frogs, dogs & ferns

Men at Work

2012-01-29T12:09:00.000Z

A very belated happy new year to you! I've been away from my blog for a number of weeks, and have much to catch up with on the blogs I follow. I resolved to spend less time on my computer in 2012, and spend more time doing 'hands on' things that take me away from the screen.
That said, this blog has been a fantastic record of our renovation, and I don't want it to stop becoming so. It's time for an update.

We didn't get in for Christmas. Looking back, it was never going to happen, though thank you for your encouraging good wishes.

The past few weekends have been filled with woodwork and painting. The skirting boards are fitted, ready for priming and painting, and the painting of the rooms continues. I never realised that the painting would take as long as it has. I spent several hours in the kitchen yesterday, doing all of the 'fiddly bits' ready for the roller work today.

Last night my camera went a bit doo-lally and downloaded 170 pictures which I'd deleted ages ago, but which it had somehow managed to keep stored in its internal memory. Looking back through them, it again became apparent how far we've come, and why the renovation has taken so much longer than anticipated.

Here is the kitchen as it looked when we bought the house.

And once the cosmetic features had been stripped out...

The floors were dug out and properly damp-proofed before being relaid. We suspected that there was something in the top right-hand corner of the room under the floor, as the floor tiles were different, and were starting to subside somewhat. We found an old sewer. That had to be filled in to avoid any problems in the future.

Before Christmas, the room looked like this:

Hubby was building the surround for the cooker hood.

It has now progressed a little further. We have the tiles up, and painting has started.

I have chosen to paint the kitchen in the same colour as I chose for the living room. Partly because there was plenty left over, but mainly because I absolutely love the colour. It's 'Snowfall' by Crown. It's a beautifully warm, light grey.
Here it is on the living room walls...

The house has been painted almost exclusively in neutrals, so that I can add colour through accessories. After all the manual labour and stress of the renovation I wanted the house to be light and airy, but above all, a peaceful sanctuary. But... we couldn't resist a splash of colour somewhere. As I dabbed the first brushstrokes onto the wall, I wondered if we'd made a mistake with this one, but there will be a large dresser on this wall, so the colour will only be visible around the edges. The 'middle' will be rollered on today. I think it'll add a touch of brightness to the room, and will perfectly match the two red chandeliers we'll have on the ceiling. Courage in the face of colour!

The colour hasn't photographed particularly accurately. Imagine if you puréed raspberries and threw them at the wall - you get the idea. I think the colour will be the perfect foil for the big white dresser.

There's still a lot to do in the kitchen, with the painting of the small pantry and the kitchen units themselves, but I'm loving the way it looks so far, and it's very much the largest kitchen I have ever had. I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time cooking in it.

We found this old picture on the camera too. We agreed that this picture epitomises the renovation. Lots of unexpected surprises which lurked under the old plaster, and which have turned the last four years of our lives into a building site.

We found this horrendous damp in the roof, carefully concealed under a makeshift repair of a large roadworks sign (indicating that men were at work of all things), which acted as a rigid board to hold the wood underneath in place, and provided a sturdy base for the plaster to hide the problem underneath. Men at work? You betcha!

Some Christmas magic

2011-12-14T19:25:00.000Z

Thank you very much Rose for this lovely award!

It's been quiet on the blog lately, with a lot going on in real life, and not enough time to keep up with everything that needs to get done. This award was a great surprise and a real lift.

One of the terms of the award is that I have to choose five more blogs with less than 200 followers to nominate for the award too. That's the hard part! I follow a lot of blogs, and really enjoy reading all of them. However, if I had to choose five that I think are deserving of this award, here are the ones I would choose:

1. Me and 2 Veg - my friend's blog about her new vegetable growing project and ways to be greener. I love it because it's realistic and honest, and I can't wait to see what she does with her plot in her first veg gardening Spring! She also makes some pretty fine soaps. (I know, it's a shameless plug, but I wouldn't recommend them if I didn't enjoy using them myself.)

2. Sam Stewart Photography - amazing wildlife photography. This blog contains my favourite photograph of 2011, though there are so many great pictures on here, and a notable absence of Photoshop! A really talented photographer.

3. Brookwood Letters - a new home built from scratch in Scotland, and a beautiful collection of photographs that capture the essence of the landscape. Annie's blog is a fantastic record, and one I'm sure she'll enjoy looking back on.

4. Melody Lorraine - Mel's illustrated mice and rabbits give me so much pleasure, as do her beautiful dogs. I enjoy reading about new furry additions to the family and seeing new paintings and reading about her opinions, outings and ideas.

5. A Good Snapshot - Karen's photographs of beautiful skies and buildings make me look forward to seeing what she's going to post next.

All of these blogs are open, honest, genuine and enjoyable - that's why I think they deserve an award. If any of the blog owners don't accept awards that's fine, I won't be offended. If they choose not to pass it on, that's OK too - I'm just following the rules!

The Secret Garden

2011-11-29T20:03:00.000Z

"One of the strange things about living in the world is that it is only now and then one is quite sure one is going to live forever and ever and ever. One knows it sometimes when one gets up at the tender solemn dawn-time and goes out and stands alone and throws one's head far back and looks up and up and watches the pale sky slowly changing and flushing and marvellous unknown things happening until the East almost makes one cry out and one's heart stands still at the strange unchanging majesty of the rising of the sun--which has been happening every morning for thousands and thousands and thousands of years.

One knows it then for a moment or so.

And one knows it sometimes when one stands by oneself in a wood at sunset and the mysterious deep gold stillness slanting through and under the branches seems to be saying slowly again and again something one cannot quite hear, however much one tries.

Then sometimes the immense quiet of the dark blue at night with millions of stars waiting and watching makes one sure; and sometimes a sound of far-off music makes it true; and sometimes a look in some one's eyes."

A journey across continents, a secret garden uncovered with the help of a robin, a sick child, a grieving widower and a poor but happy family... did you read The Secret Garden as a child?

I did, and then forgot all about it until I watched Kirstie Allsopp try to craft her way to a best in show by using it as a theme on her Handmade Britain TV series. The illustrated version really grabbed my attention on the programme, and I found the book in the library.

I find that when you revisit books you read as a child they are either truly magical or pretty disappointing. This one was the former, not least because of Frances Hodgson Burnett's inspiring words, but also its intensely beautiful illustrations by Inga Moore...

What a clever little robin to understand the value of friendship and acceptance.

Garofalo

2011-11-27T19:13:00.000Z

No, not you!

I know it sounds the same if you say it slowly, but brown, hairy monsters have absolutely no relationship to pasta whatsoever!

Since I stopped eating meat and dairy, I don't have the slightest bit of guilt at spending more on the base ingredients I rely on these days, they're always cheaper than meat dishes per portion. Before I tried Garofolo pappardelle, I thought pasta was pasta.

I was so wrong!

Although I've been working this weekend, I've been enjoying myself in the kitchen over the past few weeks.

More gooey brownies...

The last tomatoes from a friend...

And some romanesco from Riverford.

This was the best bread I've ever made...

...and the best soup. I know it's green, but the sweet broad beans and lettuce combined with nutty spelt was just fantastic.

Going back to the Gruffalo - why is this apron only available in children's sizes???

Varnished!

2011-11-22T19:54:00.000Z

Firstly, a really big thank you for your lovely comments on the floors. It was a really great boost to read so many positive messages.

The downstairs floors are finished... almost. Apart from a small area in front of the woodburner which is going to be tiled, we no longer have any areas of concrete in the entire house - another milestone!

I loved the sanded look of the downstairs floors, and thought that the varnishing process might lose their natural look and darken them to a yellow shade, but I needn't have worried. They look beautiful.

I think their age is reflected in the colouring of the wood, I still can't get my head round the fact that these blocks are over a century old. Thank goodness the blocks weren't simply thrown away when their former home was stripped out and refitted. It's wonderful that something so old has been given a new lease of life. Aside from being so labour intensive, I'm sure that bringing old wood back to life must be a really fulfilling way to earn a living.

Wall to wall

2011-11-14T22:20:00.000Z

When I look from the 'dining room', I can see what was a concrete floor hidden under blocks of wood.

The floors are being sanded. The dining room floor that I showed you last time has been buffed back to its natural colour.

