Taking a break

 This is our first break away in our caravan this year, we arrived on Good Friday, I'm staying for two weeks but Mark has gone back to work this morning and will be back on Friday for the Weekend.  Storm Dave was due to arrive on Saturday so we didn't put the awning up until it had passed on Sunday, it was still a bit breezy but nothing like Saturday night.  The wind was quite bad on Saturday night, in the caravan it felt similar to turbulence you experience on an airplane at times, but we were safe enough and there was no damage on the campsite.

Home for the next two weeks

Unusual for a Bank Holiday the weather was warm and sunny so we visited Croome Court, a national Trust property a short drive away. 

It was nice to see a Great White Egret on the river, there were a couple of swans too hiding in the reeds.

More of the house open now than it was the last time we came, but the highlight of Croome Court are the stunning grounds designed by Capability Browne.  They are said to be one of his first designs and remained one of his favourites, he visited the Earl of Coventry often.

We did walk some of the grounds but the purpose of our visit this time was to see the Walled Gardens.  These were still closed last time we came and the Easter Weekend is their first opening of the year.  Back in the day these gardens would have grown the produce to feed the household but it was neglected for almost fifty years, fallen brickwork and overgrown structures all had to be dug out and repaired so it's taken a number of years to get it to where it is now.  There are information boards as you walk around telling you about the work that was done.  There is an extra charge of £7 to see the Walled Gardens but It was worth it and I daresay the money goes to the work that they will carry on doing in the future.

As I said Mark has gone to work this morning so I've had a nice relaxing day on my own, the weather has been hot and sunny again and after a walk into and around town I've spent the time knitting, with a little afternoon nap thrown in, ha ha.

I won't be on my own for the next couple days though, Bonnie and Jacob have just arrived, they are playing outside at the moment but have already decided the sleeping arrangements!

-X-

End of March

 Here we are at the end of another month already.  It's been a busy March, last week was especially busy and I didn't have a lot of time to sit and knit, but I did finish another pair of socks earlier in the week for Mark.

These were knitted in Drops Fable Print yarn which has been in my stash for more years than I can remember.  I think I kept passing up on it because of the colour, but actually I think It knitted up just fine and the yarn was actually nicer to knit with than I anticipated.

These will go in my box of socks along with the others finished this year.

My daughter, Joanne has an addition to their family, this is Neville.

Isn't he adorable!  I do have a soft spot for black cats.

Bonnie and Jacob have wanted another pet ever since they lost Pickle, (Bonnies hamster), last year.

They both love animals and I know that Bonnie would love a dachshund, or sausage dog as we call them, she's talked about having one since she was a toddler, but with Joanne working full time it just wouldn't be fair, so they agreed on a cat.

They collected him on Saturday and he seems to have settled in really well, he loves to curl up by them and have a fuss, Jacob is very taken with him, I know Neville  will be very loved and spoilt.

The clocks went forward at the weekend here in the UK, I know I'm in the minority here, but I really don't like the lighter nights, I must have  SAD but in a different season because I prefer the darker nights.

Oh well only another seven months to go and It'll be dark nights again 😄

-X-

Garden (again), and proud nanna moment

 I've been trying to make the most of the sunshine, the seeds I sowed are coming on a treat, and It'll be time to start some more in a couple weeks.  I want to stagger them this year as I got a bit overwhelmed with so many last year.

We got our free spring seeds for the allotment this weekend, I think there are more seeds that I will plant this year, I've never tried chard though, not sure It would be something I'd eat, and I don't know if I'll bother with peas again, but other than that I think there is a great selection

I've tidied the two small raised beds in my garden, topped up the soil and put netting over one in readiness.  I'll be planting all the salad stuff at home this year, It'll be easier to pick as I need it.

Out of the three raspberries I planted last year only one survived, but I'm happy to see that there are more shoots appearing this year.

I'll plant my salad stuff in this one.

The grass still hasn't been cut, the top of the garden where these beds are is still a bit spongy and will probably need re-seeding again.  The other lawn has faired better but I'll still hold off cutting for now.

Other things are coming to life, the hostas are growing rapidly

The camellia is full of flowers

We also have a couple of forsythia doing well and the peris is just about to flower.

Inside, my amaryllis has all four of it's flowers open.  

This was one I bought after Christmas to replace the one Stevie bought me which didn't grow.  The one she got me was one of the more expensive ones, this is a cheap one from B&M.

Both Bonnie and Jacob completed swimming badges last week.  

Jacob achieved his 25 metres certificate, he also got star of the week at school, so a good week for him

Bonnie had to swim as many meters as possible and did absolutely amazing.  She completed 600 metres, that's 24 lengths of the pool, and she did it in 27 minutes.

