Sun, sea, sand….it can only be one place. Yes, we have arrived and it is glorious…so good it reminds me of why we bought the cottage and why many moons ago we planned to retire here.
The two guys who now cut our grass, and are doing a good job of it, had been yesterday and so the place looked quite tidy though on further inspection every border needs a good sort out. We woke early with the sun this morning and after a leisurely breakfast and a few household jobs we were straight out into the garden. It feels so good to be outside.
The only border I managed to weed on our last visit is not too bad and the hydrangea has not suffered from the cold.
DH has been collecting up the endless goosegrass that has sprung up everywhere and removing the dead leaves of the ostrich, royal and harts tongue ferns.
Not the evergreen Japanese tassel fern (Polystichum polyblepharum) in the fernery though, which has gone a bit rampant and taken over my little bench seat by the cherry tree.
This is a job for another day…in fact it can take a couple of days as I usually cut this down to ground level each year or two so that fresh new growth springs up.
The hosta I planted at the back of the pond has formed a nice clump which can now be divided.
The large overgrown pink rhododendron that I cut back almost to ground level two years ago is growing well (you can just see it emerging at the back right of the picture) – I am not expecting any flowers this year but at least I didn’t kill it and it is looking healthy.
I concentrated on pruning down the rosa rugosa hedge running beside the lane (the one that our new neighbour decided to cut hack the front half to the ground last year).
There was a lot of dead wood that had to be cut away and I reduced the height considerably from 6′ down to about half. Once I throw a bucketful of manure around the roots it should sprout new growth and thicken up quite nicely and I bet by the end of the summer it will be looking much healthier.
Thankfully it is difficult to kill and where it had been hacked to the ground there are new shoots appearing and if I can prevent them from being damaged by his strimmer then we might have a chance of resurecting the hedge and regaining our privacy.
After a morning of working, many cups of tea and a few idle moments sitting in the sunshine we down tools and made lunch. Afterwards we had a stroll to the village and called in at one of the local pubs down by the harbour for a hot chocolate.
So overall a very pleasant day and now we are retiring to eat a mushroom lasagne and then perhaps watch a DVD or read (no TV here).
I know it drives some people mad but I find the noise of the rain on the caravan roof quite comforting to listen to when I am in bed. Being snug and warm inside whilst outside it is lashing with rain is a reminder of how lucky we are to have a roof over our heads and can still afford some heat. The sound of the rain is never so obvious when we are at home.
We are on our last day here at the cottage. It has not been a very productive visit this time as the cold weather, even on the sunniest of days, together with sporadic down pours has meant little gardening has been done. DH cut the front and back grass and washed down the caravan. I attempted the trellis border and lane side border and was rained off each time.
So instead I made soup and curry and tomato and butterbean casserole and each time whilst they were cooking made an effort to clear out digital files on my laptop. It is surprising the amount of old stuff on there and as with my paper files at home I have opened one or two folders each day and dealt with the documents inside – either keeping, archiving or deleting.Â
At least there is no shredding involved.
Whilst I have been decluttering these digital files there has been quite a bit of shuffling around too and renaming of folders and then reordering the folder list – though I am not altogether satisfied yet with the running order – I am very particular about my folder list (no doubt a nerdy thing).
As the folder list is automatically sorted alphabetically by name I can end up with the most frequently used folders nearer the bottom so to bring the important ones to the top of the list I just add an exclamation mark or two to the front of the label name to be able to adjust where the folders appear on the list and make my own partially alphabetical one. So folders such as !STATEMENTS or !!ONLINE ORDERS and !!!CONTACTS that are in frequent use are easy to find. When Xmas comes around and I am using this folder more (which usually resides at the bottom of the folder list) I can rename it with an exclamation mark !XMAS and it will bring it to the top of the list temporarily over the Christmas period.
One day soon I do need to tackle the mass of photos – they are eating into the free space on my computer and many of the ‘blog’ photos can be deleted as I often take several shots and choose the best one to post.
To help with my current quest to go paperless in our office at home I have been searching online for manuals to download so that I can get rid of our paper versions. I have also downloaded the assembly and care instructions from the Ikea website for the flatpacks we have bought over the years. I am not sure we would ever need to refer to them again but if we do they will be documented on the computer. Any important instructions and manuals that I can’t find online I will probably scan onto the computer before putting the paper version into the recycle bin as there is no danger of any of our details being on these.
I will be sad to be leaving the cottage but I know there is so much to do at home too and no doubt the garden there will suddenly spring into life once (or if) we have some warmer weather.
We usually stop in Castle Douglas on the way home – a small market town with some great shops one of which is a family run craft shop over two floors and piled high like a treasue trove with wool, fabrics, artists materials and all things crafty – far better than any Hobbycraft, although not as organised but that only adds to the pleasure of discovery and the temptation to buy is just as difficult to ignore.