The tiny hallway was too small for the herringbone pattern, so it's been laid like bricks.

The side extension already looks amazing with a wooden floor, and it hasn't even been cleaned.

I can't believe we got these blocks so cheaply. Even with the labour intensive process of cleaning, laying, sanding and lacquering them, they were still the same price as good carpet, and yet they will last so much longer. I absolutely love them.

Recycled floors

2011-11-06T19:58:00.000Z

Work has started on laying the woodblock floors. We got a small amount of teak and lots of maple.
These blocks were bought from eBay and from one of hubby's work colleagues. They had a fairly undignified entrance...

All of the blocks had to be cleaned by hand to remove the old adhesive, luckily this wasn't a job we had to do!

They were packed into old banana boxes and taken off to someone who obviously has the patience of a saint.

The study floor was done first. This floor is teak. The man who's laying the floors thinks they are at least 100 years old. It's amazing how the blocks are transformed once they have been sanded and lacquered.

The grain in the wood is beautiful.

Downstairs is still a work in progress. Here's what the blocks look like before they're sanded and lacquered. These blocks are also around 100 years old - at the moment, they look it!

We've also finished painting the radiators. This was a real job and a half. Painting them with a brush didn't work, so we resorted to cans of spray-on radiator paint. How many cans do you think we used?

Today we made the most of the glorious Autumn sunshine to visit some trees that are still standing. My camera doesn't do them justice, the colours in the forest were outstanding.

The bathroom

2011-10-24T20:07:00.000+01:00

Yesterday we were busy painting and tidying up ready for the parquet floors to start getting laid tomorrow - fingers crossed that the guy doing them turns up tomorrow morning! Rather than show you yet more painted walls, I thought I'd show you the bathroom now that we have all of the bathroom suite in there.

The original bathroom was downstairs. Whilst it was a good size, it was almost as far from the bedroom as you could possibly get and in dire need of an update. I very rarely go through the night without a trip to the loo, and the thought of winter trips downstairs to the bathroom wasn't an appealing thought!

So we started off with this...

We ripped it out entirely.

Putting an upstairs extension above the existing kitchen gave us the space for an upstairs bathroom.
It's quite incredible to look back on the building work, which took place in the summer of 2009. It makes me realise just how much upheaval was involved in what was originally going to be just a small-scale renovation, but it also makes me appreciate how far we have come.

The bathroom as it looks today. All that really remains to be done in this room is to box off and tile the area where the soil pipe is at the back of the loo.

I can't wait to have a bubble-filled soak in the gorgeous cast iron bath...

I wasn't sure about painting it black initially, but I think it works really well with the tiles.

Downstairs, the space occupied by the original bathroom has been divided into two rooms. One will be the utility room, and the other is a little downstairs loo.

We found these two period style loo roll holders to go in them!

A day off...

2011-10-23T20:43:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I took a break from the cottage and went into Chester with my friend. She used to be my neighbour here, but moved just before Christmas last year. We really enjoy meeting up, and we've now got a bit of a 'ritual'...
Thai dinner here - an absolute bargain at just £6.95 a head for two courses.
Followed by a quick cocktail at The Slug and Lettuce, then a browse round the charity shops (books and a top purchased) and a few squirts of perfume in Browns. Then at 4 o clock on the dot, we hotfoot it to The Amber Lounge.
You see, their 2-for-1 cocktail deal starts at 4 o clock, and these are the best cocktails in Chester!

What to choose...

Oh go on then, let's start with the cosmos!

I fancied something a little bit different after the Cosmopolitans, but I didn't expect something quite so incredible...

Janie wasn't keen on these, so I drank them both (what a hardship!), whilst she ordered two more Cosmos. This probably explains why I can't remember what this wonderful cocktail is actually called.

A quick snack was needed by this point - chips, houmous and pitta breads were ordered, and demolished.

So, several glasses of rather strong cocktails were drained, and that's the kind of time where biting into a chilli just seems like a really good idea...

I should point out that I am a bit of chilli fan!

It was fantastic to meet up with such a good friend - we love our days out! They are not frequent enough to be mundane, they are such a special treat (this is only our second). Our next meet up will be in our new home!! We've decided to try 'home-made' cocktails followed by a hotfoot (or possibly stagger) to the local pub. I'm really hoping that this can be pre-Christmas, but we'll see.

Today it's back to the renovation and the painting of the kitchen ceiling and the clearing of rooms ready for the new flooring this week.

Under pressure

2011-10-05T20:40:00.000+01:00

It can't be said that I am a 'comfort shopper', but during a week when we are under pressure to get a lot of work done at the cottage (whilst still managing our full-time jobs) before the plumber arrives at the weekend, there is only one way to look. Forward.

Now I can add planting lots of crocuses to my to-do list, but I'm afraid I couldn't resist!

It never ceases to amaze me what good value bulbs are, so much pleasure for just a few pounds.

I also ordered one of these...

... but that's for putting away until the rapidly reducing number of weeks of 2011 are over.

I wonder if we will be in our 'new' home by the time I first come to write in these pages?

Oh, lighten up!

2011-10-03T23:12:00.000+01:00

After yesterday's digression, let's move back to less emotive territory and see what's happening at the cottage.
The pictures in this post have been a long time coming. They're the first ones of the house illuminated by wired in lights which hang from the ceilings and light up at the flick of a switch, rather than being lamps which plug into an extension lead.

We chose period light switches. We had initially planned to mount them directly onto the walls, but it looked like they wouldn't be secure enough, so we bought some wooden plinths for them. This is what they were originally designed to be fixed to anyway.

We're so pleased with them!

They were, of course, purchased on eBay for a fraction of their retail price.

And here they are in action this evening. We went over after work to do some painting.

With the nights drawing in, it's fantastic to be able to switch the lights on so that we can continue with the jobs!

Our old lamp post has its new top on, and lights up the path at the front of the house.

And from the road, it can be seen through the ivy archway. I think this is a beautiful, natural and welcoming pathway...

A massive thank you to our friend who has carried out all these electrical works for us, often giving up his time during the weekends when it was cracking the flags!

Back inside, the kitchen floor has been grouted. A mixture of sand and cement has been used to keep the floor looking more natural. The floor is being sealed again tomorrow, and then this room is ready to paint!

Cow hugger

2011-10-02T21:34:00.000+01:00

I'll admit, I've been an 'on-off' vegetarian for many years.
Since my teens, my relationship with meat has been an uneasy one. In recent years, I've begun to feel more and more guilty about eating it. Books such as 'Skinny Bitch' documented (in detail) industry practices. I won't go into it here, but they upset me deeply. What I'd never considered until that time was the effect of the dairy industry - I thought if I didn't actually eat animals that was OK.

Last month, I was introduced to The Gentle Barn, by my friend Kat Mortensen.
It sounded really heartwarming... and it is!! It's a charity which rescues abused animals, who then go on themselves to help 'at risk' kids and those with learning difficulties.
What they also have on their website are the animals stories, how they came to be at the barn. I must admit, I found that really pretty upsetting, especially the undercover footage filmed by Mercy for Animals at a veal calf ranch.

The Gentle Barn encourage people to try out a plant-based diet (ie vegan). Previously, I could never have imagined going vegan - I LOVE cheese! I was so encouraged by the wonderful Gentle Barn stories, and how the animals quickly thrived on the love and compassion they receive there that I thought what the hey, I'll try it for a week. Seven days can't hurt.

I've kept it going ever since, and guess what, I'm enjoying it so much! I've made some wonderful food, which also just happens to be healthy (largely - though see picture below) and very tasty. I've experimented much more with new ingredients, tried new recipes and generally really enjoyed myself in the kitchen.

I eat so many more veggies than I did when I was on a vegetarian diet last year, as I relied way too much on dairy. OK, it takes more time to prepare meals, but they are tasty, nutritious and very satisfying.

I thought I would feel 'deprived', but that's the last thing I feel. I feel healthy, happy and guilt-free! I've discovered new things to eat (including chipotle paste which I'd never even heard of before, but is the best thing ever).

I've even learned that tasty treats can be made...

Without me having to feel terrible about what's happening to little cuties like Roy...