The swimming instructor had already told Joanne that she could be a competitive swimmer.

So proud of them both ❤️

-X-

Spring is springing

I love to see these daffodils dancing just outside my kitchen window, It's such a cheery thing to see when you open the blind of a morning.

 And the view from outside is just as lovely, yellow is such a happy colour, especially with all the grey days we've been having.

We have seen the sun a little more this last week though and it's been nice to get outside and make the most of it. 

On Wednesday I looked through my seed tin and made the most of the sunshine to sew a few seeds, again, I seem to have a lot of yellow going on.  My cosmos didn't do too well last year, I had a very poor show of flowers so I've tried a different variety this time hoping they'll do better.

 

I bought pepper, cauliflower and lettuce plants from the garden centre this week which I need to transfer to some pots to grow on a bit before planting out.  I'll keep the peppers in the greenhouse this time, the lettuce I'll plant up in the raised bed we have in the garden and the cauli will go to the allotment.

And look what's in my little wildlife pond.

 We have frogspawn 😀 

I haven't checked it for a couple day's but fingers crossed we will get some little froglets :-)

I hope everyone in the UK enjoyed Mothers day yesterday, I was gifted some lovely thoughtful presents and Joanne cooked a fantastic Sunday lunch which I enjoyed all the more because It's not very often I get a meal cooked for me 😁  Later we went to Stevie's to help move and arrange some furniture they had bought.  The weather like today ended up rainy and windy, but the sunshine is due to reappear later in the week and hopefully I can get a bit more sorted in the garden.

-X-

Today would have been my dads 100th birthday if he were still with us.  He died in 1987 aged just 61, so long ago and yet no time at all.

Of course It's also Mother's day here in the UK on Sunday so my eldest sister and I took flowers to the crem for both of them this morning.

I don't think you ever stop missing or thinking about your mum and dad, however old you are.

-X-

His & hers

 I wanted to try and knit a box of socks this year, I'm alternating knitting a pair for myself and a pair for Mark.  

He's taken to wearing the ones I've knitted him more this past Winter so I know he will appreciate them.

These were finished in February and are knitted in the owl colourway by West Yorkshire Spinners.

I finished the pair for myself on Sunday.  

This yarn was purchased a couple years ago from the Birmingham yarn show, I'm not sure now who the dyer was or the colourway name as there was no belly band, but It was lovely to knit with. 

It looks like the colour is more concentrated in one sock from the photos, it's really not that noticeable In real life.

I used the Jemima sock pattern by Kay Jones, I've knitted this pattern a couple times before, I love the texture and how squishy it is.

So that's three pairs in the box already, and I cast on the fourth pair yesterday 😄

-X-

Black blue and green

 Our local council has implemented a new recycling scheme starting in April and today was delivery day for our new bins.

From April our normal black bin waste will be collected every two weeks.  I have no problem with that I only put it out every two weeks anyway.  We will still use our blue bag for paper and cardboard, again every other week, same as before. There is a yearly fee for our green garden waste bin, (which we pay) and that is collected every two weeks.  But now we have a blue 240 litre bin for plastic, cans and glass, again to be collected every other week.  I can't see me putting this out every other week, it's going to take us ages to fill even half way!

We also now have waste food bins.

The smaller one is supposed to be kept in your kitchen for food waste and then emptied into the larger container which will be collected every week.  

Like many people posting on the local FB page I will not be using either of these two food waste bins.  For starters we don't have a big kitchen so nowhere to put it, there is just enough room under my sink for the waste bin and some general cleaning things, so it can't go there, and in any case we have very little food waste.  There has been valid concerns raised over attracting rats in the garden with the food bin. 

 They are locked by putting the handle down, but, my smaller one came with the side bent meaning the handle doesn't go down, good start, but as I said I won't be using them anyway.  

Having all these bins is all well and good, but less packaging on items would be even better, and our council only actually recycles 35% of collections, way below the national target.  

The food waste scheme was rolled out in other boroughs and the take up was so little that it was abandoned not long after.  So perhaps council money could have been put to better use?

There is also the problem of storing all these bins!  

We have side gate and luckily enough room in that walk up to the garden to store them, but there are a lot of terraced houses here in the UK which do not have side entrances and bins are kept on the pavement, (looks awful and unsightly), but other than pull the bin through the house what do they do?

I'll probably take the larger of the food bins down the allotment, it'll come in handy to store my gloves and trowel in 🤭

What does your council do in the way of waste and recycling collections?

-X-

Well that was February

I have no idea how we arrived at the end of February so quickly!  It been another month of rain and cloudy days but this week we have at least had a couple of brighter days so perhaps we have had our share of the rain for now, lets see.

