July Photo Collage

"Fairest of the months! 

Ripe summer's queen

The hey-day of the year

With robes that gleam with sunny sheen

Sweet August doth appear."

-  R. Combe Miller

Living Off The Fat 'O' The Land!

Today has not been a typical July 30th.  I know this because it is my Mom's 'Happy To You'.  Amazingly she is 21 again and when the children ask her age she says 'I am as old as my tongue and a little bit older than my teeth'.  It has been a mixed day weather wise, heavy showers and warm sunshine.  My Mom was apparently born at night in a thunder storm.  We went to see her for lunch and Euan presented her with chocolates and Henry presented her with beautiful Yellow Roses.  I got her a Peg Loom and will have to help her to warp it asap.  I also collected my Aunt and her little dog, Daisy to come and have lunch.  It was a nice little get together.
               In the afternoon I finally got to work in the garden.  Weeding.  Forget everything I said in This Post when I was singing the praises of nettles.  When they are strangling my peas and beans they become the enemy!  Common all garden 'Stingers'.  Not a nice job weeding them out of the one raised bed they are determined to take over.  I donned gloves and had nasty thoughts.  I was rewarded for my nasty thoughts by pulling a large nettle and it flew out of the ground into my face, stinging me on the end of my nose and my cheek!  Youch!  War on all nettles from now on!!!  I thought there was nothing to harvest from the garden yet but I had some accidental finds.  I pulled a whole pea plant by mistake, that was disappointing.  I found the first 'runner' beans and some nice round courgettes.  Oh I nearly forgot I pulled this little potato by accident too.  Oh yes...we have rich pickings here.  The fruits of my labour.  High living indeed.
                I am trying hard to be less wasteful with food.  I have a nice little stash of eggs so I decided to make a famous Weight Watcher's Crustless Quiche (or two).  Pre Weight Watchers a Quiche had a nice crisp, buttery, pastry crust, now I am destined to be eating quiche of the 'crustless' variety for the forseable.  (Tut, 'crustless' I ask ya)!

Quiche also used to be packed with cheese if the nice full fat, cheddary kind.  Now it has 'Low Fat Cottage Cheese'.  I suppose cheese is cheese and a gal has to be grateful!  I finely chopped all of my Bountiful Harvest, adding onions and a red pepper, frying them gently in a tsp of Olive oil.  A teaspoon of Olive Oil!  I remember the good old days when Olive Oil was used in glugs too.  They I beat six eggs with 300g of Cottage Cheese and poured it into 'Victoria Sandwich' tins, with the vegetables.  Then I baked in a medium/hot oven until they looked like this.  They are good cold and keep well in the fridge for a couple of days.  Now I have no excuse, they are ready made 'Low Fat' lunches!

This photograph proves it slices like a 'Quiche'.

This photograph also proves it slices like a 'Quiche' and it gives me the chance to show you my favourite plate in the whole world.

I bought it for Euan when he was a baby.  Now he is a 'big' boy, I have inherited it.  Hoorah!

This range of 'Baby' items were sold by Sainsbury's and they were created using original designs drawn by John Lennon for his son Sean.   There is something so simple and happy about these little pictures.  Euan had several items and a cuddly elephant but somehow the plate is all we have left.  I love the birdies.

If they made 'John Lennon' wall paper I would get decorating my living room!  I could live with Happy Elephants and puzzled Birdies everywhere.  Yep, in all, today has been another day in Paradise!  xxx

Post Holibob Post

Wow, blue sky.  After the deluge of rain this Summer our journey to Somerset 'Land of the Summer People' culminated in the discovery of blue sky and hot sunshine.  Our destination was Dunster Beach.  It was a journey of nostalgia and familiarity for me.  Every year my family had a tradition of going to Dunster Beach for their annual holiday.  Long before I was even thought of.  My grandparents and Aunts and Uncles would have 'chalets' each and holiday together.  Then as a child every year it was the destination of our annual one week Summer Holiday.  Every year I would be so excited to get there and the three hour journey seemed like an eternity.  The week meant freedom, fresh air, the seaside and making holiday friends.  One year eleven members of my family booked the same week and then three more came to join us.  They were happy times.  Digging sand castles, flying kites, collecting shells, skimming stones, playing 'French Cricket on the beach, games on the putting green and lots of other activities.  I was always very sad to be going home and would often sob in the back seat of the car.  I have taken my boys on some crazy 'adventures' but never to Dunster Beach.  This year it had to be done.  We were blessed with glorious Summer weather for the entire week.

It made one dog very happy.  She made it her mission to clear the beach of 'Birdies', she enjoyed chasing the gulls and water waders.

It also made two boys very happy (for most of the time)!  They enjoyed the sea and sand.

