Spring

Welcome spring!

Today is the Spring Equinox, the day when the day is the same length as the night and the beginning of spring.  From today until the summer solstice the days will get longer.

I decorated my dresser with spring flowers from the garden and a crocheted garland.

A few days ago I saw a post on Instagram inviting people to join in with making a flower crown and posting a photo wearing it today, so I thought, why not that sounds like fun, so I knocked this up

And popped it on!

Smelt nice too!

You can see the others on Instagram #primaveracrowns

Cambridge

I popped up to Cambridge yesterday to see my lad.

I love going there, it is a lovely city to walk around, so long as you keep your eyes open for the cyclists, they seem to zoom up behind you from nowhere, ringing their bells and shouting at you if you happen to stray just a few inches into a cycle lane.
Anyway I drove up, takes about one and half hours, quite a nice drive, head towards Ipswich and then pick up the A14, past Stowmarket, Bury st Edmunds, Newmarket and then off into Cambridge.  Jared has found a tiny, free parking space right near his house and I managed to squeeze in, which was good luck.
We started with a trip to Tesco, to stock him up on all his essentials and a few treats too!
Then into town for lunch

We walked past all the chain restaurants and some strange little sandwich shops until we found Fitzbillies, near the Fitzwilliam Musuem.  We have very different tastes so it is quite a challenge to find something to suit.  Jared had a steak sandwich with lettuce and NO horseradish mayo!  I had a cheese and celery tart with a massive pile of delicious coleslaw, it was very pink, lots of red cabbage I think.  Cups of tea too, to warm us up!

 We had a walk around the town.  The market was quiet and there was nothing that caught my eye.  Cath Kidston is a must and my £4 voucher was burning a hole in my pocket, but didn't see anything that I really wanted.  Then went into a shop called Tiger, went there before Christmas and picked up load of bits and pieces.  I found some small paper Easter egg decorations, some tin plant pots and some dishcloths - yellow with chicks on, will make washing up fun (not!!)

Then on to the river, where we declined a ride in a punt, it was a bit too chilly!
Time for tea and cake, we looked in some shops and then found Patisserie Valerie and my goodness they do big cakes, Jared ended up with a doggie bag!

 I had a custard pastry and Jared had a chocolate cake with a profiterole on top! yummy!

There is a shop at the end of his road which is a sort of farm shop, but always has flowers for sale, today they had loads of Polyanthus, 3 for £2, such a bargain so I had 6!   Here they are in the tin cans I bought.

After all that a long drive home in the rush hour! 

Hearts, love and flowers

 

Yes! you might be thinking that I am a week early for Valentines, but today is my wedding anniversary, 27 years today.
And I also got a very special parcel in the post too.

 Managed to finish work an hour early today, which gave me time to have a good tidy up and faff around with the dresser.  Working from the top I have added some tiny heart shaped lights, 3 large pillar candles with red hearts on from Ikea, a home made felt heart and felt ball garland, more candles and a decoupage word LOVE.  Later I added a plate of heart shaped biscuits and the flowers my husband gave me when he came home from work. On the curtain rail is a paper heart garland - cool?

 

My husband has very good taste in flowers, he has learnt (over the last 27 and a half years) what I like and the colours that don't clash with the walls.  Tonight he came home with a lovely bouquet, which I arranged in a small wicker basket.  Cream roses, carnations and some purple bell shaped flowers, I am not sure of their name, but very pleased with my arranging.

I gave him a bag of heart shaped jelly sweets, he loves jellies and made some heart shaped biscuits drizzled with chocolate.

We don't tend to go for meals very often, or make a big deal of anniversaries, flowers and sweets do the trick.  For dinner I cooked sweet and sour steak for him and Thia curry quorn for me with rice and stirfry vegies, very tasty!

A few weeks ago I decided to join in with a swap, "Send a little love" ,organised by Tracy

 

I was linked with Amanda at Grahams Landing, she lives and works in Malaysia, i love to read her blog, it takes me to the other side of the world to a country I know nothing about. 

Anyway, addresses were swapped, items collected and parcels posted.  I am not sure if she has mine yet, but mine has arrived.  I was so excited to see my parcel and couldn't wait to see what was inside.  Sometimes swaps can be a bit hit and miss, you never know what you might get, but I was not disappointed this time.

