Tag: general chit chat

Posted on

dear diary ~ just chit-chat really

Up and down the country it has been lovely to see all the bunting, flags and the Coronation knitting decorating villages and towns – it has been a wonderful celebration of people coming together though I appreciate not everyone has wanted to join in and as we know there were plenty of protests.

My take on the Royal family (for what it’s worth) is that – no we didn’t elect them – none of us did so everyone is equal in that. If we had an elected political president then a majority would have elected them but there would still be many that didn’t and we would still have protests. If you remember the Brexit vote almost split the country 52% to 48% – almost half the people didn’t want to leave Europe and this could happen if we changed to a president rather than keep the Royal family. To me there seems more continuity with the Royal family, who cannot show political preference but can if need be keep the politicians in check, than having to keep switching between political parties and presidents – who would want someone like Trump in power. And the Royal family may cost a lot of money but they also bring a lot of money into the country through tourism and I believe this is much more than they cost the tax payer who will pay around £1.29 per person this year. I think President Putin will probably cost the Russian people much more!

I will say no more on the subject (I am sure everyone has their own valid views), other than I did enjoy the day, the tradition and history of our nation and I look forward to seeing how the new King evolves throughout his reign. I wish there was an easy way to resolve the contentious issue of who or what system, in the future, would be best to lead our country. I am not sure that it is a problem that can be solved to satisfy everyone.

The garden is beginning to unfold and colour is returning. The new tulips I planted late, just after Christmas, have now appeared rising above the sea of blue forget me nots – Queen of the Night and the double Sun Lover – I just love the names – they are late flowering anyway so have not been held back my my late planting.

The dicentra spectabilis is certainly spectacular and well worth the wait.

I grew this pretty pale pink aquilegia over winter in the greenhouse from seed I gathered last summer.

The exochorda macrantha is blooming but will not go on for much longer now – such a shame.

But the white lilac beside it is waiting patiently in bud to burst into flower on a sunny day.

The seeds in the greenhouse have grown quite a bit in only a week. Strangely the Cosmos Sensation are the only seeds that have not appeared yet and I am wondering if I actually sowed any seeds or just got the packet out and then put it back again. A bit of a mystery!

Today we have Master Freddie once again from 8.30 until after tea to give my daughter some time to herself. The new baby could be expected any day now so we are moving onto Amber alert. We have also got DH’s sister and her partner coming for the day on Sunday – it will be lovely to see them but doesn’t everything always happen at once – it has already been a tiring week and I feel I could just do with a bit of time off to myself.

Maybe next week.

I will have to prepare food. I thought I might just repeat the Coronation quiches and fresh fruit salad I made for tea last Saturday and probably the same cake too. I will make them on Saturday rather than today otherwise I might just have a little bit too much help from little hands and I feel I need to get them done quickly and have the kitchen to myself. If I get chance I will bake the cake today and of course Master Freddie will be overjoyed to help me decorate it again.

I spent the day yesterday trying to get to the bottom of the ironing pile – needless to say I didn’t manage it but I did do a lot. It had built up over the week whilst we were celebrating, child minding, gardening and visiting – there was little time for the usual household chores. I also cleaned out the grey wheelie bin after the dustbin men emptied it. Not the most pleasant or easiest of jobs but having nappies in there, even just the wet ones does make it smell rather and today seemed like a good opportunity. Whilst I had the bucket out I decided the kitchen floor needed a good clean too.

I would like to say that the house now looks spick, span and spotless but my nose would grow if I did!!

Have a good Friday everyone x

Posted on

beaching ~ homeward bound

Our time at the cottage came to an end, as it inevitably does, all too soon with many gardening tasks left unfinished or not even started but we just have to accept we do what we can in the time available.

Of course in hindsight travelling home on a Bank Holiday Monday was not the best of ideas but one borne out of the fact that our half way overnight stop in Carlisle at the Premier Inn was so much cheaper on the Sunday night.

It was exceptionally busy, both in the hotel and on the roads.

