Thursday, 29 April 2010

How nice it is...

...to have nice neighbours. Those ones who take a parcel in when you're out or don't hear the bell, then offer to help carry it because it's rather large, and those who you share a pot of tea with...and those you just know enough to share a nod, wave and smile with...


...and then there are those...


...who put a mobile horse shelter behind your summerhouse...


...even though they have a large (about two acres) field to put it in...


...and as it's a mobile agricultural building, in an agricultural field there it stays. It had been suggested that these particular neighbours could do something somewhere...as they have already to others, they seem to have a reputation for riding rough shod over others.

On a brighter note, the dolls house you can see in the window(I reshuffled the interior) my Dad made for me when I was about four. The poor thing needs some tlc...but it's all there and not broken, just the chimney stack a little loose and some new paper needed. I can still remember opening it that Christmas, and then all the furniture... To say I was excited...like moving into your own new house!

I've also been busy making some new pieces...along with some beads...


...and I see that my team have sold a young asset.  Liverpool have bought Jonjo Shelvey...  A midfielder who will no doubt warm the bench eventually! 

Tuesday, 27 April 2010

I found another...

...ball to juggle.  The area of garden behind the "new" kitchen (when it's finished), there was a raised area laid to gravel, leading up to another smaller area of paving, and then the hedge and walnut tree.  It's hidden beside the summer house, a little suntrap.  

On Friday I decided to start scraping the gravel away, moving it to the side paths(waste not), cleaning the paving...renewed the little stone wall finding two curled lizards under there and then sat and watched the wildlife come and go.  Big bustling bumble bees finding a hidy hole in the stump of an old tree, birds of all varieties collecting bugs from the newly tumbled stones, two blue tits testing my winter raised house for them, the pair of robins back and forth to their nest and a climax of coming eye to eye with a little brown mouse...I was on my hands and knees at the time pulling up the old weed inhibitor.  The sun rose on Saturday and we dragged some paving into place to make two paths, like the rays of the sun...next I started the digging, finding little pieces of pottery of varying colours.  Finding those, you wonder whose lives they touched, how they slipped to be broken and when they were strewn on the garden and buried...

Now I have the start of a herb garden...chives, thyme are already planted.  Sorrel, tarragon, flat parsley, sage, fennel, and chamomile are waiting to find a home, with mint and lemon balm staying in large pots.  A few sweet peas will trail up a wigwam this year, nasturtiums will tumble over the wall and a sprinkling of bright calendula will wend their way between...

Now...just the rest of the garden to deal with!

Monday, 19 April 2010

A special...

...day was Friday.  It was our wedding anniversary, and to say it celebrated a few years would be an understatement.  Not as many as some, but a fair few.  The day was saddened though by the passing of an old family friend.  The day he should've been celebrating his 90th birthday he passed away.  A grand age, but a sad day...

The skies above us have been quiet.  We have some noise from the odd passing fighter jet, but these with commercial airlines have been stopped from flying here...so, if this affects you and your holiday, you have my sympathy...if like my youngest son you live near an airport, you can make the most of these few days of respite.  Commercially damaging I know, but for those who live near them...just a few days of peace.

I'm not sure how many balls I have in the air at present.  Juggling maybe an art, and in reality it's not something I have ever been able to do, but with projects...I can cope.  The kitchen is nearly complete, the taps are on their way and the worktops should be measured this week.  A new (old) cupboard entered our lives on Saturday, when we visited Steptoes in Dereham and fell in love with an old oak four door cupboard, perfect for crockery and linens.  Skirtings went on over the weekend, plumbing in place, so now all I need are three strong men here at the same time and the larder can go upright, rather than laying forlornly on it's side...waiting.  We're getting there.

A downside to the weekend, my team lost...they should've won if the pictures were anything to go by, but the opposing goalkeeper had one of those matches, where everything he touched(and he touched a lot) went away...I knew he'd be our downfall this match, but I guess it makes the locals around here happy...so everyone should be going around with a smile on their face.  Maybe Delia will make a celebratory cake.  An annoying thing about it...those teams around us all dropped points too, so we could've climbed.  Hey ho!!

Tuesday, 13 April 2010

Last Sunday...


...we visited Sandringham(sounds posh eh?!).  It's only twenty minutes away and had a three day Food and Craft Show, which is always a good reason to visit anywhere.

It's the first time we've been there, we had fun and met some great and interesting people.  There was a lady who makes wonderful corn dollies.  I now have an Earth Mother sitting above my head, she's perched on a beam looking at home.  The lady also makes the most amazing brooches, all from straw and so intricate...she was saying she makes them during the winter, when she can concentrate...and when they're gone she doesn't make anymore until the next winter.  The couple came from Leicestershire.


We also came home with a Wensleydale rug...hand woven in Norfolk by Mr Townsend, and all curly and soft and beautiful.  He was saying it takes him about a week to make them... A lady who makes the most wonderful soaps...Mad About Nature(she blogs)...she had an organic deodorant stick.  I'm trying it out!

So many other crafts were there.  Woodturners...hurdlemakers...chairmakers...calligraphy...windvanes...knitters...glass blowing...and so much more...  So many of these shows and festivals don't have proper craft people, this did...and well worth the visit...

And I might be winning with the bunnies...

Thursday, 8 April 2010

Sometime ago...

...I received an email, of which the contents came as more than a little surprise! This was the middle of January...

After picking myself up off the floor, and taking a few days to think about things, I replied...giving a positive answer.

It then went quiet for nearly two months, and I thought that was it. Suddenly another email arrived apologising for the delay, and was I still okay for things.

My correspondent was a guy called Gary Haines, and to lots that will mean absolutely nothing...to a few they'll recognise the name. A couple more emails passed between us, and it led to me being featured in my team's programme, on the "Fan Focus" page for the Monday game against Carlisle.


Yes, that was me.

I think I'm still in shock...

PS...we also won!