Quite a big parcel, with a big customs label, I soon knew who it was from.  Inside wrapped in pink paper and tied with a red ribbon was

 

Something heart shaped or themed

Something deliciously edible

Something handmade

Something red

 Some heart shaped stickers

Heart and love sticky tape

Some little felt hearts, I can see another garland coming on.....

 Something I am not too sure what it is, but I think it is origami paper, need to investigate further later.

A note book and pink pen

A box of 30 postcards, all with a love theme

A box of heart shaped Borneo biscuits -  very exotic!!

A lovely red t-shirt with blue hearts, just the right size too!!  

And lastly a special gift 

This lovely bead bracelet, just my style and fits so well, not too big, just right.

So thank you Amanda for a lovely swap, just hope my parcel arrives with you soon and you like what's in it!

An excellent weekend

Oh no he didn't!  Oh yes he did!  Panto time!

 And I nearly didn't make it. On Friday evening as I drove to the end of my road I noticed that there was an enormous traffic jam (we don't get many as we live in the countryside) but realised that I was not going to get to Colchester the normal way. Took a detour through some lanes and hit the traffic jam from the opposite direction, so took the "long cut".  This took me about 20 minutes longer than I expected and arrived at the theatre with a 5 minutes to spare!  I found out after that a lorry had overturned on the A12, closing the road, this means that traffic diverts through the country lanes near us, but there was another accident on this route and it seems the whole of North Essex was at a standstill.
I joined the others from the WIGS (WI girls) at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester for a fabulous production of Sleeping Beauty.  What fun it was!  lots of singing, dancing, silly jokes, being squirted with water and an ice cream tub in the interval.

Saturday was a lovely bright and sunny day, popped to the market to stock up on fruit and veg and came home to get out in the garden.
 Picked up this lovely pot of daffodils for just £1.

I let the chickens into the greenhouse and they had a lovely time dust bathing - rolling around in the dry earth working it into their feathers.  They then stand up and have a good shake and cover me in dust!  They must have loved it as Sunday they laid two eggs.  Have been having one or none most days.  I don't think that Marjorie is laying though, I have had words with her.

 Time to start sowing some seeds. I love sweetpeas and try and grow lots on the allotment.  I am starting them off in the cold greenhouse now, in pots.  Sowed some mixed winter salad leaves in a big pot.  In theory you should be able to grow lettuce all year round and not have to buy those expensive bags from the supermarket, but I have yet to achieve this.  Perhaps that should have been my resolution this year  - to grow all my own lettuce!
Leek seeds in the greenhouse, onions and lavender in the airing cupboard - just got to wait and see now.....................  I will let you know if anything grows.

 Just one week after Alice's birthday it was Jared's turn.  His birthday was on Friday, but he had had exams this week and decided to stay at Uni and have  a party with all his friends.  He came home of Saturday and of course I made him a cake  - chocolate sponge (made with eggs from the girls) filled with cream (found half a pot in the freezer) blackcurrent jelly ( a Christmas present from a friend) topped with buttercream (left over from Alice's cake) and decorated with half a packet of chocolate buttons (left over from the gingerbread house).
Yes I am on a mission to use up all the bits and pieces in the cupboards and freezer.  Just shopping for things as I need them - I wonder how long I can go before I need to do a "big shop"?

Sunday was spent cleaning the house, doing my household accounts, a bit of crochet and finished by watching the darts final and Sherlock  -excellent weekend!

Autumn Equinox

Today is the Autumn Equinox.  The day and night are equal in length.  It is the start of Autumn.

I am ready for it now.

Today I went for a walk and cut some autumn foliage from the hedgerows.

Arranged with some dried seed pods.

I knitted an Autumn garland with leaves, acorns and Rudbeckia flowers.

I cleaned the kitchen and re-arranged the dresser, so pleased with how it looks

Flowers, leaves, acorns, fir cones and conkers.  

Yesterday I was given some damsons and used the to make some wine, you only need the juice, so this morning I cooked up the pulp and made some Chinese style plum sauce

My duvet is the sort with a thin one and a thicker one that snap together to make an extra warm one.  Today I took the thin summer one off and popped it in the wash and put the warmer one on the bed, will be nice and cosy now!