Once I am orientated towards home I suddenly get a longing to be back and reacquainted with all my own things, especially my bed, so we didn’t have a leisurely trip down this time. We left Carlisle at about 10am and as we neared the top of the Lakes the traffic had increased considerably but no queues had formed and we seemed to keep rolling. Our main stop was when we pulled off the M6 at junction 36 (Crooklands Interchange) and headed for Burton in Kendal, hoping to find a cafe for a drink.

A very interesting village with some grand architecture which I thought had quite a French influence in style.

Some interesting street names too.

Sadly, the little village only has a shop with a coffee machine and no tea, the Kings Arms is presently closed for a refurb and the main road through was like a race track and parking non-existent for visitors……I took a few pictures on a quick walk around – it is a long drawn out village and halfway along we decided to cut the exploration short and never made it as far as the church as the noise level of the through traffic drove us back to the car and we moved on ending up at the notorious Lancaster motorway services with a hundred other fellow travellers lunching at Costa. The queue for service was long and the vegetarian selection limited but luckily we managed to grab the very last two mushroom, egg and spinach baps to tide us over – but again with all the noise and grubby tables we didn’t stay long.

Once we arrived home and unpacked I realised how exhausted I was but a quick walk to our village was necessary to pick up some fresh milk and rolls. We came across the end of the village Scarecrow Trail and stopped here and there to admire the ‘Royal’ scarecrows.

The ‘quick walk’ took much longer than we thought and once back home again I prepared a nourishing lentil and leek stew for tea and then relaxed in front of the TV for a while….promptly falling asleep while the tea cooked itself on the hob.

I promised pictures of the cottage garden. As we left many plants had grown over the fortnight we had stayed there and were just about to bloom. The ferns had grown so much in height unfurling as they go.

I was surprised at how many primulas had sneaked up around the pond as I thought we had lost a lot under the heavy leaf fall from the sycamore it lies beneath – they might be a spectacular sight that we will miss by our next visit.

Looking down from the lane it all looks under control but believe me in a garden like this with the wild flowers like red campion and blue alkanet poised and ready to invade nothing is under my control….we only manage it.

This is the view from below looking up toward the lane – doesn’t look so good now from this view does it!!

DH has still to finish the staging – but it was never going to be this visit and I had to content myself by removing as many of the overgrown wild planting of campion, buttercups, alkanet, some extremely viscious nettles and the straggling goosegrass, as I could – uncovering the few actual plants that had not been nudged out or given up. It was a place I didn’t get to weed last year and the results are always the same – the invaders move in swiftly.

These old terracotta drainage pipes I use for herbs. I had to clear them of the old ones as they had become huge and woody. The rosemary had reached 5 feet with a four foot root and had lost the will to live – probably through exhaustion a couple of years ago and no amount of pruning back encouraged it back to its former state. It is a sheltered and sunny and spot by the conservatory and the open ended drainage pipes act as a deep rooted bed and the soil here is very fertile so I will set some herb seeds at home and plant fresh ones again this year.

The solomon’s seal is one of my favourite plants in the lower wood and they continue to spread and march along quietly interspersed now with the bluebells – well, unfortunately they are the Spanish variety set by the previous owner and there is no hope of ever getting rid of them to replant with the English variety so I just have to tolerate them – but they look equally as beautiful at this time of year covering the wood floor.

I left a little patriotic contribution to the Coronation celebrations next week.

The dicentras are spreading nicely again and the white have now merged with the pink.

The cherry tree keeps going – it needs attention too but we keep thinking it will not survive much longer – it must be getting on for 50 years old, has some form of hard fungus at the bottom of the trunk and has had to undergo some rather extreme pruning in its time but it merrily carries on flowering each year although the striking pink candyfloss that looms up over the weeping larch is not as abundant as it once was.

The tale of our latest confrontations with the new site owner will be told another day. As always it tainted our visit somewhat – my head says to leave but my heart is still drawn to our little tumble down cottage with its wild garden looking out over the sea.

Posted on

dear diary ~ progress with the preparations

Well I certainly feel much lighter today with my new shorter hair cut but no less tired. I am not sure if it is a tiredness of the body or the mind but I expect it amounts to the same thing in the end.

