Sunday, August 30, 2020

A slow Sunday

Today the weather has been better than it has been for a while
It was still windy and overnight we had very strong winds

I check the hot house and all pots were still intact so my hard work had payed off 


I don’t normally bring in flowers as I believe if you really love them you will let them bloom in your garden 
But with the winds being as strong as they have been, flowers are not lasting long so I though I might as well bring 
Them in to enjoy 

The lavender, of which There are two varieties, smell lovely 
The daisies are blooming wonderfully

I even brought in some Camilla flowers. So I have them floating in bowls of water 



Hubby spent the day cleaning up right out the front. 
He had been putting things that needed to be thrown out and things that needed to be stockpiled until he 
Found a permanent spot for them 

And after getting rid of it all he mowed the grass 
The good thing about all this wind is the ground is drying out 

It looks much better now and the smell of mowed lawn is the smell of spring I think 




So life is ticking along 
We have had video calls from our granddaughters and that always is a bright moment in our lives 

Hopefully soon we will be able to hold them again 

The day is staring to get grey again 
Hopefully we won’t get too much more rain 
How your weather? 

Stay safe and well 
See ya xxx


Saturday, August 29, 2020

Hot house mess

Two nights ago we had very strong winds 
Tress came down all over power went out for many so yesterday I approached the house house wearily 

It was still standing and I silently send out a word of thanks to the universe 

That was until I got inside.

The side shelves had been knocked of with all the flapping of the sides and the seedling trays all over the floor. 

I was guttered 



So I messaged hubby to bring me some cable ties when he got home from  work and I set about cleaning the mess 

I think I was able to save many of the pots. It was lucky I had given them plenty of moisture st and didn’t spill

So today I set about preventing an occurrence 

I cable ties the shelves. I’ll go back and cut off the excess 


This tie has bricked the tent flapped so much so I’ve retired if for now. I will add an extra one fir safety 


I’ve placed planks on with side to hold the tent down. I’ll add a couple of bricks to just be sure 


I’ve re seeded watered and set up again 
It’s these little things that can set you back and break your heart. But a gardener always tries again. 

Still waiting on seed delivery from diggers so I’ll be able to 
Replace what I ran out off seeds for

Stay safe and well
We still have a few more weeks of stage four lockdown to go

See ya xx

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

A glimpse of things to come

Beautiful blue sky today. And no rain 
So I thought I’d wander around the garden and see what’s happening 


A few roses are blooming although the plants are still bare 



Lots of little flowers are starting to open I’ve forgotten what they all are but they are very pretty and gladden the heart after the dreary winter days 







Pretty sure these are daisies 
Doesn’t really matter they are a welcome splash of colour 

The lavender smell lovely and the bees love it 







The baby plants we put in last year are thriving, unfortunately so are the weeds. Way too wet to tackle them right now.  But a must do job as soon as it drys out. 


A native I bought on special. Lots of buds waiting to burst open. Some have and they are the cutest little flowers 




So that was just some of what’s blooming right now. As the days warm up more will spring to life 

A garden is a promise. A hope of better days. And we all need that right now 

Stay safe and well.
See ya xx

Friday, August 21, 2020

The beginning

It really is a good thing I keep everything 
I have a seed tin and I decided to see what I had 

All these 



And some tomato seeds I saved from a particularly yummy tomato I had grown last year 

 Nothing ventured nothing gain I say 
So I fit some punnets I had saved and some pots 

 And gathered the last of some compost that we had cleaned from our trailer and had left in a little pile for me to use 


And I’ve had a big morning of planting seeds 
After I took this pic I found another pot so I’ve planted three lots of bush beans. There is only one or two seeds per pot. I figured they can stay in the pots and they should grow really well. Once they sprout and have grown a decent size, and weather permitting, I’ll just bring them out and wait to start harvesting 

If they don’t work I’ll try again in a few weeks with the new seed I bought online 

But if it does. Bonus plants 

Wish me luck 
I’ll keep you posted 
See ya xx

Thursday, August 20, 2020

Getting ready

I got myself a present 
A new hot house 
I’m very excited 
I ordered it on line from amazon on Sunday and it arrived 
Yesterday. 