Harvest time

The weather forecast for this weekend was warm and sunny, perfect for harvesting the potatoes.  Today turned out not to be that sunny,but it was warm and dry.  We were at the allotment early and dug up all the potatoes and laid them out to dry off.  I love digging up potatoes, you never know what is growing under the earth.  Under some where some huge ones and others just a few. Also picked a small handful of French beans, a couple of courgettes and some sunflowers.

Basil popped his head over the fence and wondered if we would like some field mushrooms that he had just picked -"lovely" I said! " We eat them on toast with Worcestershire sauce" he said.  "Lovely" I said"

Later, Godfrey, the allotment manager came along.  "I hear you make wine?"  He said, "oh yes" I replied.  "Do you want some Damsons?"   He said.  "Lovely". I said.  An hour later he turned up with a carrier bag with 5 pounds of Damsons.

I have just spent an hour chopping them up and removing the stones, a bit of a fiddly job!

Have to boil them up, then strain onto the sugar and add some yeast.  Stir daily for 3 days and then pop into a Demi-John and let it bubble away until all the sugar is turned into alcohol.  Then leave it to mature for a few months, it will probably be ready to drink this time next year.  

Must remember to give Godfrey a bottle if I want any more Damsons from him!

Later we went back to the allotment. For a moment we wondered if the potatoes would still be there or had someone taken them?  They were fine, just as we had left them.  Sorted them into bags, those to store and any damaged ones to eat first.   Well it turned out to be a good harvest - 3 bags!  Not sure that they will see us through the winter, we will see!

Picked some flowers too - chrysanthemums.

Autumn show

It's not quite Autumn here yet, but yesterday was our Horticultural Societies Autumn show.  It is quite a small show, with only and handful of entries in each class, but I enjoy all the preparation -  the growing - the making - the cooking.  
Some things have been over a year in the making such as the wine and others are very last minute like the Victoria sandwich and the flowers, which need to be made or picked early in the morning.

 I have had a plan for the week running up to the show. Firstly I had to choose and and order my photos 

Four categories here, My 4 legged friend, Trees, The seashore and A special event, my photos of the Olympics won a 2nd prize.

 Next the wine needs to be tasted, re-bottled and labelled. I entered 4 bottles, white dry, white sweet, red dry and a rose and won a 1st, 2nd and 3rd!

Have been working on the handicraft entries over the year, this knitted fair isle jumper for a child won 3rd prize.

I am quite proud of this appliqued and quilted tea cosy, especially as it came 1st!

The worst thing in the whole show is a dressed doll.  So old fashioned and really not my thing at all.  I found a really complicated pattern with a very difficult lace pattern, knitted on thin needles and 4 ply wool, but it only got 2nd prize.  I was a little disappointed.  I have no idea what to do with this now, who on earth would want it?  I won't be entering this again.

Gave the pot plants a wash and brush up.  Wiped over the pot and cleaned the leaves - made all the difference my lovely Aloe Vera won 1st prize.

 We grow lots of raspberries on the allotment and I made some jam earlier in the summer, this also won 1st prize.  Last week I made some very red beetroot chutney - 2nd prize.

No luck with the rest of my cooking. Alice beat me with her Victoria Sandwich, she was very happy to get the 1st, but neither of us got anything for the banana cake and both our savoury biscuits were "a bit dry"!!!

A basket of veg, all picked from the allotement.  1st prize for some Cavalo de Nero kale, carrots, beetroot, peas, lettuce, spring onions, courgettes, cucumber and tomatoes - Wow!  Of course can't take all the credit for this one, Mr HH does the hard work  -all the digging, composting and watering!

 There are two types of flowers that can be entered, one is called decorative, which is proper flower arranging with bought flowers which I cannot do and the other is homegrown flowers which I can do.  These are my ten stems of garden flowers (no prize!)

 

and a vase of annuals - came 2nd with these, mainly marigolds and cosmos.

Here I am with my Anniversary Class entry.  This one has 4 items, a vase of homegrown flowers (more sunflowers) a pot plant, handicraft (knitted socks) and a cake (cupcakes)

Phew!  I did enjoy that!  Time to start thinking about planting some bulbs for the spring show!