This post isn't intended to ask you to consider a different way of life, it's just telling you how I dealt with some facts that I found I couldn't live with. It is, however, intended to direct you to wonderful charity, regardless of your views on how or why the animals are there. Please visit - I promise you won't be disappointed.

Making the most of things

2011-09-18T15:59:00.000+01:00

This weekend, the slate tiles are being laid in the kitchen, utility room and downstairs loo. We chose natural, riven slate in a variety of sizes that fit together in a particular pattern... apparently.
Except they didn't.
The large rectangular tiles had been incorrectly cut to size, and so the pattern sheet we had been supplied with didn't work. The tiler phoned the supplier, to be told that additional cuts would be needed to make the pattern work. Across the floor area, this would probably have been over one hundred extra cuts that we shouldn't have had to make.

Instead, the tiler removed the large rectangular tiles from the pattern, and worked with the smaller squares. Looks good don't you think?

Beats getting too stressed out about the fact the tiles were incorrectly sized.

The larger rectangular tiles are being put to use in the downstairs loo and utility room. They can be used on their own with no problems, just not as part of the intended pattern.

The tiles need to be left to adhere to the floor before they are washed down and sealed before finally being grouted.

It's funny that the problem with the tiles came up this week. When I was tidying up, I found a copy of a poem that I wrote down from a poetry anthology. I loved the poem's message so much that I've kept it written down for over ten years. It's appropriate not only for the season, but also as a reminder that we shouldn't dwell on things that go wrong, but instead, make the most of every day.

I didn't know who wrote this poem at the time, but a quick search on Google attributes it to Sarah Doudney. Here it is:

The Water Mill

Listen to the water mill through the livelong day,
How the clicking of its wheel wears the hours away,
Languidly the Autumn winds stir the greenwood leaves,
From the fields the reapers sing binding up the sheaves,
And a proverb haunts my mind as a spell is cast,
The mill will never grind with the the water that has passed.

Autumn winds revive no more leaves that once are shed,
And the sickle cannot reap corn once gathered,
And the rippling stream flows on tranquil, deep and still,
Never gliding back again to the water mill,
Truly speaks the proverb old, with a meaning vast,
The mill will never grind with the water that has passed.

Take the lesson to thyself, loving heart and true,
Golden years are fleeting by, youth is passing too,
Learn to make the most of life, lose no happy day,
Time will never bring thee back chances swept away;
Leave no tender word unsaid, love while love shall last,
The mill will never grind with the water that has passed.

Work while the daylight shines, man of strength and will,
Never does the streamlet glide useless by the mill,
Wait not till tomorrow's sun beams upon the way,
All that thou canst call thine own lies in thy to-day,
Power, intellect and health may not always last,
The mill will never grind with the water that has passed.

Oh, the wasted hours of life, that have drifted by,
Oh, the good we might have done lost without a sigh,
Love that we might once have saved by a single word,
Thoughts conceived but never penned, perishing unheard,
Take the proverb to thine heart, take and hold it fast,
The mill will never grind with the water that has passed.

Oh, love thy God and fellow-man, thyself consider last,
For come it will, when thou must scan dark errors of the past,
And when the fight of life is o'er, and earth recedes from view,
And heaven in all its glory shines, midst the pure, the good, the true,
Then you'll see more clearly, the proverb deep and vast,
The mill will never grind with the water that has passed.

Undeniably Autumnal

2011-09-04T14:49:00.000+01:00

We lay in bed in the early hours listening to the heavy rain and hoping that it would be dry by morning. It's not possible to level sand and lay driveway blocks if it's pouring down. We have the levelling machine for just the weekend, and we didn't want to waste a day.
We got our wish. After the deluge during the night, the day dawned clear, warm and sunny. Temperatures this past few days have been between 18 - 21 Celsius, at the beginning of the week it was just 12 degrees.
There's no denying though, that the subtle signs of the turning of the season have well and truly arrived. The housemartins are still here for now, but on the ground things are starting to change.

Autumn is my favourite season, so I'm not too grumpy about seeing the leaves turn yellow and red and the gentle ripening of some plants and the decay of others. My favourite thing about Autumn though, is the air. It becomes clear and light - you can see for miles, and sound carries so much that you can hear the buzzards calling to each other when they are nothing more than pinpricks in the sky, as I did this morning when I was taking these photographs.

Thanks to the sunny day, things are also changing over at the cottage too. With the exception of the small landing, the base coat has been applied to all of the upstairs walls and ceilings. Investigation into claypaint avoided an expensive mistake. Its greatest asset is also what changed our minds about it. It's composition allows breathability, but it also means that is absorbs liquid which comes into contact with it. With two messy and often soggy dogs, that's just not going to work for us. More about that when I've made more progress, I'm sure you don't want to see more patchy walls!

The greatest changes are happening outside the house. The driveway is progressing quickly...

And we can now reach the house without stepping on crusher run.

Do you like our lamp-post? It's an old Liverpool city one. We bought it a couple of years ago for a song on eBay (unsurprising as you'd need to have a special trailer which hubby's dad fortunately has, in order to get it home). Since we bought it, it has lain horizontal on the path up to the house. Today, it's finally vertical!

If you're wondering why there is a rope coming out of the top, it's attached to the electrical cable buried underground, so that we can actually use it to light the path.

It's so old and battered due to its purpose and history. I'm really looking forward to stripping off these layers of paint and restoring it, but, given its age, I don't think it's going to look good if it's too pristine. Do you agree?

Moving swiftly on

2011-08-29T21:03:00.000+01:00

Thank you for all of your very kind and encouraging comments on our progress. I'm sorry I haven't had time to answer you individually as I normally do, but we've been so busy! We've got to the stage now where everything is moving along quite quickly. The plasterers and the tilers are hard at work. The plasterer expects to be finished by the end of this week. The main bathroom and shower room are almost fully tiled, and the downstairs loo is partially completed.

These tiles are by Laura Ashley, but we got them on eBay at a far cheaper price.

We thought it would be too busy if we had the whole room tiled in the black and grey pattern, so we also bought some with the flowers in white and grey for the other two walls in the room.

The side extension's roof now has plaster on it...

And the driveway is gradually extending.

More progress

2011-08-14T15:34:00.000+01:00

It's incredible how quickly progress is made when you get to the apres-plastering stage! The cottage looks so totally different than it did last month, and will look so changed again in another month's time.
We remarked on how different a thin layer of coating on the walls can make a house look.

I've painted the ceilings in the bathroom and shower room with three coats of emulsion, and I still think they need another. Both bedrooms have been given one coat, which the plaster has absorbed, though maybe not quite as much as I'd expected.

The whole of the upstairs has been plastered now, and the bare bricks on the stairway have been covered with a smooth coat of plaster.

The brickwork on the chimneybreast in what will be our bedroom required too much labour to repair, so the budget had to come first, and we had it plastered. I think it looks great though, and I'll find something pretty to hang on the wall above the fireplace.

The completed plasterwork really shows the curves and lines of the ceilings.

The walls in the room that will be our study were the last to be plastered upstairs, and you can see the colour difference as they dry out.

The view from the french windows reminded me that although we have made great progress, there are still months of work ahead. It's enough to make Monty Don weep!

But tiles are being fixed to the walls...

And a driveway is taking shape...

Tomorrow, the plasterer is returning to start on what will be our living room. I'm also ordering some sample pots of claypaint. Sadly (but not unexpectedly) its quite expensive, so its coverage will decide whether we are able to afford it or not. If not, well I'm sure I'll be able to find something else.

Inside, I need to keep up with the plasterer's progress. I have A LOT of painting to do!! My boredom threshold is easily met and exceeded doing the ceilings, so I do a little at a time where I can. Walls, I enjoy painting, so once they are properly dried out, progress should be swift.

Earthborn on our doorstep

2011-08-11T19:42:00.000+01:00

Isn't it strange that you can spend time deliberating, and maybe making a bit too much of things when very often there is a solution literally on the doorstep. However, thanks to Share My Garden for suggesting claypaint.
I'll be honest, I'd never even heard of it before!

I Googled claypaint, and came across Earthborn, and found that it's a company just down the road!

They have a small but versatile range of colours, and I'm pretty certain that I can choose from them - I'm loving Seagull already!

