons Learnt

1:-Decide that you want to paint light coloured wood before you make an enormous chicken run and staple wire to the wood apparently at 2cm intervals

2:-When using water protective wood stain, remember it isn't very likely to come off you very easily either!

3:-Re No. 2 - Wear a hat!

4:-Re No. 3 - If you aren't wearing a hat, don't stand underneath the beam that you are painting.

5:-Don't wear a sleeveless t-shirt.

6:-Wear old clothes, shoes, hat, glasses, and if possible old skin - - you'll need the new stuff to cover yourself in after you've scrubbed all the old skin off in a vague attempt to remove dark brown stains from all over your body/face/hands/hair!

7:-Enjoy it! - Well you might as well - it's going to take weeks!

I'm going to get my knitting out now - it's safer!

Don't like not having time!

Just a really brief update, cos I've got to pay the tax!!!!!

I've been nominated as a Schmoozer blog by the lovely Ruth. i will acknowledge it properly and put the associated medal in my sidebar probably at the weekend, or sometime soon. I've got to re-decorate my blog so I'll do it then, and I'll nominate some other Schmoozers too!!

Work is OK - ish!!!! I don't think I'll be staying there long-term, for all sorts of reasons, not least because i miss having time to walk the dog every day and do the things i now know are important (cook properly for example!) there are other reasons which I won't go into here and now, but may do later depending on whether I need help making up my mind!!!

The garden is brimming with runner beans and courgettes - I already have a fridge full and have been off-loading onto the neighbour!!! - I got a good deal though as she re-paid me with a jar of homemade marmalade, and some cakes !!!!

Finally..... all you eco-warriors out there..... I need to ask a question.... I know that parabens and SLS in shower gels etc are horrible things! - When I popped into Sainsburys the other day they had a deal on Wrights coal tar soap, which i have always loved the smell of as it reminds me of my dear Grandma's house when I was small.....so I bought it! - Looking at the ingredient list, (Sodium Tallowate, Sodium Cocoate, Sodium palm kernelate, cocamide DEA, Parfum Glycerin, Sodium chloride, Tea Tree Oil, Tetrasodium EDTA, Etidronic Acid, Eugenol, Amyl, Cinnamal, Coumarin, Limonene, CI 11680, CI 15510) there are none of the dreaded parabens or SLS. So, as one who doesn't really understand such things - why did we stop using a good old bar of soap? Is there something in that list that is dreadfully horrific? - I know it's probably not "great" cos it does all sound a little chemical, but i just wondered why we all moved onto liquid cleansers when soap seems a bit less ....ermmmmm..... yucky!!!!

ooooh one other finally!!!!!!!! For those that enquired about the future of the rodent population in my vegetable plot (among other places)...... at the moment they are safe, I won't do anything that may interfere with my veggies. however i do think that maybe in the Autumn i might have to take the matter in hand a little, as one ran out of the lawn-mower yesterday when i was half way through cutting the grass, so obviously there are a fair few around! and it's not good for the chickens!!!

I'm Clean!

Water finally fixed last night (they were drilling the road from 9pm to 12:30 - I didn't care!!!) (Thames water have just phoned to thank me for my patience.... strangely it was this that nearly tipped me over the edge - Patience????????? that's the under-statement of the year!!!)

I'm afraid all my good water - keeping inclinations went slightly out the window this morning. I stood for a good 20 mins (if not longer) under a full blast steaming hot shower! - T'was Bliss!!!!!!

Well, where to start?

Firstly an update on the knitting. This first photo of the sleeve in making, is a little better representative of the colour (although still not quite rich enough to do it justice) The second is the progress so far. I want to get it finished soon so I can move on to my next project! When it grows up it's going to be this DROPS 100-2

The next project is going to be this DROPS 101-22 in this:-

It's a little more feminine than I would normally wear, but a girl has to be a girl sometimes, and I think it'll be lovely for the summer!

So that's about it for knitting progress, now onto veggies:-

Here is bed one, with onions, carrots, cabbages and courgette (plus a couple of sunflowers round the back!) There are also a large number of weeds at the moment due to the rain, but hey at least the veggies are growing!!!!!

This second bed is the 3 sisters: Sweetcorn, runner beans, and butternut squash. The squash isn't doing very well, but everything else is making up for it.... and see on the left hand side is purple sprouting broccoli. I thought I'd pop it in there as it wouldn't be ready 'til after the winter, so I thought it would be really slow growing and small - how wrong can a person be!!!!! There is also a tomato plant and a couple of capsicums in this bed but they're not doing so well.... although it is really still only early and they have plenty of time to liven up!!!!

Next my birthday haul: With HUGE thanks to Mama (my beloved grandmother) who send me some money to splurge on myself. I bought these from Joycesupershop on eBay. There are 12 sets of 5 DPN's in all sizes from 2mm - 8mm all at 20cm long. Then there are another 4 sets of 15cm DPN's 2.25mm, 2.75mm, 3.25mm and 3.75mm (which are all great odd sizes for sock making!) Then 12 aluminium crochet hooks size 2mm - 8mm and 8 bamboo crochet hooks size 4mm - 10mm. All for under £20. Now they're never going to please needle snobs, but for those of us that like to ensure we have every size in-house for every eventuality, then these are perfect. The bamboo softens beautifully when used, the thinner needles are quite pointy and the thicker ones more rounded. Just perfect for socks and sleeves and all things round!!!!

