Beach Cottage garden update…

Before I did my disappearing act recently I had promised a post update about the work we managed to do at the Beach Cottage during Easter.  We set off from home on Easter Sunday around lunchtime and had a lovely journey up to Scotland calling at Tesco in Dumfries to stock up on a few items.  As we went along the coast road near to Creetown the sun was beginning to set across the bay and I managed to capture one or two atmospheric pictures of the Salmon nets.

It was dark by the time we reached our cottage and so it was a surprise in the morning to look out and see the snow-capped hills across the bay from us above and beyond Port William.  The snow in this area just before Easter had been so bad that our village and many others down on the Mull of Galloway had been without electricity for 3 days and this had completely disrupted our heating and I can tell you that the cottage was extremely cold.  Many people had been marooned in their homes and quite a number of sheep died from being buried in the snow.  One lucky ewe had been pulled out alive after 11 days and made the headlines in the local paper.

We had a lot of work to get through outside.  The rubble pile is now removed with the help of two friends and and their large trailer…yeah.

This is the corner of the garden where about 8 trees fell in the winter gales of 2011.  We now have an open view and a badly damaged compost heap.  So we set to and dug out the useable rotted compost and then levelled the site ready to take the new super-duper compost bins.

The pile in the foreground below is the rotted compost for the garden, the bins have been placed over to the right of the old compost bins, which were only made of netting,  and will soon be removed.

The paving slabs are to stop the wildlife from burrowing up into the compost.  On our next visit we will be slotting in the front slats and adding some lids then we can transfer the compost into the new bins and hopefully it will rot down fairly quickly.

Of course we generated quite a lot of garden waste from all the weeding that I did and this will have to be taken to the local tip on our next visit because we had to hire a car for this holiday and it didn’t have a tow bar for our little trailer.

However things are moving on slowly and on our next visit we intend to try to prepare the seaside garden to put down a lawn and remove the old hedge, put up some fencing and replant.    Now that the weather is becoming warmer it will be a battle against the weeds!

You might like to read the most recent post on Re-routed -my blog tracking the challenge to Reduce the things in my life

April / May Challenge

Ne’er cast a clout till May be out…

 

I cannot believe it is May already and I have only just found time to get back to my blog – this must be my longest gap ever.  There is so much going on in my life at the moment but the main reason for my absence is the office move.  It is taking forever to get sorted out and I am finding it is well after 6pm every night before I leave work and by the time tea is over I have completely run out of steam.  I really dislike being caught up in someone else’s agenda – I certainly would not have added this amount of stress to my life at this moment!

On the good side at last we can put the cold wintery days behind us and look forward to summer.  This year Spring has been a long time coming and I am not very prepared as my current wardrobe is still in winter mode and my summer outfits are packed neatly away in the spare room.  It is so long ago that I cannot even remember what I wore during the summer last year.  As usual I will start off the month with a look back at one of my old Art Journals and this excerpt is taken from Celebrating the Year 2009 and the pencil and watercolour sketch dated May 2003 from my sketchbook.

“Winter is many months of the year
But now at last Maytime is here;
And birds sing from a leafy screen
In the trees and hedgerow freshly green;
And the wood-anemone is out in the shade,
With its blushing petals which too soon fade;
Once more the bracken is unfurling there,
And bluebells gently perfume the damp air.” 

 Veronica Ann Twells, Maytime

Whilst wandering around the gardens at Tatton Park one glorious day in May I came across this unfurling clump of fern along the edge of a pond and stopped to make a quick sketch.  They looked so majestic – about to burst open and produce their feather like plumes.  At this moment the heads were tightly wrapped into little balls as if hiding away until the moment is right to spring into action.

May itself, like the unfurling fern, reminds me of little surprise packages.  All around us nature is surprising us with its secrets.  Bare trees become laden in blossom, buds burst open to produce a green leafy canopy, and everything springs to life once again. 

May is also the month that the Well Dressings begin in Derbyshire.  The true origins of Well Dressing are lost in the mists of time. According to many sources, it developed from a pagan custom of making sacrifice to the gods of wells and springs to ensure a continued supply of fresh water. Like many folk traditions, it was later adopted by the Christian Church as a way of giving thanks to God for His gift to us of water.

From May until September in villages across the whole of Derbyshire there will be a different well dressing week.  Look on welldressing.com for more information if you live near enough to visit.

Ashford in the Water Well Dressing

 We go more or less every year and have never been disappointed.  It is a time when the villagers get together and design and make these decorative boards from flower petals and foliage.  They often have a carnival or similar event to mark the start of the week and most places offer cream teas in the local village hall. 

I can’t promise that I will get to my blog every day or even every week until things at work calm down a bit – but I am missing you all and am trying to keep up with your blogs here and there.  Have a good Bank Holiday weekend to everyone in the UK.