Just in case you're thinking I'm getting a bit obsessed and overly finnicky with choosing paint, it isn't the colour that's the issue, it's the time! We now both have limited holidays from our regular full-time jobs, so we need to get a move on!!

Too much choice!

2011-08-09T21:49:00.000+01:00

With a huge range of finishes and the option to mix your own colours, it really is possible to have too much choice when it comes to paint colours! I've been poring over colour charts with more interest now that most of the upstairs of the cottage is now plastered.
Of course, the first coat of paint will just be some cheap matt emulsion, as the plaster will soak most of that up.
With the tiler booked to start work over the weekend, my first job is to paint the ceilings in the bathroom and shower room one evening this week. The rest of the upstairs will have its first coat of paint next weekend.

In terms of the rest of the rooms, I think I'm going to have to get together the curtains, duvet covers, and furniture fabrics that we are going to put in and see which paint chips suit best. We want a light, airy and neutral range of colours, but I had no idea how many different shades of white it was possible to have!

Both Crown and Dulux do period colours from the Victorian and Edwardian eras, so those would probably look right, but there are so many other fantastic colours available too.
And of course, price is an issue too. Some brands are simply beyond our budget, especially when having to do an entire house.

Any tips to help us choose..?

Caves and meringues

2011-08-08T22:48:00.000+01:00

Well, the plasterer is making really great progress! So much so that it currently looks like a dark brown cave upstairs, just until it dries out...

And we have some ceiling meringues...

A white horse and more mice

2011-08-03T12:32:00.000+01:00

At Christmas time, I told you a little about Robert Thompson, 'the Mouseman' of Kilburn. Kilburn is a small, and very pretty, village in North Yorkshire. We visited at the weekend during our 'mini break' at my dad's. Not only is Kilburn famous for its mice, but also for a rather larger resident of the village.

This is The White Horse of Kilburn. It's not an ancient horse, it was created in 1857 as a collaboration by a local businessman, the schoolmaster and his pupils. I found an interesting potted history of the horse here and here. It's interesting to see how the shape of the horse has changed over time. Over the years it has been camouflaged during the war, badly damaged by storms, turned into a zebra by pranksters, given a hunting theme by pro-hunting lobbyists and finally given a jockey to welcome Royal Ascot to York.

Thankfully today, the horse is in pristine condition, thanks to ongoing efforts and funds made available to preserve it.

It was quite a hazy day when we arrived in Kilburn, and we had a look around the Mouseman Visitor Centre first. Unsurprisingly, there were lots of mice!

This one was on a windowsill...

And this one on a bench...

There were also some beautiful gardens! My little camera doesn't do this cottage garden justice. It was absolutely beautiful. The planting looked natural and effortless, but I can imagine how many hours must go into creating and maintaining such a beautiful display.

After a visit to the village, we decided to walk up to the top of the horse. On the very top, there's a gliding club. The sun had come out by this point, and the runway was very busy, with gliders taking off every few minutes, hoisted into the air by small planes with engines.

The view from the top of the bank is spectacular!

It used to be the site of an Iron Age hillfort, and given the view of the surrounding countryside, you can see why it was an excellent strategic position.

And here's the horse from the top of the bank. It's completely impossible to discern what shape it is from here. Like many figures on hills, the best view is definitely from the air!

I found this fantastic aerial photograph on the internet. (Copyright as shown.)

We're home now, and work has started on the plastering over at the cottage. All of the upstairs ceilings have been done so far. I'll show you some pictures after the weekend, when more will have been done. Finally, it seems like things are really moving along, and we should start to see some significant progress over the coming weeks!

The Rose Detective

2011-06-20T20:04:00.000+01:00

I have several roses in the garden here, which I bought many years ago. I bought them before I moved in with hubby, but they were still fairly tiny back then, and easily able to be replanted. Now they are far too big to move to a new home, but their carefree growth habit and beautiful flowers would fit right into a cottage garden.

The previous occupant of our renovation project was obviously a huge rose fan. We found lots of plastic pots with 'David Austin Roses' labels on, and there are lots of roses around the garden, though many are now trying to compete with the ivy, and could do with a helping hand. There may be more buried beneath the ivy's dense leaf cover. We have a couple more which seem to have sprung up from nowhere whilst the building work has been underway, and I'm looking forward to seeing their flowers over the summer.

It seems fitting that we should continue the tradition of roses at the cottage.

I visited the David Austin Roses website to try to identify the roses which I chose all those years ago.
They have a good search facility, and I found them. I then looked through the rest of their rambling and climbing roses, together with those of a couple of other growers. I've found that my taste in roses hasn't much changed with time. If I could choose a handful of roses for my garden, I'd choose the same ones again...

Kiftsgate, currently full of tiny flowers and hundreds of buds waiting to bloom.

This would be fantastic let loose along the front fence.

Veilchenblau...

Parkdirektor Riggers - I can't show you a picture from my garden, as this rose strangely disappeared, though it had such a distinctive name, that I did actually remember it after all this time.

Picture source: David Austin Roses

And one to add to the list...

Not a rambler or climber this time, but a highly scented English Rose - Wollerton Old Hall

And I think I'm beginning to see why roses are strangely addictive!

Thomas McKnight

2011-06-18T16:48:00.000+01:00

"I suppose every life has a leitmotif - a guiding vision. Mine has been a search for paradise, a nostalgia for an earthly Eden that possessed me even as a child."

Thomas McKnight

The first time I ever came across the work of Thomas McKnight was around 15 years ago, when I had not long finished college, and was living and working in Chester. One of his prints hung on the wall of a relatively inexpensive print and poster shop on Northgate Street. The vibrancy of the colour and light drew me in, and the stylized detail of the scene invited me to stop and gaze. Since I was working for the national minimum wage at that time, the £60 required to buy the framed print was impossible. Nor was the print available without the frame, it was the only one they had, and no more would be ordered. I waited... the picture remained unsold on the wall. They had a sale, the picture was reduced to £25. I handed over my money and was the proud owner of Anacapri by Thomas McKnight.

"It is my conviction that both good and bad energies emanate from images. Some can heal the spirit and integrate the soul; others can drag it down. By gazing upon balanced and beautiful imagery, whether based on fantasy or real life, one can restore what is missing. A true fantasy will do this; a false fantasy will excite your wonder but in the end leave you high and dry."

Thomas McKnight

I was unable to locate any more prints by Thomas McKnight until I got my first PC with internet access. That was several years later, and I was thankfully earning more than the national minimum wage by then. My second print was huge, more than a metre long, and it was a picture of Mykonos harbour.

Last week, I was able to track down one of Thomas McKnight's books of prints via my local library - Thomas McKnight's World - A Vision of Earthly Happiness. It's packed full of wonderful images of paradise from around the world. I hadn't appreciated that this artist's work also included England...

Castle Combe

And Stourhead Gardens...

The book includes his famous 'Windows', including New England, New York, Paris and various exotic locations around the world. Looks like a fantastic way to earn a living to me!

I have three 'Thomas' prints, and we wondered where to hang them in the cottage. Since it's rather old and the prints are definitely of this era, we wondered where they would fit in, as there's no way I'd ever part with them. We thought about the narrow stairwell, but I didn't think I'd be able to see them properly there. I think they'll be easier to see properly in the third bedroom (which will be a study), though I can't help but think how fantastic Mykonos Harbour would look on the large wall in the sunroom!

"Finally, after many years of searching, I realised that a true paradise can exist only within... In the end it was in my work that I was able to capture paradise best, and in the process add a moral weight to the vision. By dreaming of an earthly paradise I could take a few personal steps toward creating one."

Thomas McKnight

Doorknobs and lightpulls

2011-06-06T14:41:00.000+01:00

I seem to have been away for an unintentionally long time! To be honest, I didn't have a great deal to write about, and we've been extremely busy with both the house and our full-time day jobs.
We haven't finished the plasterboarding, though are making good progress, and we've started to look for door furniture. We're intending to keep the cottage's original doors and use them upstairs, but the door handles are plastic, probably from the 1970s, and are pretty much unusable.

We tried to find some antique handles, but they are so expensive!! We did find one old pair of doorknobs on eBay which we managed to get for a good price.

The others are all brand new, in wood...

And chrome...

