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dear diary >> a big thank you

Sorry it has taken me so long to type this post and say a big thank you for all your lovely well wishes – reading them has been a much needed source of comfort at the moment. I cannot tell you much more, but tomorrow I see my GP, though I suspect she may not have my results yet so I am no further forward.

The last two months have been a bit of a blur with more than a dash of frustration thrown in. The wheels of the NHS are grinding slowly in our region with many instances of my receiving conflicting letters, messages and advice which do not help the situation – at some point I fear the disorganisation will come to a head which is a shame as the staff are obviously working hard but it seems a case of the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.

I hope everyone is well and enjoying the holiday – it is quiet on our road and down in the village with most of our neighbours taking the opportunity to go away for the week. I spend my time doing what little I am able and find myself longing for the busyness of life that I once had (and probably constantly moaned about!) The phrase be careful what you wish for springs to mind as I remember only a couple of months back yearning for the quiet time we had during lockdown! Now it is here I am not so sure I meant quite so quiet – the difference in lockdown being that I was very able and productive.

Hopefully, I will be joining in again blogging and commenting, but until then take care everyone and have a great Jubilee. xx

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dear diary >> just a quick hello…

Just thought I would pop by to say a quick hello. Life has been turbulent here – hence the lack of posts.

I apologise for anyone linking through for the Scraphappy Challenge and seeing nothing new – since my previous posts written from our cottage in Scotland in March I came home with lots of plans and raring to go only to be struck down with illness and I am unfortunately not well enough yet to carry on blogging. Hopefully, the results of both the CAT scan and MRI will reveal the problems and things might begin to look up.

I miss everyone so much and hope all is well with you.

Take care, xx

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Creating >> ScrapHappy March

Hello to all the ScrapHappy followers if you have made it here. I hope you are not expecting a scrappy quilt – that might come later, but for the moment my contribution this month is more paper based and one that anyone can do quite easily.

I often collect a few wallpaper samples whenever I visit a DIY store – I find they are so useful for lining drawers, covering notebooks and making cards and collages, and they are free.

One design in particular that I found in B&Q really caught my eye. It is a design for a children’s room and I have had this sample piece rolled up in my scrap boxes for ages now not really knowing what to do with it.

I also had a few narrow lengths of foam core offcuts from another project so I put the two together and came up with the idea of making a height chart to record the height of my three grandchildren each time they come to stay. My girls always had their height measured and recorded on the edge of the broom cupboard door at granny’s house when they went to visit and over time, as they reached their teens, they completely overtook their little granny!

When granny died and we sold her house the marks had to be painted over (we did take a photo prior to this) but everyone was a bit sad. The one I have made is definitely portable so if we move we can take it with us.

This is the finished product – we fixed it about 18″ from the ground to give plenty of growing room.

To make it I stuck two lengths of foam core together with tape to make it long enough. I had to cut the width of the wallpaper down to fit the width of the foam core but the design of the tree lends itself very well to a height chart.

The wallper was stuck onto the foam core with double sided tape and then fixed onto the side of my linen cupboard in what has become the ‘children’s room’ with some of those removable heavy duty velcro strips.

We are just recording the name and the date with a mark on the tree trunk but you could also add actual measurements to the chart – it was fun and easy to make and the grandchildren love it.

Other  lovely ScrapHappy blogs to visit :-

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys, Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen, Bekki, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Bear, Carol, Preeti, Edith, Debbierose.

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dear diary >> mud, glorious mud…

Today we woke up to sunshine, the pea green coloured sea was much calmer with a half hearted little ripple on the surface, obviously too lazy to create the forceful waves of yesterday but not sleepy enough to stay calm. When I took this picture later in the afternoon the tide was out and it had changed to this lovely deep blue.

Although it looked like it could be a promising day weatherwise and one for going out in the garden – in fact we ended up playing at weathermen all day in and out as we had one or two sudden showers.

There is plenty of tidying up to do but not everywhere as some little corners I leave for nature to take over.

I have pruning to do on mass – far too many hydrangeas and buddleias to get round and plenty of rosa rugosa along our stream bank.

DH managed another 3 metres of ditch yesterday and today – he hasn’t yet seized up and can still move this evening so I reckon he might do a bit more tomorrow and finish it.

This is part of the ditch above and the resulting mud pile below. The mud is being used to build up this part of our stream bank which is the lowest point and where the water seeps over into the garden when we have too much heavy rain – hence the temporary sandbags to the right of the picture..

We might, just might, have found a new gardener – she seems keen to come but having vehicle trouble at the moment (aren’t we all). She is a lady that has helped out here many years ago and remembers us too. Our garden requires someone in tune with the slightly wild side of gardening and know when to leave some of the wild flowers in place and when to remove some so they don’t overpower and become invasive, it is a fine balance and one I still battle with.

The daisy path looks like it will be a glorious sight this year when they come out, they have multiplied over the winter but presently they are still in slumber and I am waiting patiently for their awakening – it is one of my favourite parts of the garden.

The large rhododendron will be missed this year as it had a hard prune last year and there is rather a large gap at the entrance to the woodland walk. There are encouraging signs of new growth and maybe a little more food might encourage it to regrow faster. Whilst I have the fish, blood and bone out I will scatter handfuls along the rosa rugosa hedge that the new caravan site owner cut down and cross my fingers that some of the stumps left will reshoot.

Tomorrow I am taking part in the Scraphappy Challenge with a few other bloggers – so my post will be of a more crafty nature. x