It is Mothering Sunday this week so as soon as we are home we will be setting off to pay my mum a flying visit (she lives in North Yorkshire about 90 miles from us) as we have to be back home again and at the dentist on Monday afternoon for that tooth extraction – I will no doubt have to make a big pan of soup for DH to eat afterwards.
Thank you for all your kind comments on previous posts and welcome to all the new followers, those of you that have your own blogs I will be over soon for a nosey – I know some of you are fellow crafters and I am looking forward to seeing all your handiwork.
Sorry for the long overdue post – life is, as ever here, busy and chaotic. I just thought I would pop by to give a brief update and apologise for my lack of commenting on my favourite blogs – be assured I am still here and reading along with your stories, my day wouldn’t be the same without.
Since my last post at the end of January we came home from Scotland complete with the haggis and scotch pies for our Burns night (which we had postponed to early February because we couldn’t get up to Scotland to buy the Haggis and pies in time for the 25th January). Only a day after arriving home my cough, that I thought had gone in January, reappeared with avengence together with flu like symptoms and we had to postpone our Burns night yet again as I just didn’t feel well enough to clean the house and cook a meal for 8 of us. Luckily, the haggis and pies could go into the freezer for another day.
After a busy February, which included the continuing car problems (younger daughter not us) and a trip to A&E with little Sweetie one night, we are now back in Scotland having attended DH’s uncle’s funeral a few days ago at a crematorium just south of Glasgow. Although a sad event it was good to catch up with our Scottish relatives and we decided to combine the trip with a visit to the cottage. We have been here for almost a week now and have spent most of the time relaxing after all the travelling.
Although uncle G died in early February there was a bit of a wait until the funeral date last Tuesday so in the meantime I have been on a mission at home to overhaul our savings, pension and the accumulation of papers in the files.
With the recent years low interest rates our ISA savings really were not doing much and even with penalties for moving a fixed ISA we decided we would gain substantially by moving some of them with very low rates to the new higher rate ISAs on offer. This was not an easy task and not like moving a matured ISA to another account. However, they are all done now and well worth the hassle for the furture financial gain.
Did you know that you can still invest into your private pension pot each year if retired or not working and still be eligible for tax relief on your pension contributions as long as you’re under 75, so if you’re a basic rate taxpayer you’ll get 20p in tax relief for every pound you make in pension contributions? You are only allowed to put in £2880 each tax year but the government make it up to £3600 by giving you £720. I found this out a few years ago and realised there was no savings account that would give me £720 in interest over the year on a £2880 investment so for the last 3 tax years I have been feeding in any spare savings into my People’s Pension scheme.
There was only a small amount of money invested in the scheme when I left work and retired as it had only just got off the ground but I didn’t withdraw it and now it has proved a useful savings pot. So far it is doing very well although a word of warning – because pensions are invested in bonds and securities the investment can go down. It is a gamble but so far so good.
The papers in the filing drawer have been hard work – particularly when deciding what to keep and what to shred. I can’t help but remember a period of miss-selling by certain financial bodies (endowment mortgages spring to mind) and having paperwork in support of a claim for compensation was necessary in some cases. So although I want to be ruthless I have used caution and spent quite a long time scanning papers onto my computer so that we still have a record.
I have been accepting paperless bills such as fuel, water and internet accounts for quite a while now but I do like to have the paper copy of a bank statement to check the outgoings each month as I find it easier to tick and cross and make notes on paper when I am balancing a statement. Once balanced I can then shred the paper copy and download the digital version to store on my computer. It is on my mind though to bite the bullet and go completely digital to save on wasting paper.
The clearout continues as the pile for burning (far too much to shred) grows bigger.
I have been clearing out digital files too on my computer and deleting old emails in the folders in my email account, of which there were far too many. Any email of any importance I have printed to a PDF to save on my computer including any online order receipts and guarantees. It has been on my mind to do this for a long time and leave a list for DH of where to find things just in case. I tend to deal with the banks and receipts while DH has taken over all the fuel and internet accounts and keeps an eye on the amount we are using and also new deals. It all seems to run quite smoothly but I have been making sure he can understand my system should he need to retreive anything.
Today is sunny, so far, so the garden is calling. The weather here has been very mixed from high winds, heavy rain and brilliant sunshine to even a dusting of snow on higher ground which didn’t affect us being by the sea. The daffodils are out but the rabbits have dug up most of my other bulbs I planted last year – poor things must have been short of food so I can’t feel too upset.
There is so much to do and top of my list is to weed the lane side border and heavily prune the lane side rosa rugosa hedge – and yes …the same one that ‘machete man’ ruined last year. I will see if I can prune it back to some reasonable shape.
Must go now to catch the good weather.
Do drop by tomorrow for the Scrap Happy Challenge for March. x
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.Â
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.Â
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
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