A week of celebrations…

What a lot of catching up to do when you have been away, I notice that everyone in blogland has been busy writing and posting profusely and it will take me some time to visit you all and catch up on the news – I feel quite out of touch.

I have so much happening at the moment that I couldn’t possibly write about it all but the most pressing thing is our office move tomorrow.

A different room on a different floor with a different view.  Change is always challenging and for us it will mark the end of an era after 7 years in the same place and we are not sure whether we should have a leaving do or a ‘room’ warming in the new place, whichever we decide on we have already got ourselves a stash of chocolate goodies to get us through the day.

Of course there is always one person who decides to be difficult and through her own very selfish actions has made the move a bit of a nightmare.  What a shame the management wouldn’t give her an office space of her own (which we believe to be the reason for the awkwardness) as we also would have welcomed it rather than have to work with someone who is going to complain and be obnoxious all the time like she has been for the last few weeks.

But less of the moaning it is not all doom and gloom as I will continue to share an adjoining desk space with my colleague, who does the same job as me and is a really good work mate, and we will get through this together just as we have weathered everything else over the last 12 years.  They don’t call us Hinge and Bracket for nothing!  We have become inseparable and really have fun working together.

On the brighter side I have managed to fit in quite a bit of partying over the last few days.  Last Thursday night we went to my friend’s daughters 18^th birthday celebration, a gathering of close friends and family and it was so nice to relax and chat over a little wine, a few nibbles and some gorgeous cake on a week night.

This was repeated again on Sunday when we attended my Russian niece’s babies 1^st Birthday party in Pooh Bear style.  It was a lovely time for all our family to get together, have a good natter and catch up – and just like Tiggers it is what we do best!

These were the delightful Honey Bee cake pops she had made using yellow chocolate – I didn’t even know you could buy yellow chocolate!  Don’t you just love those wonky grins!  We came away with goodie bags full of jelly beans, dolly mixtures and flying saucers – much more fun than the grown ups parties and I am still humming and singing all those Pooh Bear songs at work this week.

Have a great Wednesday.

Sweet April Showers…

It is great to be back… but it was hard to leave as we had such a wonderful time at the cottage and experienced the first rays of warm sunshine that we had felt for ages and we have left it all behind to come back to the dismal grey and rain.  But who can resist April even in the rain.  My elder daughter was born this month and many times we have celebrated her birthday outdoors with a picnic and only once or twice have we had a sudden fall of snow.

In my Art Journal ‘Celebrating the Year 2009′ this is what I wrote…

My heart gives thanks for many things;

I know not how to name them all.

My soul is free from frets and stings,

For Sun and stars, for flowers and streams,

For work and hope and rest and play -

For empty moments given to dreams,

For these my heart gives thanks today.

 

~William Braithwaite

“By the first day of April everything around us is just beginning to stir and although the winds can still be quite fresh the air is warmer.  With the better weather creeping in the garden begins to cry out for attention as new growth is appearing everywhere.  This is the month when I want to throw open the windows to allow that fresh air into my home and begin a mammoth Spring Clean.  As I pack away the scarves, gloves and cosy blankets I can finally say goodbye to winter and be glad that those long dark evenings are fading fast.

Easter is most likely to fall within this month and everywhere there is so much to do and see.

Although I have lived in this Pennine area for many years I have not yet managed to go to our local- Marsden Cuckoo Day – celebrated in April.  It is a traditional festival that celebrates the arrival of spring (a bit like my Spring Cleaning!)  According to a local legend, Marsdeners used to try to prolong the cuckoo’s stay by building a wall around its nest.

I look forward to spending our Easter week at the cottage on the Mull of Galloway.  During our frequent walks along the beach we come across all kinds of unusual debris which has been tossed around by a raging winter sea and then ‘left for dead’ along the shoreline.  I have become quite a collector of these bits and pieces – it might be driftwood, metal, glass or old pieces of tile but each has become smoothed by the sea and formed into a new shape. Meanwhile in the woodland garden behind the cottage the birds are busy to and fro, gathering their own bits of fallen debris like twigs and hair and moss to make their nests”. 

So now the Spring Cleaning can begin in earnest..I can’t wait to get started.   And before you go I will have plenty of updates to post about our cottage garden in the coming days – we spent nearly all our time outdoors and our rubble pile is no more!

A little bit of Spring amidst the snow…

The tulips are too excitable, it is winter here.
Look how white everything is, how quiet, how snowed-in..

Sylvia Plath

 

As an alternative to the snow I thought I would add a bit of spring colour.