Every year 'hole' digging took up a large proportion of our time as children.  It had to be done this year.  One morning at about 7.30am, Euan and I set to work on our 'Fort'.  I still have the blister to show for it!  He went and got his brother out of bed at about 8.30 to come and join us.  We had a fort with a moat and were all ready to do battle and defend our fort when the tide came in.  Ahem, their was just one problem. . .we waited and waited and shrieked and shouted as the tide got closer and closer.  It filled a channel that lead to our moat and then. . . epic fail on my behalf. . . the tide turned and went out again!  Doh!  It came so near yet so far to our fort!  I needed my brother who is the 'Dunster Beach Hole Digging Expert'.

This was the view out of the back of our chalet.  I am a little disappointed in myself for not taking more photographs, but I have had bad experiences with sand and cameras in the past so I did not carry my camera with me much.  Just over the fence is a lovely lake and we had ducks, coots and geese parading past our chalet daily and providing much entertainment for myself.  Coots are hilarious and quite like chickens in their manner.  The lake is teeming with fish, carp and trout.  There are some ancient whoppers and hundreds of young fish.  Fish feeding and duck feeding has always been a big part of my 'Dunster' holidays.  I was worried I would drop my camera in the lake so I didn't take the camera fish feeding either.  My parents had a chalet too, far enough away to get some respite from us!  One evening me and my Mom were fish feeding while my Dad was with the boys, we were lucky enough to spot a Kingfisher twice.  That was a treat.

Also right outside the chalet were clumps of 'Evening Primrose'.  They stay closed during the day and open up at night.  I was up early every morning thanks to my 'sofa bed' so I managed to snap these before they closed.  The boys slept in bunk beds as the chalets are rather small, Henry had the top bunk that had a dodgey broken ladder. . . he offered to swap beds with me to relieve me of my solid sofa bed, very chivalrous of him but I have more chance of moving a mountain than mounting a top bunk with a dodgey ladder.  After camping and Yurting I found a chalet pretty luxurious, we had running water, electricity, a cooker and a loo!  There was even a TV which I had to switch off and police to insist the boys went and found other things to do.  Now I hate to complain. . .but. . . it was awfully bloomin hot!  Every day it was boiling and us redheads do not fair well in scorching sun, even with our factor 50 suncream.  There was nothing to be done but give in during the day and just chill out around the beach and chalet, it was much too hot for day trips with a large black dog.  It would have been dreadful to travel with her in the car.  She is a good dog and likes the car but not in the heat.  It was a relaxing, non eventful week of mucking about.  I did take the boys to the 'Arcades' a couple of times and Euan has to be the luckiest, jammiest person in arcades.

He actually wins and comes out with more than he went in with.  Henry takes after his mother and blows his money and has nothing to show for it!

I had forgotten how much fun 'Air Hockey' is and when playing my sixteen year old I am actually pretty competitive!  He won though!
              I am dreading Weight Watchers weigh in.  I had to have Cream Teas, yep plural, I had to have fish and chips's, yep plural, I had a delicious 'Ploughman's Lunch' with pickles and huge chunks of Somerset cheese and bread. . .in fact I am thinking of retraining as a Ploughman just for the lunches!  I also had to have an ice cream. . . yep I was good I had just the one!   I had a fantabulous time, so much so I want to book again and pay my deposit for next year!
               The chickens were delighted to see me.  They were two eggs each day that I was away.  Then on my return there has been three eggs a day again!  My partner also had to have the TV on for the old Budgie while we were away as he was quiet and lonely.  He kept trying to talk to my partner in the evening but I know my partner would not have chatted back as much as I do!   Maybe I should consider a 'travel cage' for next time and the budgie can come on his holibobs too?  The garden is in need of much attention and today I noticed that our large freezer had somehow got turned off while we were away.  It was full and everything was ruined!  Gah!  Never mind I will have to get creative and get it full again.  I did manage some crochet while we were away but it is not very worthy of a show and tell just yet.  I am glad to be back, with the washing machine on overtime, the internet. . . Blogland. . . my bed. . . and my feathered buddies.  Home Sweet Home!   

Oh I do Like to be...

I am missing my chickens already and I have not left yet!  They have stopped laying twice when I have gone away in the past.  Poor girlies, I am top of the pecking order, their 'Chicken Moma'.  But 'I do like to be beside the seaside'!  See you soon xxx