I’ve also ordered seeds from diggers. So once they come I’ll be 
Able to get a head start on the spring planting 
I hope 


It’s got shelves on both sides and lots of room for pots 





I can’t wait to get in and get started 

Still in stage four lockdown 
I’m slowly going insane but hanging in there 

Stay safe 
See ya xx


Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Lessons

Today’s lesson from nature is never give up 
I thought that no cuttings had struck in this pot. I was going to just throw it out 
But I then heard a little voice say. Just wait 
So I did and look 
A hydrangea has struck 
It’s still only a baby but it gives me hope 


Black pots have hydrangeas 
And the red pot has grape vines 
The vines are from the Greek island of Samos 


I’ll repot them and give the hydrangeas to my daughter and the vines to my dad 
I might keep the little one and plant that in my garden to always remind me 
No matter what
Just hang in there it will all be ok 

Still in stage four lockdown 
So this little miracle has brighten my day 

Stay safe and well
See ya xx


Friday, August 7, 2020

What’s cooking


Yesterday I tried to make home made pasta for the first time 
I even did the mixing the traditional way 
I didn’t like it. So next time I’ll use a bowl lol 





I didn’t realise just how much this made. 
The pasta was a tad thick and very rustic looking 

If I thought about it I would of halved the dough and kept rolling it out 
I’ll know for next time 


But it did taste really nice. 
Hubby has decided that I need a pasta machine. So we will get one as soon as lockdown is over 

But I will try again 
I’ll only make half the recipe 
I use Jamie Oliver’s recipe 

I enjoyed making the pasta. 
If I’m going to eat carbs. I really should at least have a work out making it 


What new recipe or crafting are you learning in this strange and abnormal year? 
Stay safe and well 
See ya xxx


Wednesday, August 5, 2020

My knitting adventure

I decided I was going to knit some dishcloth patterns I had in yarn 
I’ll sew them together and make a baby blanket 

Sounds like a simple plan, doesn’t it? 

Well not for me. It’s NEVER that simple 

This is the first square. A cute puppy who I’d like to think is a poodle 
But I digress 


This is the set up 
The black line helps me keep track of which row I’m following 


Here I mark off the rows as I complete them. So I know where I’m up too 
As I just could never quite learn to count the rows. 
Others more clever than I probably can. But this works for me. 


Insert first complication 
Little miss wants cuddles. And when she wants them she will barge through whatever I have in my hands to get them 
She will wait patiently for about a minute or two and then she takes what she wants 

So of course I hurried to finish the row. Gave her her cuddles and then put her down and continue 


I had stitched something wrong 
I un- knitted the row and continued
But things were not lining up 

I counted the stitches I had followed 
Yes I did knit one Perl one then five Perl’s then whoever many of the rest of the combo 

I battled on trying to get it to work 
That was a huge mistake 
The rows were getting all muddled up 

So I left it 
I was flummoxed 
I slept on it overnight 
And today it hit me 

I counted the stitches on my needles and in all the knitting and unknitting I had an extra stitch 

Eureka. I had found it 
Seriously folks I felt like I had split the atom 

So I ripped it out going back to a mark I could recognise and knew which row it was and started again 

It wall worked out. Every row 

Until I finished the dog 

I looked and yup. I hadn’t gone back far enough 

His tail is not right 


But other than that he looks like a puppy 
Or so I like to think 

I wasn’t going to rip it all out again 
I’m just going to tell the story of the naughty puppy that got his tail caught in the door and let it go at that 

I’ve got a few more animals that I’m going to make 
Hopefully I’ll not make the same mistake 

Who knows I may rip it all out and do it again 
I’ll see 
But for now he is staying as he is 


My goodness what a couple of days 
And I thought this was going to be fairly simple lol 

Stricter restrictions are now in force in my state 
I won’t be venturing out much at all 
So at least I’ll have plenty of time to work on my menagerie 

Stay safe and well 
See ya xxx


Saturday, August 1, 2020

Finally finished


I finally finished my puppy 
The small tight stitches really hurt my hands 
So I switched to knitting dishcloths 

But today I finished it off 
It’s not perfect but I’m happy with it. 


See his little tail 
I just couldn’t see the stitches. So I just made it up as I went along
I figured puppy dogs tails can be size or shape lol 


I plan to slowly work through the whole book
And make at least one of every animal 



I can’t remember if I posted about my new book so here it is 
The patterns are not hard to read or understand 

I highly recommend it 
Just make sure your hands and fingers are nimble loll

Stay safe and well 
See ya xxx