I love tulips, I especially love them when they twist and turn and begin to wilt, the petals opening wide like a summer Paeony.  They have a pleasing manner about them.  These are the flowers my elder daughter bought me for Mothering Sunday or in this house it is Mothering Monday as I had my mum to look after on the Sunday.  I would have loved to sit and paint these but sadly time is not on my side at the moment so I have captured them in this photo.

I thought they looked quite cheery after the snow pictures.  We managed to dig our way out so we could join the outside world at work this morning but getting there was like some kind of assault course with the final lap being the ice rink in town where we skated fearfully along the uncleared pavements.

Work today was a bit dreary and my colleague taken ill at home with one of the many bugs going around was missed.  There wasn’t even a chuckle today it was heads down and keep going.  Perhaps tomorrow will be better.  I did enjoy my lunch though, two homemade Leek and Carrot pasties with some left over baked beans.

All I wanted to do tonight was keep warm and after ringing a couple of friends to check they are OK I snuggled down to a fireside supper of last nights curry and watched a little TV.   Now it is time to prepare tomorrows To Do’s and I will be all ready for bed.  These endless cold dull days are really beginning to make everyone feel a bit down hearted, we are drifting along like the snow.   Surely warmer weather must be coming soon.

 

 

Organising those snippets of information (an update)

Not being able to go out over this weekend because of the snow has meant we have had a bit of time on our hands to catch up on a few jobs.  My better half fixed the hanging TV cable in the kitchen which you may have noticed in the background of previous photos even though I did my best to crop it out!  See the before and after.  In the end it only took about 30 minutes and we were without power for only fifteen.

Before

After

Now we need to paint the wall to cover up the white polyfilla which is where a fine crack in the plaster appeared after we painted it last time, but it is certainly an improvement to get rid of the TV cable hanging down.

I have also been busy doing a little bit of organising (my favourite household job) updating my planner and SPIF folder (which stands for Systemised Product and Information Folder – for anyone who has just joined this blog).

 

Updating the SPIF

The Sections

Out and about (Places to go and upcoming events) in Date Order

Gardening

Gardening Services

Supplements and vitamins

Skincare

Foot care

Haircare

Exercise Courses

Gifts

Books / Music

Home-ware Items

Craft

Food Products

Recycling Points and Information

Product re-ordering information

General Information

If I see a product that I might like to buy and try then I clip out the information and stick it to an A5 sheet of paper and then file it in my SPIF folder.  When I want to buy it I can take the sheet with me to find the product.  When I have tried and tested it I can then throw the sheet away.  The same happens with events and places that we go to – if we enjoyed them I transfer them into the places to re-visit section and then check for this years date on the internet.

Each section is for a different purpose so I can easily file and retrieve.  I am sure you could scan and file on the computer but for this kind of info I prefer a paper system which for me is quick and easy and I don’t have to spend loads of time scanning and organising on the computer.

If I have already purchased an item that I like and want to keep a log of the details I photocopy the packaging onto a sheet as above and file that also in my SPIF folder for future reference.  Here I have details of places where I can buy the cartridges for my Brother labeller and the code for the size.  The second sheet has details of blank craft cards that I use and the third sheet has details of some creams and lotions that I have previously used.

Not everything goes into the SPIF folder as some information is in continuous use or is better located at the point of use.  For this information I laminate the A5 sheet and keep them together as my Care Cards and you can read more about these here.

For a certain few items I locate them exactly where they are used such as these information cards below.

I have laminated this sheet of cooking instructions where I have discarded the packaging to refill a canister or jar with the product.  I will be sticking this to the inside of my kitchen cupboard for easy reference.

This is the Central Heating Timer instructions.  We have a different programme for winter and summer and this card is useful when we have a power cut and need to reset the times.  This is attached to the wall below the timer in the airing cupboard.

This system works for me and although it takes a while to copy and laminate the Care Cards, once complete the information is always on hand and permanent.  The SPIF is a more flexible and transient way of keeping bits of information in one place until no longer required.

Let it snow…and snow…and snow

It is very cold here today and has only just stopped snowing after a good 36 hours of almost continuous snow.  It is Saturday tea-time now and we have been unable to get out of our cul-de-sac since Friday morning.  How lucky is it that I went shopping on Thursday evening.  So we are staying cosy and warm inside not able to do any of the things we had planned for this weekend such as visit my mum in law.  Here are a few pictures I took earlier, I would estimate we have had a good twelve inches or more so far as you can see from our blue bench below.

Blue Bench

The Trellis

Drifting outside next door neighbours

 

The wheelie bins

The Iron garden chairs

Footprints in the snow

It is certainly beautiful when the world is all completely white and pristine I really didn’t want to spoil it when I went out to take these pictures.  The only thing that had broken the surface in our garden was the footprints of some brave cat which seem to stop outside our old cat kennel – no doubt a welcome shelter this weather.

Have you had snow where you are?