The bathroom will have a pull light, but both bedrooms originally had pull lights above the beds too. I think these are the best idea ever, and can't understand why we don't have them any more. We were lucky to get these beautiful pull switches in the Laura Ashley sale.

Finally, I just wanted to show you some roses. Since the council trimmed the hedge back during the winter, our tiny rose garden (and I do mean tiny, just 6 bushes) has flourished. We got these 'lost label' roses in a sale at our local Homebase a few years back. I don't know what they are called, but they are just beautiful. Two are in full bloom at the moment, whilst the others have lots of buds. We have this beautiful red one

And a glorious white one with a pink tinge to the edges of the petals. I love this one, and I'll be sorry to leave it behind.

I always thought roses required a lot of time and attention, but these two seem to have thrived on neglect!

A slight digression

2011-05-08T20:49:00.000+01:00

When I was a teenager, I can remember laughing at my mum's preoccupation with skincare and face creams. She was none to impressed to catch me red-handed with a dollop of her Lancome moisturiser ready to apply to my face. She thought the cream had been disappearing rather too quickly from its very expensive pot.

Still, lines and wrinkles couldn't be that bad, could they? Now that I have my own lines and wrinkles, I can understand exactly where she was coming from. The little crow's feet that appear when you smile, the permanent smile lines, and the realisation that my skin isn't quite as taut and supple as it used to be...

If you are one of those people who are not concerned about lines, wrinkles and getting older in general, then I envy you, I really do. Unfortunately, I am not one of those people, and if there is anything I can use on my face and body to reduce its dryness, or its propensity towards lines and wrinkles, then I am more than willing to give it a go. I've experimented with everything from rosewater and glycerin, Boots Botanics to Olay, Nivea, and Elizabeth Arden if I was ever lucky enough to find it in our local discount shop (very rarely have I been lucky enough to find it, usually after they have updated the packaging and want to get rid of the older pots).

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be anything worse for your face than plasterdust, and we've had plenty of dealings with that recently. When I returned home from the cottage last weekend, I was horrified to note the additional little lines that appeared under my eyes when I smiled, and have been religiously slapping on the face cream and eating extra fruit and veg ever since.

In timely fashion, about a week ago, I received an email from the magazine I subscribe to asking if I would be interested in taking part in a skincare trial for L'Occitane. All I had to do was fill in a short survey about myself and my skin, and if I was one of the 500 people chosen to take part, they would let me know within a couple of days. The best bit was that I would get a full sized pot of face cream free of charge to use for the trial.
I didn't hear anything back, so assumed I hadn't been chosen until a pot of face cream arrived in the post yesterday.

L'Occitane is out of my price range for cosmetics, so I'm really pleased to be able to try it out. I am to use it twice a day and then report back on the results after a month. The cream doesn't contain any of the usual anti-ageing ingredients present in commercial creams, and is largely plant-based, so it will be interesting to see how it compares.
Hopefully it will last until we have finished the plasterboarding!

Slowly onwards

2011-05-01T19:37:00.001+01:00

Where on earth did April go? Did someone reduce its duration by 50% without telling me?

This has been a month of extra long hours at work due to problems with some new software we've had installed, so I was very pleased about the two long weekends, and of course for the opportunity to watch a magical Royal Wedding between two people so obviously in love!

My dad and (not so wicked) stepmother have been to visit too, over the Easter weekend. Dad to help with the plasterboarding, and Judith for some trips out to Ness Gardens and Chester, and some (ahem) extremely hard work in the garden this end.

I haven't been to Ness Gardens for such a long time that a lot has changed.

They have a lambanana...

A vegetable painted penguin...

A mini representation of the development of Stonehenge...

And of course, beautiful gardens...

Can anyone help with what these plants I photographed there are?

This beautiful plant was growing by the side of a very large pond. It had tiny blue flowers, and leaves which I can only describe as somewhere between a hosta and a dock...?

Below is Lady's Mantle, but I don't know what the beautiful pink flowery drumsticks growing in between are...?

This weekend, there has been no time for browsing gardens, we've been busy with the plasterboarding again.
Luckily I am 'on holiday' from work the week after next, so we have extra hours to get as much of the downstairs completed as possible. To date, the upstairs is largely plasterboarded, and so is the dining room. Tomorrow, our goal is to get the boards up in the living room.

Slow progress, but it's moving on...

It's great to see the battened brick walls being replaced by plasterboard.

Progress may be slow, but it's progress all the same.

An Ayrshire childhood

2011-04-15T19:57:00.000+01:00

The internet is a fantastic tool for communication, research, shopping and probably a multitude of other things, but it can also make the world seem very small.

Last week I read 'The Hanging Shed' by Gordon Ferris. It was a fantastic book, set largely in Glasgow and Ayrshire. It reminded me of the slang I had almost forgotten and the places I used to visit. We lived in Ayrshire until I was thirteen (my remaining sister still does), and I couldn't believe the flood of memories that the book brought back.

The Island of Arran...

(Picture source: Arran from Seamill by Ed Hunter)

Culzean Castle (pronounced Cullane), a beautiful place to visit, right on the coast. The gardens here are fantastic.

(Photo source: Flickr)

Croy Brae (The Electric Brae), on the way to Culzean was a place of such enjoyment as my dad stopped the car and it magically rolled uphill. A visit to Wikipedia reveals that the effect is but an optical illusion created by the slope of the land around it. Now there even seems to be a sign announcing this...

(Photo source: Wikipedia)

And my favourite, Ailsa Craig.

When I was a child, I called Ailsa Craig 'the Giant's Bum' (the reason behind this I know or remember not, though it's probably its size and shape!!). I believed that the island was enchanted. It seemed so far out to sea and was such a strange shape, often shrouded in mist.
Now when I type in a Google search for Ailsa Craig I can find out about its geography, its topography, its use as a quarry for the famed Scottish curling stones and see hundreds of images of it. In fact, if I read all the information available about it, it would hold no mystery at all, and that would spoil the magic, though ironically the Gaelic translation of Ailsa Craig is 'Fairy Rock'.

And back to where I started, about the internet making the world a small place.
Every school summer holiday we used to go to the North Shore at Ardrossan. On the beach was a huge rock. My friend Tracey and I would climb it, and play in the pool the tide left beneath it and have lots of adventures with our Sindy dolls. Imagine my surprise when I was looking for a picture of Arran on Google, and came across this beautiful photograph of snowy Arran, with 'our rock' in the foreground. It has had graffiti on it ever since I can remember. I wonder how many other people remember this as 'their rock'?

(Photo source: Robert Strachan Photography)

It looks a lot prettier these days! We came across constant blobs of oil in the pools from the Shell-Max refinery round the corner, but there was still plenty to see in the rockpools. These days Sindy is probably more into spa breaks than camping in the inflatable tents and sleeping bags we used to send her briefly out to sea in.

So, my reason for the reminisce was prompted by the book I read, but it also reminded me that I speak to my remaining sister on the phone regularly, but don't visit very often at all. So, I have booked us in for a trip to Ayrshire (after we have moved into the cottage) for much drinking, merrymaking and minor rockclimbing on the beach!!

A busy weekend!

2011-04-05T21:48:00.000+01:00

We've certainly achieved a lot over the weekend! The first pieces of plasterboard went up on the walls downstairs...

We measured up the rooms which need tiles, and then made a large dent in our budget by ordering them.
These are the tiles for the kitchen floor.

After a fair bit of disagreement on size, shape, material and just about everything else, we reached a truce and agreed on these multicoloured slate tiles (minus the edging you can see in the picture).

We choose these tiles for the shower room...

And these for the downstairs loo. I took this picture in the shop.

And later found this picture on their website, which shows the tiles in an actual room. They are beautiful crackle-glazed pastel shades in off-whites, greys and blues.

We haven't ordered the tiles for the kitchen yet, because it's difficult to estimate how many we will need. We don't need very many because of the layout. We're thinking about these...

Out in the garden everything's growing (including the weeds).

The frogspawn has morphed into tiny tadpoles.

The damson tree is in blossom.

My old hellebore is in bloom.

My new hellebore is thriving too.