We have finally, finally got the kitchen and shower/utility finished, yayyy.  It seems to have taken forever, but the flooring was put down yesterday, and we are just finishing faffing with the last little bits.  The kitchen blind still hasn't arrived but that will be a quick job to do once it's here.  I'm so glad we decided to tackle these two jobs while the weather was horrible, now at least when we do have some better weather I won't feel too guilty for spending time outside. 

Bonnie stayed over with us last weekend, she had a project to do for school, they are learning about the Saxons and they had to make something relating to that time.  She wanted to make a Saxon lady so we picked up a Disney doll from the charity shop for 99p, (she didn't want to use one of her precious Barbie dolls, lol), and we set about making some clothes.

First we made her an under dress

Then had to figure out how to make a smock to go over it and a wimple.

Jacob helped sew the smock and do the fancy stitching around the edge as Bonnie was a bit bored by this time, lol.  We made a necklace using some stitch marker rings, and a button for a brooch.  I'm happy to say that apart from spending 99pence on the doll everything came from stash, sometimes it comes in handy to keep a box of odds and ends.

Bonnie looked for Saxon girl names, and decided on Mildred.

I think Mildred, although not perfect, looks just fine, and I think it's safe to say I enjoyed this project as much as Bonnie🤣

Apart for cobbling dolls clothes together I've had a good reading month, five books read -

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths 

Ward D by Frieda McFaddon

Lies Dammed lies, and History by Jody Taylor

The Teacher by Tim Sullivan

November 9 by Colleen Hoover

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald 

The Teacher was our library book club choice. This is the sixth book in the series which I though was a bit strange to give us.  It was ok but I think we missed something jumping in on book six.  I guess who 'done it' quite early on, I wouldn't run to read any of the others in the series.

the Jodi Taylor book was book seven in the St Mary's Chronicles and just as good as the pervious six.

Frieda McFaddon and Colleen Hoover books get a lot of stick, but you know what you're getting, they are purely entertainment not literary classics.  I did really like November 9.

The Stranger Diaries wasn't what I was expecting, but I enjoyed it.  I finished the month off with The Great Gatsby, it's been on my TBR for  a while.  I enjoyed the slow pace of it and the writing, very different from today.  Is it over rated? probably, is it something I would read again? Yes, I think I would, It's the sort of book that you would probably get more from the more it was read.

I hope to be back a few more times during March and to do the rounds of blog reading over the next few days.

-X-

Monthly makes - January

Already I'm playing catch-up with posting my makes, so before we get too far into February these are the two things I got finished in January. 

A cosy hot water bottle cover

I use my water bottle a lot, If I sit down I have my hot water bottle beside me, I don't put the heating on in the daytime and It's surprising how by just having a hot water bottle on your back can make a difference.  And of course I take It to bed too, in fact, there are not many months in the year when I don't have a hot water bottle on my feet in bed, It must be a comfort thing, ha ha.  

Having so much use the cover that came with the bottle had seen better days, I came across the free pattern on Ravelry and the yarn is some Drops Nepal I had in stash and It knit up in a few evenings.

The socks were cast on on Christmas Eve and finished on January 25th.  In truth these were knitted almost twice, they started life with a pattern but I didn't like it so ripped them back when I got to the heel.  I think because of the yarn they look better plain, but they were a nightmare from start to finish, entirely my own fault, counting mistakes and generally not paying attention, I was glad when they were off the needles! But I do like them.  I used a mini from stash for the heels and toes and I'm afraid I lost the ball band so can't tell you what make the main yarn was 🙄

I still haven't picked up any stitching but I have got my dough bowl of previous valentine/February pieces displayed.  Maybe I'll feel in the mood to stitch soon, who knows.

-X-

End of January already

 I think January has gone quite quickly, perhaps because we've been busy doing things around the house and starting to get those jobs ticked off.  The kitchen has been painted but I'm waiting for window blind to arrive and for Mark to put up a shelf at the weekend, and we are still waiting for the flooring to come in stock, (fingers crossed in a couple weeks), so not quite complete.  In the meantime, the shower/utility room prep and painting can be started next week, It's probably a good thing that the flooring wasn't in stock because now we can have them both fitted together and save the cost of two fitting charges.

I've managed to read five books this month, two on my Kindle and three physical books.

 I've taken to sitting with a coffee at lunchtime and reading a chapter or two, I don't normally read in the daytime but I've enjoyed having that hour sitting quietly so I'm going to try and keep it up.

A Midwinter's Tale - Lili Hayward was our Book and Pudding club choice, (not the one I voted for).  It was ok but I generally don't go in for cosy reads, It was all very predictable and neatly tied up at the end.

