this is my patch

Do you take your camera everywhere and never see anything interesting? Well generally this is true, but I tricked mother nature and hid my camera, and what do you know we saw the three little pigs!


This is only the second time I have seen them since moving. Pigs are allowed to roam the forest at this time of year to eat the acorns, this is to prevent horses being poisoned. It was doubly cool because I was walking with my friend, its great to share nature on your back door.


A beautiful Sunday morning, cue Mr Robin! I am renaming him Screwy for now as his behaviour can only be described as such. I know robins can be inquisitive but this one was off the the chart!
My husband and I were making lots of noise on the patio, lots of rummaging in the shed and whatnot (that's not a euphemism!), and up bobs the robin.


Now I learnt my lesson during the summer not to get over friendly with a bird. So I haven't been overly friendly or left food out for the robin, only the occasional worm whilst digging.


Yet this little bird hopped into my kitchen, this is the third bird I've had in there! Whats the attraction? Next he was in the shed followed by the garage. Much to the amusement of my husband who was more worried about his van being pooped on!


He then led me a merry dance around the garden, that's the robin not my husband!!
I think I shall be seeing a lot more of Screwy...



After the mornings fun we returned to the wild, this time on our bikes, just a gentle 12 mile pootle around. Here's my patch...

in an english country garden

The housework can wait, I'm outdoors today to soak up the sun and do a bit of tidying (if possible!) in the garden. I've been digging out shrubs I don't like and weeding, mainly sat on my derriere, I thought this was a good photo moment with the sunlight!
Over the past week or so I have found another birdie friend. A ROBIN. He's really quite tame already, but still a little tricky to get a good pic, I wish you could have seen me laying on the grass!


So definitely no cats for me, I have been waiting to see a robin in our garden since we moved here 2 years ago. I would love a cat, however I couldn't live with myself if I got one and it brought me mr. robin as a gift.



Since the garden has been cat free it has become a birds paradise. I love to sit and listen to all the different bird calls, not getting to Oddie am I?
So here I sit with the kids (my squashes) I carry them around the garden so they get the best sun to ripen them. I really do wonder what my neighbours think sometimes!

rose

a showy rose~a memory rose for my sweet cat Cake

one day in my life

You can tag along with me today to see what I get up to. Earlyish breakfast of muesli and 6 tablets, 4 are drugs (not illegal) and 2 are vitamins, before you start to panic that I have some horrible illness, I have pcos which to me is pretty awful. It is a hormone disorder which is incurable and affects me in as many ways as you can think.


The early breakfast is so I can get to the hospital to have blood taken, I've probably had a dozen armfuls of blood taken over the years! The test is loosely linked to pcos; to cut a long story short I am a fertility nightmare which is why I'm 34 and still childless. Thou shall not dwell on this.


I have realised that I can walk from the hospital to town via a million charity shops, bonus!!


When I was in my twenties I lived in London on the breadline, so I walked everywhere. I used to get a buzz from beating the bus home just to save a quid, I think I'm getting the same urges back, only this time I'm using it more as a form of exercise. Although the money I saved walking bought my lunch.


and
there goes my salt intake for the day.

I've made my way into Southampton city centre empty handed. I've been searching all the charity shops for a book. Lovely Bones never fails to show up, sometimes twice on one shelf, and I've never even read it! No I'm looking for a Joanne Harris, I have read most of her books and so has my mum!


Yay in the hundredth shop I found it!! What a cheap buzz! This is a good omen for my shopping today and maybe not for my bank balance. First stop John Lewis perfumery for todays perfume, the cheapest way to smell expensive. I plump for Vivienne Westwood Boudoir as the bottle smells interesting and different.
So now I smell like a cross between rootbeer and an aging goth!
I like to shop on my own when I need something special, I need to go in every shop, you never know. Today I'm looking for a winter coat, because I do need one, but also I'm going to the London wedding by train and want to look smart and warm!

Here is my choice its from zara I'm so excited, I love it, I rarely find something I actually like!
As I've said before I'm not really much of a shopper so I need a bag too for my camera etc.

And here's my bag from accessorize.
I know it seems like I've been spending like there's no tomorrow but it is a wedding in London,(did I mention that already?) I didn't have to buy a new dress and my husband doesn't need to spend a bean, that's my justification!

I'm feeling quite haggered now, maybe that's the perfume, as now I smell like an aging lady!
Can't stop now though I'm on a roll John Lewis here I come. Actually I know what I want in here and they are cheap.


Mugs! They are one pound each Bargain!

Last stop supermarket for dinner, tuna I think. On my bus ride home a young couple sit in front of me and start making out, it was like a sink plunger love affair, please!! This got me thinking about a couple of comments I heard from the youth of today. They made me chuckle so thought I'd share.
The first came from girl/boy (wasn't really sure) who told her friend that someone she new had an asphyxiation on giving flowers. I think she meant a fixation!!
And the second came from a girl who whilst chatting said she was humming and her'ing about something. Again I had to chuckle I think she meant umming and erring!