Before we head off we are trying now to ‘eat the pantry’ and fridge of course, and yesterday we made an omelette to use up the last of the eggs and filled it with an assortment of left over veggies from the night before – sweetcorn, green beans, courgette, button mushrooms and cold potato – it turned out well and we used the last of the watercress and roasted a few baby potatoes to go with it. I tend to use watercress in place of lettuce because it is nutrient dense. Those tiny leaves and stalks contain good amounts of Vitamins A, C, and K and smaller amounts of vitamin E, thiamine, riboflavin, vitamin B6, folate, pantothenic acid, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium and copper as well as antioxidants and phyto-chemicals. So well worth eating some every day. I have been growing the American landcress in recent years which is quick and easy to grow and just as nutritious.

DH made a good quantity of leek and potato soup for the freezer and is making mushroom soup today. I have a tupperware box in my fridge named ‘Soup Collection’ and we put green bits and other odds and ends of veg in it like the thick broccoli or cauliflower stalks and the very green tougher ends of leeks etc to use up in soups. The red peppers and onions left in the pantry will travel OK as will the grapefruit and oranges and I can eat the two bananas before we go.

There are towels and tea towels left to wash now and dry but they are not ones I will be packing so if they are not dry in time it won’t exactly matter too much. So far today the weather is dry enough to put them out on the line with the duvet cover and sheets. I like to change the bedding before we go away so that we come home to a freshly made bed.

I have been busy planning meals for when we are in the caravan and making a list of things we need to add on to our general packing list. I have a little more paperwork to complete before we go and cards to write and then I can concentrate on the packing.

Fingers crossed it will stay fine enough to get the seed potatoes planted later this afternoon. This wet, cold miserable weather has gone on long enough now and has prevented us from doing much at all in the garden since last week. There are tulips in the borders waiting in the wings ready to burst out into flower once the sun appears and no doubt this will happen as soon as we leave and I will miss the best of them!

I have plants in pots that I want to take up to Scotland with me – a lot of self seeded aquilegia and fennel and I will need to put them somewhere sheltered overnight so they dry off a bit before they go in the car.

One of the lovely things that happened that I forgot to mention was the grandchildren did a surprise indoor Easter Egg hunt for me and DH before they went home. How sweet was that – they left little clues on Post it notes around the house that said things like ‘this way‘ and ‘up here’ for us to find the hidden eggs. We had to pretend they were hard to find and they got so excited when we discovered one. Sweetie, who is only four, could hardly contain herself and once or twice blurted out where an egg was hidden when we got close!

Yesterday I spent a bit of time packing away the Easter decorations – I didn’t have many but similar to the after Christmas period the house suddenly looks rather bare. I washed my windows and all the lovely Easter drawings the children did are now gone so I am pleased I remembered to take a photo. I will probably repeat this activity at Halloween and Christmas if they stay here – it keeps them busy and occupied for a while. I will keep the lovely cards up though for a while longer and then I will probably use them to make recycled ones for next year.

On my last trip to the village I called in at our local, but very poor library and managed to find a book or two to take away with me – probably won’t be taking Peppa Pig – the children enjoyed it (and secretley so did I) but I will skip packing it.

The watercolour book is very informational with lots of practical tips and illustrations and the aim is to try and improve my painting skills – same with the photography book although on first glance it looks a bit technical in places for me.

I think this might have been a bit of a rambling post and like my head at the moment all over the place as we now rush to be ready on time to go away.

Have a lovely weekend everyone and once again I apologise to anyone dropping by expecting to see a ScrapHappy Challenge here – there has been very little crafting going on, hopefully next month will be better.

Posted on

dear diary ~ here at last

You will guess where I am with the photo – for new readers that is our little cottage in Scotland.

I thought we would never get here – breaking our journey in Carlisle overnight is good for my back but it sure lengthens out the journey and although the Premier Inn is cheap and comfortable there is no place like home with all your home comforts around you rather than packed in a bag in the boot of the car.

We stopped off at Penrith on the way to Carlisle – a lovely little market town with no end of independent shops – luckily it was window shopping only as it was closing time. We ordered 2 personal pizzas in the nearby Dominoes take away for our tea and ate them in the car outside the posh George Hotel in the town centre.