I also bought this book on a bit of a whim and totally enabled by Chrissy. I have loads of stuff in my Amazon wish-list, but no I dove straight in and got something completely different! - Don't think I'll ever be making a wand-cover, but actually the jumpers, socks and odds and sods are lovely and very wearable. (Wonder how old DearNephew has to be before he will appreciate a Quidditch sweater?)
Along with the book I also bought an updated 1Gb MP3 player that plays audio books (yep I was enabled again by certain forum members!!!!) My last one didn't, but this one is cheap and cheerful and does the job! (You don't need a picture - it's an MP3 player!) and it comes with an armband so I can use it when jogging without popping it down my bra (you don't want to know!) Actually am miffed now as I've just seen that they've put the price down by £6. Still it was cheap at £24 so I can't complain!

So thanks Mama, it was lovely to treat myself!!!

Finally my eBay bargain for the month:-

£62 for the lot, collected from Reading. There's loads there, probably 100m in varying heights. More than I thought when I was bidding, and I'm chuffed to bits as (when I've found an equal bargain in the timber department) I'll be able to build the chickens a lovely big run, and have enough left for a small broody ark/hospital/quarantine area, so I can increase my chicken population a little!!!!!

Phew, must be time for a drink now, I'm exhausted!!!!!!!

p.s. Water to be fixed Thursday evening - watch this space!!!

Water

(I was going to use "I smell" as the title but thought that might put you all off reading!)

Do you appreciate your ready supply of water....? I mean, really...? I thought I did, but as it turns out, I do a lot more now!

There is a leak in the water main outside my house. It's been there 14 days, and it's (apparently) getting worse. It was first noticed by my neighbour, who had a dreadful vibration in her water pipes (to the point where she couldn't sleep for the noise) and reported to Thames Water on 10 May. When the man came to look, he explained that because we live on a very busy junction of two main roads, they would have to get permission from the council to dig up the road. Fair enough, it's what you'd expect...... Except that 14 days later it hasn't been done...... and my water pressure is getting less and less every day. To the point where, since the weekend, it hasn't been enough pressure to fire up my combination boiler, so I've had no hot water. I did manage to put a little water in the bath on Monday, filled from kettles and cool water - enough to wash my hair and have a bit of a splosh, but it took about an hour. I've spoken to Thames Water and am now on the "escalation" list, but they still can't tell me when it's going to be sorted. So I'm sure you can imagine how I feel after my raceforlife training.... running (ish) for about 25 mins, come in all hot and sweaty, and have to wash down with cold water and a flannel!!!! mmmmmm lovely!

Now the point of the post is not really to publicise my lack of personal hygiene!!! But more to make you wonder about water. I always thought I was pretty frugal with water. I have a water meter, and am careful about what I use....... both because of our ongoing lack of the stuff in this country, and also because I am aware that people in other countries aren't as lucky as I am in being able to turn on a tap. But this has really made me realise how much i rely on having a hot tap available, and that I am probably not nearly as thoughtful as I mean to be! It makes you think!

Gardening craft!

Just a quick mention to all the wonderful gardeners that read my blog.... we have added a section for gardening to our crafty threads 'n' yarns forum. It seems a couple of our members have allotments and a few others grow veg in the garden, and of those that don't we already (after 2 hours of the extra section) have encouraged a couple to give some "veg in pots" a go!!!!

I know you probably all have a favourite forum already, but we're a friendly bunch and it wouldn't do any harm to pop along and have a squizz!

In other news, Molly has laid an egg, but it was soft shelled :(, although apparently that happens quite often when they first come into lay, so no matter, we'll just wait until she's ready to have another go!

The salad leaves are growing great guns, and the cold snap at the beginning of week doesn't seem to have put them off at all. Luckily the greenhouse is right in the sun so it warms up a treat with just a little encouragement.

Spot has had her first tick of the year! YUK!!!!! Nasty horrible creatures! I wonder what their purpose in life is? So we've been to the vet to get the icky stuff that ticks don't like (we hope!)

Well, that's about it for now, ..... am watching old episodes of M*A*S*H - great fun!

All Set!

I walked into town this morning. I should have photographed the journey à la Lottie, but forgot my camera, and by the time I'd remembered it was too late to come back.


So, I'm afraid you have to be happy with pictures of my booty! - Now I had a minor dilemma because I am doing really well on my Lent promise of not wasting money on things I don't need (and was consequently able to donate to comic relief last night, whilst crying onto my dinner!) But I do really want to sort out my vegetable plot, and a veggie plot without vegetables is pretty useless...... so when I spotted that Woolworths are doing buy one get one free on seeds, and half price on other garden bits, I couldn't resist.

So here we have 2 asparagus crowns, and seeds for runner beans, swede, leeks, butternut squash, courgette and carrot, and 8 Dahlia bulbs which I will plant in a patio pot.

Whilst out in the greenhouse I also snapped my seed progress:-

Left at the top are the rockets seeds which are showing nicely, on the right up there with the little grassy looking leaves, is spinach, which has only just begun to show in the last day or so, and the bottom is mixed lettuce. Not very exciting yet as they're only seed leaves, but I'm chuffed as the seeds were old, but it's great to see them doing their thing! - Just hope that the snow that they are forecasting tomorrow, which I must say judging by today's glorious sunshine does feel a tad unlikely, doesn't do them any damage!

Seriously?????

Now you see when we all get used to a lovely bit of sunshine and all the shrubs start to bloom, and we get out the t-shirts, mow the lawn, the birds start getting frisky, and I've even seen a butterfly........... then this happens


Weather report for next week