Cashflow

2011-03-30T19:24:00.000+01:00

It's been almost three years since we bought the cottage. During that time we have, with varying degrees of success, been juggling a renovation whilst maintaining our house. Three years with two sets of bills is not a recipe for stress-free living!

Progress on the cottage is good though, and at some point during the summer, we will be able to move in. It will not be complete, but it will be liveable. I hope that this house will sell around that time, but failing that, we can rent it out. Being a landlord is definitely not our preferred option, but the housing market continues to be slow in this area.

April is looking to be a particularly tight month for me, and I plan to use it to see how much money (or how little) we really actually NEED to live on.
Out go 'treats' like a meal out (which we don't do very often anyway unless they have a lunch offer on), alcohol (ulp!), ready-prepared food (like my beloved crisps) magazines and cosmetics. In comes entertainment in the form of gardening, reading library books and getting fit with those dusty workout DVDs that I have bought and then managed to religiously avoid!

One thing I won't be cancelling is my organic veg box.

This might seem like an extravagance on a tight budget, but believe it or not it actually saves me money. I have a horrible little habit of nipping to the supermarket for a couple of things, and coming out with more than I intended (but probably with exactly what the supermarket intended me to buy!). Having a veg box disciplines me to plan meals around what I know will be delivered. It encourages me to cook fresh, healthy foods instead of a 'quick-fix' on the way home from work, and most importantly, it enables me to shop only for what I need.

If you compare the price of my veg box with the same organic veg bought in a supermarket, it was 27% cheaper in January. In fact, since they started their price comparison, they have ALWAYS been cheaper than Waitrose, Sainsburys or Tesco. For £25 I can buy more than enough vegetables and produce to keep hubby and I well fed for a week or more.
Organic meat is well beyond my budget though, so I will be buying less meat in April. Hubby is never going to be a vegetarian, and I feel guilty if I know the meat is from Europe, as their animal welfare standards are so much lower than the UK's. If that sounds 'preachy' it isn't intended to, I love animals very much and it really matters to me about how they are cared for.

So, I'm not on commission for Riverford Farm and I'm certainly not saying that buying organic is the cheapest option, but it really does work for me personally! Anything which keeps me out of the supermarket will always save me money!

It always helps me if I focus on outcomes, and so here's what I want to achieve during April...

April goals:
Don't worry about being short of money
Get a little bit further than ten minutes into The Tracy Anderson Method before collapsing into an unfit heap
Get the back and front gardens of the house looking the same way they do on my garden plan (low maintenance!)
Take part in Julia Crossland's 'Being Creative' project
Paint the staircase (have procrastinated over this for at least two months now, due to boredom factor)
Learn to dowse (accurately)
Start off seeds indoors for the cottage

Uplifting

2011-03-20T18:14:00.000Z

Hurrah! The first plasterboards are up! This might not seem a big thing, and we are still a way off completing our cottage, but when you've been renovating for such a long period, you learn to appreciate the milestones along the way!
If you viewed the project as a whole, it would be easy to become overwhelmed by the amount of work required, but when broken down into small parts, it seems so much more achievable.

Here's what will be the bathroom with its plasterboard ceiling fitted.

Plasterboard comes in huge sheets, which are quite heavy. Not so much of a problem when you are fitting it to a vertical surface, such as a wall, but what about a ceiling? It'd be a three man job if my dad hadn't come across this contraption on the internet.

It's a board lift. The top section sits horizontally, and you place the plasterboard on top. It then winds upwards to the ceiling, and holds the board in place whilst you fix it on.

Whilst the boys got on with this, I started work on the garden this end, as the weeds have shot up over the past couple of weeks. I'm far too embarrassed to show you any pictures of the green carpet covering the borders, but the lengthening days will give me the time I need to get stuck into the garden after work. Whilst we concentrate our efforts on the cottage over the next few weeks, this garden will become as 'low maintenance' as I can possibly make it, which probably means a lot of weed suppressing membrane and slate chippings! If you have any tips for creating low maintenance borders, please do share!

Jai Ho!

2011-03-19T14:48:00.000Z

I've been away rather longer than I intended!
I wasn't going to post until we had got some plasterboard on, so that you could see something other than silver walls. We thought this might take a month. It hasn't happened. We could hardly believe it when, two weeks ago, the building inspector said he wanted more insulation on the flat parts of the ceilings upstairs.
This may have been cause for a major hissy fit had I not watched Slumdog Millionaire (hence the post title) for the first time that weekend. If you haven't seen it, it's a great film, but not easy to watch in many places. It certainly helps you to get everything in perspective, as of course the problems in Japan and Libya are doing.
The additional insulation is a disappointment, not a drama. A little more time, effort and Kingspan, and it will be done this weekend. I hope that by early next week I will be able to show you some plasterboard attached to a wall or ceiling!

I do have a couple of things to show you though. This morning I went to HSS and picked up a plasterboard lift for hubby, and dropped it off at the cottage. Whilst I was there, I quietly sneaked towards the pond. The frogs have been full of the spirit of Spring over the last few weeks (if you know what I mean), and haven't appreciated me peering in and interrupting their romps. Today there was no familiar 'splash and ripple' dive to the safety of deeper water as I approached, just still water and this...

It's not a great picture - I didn't have my camera (wasn't expecting to take any pictures), so used my Blackberry. I'm so glad that I made the effort to collect a box of jumping frogs from my old pond. I worried how they would settle in, but here's my answer. There is a lot of frogspawn in the pond. I was so excited to see this today, together with the first bee, butterfly and ladybirds I have seen this year.

To add further cheer, I won a blog giveaway recently too! Drawings From Nature is a blog I have followed for quite some time, and I always look forward to new posts. For the past few weeks we've been treated to the artist Eileen Postlethwaite's (aka Milly) new project, and enjoyed her wonderful art, in various mediums, of finds from the seaside. I was lucky enough to win Milly's giveaway, and this arrived for me...

I'm currently looking for some lovely frames for the beautiful pictures this package contained, so that they can be displayed in the cottage.

And I know just where I'm going to put them! I look forward to showing you them in situ!
I have already thanked Milly, but I really can't say enough how lucky I feel to have an original picture and wonderful prints from someone whose art I get so much pleasure from.

In difficult times I think it's important to appreciate the things that make you happy, don't you?

Berwyn Books

2011-01-23T17:39:00.000Z

Well, I was going to blog about the garden today, but a trip out brought us to one of my favourite places - Berwyn Books. I only discovered this secondhand booksellers by accident after Christmas when we visited Bryn Y Grog Emporium in Marchwiel, just outside of Wrexham. The bookseller is located inside.

There are books of all ages here, and if you love books, as I do, it's such a pleasure to wander round and see what's on the shelves.

Many of the books are beautiful for their covers alone...

The books are reasonably priced too, all paperbacks are £1 and hardbacks £2 (unless they are rare or larger books, which are individually priced).

My purchase today was Seal Morning, a tale of life in a Sutherland croft, published in 1957.

On the way home, we found Burners Cottage Antiques in Cefn-y-Bedd, and enjoyed having a quick look round there too - they have a good selection of both antique and new furniture.

Probably best get some plaster on the walls before we start dreaming about accessories!

I did like this pair of pooches though!!

Old dreams...

2011-01-22T17:12:00.000Z

Thank you for all of your comments on gardening from the heart!! I've been working on the garden, testing the soil and then looking at what will grow (just for once - lucky me - I have a perfect soil pH of 6.5), and I'll share that with you tomorrow, but for today, I'll tell you another story.

When I was young, I was horse mad! Every Saturday morning I went for riding lessons, regardless of the weather conditions, which were sometimes pretty harsh in western Scotland. I read loads of horsey books, and I particularly enjoyed the 'Jill' series by Ruby Ferguson. I read fiction, non-fiction and learned pretty much everything there was to know about horses.

When we moved to Yorkshire, I kept on riding. A riding accident halted my progress for a few months, but after that, much to my mum's horror, I was back in the saddle again. It was never really quite the same though - GCSEs and the hope of doing A levels, and then further education - everyday life just seemed to get in the way, and eventually I stopped riding. I suppose unless you plan to make it a profession, rather than a hobby, this probably happens to many people.

I still have a massive love of horses, and love to read about everyday life at Shiloh Horse Rescue- it's lucky I'm here in the UK, as several of their beautiful residents have caught my eye. Though none so much as the new arrival 'Chocolate' Moose.

