The Quintessential English Fete

I really enjoy a good fete.

Set in the perfect Devonshire countryside.

A lovely old rectory.

Lots of bunting.

Plenty of artistic photo opportunities.

See?  (Although he does remind me a bit of that pompous eagle on The Muppets!)

And of course lots of CAKE.

Gorgeous gardens.

Even a blue sky.

And some exciting things for teenagers to do.

And guess what I won?

A Perfect Day!

In a Sulk

I feel a bit like these poppies; just about to pop!

Many thanks for all your kind words. 

Life has been a little hard on us lately but there is light at the end of the tunnel,

unless it's somebody with a torch bringing me more grief!

 

And today I have sold my beloved camper van. 

I am relieved that it hasn't taken too long (I hate the haggling part of sellling) but I am so sad to see it go.  I didn't want to sell it but my sensible side was telling me that it makes sense.

I don't want to be a sensible grown-up any more.  I don't care that my bank manager is breathing a sigh of relief at the amount of money in my account.  I am going to throw all my toys out the pram and sulk for the rest of the weekend,  Sniff.

Show-Off Sunday

Just a quick post today, to show you this really quick scarf I knitted this week.  I treated myself to some rather posh wool; a blend of merino and silk from Uruguay.  Let's not burden Marathon Runner with how much it cost.  (Shh, I don't think I have ever spent so much on one skein of wool!)

It knitted up so quickly, that I thought I would knit another one for a friend whose birthday is on Tuesday.  I had some fluffy wool, bought years ago for heavens knows what, but after two attempts and LOTS of knots, I think I am going to give up.  Not only is it very hard to see the pattern, it is absolutely impossible to back-track if you make a mistake and very easy to knit bits of fluff instead of the actual stitch.  So she won't be getting a scarf for her birthday.

Back to the drawing board but with only just over 24 hours to go!

Anyway, this is turning into a longer post than anticipated but just have to show you this:

Can you see the bee?  Today I cut the grass for the first time this year.  I can't believe that it is nearly Easter already!  Chocolate here I come ...

Happy New Year and So Long Doctor!

Crunching through the garden today, I found one sign of life! Couldn't find any snowdrops, but they don't seem to like our soil, or perhaps the mice eat them, because every year I have to replant. It was too bloomin' cold to stay out there long so I just de-iced the bird bath and took a few shaky (I was shivering!) photos. There is a little bit of colour on one of my camelias but I was shivering too hard by this point to get any good photos! I think perhaps a camera tripod should have been on my Christmas List!

Marathon Runner has been using his time off work well and has been practising his knotwork.

He's back to work now, poor thing! (Phew!)

So what did you think of David Tenant's final episode in Dr Who? We loved the way he went back and visited everyone. He didn't go willingly though did he? No, siree, he ranted a bit first! A few tears were shed (mainly by me! It's that blimin' Bernard Cribbins that does it!) Mad Child is wild about The Doctor and no doubt she will be dissecting this episode for weeks! She remembers every single detail; I don't know how she does it. But then, I guess her brain isn't full of whether her sister's favourite purple top can go in the tumble drier (label's faded), what's for tea tomorrow (have we got enough potatoes left?) and have I apologised to everyone I forgot to send Christmas cards to (no).

Well, Happy New Year people and here's hoping we all have a healthy and craftily productive one!

Autumn

Autumn is here, the year's growing older,

Evenings draw in, mornings are colder,

Bracken turns yellow, berries turn red

And the Sleepers are secretly making their beds.

No more at evening the flittermouse wheels,

But in belfries and hollow trees hangs by his heels,

The squirrel has gathered plump hazels and set them

In neat private hoards, where he'll mostly forget them.

The Dormouse in sunbeams, sits rubbing his nose,

And blinkily nodding off into a doze,

While the hedgehog by twilight, for such are his habits,

Spreads moss in a snug hole that once was a rabbit's.

Soon they will all of them cosily creep,

Into their bedrooms and tumble asleep,

Even the toad, now as plump as a mole,

Will decide he had better be Toad in a Hole.

The squirrel and dormouse will tuck in their toes,

And make their tails counterpanes over the nose,

While the slumbering hedgehog, since tail he has none,

Tucks his nose where his would be, if he had one.

Hardly they'll breathe, or their hearts beat at all,

Hardly their blood through their bodies will crawl,

Yet rain, frost or snowfall, still cosy and dry,

They will all slumber safely while Winter goes by.

Then, one soft day, they will dream of the sun,

And feel in their bones that the spring has begun,

And, lean but alive, they will waken and then

Nose off down the hedgerow on business again.

************
I hope you like this poem. I copied it out of a book a long time ago and cannot remember who wrote it, and of course cannot now find the book!!!

Time to look at the garden

Now the panic of The Fair is over (thank you cards and working out profit excepted), it's time to enjoy the garden (well the bits in between the weeds anyway)!

Not so many foxgloves this year, I fancy, although the seeding is left purely to nature! I did sew some seeds last year but a cat decided that the seed bed was it's toilet!

Don't you just love the sound of the bees when they are in the trumpet?

The clematis are doing well rambling through everything from my bay tree and a camelia to a New Dawn rose. (Oh and next door's garden, which they complained about! They had more flowers than me, humph!)

The poppies took a few years to really get going but are worth persevering with. I saw a lovely pink one called Patty's Plum the other day so that might be winging it's way into my garden for next year!

Yellow day lillies are so easy and smell so wonderful!

And I'm so pleased that the cutting of my mum's favourite shrub, this weigelia, has grown so well. Lots of things struggle with the heavy soil here; not the dandelions and bind weed of course!

Needless to say, I haven't shown you the weedy bits or the thousands of forget-me-nots that have gone to seed!

Taking Mad Daughter to Exeter tomorrow to go the Craft Festival, thanks to Sal's Snippets for reminding me! We also have to get her first B-R-A. Shhh don't tell anyone!