Magic Wands

I have blogged about 'Lavender Wands' before and also included a tutorial   Here:    'Lavender Wands - The Scent of The Summer'.  My Grandmother used to make 'Lavender Wands' and donate them for church fundraising sales.  She also used to find me pretty cotton fabric and lace to make little 'Lavender Bags'.  We have always had lavender growing in the garden, but never enough of it in my opinion.  Lavender Oil is a staple in our house, we use lots of it.  It is lovely at bedtime, I like it sprinkled onto my pillow, Euan likes it rubbed on his feet at bedtime.  A few drops is also very relaxing sprinkled into the bath.  The old Lavender Bush, that broke my fall the other night is a cutting I took from my Grandmother's house.  My grandmother lived in the house for 52 years.  They bought a house in Birmingham but then there was the War.  They got bombed out and could never afford to buy a house again, they had to rent.  When my Grandmother got ill and was hospitalised we had to give up her tenancy on the house.   I applied for tenancy with my brother and my then husband and we got it.  We moved in and it felt like truly being 'home'.  A couple of times I was able to bring my Grandmother to the house and and make her favourite lunch...'Grilled Trout Stuffed with Prawns'.  She found it quite emotional and tiring to be at the house but she was delighted it was still in our family.  There were so many happy, family memories there.  When she passed in 1997 the funeral left from the house and it felt right to everyone.
             The house was owned by a church.  In 2003, after we had lived there for about eight years I was given three months notice that the house was going to be sold.  Previously I was told by the Landlords it would never be sold and I could stay as long as I wanted.  So it came as quite a shock.  Now I have learned 'Never say never'.  We went to the auction and between us raised a lot of 'readies'...we lost it at auction for £1000 more than we could afford to bid!  It was tragic!  I shed many a tear.  I made a vow there and then to move out as soon as possible as I did not want to pay the new owners a penny!  I got my wish and we moved here, to the house we are in now.  The old house was empty for a good few months.  My grandmother would say 'it is not the bricks and mortar that make a home...it is the people in it!'  She actually would probably be more specific and say it was the 'Mother's job to make the home'!  I was sad about leaving the garden but managed to bring some of the most loved plants with me.  The Lavender struggled but after two or three years it took and now thrives. . . albeit in an awkward place!  It has totally obscured our garden path . . . lucky for me though, as it broke my fall the other night giving off a burst of Lavender scent as I squished it!   My other 'rescued' flowers thrive too.  They are a couple of weeks away from full bloom.  You see there is a lot of 'Magic' woven in to these wands.  I like to make some each year. 

Tour De Fleece Update

I did get a little bit left behind in 'The Tour' but I have tried and I am back in the saddle.  I am not quite 'Yellow Jersey' material but I am still having fun sticking along for the ride.  I have finished spinning and plying  'Mars - The Red Planet'.  It was yucky experimentally dyed Merino.  It was orrible to spin.  I was glad to get to the end of it.  It will eventually be crocheted into a planet the size of a golf ball and I am sure it will crunch on the hook!  Yuk! The uneven spin should add some texture to the surface of the planet.  Eh, eh, how about that for textile artiste's 'Poetic Licence'?   My 'mistakes are passed off as intentional creativity!  This young man was very interested in my wheel and 'Navajo Ply':

I carried on regardless, as it is not easy to 'stop' Navajo Plying...mid spin.  This handsome, hairy beast gave me a few kisses of encouragement.  Full smackers on my face!  Beautiful.  My own dog, 'The Lovely Lacey' seemed to get the sulks when Gandalf arrived yesterday.  They are great buddies but they do not engage in any crazy play or displays of affection. . . they are happy to ignore each other.  Lacey loves my spinning wheel and will sleep with her head on the base of it while I spin, she also knows how to deliberately stop the wheel if she has something important to 'say' or she wants some attention.  She is also good at nudging my crochet hook or knitting needles to get attention.  My favourite skeins seem to be her favourite skeins too and we find them in the kitchen in her bed, untangled in the hall or sometimes in the garden!  She loves Alpaca and raw stinky fleece is a big treat.  The joys of pets.  I have just been to put the chickens to bed but they have given me the run around too, I think it is their way of telling me it is not quite bedtime.  Usually they waddle up to bed dutifully like reluctant children.
                Now I have finished 'Mars'  I really needed a treat to spin.  Here is my latest on the Bobbin:

I thought about blending the Silk with Merino, but then decided to spin 100% silk.  It is rather lovely but quite different to spinning fleece.  I have to make sure my hands are kept nice a smooth with hand lotion for this to work.  Tussah silk is silk made by wild silk worms as opposed to Mulberry Silk.  Mulberry silk is from worms fed exclusively on Mulberry leaves and it produces the whitest silk.  I like this 'off' white Tussah silk. . . I think it will make a very good 'Moon'.  Silk has a cellular structure made up of prisms, which is why it has a wonderful iridescent sheen, perfect for moonlight.  It feels very luxurious, especially after 'Mars'.
                  Five more sleeps before I pack my tiny car to the gunnels with two stroppy kids and one large dog to drive down the Motorway for 3 hours to get on our holibobs!  Ooooh I can't wait!  It will be great when we get there, it is just getting there that is the problem.  At least we are not camping as the weather is still shocking.  Henry wants to take his guitar and I want to take my wheel!  Something is going to have to give!  I have offered to buy Henry a Ukulele!  I may have to pack my Spindle!  My spindle and I do not see 'eye to eye'.  My favourite 'Spinning Shop' just happens to be 'en route', about two hours into the journey and only five minutes from the Motorway.  I do not know if I dare get off the Motorway though as it will be very busy on Saturday as it is the start of the 'Summer Hols' for most of the country and everyone seems to want to head south for the last week of July and the first week of August.  I am planning to leave at the crack of dawn!   Poor Euan has to travel in the back seat with the dog and he also usually has to sit on mounds of stuff, I also pack things around him at the last minute!   You get the picture, I do not travel light!
XXX