My mum liked horses, but my eldest sister LOVED them - we used to dream about which horse we would have (chosen from The Observer Book of Horses) - hers was always a chestnut Arab and mine was always a 'Moose' . She introduced me to the 'Misty' books by Marguerite Henry. I loved the books, but I must admit, I loved the paintings by Wesley Dennis even more.

These watercolours capture the real lives of the ponies (of Chincoteague and Assateague islands) and especially the weather and atmosphere perfectly.

My sister died just before we bought the cottage . It was totally unexpected, and it made me wish that I had kept in touch more, understood her better and maybe made allowances for some of her more unpredictable moments as she and I grew older. I think we both left our 'old dreams' behind as we grew up and faced what is called 'everyday life'.

It's only now that I realise that those old dreams are the most important ones of all.

For my sister, Shona

-x-

Rich red, vibrant green and some garden inspiration

2011-01-14T19:45:00.000Z

I've been off to a slow start on my blogging in 2011. I've enjoyed following everyone else's posts, and seeing other peoples' new year progress and plans, but, well, I just couldn't think about anything I wanted to write about on my own blog.

Maybe it's the start of a new year (but I rather suspect that it's a distinct change in temperature) that has led to my very recent fixation with the garden at the cottage over the past couple of days. I think it's also the realisation that the bindweed will soon be thinking that the soil is getting a little bit warmer, and maybe it's time to grow. I remember its efforts to cover the garden last summer!

Anyway, I've been reading several gardening books and magazines over the past couple of days. Inspiration? Zilch! Frankly, for an absolute beginner faced with a steep slope, builders rubble and soil compacted to goodness knows how far down by a mini digger it's more than a little bit of a challenge!

I've looked through endless catalogues, magazines, books and advice sites searching for ideas, with no clue of what I really wanted, until today.

I was given a rose for Christmas, and this evening I've been wandering the internet looking at plants I thought were really beautiful, and I think I have an idea of what I want now.

Rosie at the front, Oberon at the side.

So I won't be looking at any more planting plans, ready-made beds of jumbo plugs or expert advice, I'm going to plant what I love looking at, that doesn't just mean plants that I think are beautiful, but also those that attract animals and insects that I delight in having to visit my garden. It's up to me to gain the knowledge to select and look after what I choose. I hope it goes well and that I don't end up living in The Jungle Book!

We had ourselves a mousey little Christmas...

2011-01-01T20:27:00.000Z

We had a fantastic Christmas this year!!

Up in Yorkshire we had snow, amazing food and the very best of companionship. We caught up on Coronation Street (that we haven't watched for many years), we watched The Gruffalo (our favourite Christmas programme), and I had lots of late night dog walks in the snow.

We got the most beautiful present - we got a 'Mousey' Thompson bowl!!! I was so excited when I opened the wrapping paper, I couldn't believe I was actually holding it in my hands. I can't remember the last time I was so moved by a present!!

You can see my little mouse in close up in the picture at the top.

Here's the actual bowl with him clinging on round the side.

Meanwhile on the outside...

We were lucky enough to wake up to this view when we opened the curtains on Christmas morning...

I'd never seen a 'real life' partridge, never mind one in a pear tree! Here they are in the garden.

And the view across the fields only got prettier as the light faded.

We checked on the cottage on our way back home. We found that the 'leak' was only condensation, and so we can continue with insulating the ceilings.

Sadly, we spent our New Year's Eve in bed with the lurgey - no partying for us....but

we think Frankie may have sneaked out to a secret all night party - he looks like he has a major hangover!

Hope you all had a brilliant Christmas and a very festive end to 2010!!

Santa spotting ... for real!

2010-12-23T20:14:00.000Z

(Apologies to North American readers who are most likely aware of this tradition, but it’s a new one to me!)

In 1955 a wrong telephone number on an advert led to a North American tradition being born…

Did you know that NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) can actually track Santa as he delivers presents across the world on Christmas Eve?

“The tradition began in 1955 after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement for children to call Santa misprinted the telephone number. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief’s operations "hotline." The Director of Operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, had his staff check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Children who called were given updates on his location, and a tradition was born.”

Santa is tracked by Norad in four different ways: radar … satellite …

“The moment that radar indicates Santa has lifted off, we use our second detection system. Satellites positioned in geo-synchronous orbit at 22,300 miles from the Earth’s surface are equipped with infrared sensors, which enable them to detect heat. Amazingly, Rudolph’s bright red nose gives off an infrared signature, which allows our satellites to detect Rudolph and Santa.”

… Santa Cam and jets.

If you’d like to follow Santa’s movements, just look up www.noradsanta.org

I’ll certainly be visiting the website on Christmas Eve to see where he is up to, and whether he’s reached us here in the UK yet!

My favourite item on the whole website though, was this letter from 1897:

Yes of course there is a Santa Claus!! The spirit of Christmas is in all of our hearts, and besides, if you can stay awake long enough, you may just see him.

All that remains is for me to wish you a wonderful and magical (and possibly white) Christmas!

Rush, rush, busy, busy

2010-12-08T19:43:00.000Z

Thanks for all of your comments on 'Mousey' Thompson - I'm afraid I'm rather struggling to keep up with things at the moment, including my blog, so apologies for not answering your comments individually this time round.
Work has been very busy (ie problematic) this week, and I'm woefully behind schedule with the Christmas shopping, Christmas card writing, wrapping and other associated Christmassy things, and the de-cluttering of this house hasn't spread any further than the living room and kitchen.

The underfloor heating kit for the new kitchen is supposed to be arriving at the cottage tomorrow. As usual, the courier can't give us even a rough estimate of when it is likely to arrive. Hubby is doing the morning wait, I'm booked in for the afternoon.
I'm really hoping it arrives in the morning (so as not to waste my annual leave), but if it doesn't, there is dry wood and newspaper for the woodburner, a comfy chair, a warm coat and a good book at the ready!

In the meantime, hubby has been scouring the charity shop stock again. Yesterday he brought home this little beauty.

It's a writing bureau, but it's quite slim, so perfect for the limited space at the cottage. It was an absolute bargain. I love the fact that as well as having a drawer for stationery, it has shelves underneath for my favourite books!

I did at least manage to get the Christmas decorations up at the weekend. I love getting them all out, lighting some candles, pouring a (large) glass of wine, getting the Christmas carols playing and deciding how to display everything.

A swan on the tree

A birdcage with the birds on the outside...

A bowl of reindeer

A Christmassy wreath (with more reindeer)

My new bauble

And a very cosy Jack Russell.

He's impressed by the amount of heat generated by a few tealights.

A mouse of the most desirable kind...

2010-12-05T18:14:00.000Z

Our search for a dining table and chairs began when I remembered a furniture workshop in Kilburn, close to where I used to live in North Yorkshire. Have you heard of 'The Mouseman'?
Robert Thompson crafted in solid oak, and carved a mouse onto every piece of furniture he created. It appears that he started doing this because he was as poor as a church mouse! The craftsmen he trained continue the tradition today.

Anyway, I thought maybe it would be nice if we had a piece of 'Mousey' Thompson's furniture at the cottage. I didn't reckon with the prices that pieces of furniture of this quality and reputation command, and the prices for older pieces are even higher. No secondhand bargains to be had this time!
He's a highly desirable and hence expensive little mouse!

Consequently I'm currently saving up for something that is within my budget... a pair of bookends. Here's an example of an older pair, where the wood has aged to a beautiful, shiny mellowness.

So, with the Mouseman waaay too expensive, and M&S too expensive also, we decided to leave the dining room furniture for a couple of months. After all, it's not like we can use it immediately!
When you see something at a good price though, you have to get it when you see it, otherwise it won't be there when you want it. So we have this table...

And six of these chairs (two carvers and four with no arms)...

I'm personally not into green draylon, so the seats will be re-covered in something a little more modern and colourful - Sanderson have so many beautiful fabrics! I love the shape of these chairs. Quite delicate, but not too fancy so as to clash with the brick fireplace and woodburner. The table has an extra leaf, but it's pretty big without it.