I also managed a turn around the local Booths supermarket… another favourite haunt (we don’t have one at home) and I discovered they stock those little tins of Batchelors creamed mushrooms that I cannot find anymore in Sainsbury’s. I had thought they may have been discontinued…so I am ecstatic (and mum will be too as she loves them also) – I picked up four cans to keep us going and will give a couple to mum. We had one of ours for tea on Saturday night with a baked potato. I picked up a couple of boxes of mixed grain Sharpham’s flakes, a bag of brown basmatti rice and some wholewheat lasagne sheets – all of which Sainsbury’s have stopped selling.

On Saturday morning after the mammoth breakfast at Premier Inn (though we only have the Continental), we had a good run down from the border and on arrival at the cottage on Saturday gave a huge sigh of relief to find everything OK.  Our caravan in the garden (that we are currently staying in) was still dry and no signs of damp.  The only disaster if you can call it that was that 2 pillows that had zipped pillow protectors with a waterproof backing had not fared well and had little signs of a green mould appearing presumably because the pillow was unable to breathe.  They have never been a problem before so I think maybe the weather here has been very wet and damp for a while.  I quickly bagged them up and will take them to the launderette in town for a good wash if we get chance.

It is as usual very peaceful here in the winter and today the sea is silvery and calm with the sun catching the underneath of the clouds lighting them up across the sky – you cannot help but relax and enjoy the beauty.  On the first morning (Sunday) we had a late start to the day and after a long slow breakfast I cleaned up the caravan while DH began cutting the grass – it grows all year round down here on the mull – albeit much slower in the winter – but it takes quite a while to get it all done when the grass is long as the cuttings bin fills up much too quickly.

I never got to do a post before we left home.  As usual our busyness took over – we had Master Freddie’s 4th Paw Patrol style birthday party to attend and my younger daughter came to stay with Little L and Sweetie, so there was a lot of bed changing and washing going on.  Master Freddie and his guests had a great time – 2 hours at the soft play centre down the road and a birthday tea and games afterwards at his house. 

DH and I prepared the food whilst the children went to the soft play. I do like a good old fashioned party with sandwiches, a cheese and pineapple hedgehog and jelly and ice cream with sprinkles of course.  The kids ate much more than we thought and being careful to avoid all those nasty colourings they didn’t become too hyper. 

The cake (courtesy of Sainsbury’s this year) was covered in blue fondant icing but we put a piece into each party bag for them to eat and become hyper at home!

This little fire engine was a gift from Little L and Sweetie – it is from Aldi and folds up into a book When opened out fully one side is a printed road – great to pay with little cars on and the other side is a printed fire engine that makes up into a box that you sit inside complete with steering wheel – how brilliant is that!

I had my friend’s birthday present to sort before we came away – we only exchange little presents and we both like to buy from shops who sell hand made goods that support other people in their livelihood, like Oxfam, so I chose a tiny hand woven basket from a local shop called Fair Trader and added a conditioning bar of Patchouli and Sandalwood wrapped in some pretty cotton fabric from my stash.

I had a session with the osteopath last week to work on my back and this time my neck – long sessions on the computer does not do anything for anyone’s posture and certainly not mine.  I often find myself slumping over the keyboard and in turn this has tightened my neck muscles and is now affecting my hearing.

I have brought quite a few books with me in case of bad weather – (I am currently reading through these 3 Persephone books that were a surprise Christmas gift from yours truly) and my knitting which is going to be for the new baby in May and which has been on pause for over a week.  It is plain and basic but as a beginner who knows very little it might still be a challenge!

I also packed my little notebook where I make lists and do my planning – I have a lot of planning to do in all areas of my life – finances, wellbeing, house maintenance and the big one – what to do with the cottage. At the moment we are like Team Love it and List it and cannot decide on the best course of action. You might think I would be on Team List it but no….I still want to love it.

Whilst we mull it over there is plenty to do in the garden – the snowdrops are in full bloom and the daffodils not far behind so it is a good time to get down to some serious pruning. Like these hydrangeas.

Better get going then instead of chatting on here. x