Day's out and making the most of the sun

 I've mentioned before that I look after my youngest grandson, Jacob, on Wednesdays.  Joanne drops him off around 8.45 on her way to work and after dropping Bonnie at school.  We usually try to get out somewhere, even if it's just to the park, as was the case today.  There's not always time for us to go out for the whole day as once Joanne has picked Bonnie up from school there is about an hour before she has to leave and take Jacob to Squirrels, where she is also one of the helpers. 

Even though we are well into the Summer months the weather hasn't been great, we've had the odd few days here and there and It just so happened that one of those rare hot sunny days was on a Wednesday, three weeks ago to be exact, memorable because since then temperatures haven't reach anywhere near what we had for those few days.  Of course we had to make the most of it and as you can see Jacob thoroughly enjoyed the trip to the local outdoor splash park.  

Last week Mark was off work and was able to come out with us, so we went a little further afield.

I've been to Llangollen many times, as a child and as an adult, it's a lovely little town, I've shared photos of some of my visits before, they are in the Labels section on the right hand side of my blog.  On this day though we were heading for a little place just outside Llangollen first, a place called Trevor which is home to the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.  

It's been somewhere that I wanted to visit for a while and recently Margaret, who blogs at 

https://margaretmyblog.blogspot.com/  came to the UK with her sister and posted about their visit to Trevor and the viaduct and it reminded me that It really isn't that far, and we should go soon.

The plan had been to take the canal boat trip over the viaduct but after walking over it, very carefully and with me gripping onto Jacob with two hands, I decided that perhaps I wasn't brave enough that day after all.  The viaduct is 126feet high and the views are stunning, unfortunately I only managed to get a couple photos because I found that If I kept moving It wasn't so bad, standing still was a different matter.

After we'd had some lunch we drove the ten minutes into Llangollen.  We didn't know it but that day it was the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.  Apparently the festival started in 1947 "As a means of healing the wounds of WWII" and is held every July.  With 34 countries and 3,000 participants this year its a big event.  We saw the singers from Japan practicing on the River Dee, they were good, very very good.  Later in the afternoon there was a parade with those taking part in their national dress.  Unfortunately we had to set off for home before it started so missed out on seeing what must have been a great sight.  

I'll have to make it something I put on the calendar for next year.

We had a walk along the river Dee, stopping to feed the ducks and walk on the rocks on the way to the canal side, where we did get to have a ride in a barge, or banooke, as he still calls them.  We just managed to get on the last horse draw trip of the day along part of the Llangollen canal. 

The kids break up from school on Thursday so this week he had his graduation from nursery, Joanne sent me these photos of him in his cap and gown 

After several attempts he threw the cap up and it landed on his face, so funny!

 We only have one more Nanny and Jacob Wednesday because after the holidays he will start school, how fast the time goes.

-X-

Mrs Tiggywinkle

 We've had a cute little visitor for about a week now.  I was in the kitchen just as it was getting dark and there she was scurrying about on the grass, I called Mark and we watched as she made her way around the garden down the edge and across the patio.  She rummaged about in the tomato house and then made her way back up the path.   I'm saying she but of course I have no idea if Tiggy (that's what I've named her), is male for female, she is quite a size so definitely an adult.

My phone camera isn't the best in low light, Ill have to try with my camera to get some better photos.

I did put some mealworms out the night after I first saw her but then found out that these are not suitable as they are high in phosphorus and low in calcium and cause Metabolic Bone Disease.  Hedgehogs are on the Red list which apparently means they are considered to be at risk of local extinction.  It's recommended that if putting food out cat and dog food is ok, either wet or dry.  I put some cat biscuits out last night and she wolfed them down, I'm so happy she has chosen our garden as one of her feeding grounds 😁

Also from the garden this week, my first courgettes, peas and sweet peas.  I have been picking peas a while but Bonnie and Jacob raid them when they come, lol

More courgettes this morning, they are so much better than shop bought, not as watery.  Only me likes these, I have them in place of pasta or rice so they will get used up.

Hope you all have a great week

-X-

A shared venture

 We seem to have taken on an allotment!

My daughter, Joanne, has wanted one for a long time, and was on the council waiting list for years, council allotment waiting lists are notoriously long so it's no surprise she was never offered one.  But recently someone she works with has taken on a plot with Roots Allotments.  Roots is a fairly new idea and I think at the moment there are nine sites around the country.  Basically you rent a plot much the same way as you do with the council, but you get so much more.  All garden tools, watering cans etc are on site and free for all to use, the plots, if previously used, are cleared and put ready for the next user.  When you join you are given a box with seeds and various plug plants to get you started, so you can get growing right away.

There is lots of support too with both in person and online classes and tutorials, both fertilizer, wood chips and organic plant food is there for all to use as well as plant and produce sharing shelves.