And the rest of my day is here! Regarding the perfume, the juries out. It seems to change every hour though I am detecting a hint of toilet cleaner!!

love is...

nobody's perfect

Its not just me that's a freak of nature! Not a great year for the sweetcorn then!

hee hee!

And heres my raspberry toffee, I think I may have boiled it for too long, do you think?

a rose with no name

Any ideas?

toes

I'm talking toes here in case you were wondering. Am I the only girl who can shop for hours and buy nothing, except a 50p jug from a charity shop!


I have a wedding to go to in October on the Mall in London!! Hence the shoe shopping trip. The wedding being in London means lots of stylish people and somehow I have to fit in or at least make some kind of effort. Any one who knows me, will understand that I'm more of a welly wearing sort of girl, so I was actually quite excited to be buying some high heels!
Then came the shopping or should I say the looking. I don't really like shopping for clothes mainly because I can never find what I want and I like a bit of originality, I could never go and buy something really obvious for fear of seeing someone else wearing it better!

picture from whorockeditbetter blog.

Have any of you tried on the latest in high heel fashion? OMG have feet evolved over the years?
I really thought I must have anatomically incorrect toes after the third no go pair, I feel for those 'ugly sisters' now!
So after traipsing round every shop I made a last ditch for M&S, not somewhere I frequent. And lo and behold we have shoes that fit!! There's a lot to be said for shops that display shoes in pairs, who don't have an assistant breathing down your neck with 'do you need any help', now I realise that's annoying, having worked in a shoe department I have said this line. They make you say it!


I'm not sure whether it was out of desperation or the fact that they fit, but I bought these. I already have a brown 60s style dress from zara, so I'm trying to go for the black tights and shoe boot look, I'm not entirely convinced, but who's going to be looking at me.

When I showed my Husband he said 'very 80s'. Great....

On a positive I did a bit of research on the old long toe issue, and turns out that a long second toe is a
sign of wisdom.
I thankyou.

new beginnings

I like Toby Buckland!. He is the new presenter on Gardeners World. I must confess to not being a Monty fan, sorry Monty. So it came as cleansing surprise to have someone with fresh ideas and someone who's not afraid to dig up plants and move them!! ala Clare.

So here are my onions drying, not a bad crop grown from seed but not great. I should say that I haven't bought any potatoes, onions or carrots for a couple of months now, and I'm picking raspberries everyday and have a tub full in the freezer. I'm also eating tomatoes with the speckles and the splitting. My favourite way of eating tomatoes is to chop them and roast them with oil and balsamic, great with a jacket potato and cheese mmm....

Whilst I'm on bulbs, I've bought some camassia!! These were on my most wanted list so not just a random buy, I got two packs (isn't he a rapper), I think I'll hold off planting yet because the ground is so wet and we're clay here.

Eek when did they turn up??

on the go

So to prove my workroom is actually producing and not just a mess, here is my patchwork throw. I have all the pieces sewn together I just need to baste and quilt, every ones favourite job, not. I have it on the washing line in the sun with the hope it might fade a little, any other ideas?


I'm also creating a swap piece for jellybellys van swap, so its not just my workroom that's cluttered. On that note I should say hi to Yvonne my swap partner over at country bliss.
This will be my first swap and maybe my last lol! I like to make unique pieces and I'm not sure my quirks are to every ones taste.



I've been meaning to give crocheting another go so I got some wool from my mum to practice.
I don't think I quite got the hang of it, my old 70s book hasn't got enough images so I ended up online as usual. All I can say is hand cramps !*!.
My aunt gave me this old sewing book and its got some excellent photos some of which are back in fashion.


Maybe not this one though!


Me likey this scarf!



I love this window hanging too...

chaos

Thanks for your lovely comments, I think I'm feeling better, though I shouldnt really be on here again, as it doesnt help my head! I thought I would shame myself by showing my work room and the mess I get in. This recent mess was made in one afternoon and even now persists. I've recently realised that I'm a bi-polar housewife/gardener/creative, its all or nothing, no offence meant to those who are bi-polar, I do wonder some times if I am!


I think a home and garden say a lot about the person, I know mine do! I need Mary Poppins again!


My husband asked me why the garden was in such a mess, I told him its a wildlife garden. Thats my excuse and I'm sticking with it!

migraine stops play

Gosh sorry for no posts, I think the image I got from migraine chickie sums up my week.


I do have some tomatoes at last, though they have brown speckles on them any ideas?

The butternut squashes are growing too, I just hope we get some sun this year to make em mature.


And lastly if you visit the Queens Head in Burley you might be lucky enough to meet this cheeky customer! We, or should I say 'I' have been toying with the idea of getting a cat. We had two very special cats who sadly passed on, see my sidebar. Its very hard to think about getting another cat when you become so attached and then lose them, but then a cat pops up like this one and it pulls on my heart strings. However this year without a cat has done wonders for bird life in my garden and I love a bit of twitching. So what should I do?
We would definitely rescue a cat probably from the bluecross or such like.