I'm continuing to work my way through Jodi Taylor's Chronicles Of St Mary's series, What Could Possible Go Wrong is book six. There is never a dull moment as you follow Max and her colleagues travelling back in time to witness key events in history.  This time Max is responsible for training the new recruits and we travel with them to the great pyramids, to witness the burning of Joan of Arc and the battle of Bosworth. And In true St Mary's style, If something can go wrong It will.  These books are proper adventures and have a bit of everything, never a dull moment, and the fact that this is the second time around of reading the series just shows how much I love them. 

The Psychopath Next Door - Mark Edwards. Ethan and his family have moved to a new area for a fresh start, and when Fiona moves in next door she seems nice, friendly and she and Ethan's daughter, Rose, get on really well. What they don't know it that Fiona is an ex prisoner who has an agender and see's something of herself in Rose.  It was an easy read and It kept it's pace all the way through.

Our Beautiful Mess - Adele Parks.  Connie is looking forward to having her three daughters home for Christmas, Fran, the oldest is the last to arrive with her new boyfriend, Zac in tow and announces she is pregnant.  Connie Is wary of Zac, there is something in him that reminds her of the man she had an affair with early in her marriage.  The story then unfolds with Fran and Zac mostly at the centre of It.  I enjoyed it, the pace was fast enough to keep you interested, a couple of the characters could have been developed a bit more but on the whole a good read.

Animal Farm - George Orwell has been on my TBR shelf for a long time, I think most people or aware of the book, a farm taken over by it's overworked and neglected animals In the hope of bettering their lives, but all things can never be equal, can they? I think this book is a relevant today as It was back when It was published in 1945.  I did (do) have a problem with talking animals though, lol.

My library book club book was a DFN, I managed to read about a quarter and then questioned why I was wasting my time reading something so uninteresting, I wasn't alone, only one person finished it and apparently we didn't miss anything so I'm glad I didn't waste my time.  I used to feel I had to finished a book I'd started, not anymore.

Do you re-read favourite books? and have you read anything this month that you would recommend?

-X-

Bargain finds

I am trying to drastically declutter this year, you know, the things you don't use or have multiple of, so I could probably have done without a browse around charity shops yesterday.  In my defence, the items I purchased were bought with purpose, (with one exception), so I think I'm ok?

Firstly, this Agatha Christie puzzle.  

I'd been looking at these in Waterstones at the weekend, there are various book related ones, as you are completing the jigsaw there are clues to spot or solve, I wasn't even aware that these existed and I was very tempted to buy one, but as the price tag was £16.99 I resisted, so you can imagine my delight when I spotted this one in the charity shop for £3.95 😁 

A little wicker planter for £1 - which was the perfect fit for the pot of narcissi's I bought in the supermarket a couple days before

A little chopping board for £1.45

I've been on the look out for a smallish board for a while to use for a cross stitch finish, the stitched piece has been patiently waiting for three or four years at least.  

 I wasn't sure If the board would be too small, but look, it will be perfect! ( I bought the little gingerbread man topper with this finish in mind a few years ago).  

No excuses for not fully finishing this one now!

This Moroccan style dish had to come home with me for £3.00 - it will make the perfect place to keep fruit instead of keeping it hidden in the cupboard, it might even encourage me to eat more fruit as I can see it, lol.

My last find does not have a use, and I definitely don't need it, but priced up at £2.49 I thought It was cute enough to rescue.

Now Its not a design I would stitch, I think it's very typical of the English designs from the 1980's but I have a thing for houses, and wouldn't you just love to live in a little thatched cottage like this?

I was quite happy with my 'finds'

How about you, have you found any bargains lately?

-X-

Ridiculous! (bit of a rant)

I popped our nearest Aldi yesterday and this is what I found.

No there hasn't been a zombie apocalypse warning, but the media did hype up the weather warning, and what does everyone do?  They buy bread of course! Personally I've never understood why bread is the first thing to sell out, we only buy it very occasionally, I could happily live without it altogether.

They also cleared the shelves of vegetables, meat and eggs and coffee and tea!

What is wrong with people!  Hording and stockpiling food doesn't sit well with me, I just can't understand it, buy what you need and perhaps one extra, you are not going to starve! perhaps then there would be enough for anyone else who couldn't get to the supermarket until after work.

All this was because the media said we were due the biggest snow fall for ten years, at least a foot or more in our area they said.

And yes we have had snow, this much when I got up this morning.

Nowhere near the amount that was predicted and as I'm typing this it has mostly turned to slush and I wouldn't be surprised if it's all but gone tomorrow.

I wonder if all those who raided the Aldi yesterday are feeling silly now they have umpteen loaves of bread to get through.  More importantly, how much of what was bought will go to waste?

-X-