These are some of the plots on the site

And below is ours.  There are various size plots from mini to group sizes, we have a starter plot which is  36 sqm.  I met the guy that had this plot before us on Sunday, he swapped it for a larger family plot and told me he he had recently put six barrow loads of fertilizer on there, so that saved us a job for now :-)

We spent all Sunday afternoon and a good few hours there on Monday so this is how it's looking now.

I created a little seating area on Monday and we have already planted peas, cauliflower, cabbage, baby corn, carrots, peppers, and a rhubarb plant.  Joanne has been down there this afternoon and planted sprouts and leeks, both of which were free plug plants from the site. 

Everyone we have met on site has been really friendly and helpful and I think I shall enjoy doing my bit, at least between the two of us the work and commitment will be shared, I'm not sure I would have wanted to take something like this on by myself but I'm already looking forward to seeing what results we will get from our planting.

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Sorry, I'm really behind on my blog reading and commenting because I haven't been on my laptop a lot recently, I'll try and catch up this weekend and also get round to taking photos of my recent finishes. (I'm already very late sharing my stick6in2024 finish), but I do have a finish and will get round to posting about as soon as I can.

I'll be back soon

-X-

New resident

 Last time I told the sad tale of the frog in my pond being carried off by a visiting crow; so I had to pop in and tell you that happily I have another frog in my little wildlife pond.

I spied him on Saturday night, (while I was on slug patrol), and so far he has been there every night since, yayyy.

It was still light at almost 10pm last night so I was able to get a photo of him.

I was ridiculously happy to see that this little fella had chosen to make use of my creation. 😀

Fingers crossed there will be more in the future.

🐸🐸🐸 

Flaming June

It's not been a good start to the Summer months, the weather is really mixed up and I know that a lot of you in other countries are experiencing the same sort of thing.  It turned so cold one day this week that I gave in and turned the heating on for a couple of hours, very unlike me to be that cold. 

 

The garden is confused too, plants that shot up quickly in May when we had a rainy spell followed by sunshine, now seem to have come to a stand still.  I think I've lost my cucumber plants and my pepper plants have hardly grown at all.   The tomato and courgette plants seem to be doing ok, although they are smaller than I thought they would be by now and I'm not sure my peas are doing so well, there are flowers and even a few pods but the leaves are turning yellow, no idea if this is normal or not.

The potatoes look to be doing alright, although the leaves still look green and healthy so are not ready yet

Strawberries have been very good, I've not had more than two or three at a time, but that's ok, there are still plenty to come.

Plants in an around my wildlife pond are growing well but there is a sorry tale to tell.  Although I have been checking to see if we have a frog I hadn't seen one, then, last Wednesday me and Jacob were sitting in the conservatory having breakfast and watching the comings and goings of the birds on the feeders when Mr crow came, he comes every morning for something to eat and drink and I never thought anything of it when he hopped over to the pond and sat on the edge, next thing I saw was him dropping a frog on the grass!  Before I could get out there he picked the poor frog up and carried it off.  I know it's nature, but I felt so sorry for the little frog that I didn't even know was there. 

I had to stake the foxgloves because of the wind and rain, they are almost over now, does anyone know what I do with them once they finish flowering?

I sowed lots of lupin seeds but they just weren't big enough to plant out this year.  I've potted them up into larger pots and hopefully they will survive for next year.  This in one of a few I planted last year and they have done well.

I have had one surprising success this year.  I accidently broke some some pieces when I was deadheading my hydrangea this Spring so I just stuck them in some compost, never really thinking they would take as I'd tried it before and nothing came of them.  But this time all five are doing really well.

Not sure when I should plant them on their own, I'm assuming I should leave them for this year and pot them in their own pots or in the garden next Spring.  If you know please leave a comment.

Hopefully the weather will start to settle down a bit in the next couple of weeks.  We have plans to re-vamp the summer house, I say we, I really mean me, but Mark will be doing the work 😁  He has already made a start by fixing the doors and putting new perspex in them, the rest of the work will have to be done as and when he has time at the weekends, at the moment he is laying a patio for Stevie and Darren on his days off.  There's no rest for the wicked😂 

Have a good weekend

-X-

The love of books

 My love of books started when I was very young.  I remember loving and collecting all the Ladybird books, when I could go to the library on my own I discovered the Nancy Drew books, I absolutely loved those stories, I think that's where my love of mystery and crime novels comes from.  Later I remember my mum buying me The Old Curiosity Shop, A Tale of Two Cities and Little Women.  I haven't read those books in years but would like to again at some time.

There was a time when I kept every book I read, I'm a little more selective nowadays and only keep certain books now, (I might show you those another time, if anyone is interested).  

 I'd been thinking about starting a collection of the Penguin Clothbound Classics but kept seeing reports of the print rubbing off on the cover and in some cases even the print on the pages smudging, although they are lovely It put me off, so when I saw this collection a few months ago I fell in love with them, they are so beautiful.

From what I can see this collection from Timeless Classics was part of a monthly subscription a few years back, although I can't recall seeing it advertised anywhere.  There were forty or so books to collect, I'm not sure I would have wanted some of the titles so at least now I can just buy the ones I want, and at £8.99, they are reasonably priced too.

So far I have seven titles, the covers are just stunning and the paper is good quality.  The covers are much more vibrant than my phone camera can pick up.

These sent me down a rabbit hole of searching out some of the books I loved as a child and I discovered the Puffin Clothbound Collection.  There doesn't seem to be an issue with the print on these as far as I can see, and the covers are beautiful.  So far I have only three of these.

I must admit that I have never read Charlotte's Webb, but I will at some point, isn't the cover lovely?  

I loved Stig of the Dump

I think Black Beauty was my most favourite book as a child, I will definitely be re-reading this soon.

There are more titles I want to collect but these are a bit more pricy at £14.99.

Do you collect any special edition books and what were your favourite books growing up?

-X-

End of the month finishing

 The last day of another month that has flown by, another four weeks and we will be halfway through the year!   Summer officially starts in a couple of days, someone needs to inform the weather gods of that because we need to see less rain and more sun, not necessarily for it to warm up too much, but some sunshine would be very welcome. 😎

I have four finishes today, three knitting and one stitching.  The first knitting is a little cardigan I finished in April, but only got round to sewing the buttons on this week.  Knit in Sirdar Crofter, Its lovely and soft with the added bonus of being able to machine wash, because what new Momma wants to spend precious time hand washing.  This will go into the gift box for now but, I have a new Great Nephew due soon so it may not be in the box for long.

Socks I finished at the end of March, but I forgot all about them.  These are the Thomasina Socks.

The pattern is so subtle that It's hardly noticeable, I'm sure a non knitter wouldn't even realise there was a pattern.  It is one of a trio of patterns from the Miss Potter sock club released a few years ago by Kay Jones (on Ravelry), not sure I would knit it again.

Another pair of socks, this one will go into the gift box too, for one of my daughters. 

The yarn is a Paintbox yarn called Stripes-Rainbow.  I cast on with a WYS before carrying on with the main yarn and also used WYS for the heels and toes.

This finish deserves a big TADAH!  It's my Bothy Threads Bunny.  

This chart was part of a Birthday gift from my eldest daughter in 2020 but I didn't get round to starting it until January 2023.  

I got so close to finishing it at the beginning of the year but I ran short on a couple of the threads, my own fault for miss-counting, Bothy Threads were very good and sent me some more threads within a few days of me contacting them but I just didn't feel the call to stitch on it.  This week I gave myself a talking too and in the end it took me three nights of stitching, two nights to put the last of the stitches in and one night to do the back stitching and the ears of corn.

Do I love it? Yes! 

Did I like stitching it? If I'm honest, not really.

Will I stitch another Bothy Thread?  Very unlikely. 

There is a lot of fudging going on, especially with those ears of corn, I gave up trying to follow what was charted for those and just did my own thing in the end.

I've already taken it in to be framed, there is about a six week wait at the moment but I will show you again once it's back home.

Take care

-X-

Book choices

Last months book club read was Middle England by Jonathan Coe, I managed to read about four chapters before giving up through boredom.  The group was split on opinions with three of us not enjoying, four really enjoying it and two thinking it was ok.   As a side note the gentleman in our group went to the same school as the Author and did say that his books aren't always very well researched.

This months book is The Stationery shop of Tehran.  As soon as these were given out we all commented that we had already read this as a book club previously.  The librarian looked very sheepish, hung her head but didn't comment.  We've seen the list of book club books and there are lots of titles on there so why have we ended up with a book we've already read!  Three of us said that we wouldn't be reading it again so that will make for an interesting discussion next month, (not).  So far this year I've only read two of the book choices, In one case I didn't have time but the others I just didn't get on with, and there are too many good books out there to waste time reading something you're not enjoying.

While I was there today I picked up my reserved copy of The Fury.  I've been on waiting list for this since January.  I read The Silent Patient by the same author last year and that was really good so I hope this one is worth the wait.

Have you read any of these? do you belong to a book club and how do you choose your books?  I must admit that I've considered quitting book club but I do enjoy talking about the books I've read and hearing about what the others are reading and I'd miss that.  I know you can't please everyone all the time, we all have our own opinions on what is a good read, but In the group I'm not on my own in thinking that the book choices are not always very good.

-X-