It's definitely not antique, and it's definitely not in Mousey Thompson's league, but I reckon with a lot of TLC, some new upholstery and some good company sitting round it, this will be a great dining set.

Oh, and Mousey Thompson's workshop is not the only thing of interest in Kilburn. If the weather is kind over Christmas, I'll show you.

Anyone for tea?

2010-12-01T20:29:00.000Z

We've been looking at dining tables and chairs this week. We looked in M&S and found one we really loved ... but it was over £1000. We thought and thought about the money, and we decided it way way too much, and so we looked elsewhere.
Hubby looked in a charity shop, and found a dining set he loved, so he bought it - it was less than £70 delivered. Unfortunately I forgot my camera when I went to see what he'd bought, so you can see it in my next post, but we went back to the charity shop today, and I found something I thought was beautiful - a tea set. A whole lot cheaper than M&S too!

The cups are so thin you can see through them when there is light behind them.
I love birds and Chinese art, so these were right up my street. It's a big tea set too, though I think it is probably two matched together.

Brrrrr

2010-11-28T10:45:00.000Z

It's difficult to describe how cold it was at the cottage yesterday. Although there was no snow over there, the temperature was barely above freezing. We had the last bit of insulation to finish in what will be the downstairs loo, and hubby was keen to get it done. So, whilst he worked on that, I cleared up all of the offcuts and tried in vain to get the woodburner going. When there is condensation on the inside of the firelighter wrapper, you know it's going to be a struggle! I tried the knots and rolls of paper you suggested, and smaller pieces of wood, to no avail, everything was just too damp. In the end, I just lit a couple of the firelighters so that I could keep my hands warm - our fingers were numb. It's ironic really that we're fitting insulation and the house is freezing!

The camera flash caught all of the tiny water droplets in the air.

On the positive side, we have now finished insulating all of the external walls, and I'm so glad we got it finished yesterday, as if anything, it's even colder today. We have the ceilings to do now, those will start next week. However, there is a niggling problem. There are still two little leaks in the roof. These need to be addressed before we can plasterboard those areas. I think this will be the third attempt at getting them sorted out. Third time lucky?

Back in the remains of the snow , the birds are really feeling the chill. The starlings never stop looking for food.

And the gulls stage a noisy raid on the bread. At one point there were about 30 screaming and jostling for whatever they could get their beaks on. They've eaten a whole loaf this morning!

First snow

2010-11-27T11:03:00.000Z

Yesterday our first dusting of snow arrived. Unlike many parts of the UK we have had only light showers, though the minor roads are very icy. I made the most of the beautiful weather to take the dogs out early this morning to our local pandy pool.

It made my day to see that there are once again two swans, after one was killed during the summer.

It was apparent that the temperature has been subzero overnight. I've never seen so many birds on the pandy. There was a feeding frenzy when I got the bread out, with the gulls swooping and diving, the ducks doing their best to get a look in and the swans cutting a path through the thin ice round the edge like a couple of nordic icebreakers!

When the sun was behind cloud, it was bitterly cold.

When it was out, the difference in temperature it made was incredible. The photos taken when it was overcast look bleak, but the sunshine reveals a bright, crisp morning.

How to scare yourself half to death in one easy step

2010-11-22T19:30:00.000Z

"A shot rang out. The bear turned its head. Algie took aim again. Before he could shoot, the bear ambled out of sight.

Kill or be killed. That's what it comes down to+. And yet somehow, I don't find that appalling. There's truth in it. A kind of stark beauty.

I think that's what the Arctic means to me. I think that up here, I'll be able to 'breathe with both lungs' as Mr Eriksson says: to see clearly for the first time in years. Right through to the heart of things."

Just recently I have had trouble sleeping. Consequently, hubby had an early night on Saturday to get up for his overtime in the morning, and I stayed downstairs and picked up a book I'd ordered from the library. The strapline under the title should have given it away really ' A Ghost Story'. Many of the ghost stories I've read are not particularly scary, so I wasn't too worried about reading this one. I was wrong...

What starts out as Jack Miller's journal of an Arctic expedition in the pre-war 30s, turns into a battle against darkness, isolation and an echo of a cruel and tragic event that took place many years ago.

This book explores the effect of extremes on the human mind, the blurring of reality, imagination and insanity.

A carefree summer of Arctic days where the sun never sets turns into a winter of endless darkness, and the realisation that all is not what it seems, and a malevolent force walks the ice.

"The stillness is back. The dead cold windless dark. That's the truth. The dark. We're the anomaly. Little flickering sparks on the crust of this spinning planet - and around it the dark.

Just now I looked back at the start of this journal. I don't recognise the man who wrote it. Did he really spend a whole summer in endless light? Was he really so eager to reach Gruhuken? That strikes me as horrible.

Once he wrote that in the Arctic he would be able to see things clearly, right through to the heart of things. Well you got what you wanted, didn't you, you poor fool? This is the truth: what walks here in the dark."

I couldn't put this book down until I'd finished it. It was full of suspense, but it was also an intelligent book, with wonderful (if often gritty) imagery of a freezing, desolate environment and a lifestyle that I couldn't even begin to imagine!

I won't say too much about the plot here, so as not to spoil it, but this really is one of the best fiction books I've read for a while. It's a quick book, taking just under three hours to read.
It was a pretty nerve-wracking getting the dogs out into the dark garden just after midnight once I'd finished this book!

The old 'new' house

2010-11-09T19:09:00.000Z

As we continue with the insulating, you can gradually see the fabric of the old Victorian brickwork disappearing behind the silver cladding of insulation. It's actually starting to look 'modern'. That's OK - modern is hidden, and we can decorate in its original appearance over the top, whilst appeasing the building inspector below the surface.

Of course, this also means it'll be so much warmer. We finished this wall at the weekend, so we have the kitchen skeleton and the roof to do now. I think the roof will be a challenge!!

When you are working in a house that has no modern conveniences, and no modern building technology, you appreciate how cold it must have been in the very depths of winter many centuries ago, that were probably so very much colder than we have now. Imagine, no bricks, no mortar, no insulation, no coal, no matches...and the very worst for a novice firestarter - no firelighters!
Our woodburner churns out the only heat in the house.

This time of year it's hard for me to get it to take without extra help from pine cones and a little piece of firelighter. I'm a novice though, and I'm sure it'll get easier. Lighting a fire from scratch definitely wasn't as easy as I thought it would be! Any advice will be very much appreciated!

Ben Macdui - The Haunted Mountain

2010-11-02T20:35:00.000Z

"Away in the north of Scotland, in the part they call the Highlands, there is a mountain by the name of Ben Macdui and this mountain is haunted."

Apologies for this rather late spooky-themed post, but I was a little slow in finishing the book which I want to mention.
I was born and spent my childhood in Scotland. I remember very clearly the excitement of Hallowe'en, visiting the neighbours houses in our homemade costumes (think of a spider costume made of a bin bag and eight legs of tights stuffed with newspaper and pinned on - you get the idea!) with glowing turnip lanterns to collect treats of cinder toffee, monkey nuts and satsumas. I also remember many of the Scottish myths and legends of ghosts and witches which are recorded in books, songs and poems.

A book I read when I was at primary school has always stuck in my head, because its legend fascinated me back then, and still does. The book is The Haunted Mountain by Mollie Hunter. Recently I was able to buy a secondhand copy very cheaply on Amazon. What better time to read it than Hallowe'en weekend!
The Haunted Mountain is a fictional explanation of the origins of The Great Grey Man, said to haunt the slopes of Ben Macdui, Scotland's second highest peak. After all these years, I still enjoyed reading of MacAllister and the wrath of the sidhe (some pretty nasty fairy folk) which he incurred, and his son Fergus' quest to rescue him and defeat An Ferla Mor, the great grey man.

The legend itself was given credence by the account of Professor Norman Collie, a scientist and experienced hillwalker.

He gave an account of his experience on Ben Macdui, and it certainly seems from doing some internet research on this legend that the mountain has a very strange atmosphere indeed...

"I was returning from the cairn on the summit in a mist when I began to think I heard something else than merely the noise of my own footsteps. Every few steps I took I heard a crunch, then another crunch as if someone was walking after me but taking steps three or four times the length of my own. I said to myself 'this is all nonsense'. I listened and heard it again but could see nothing in the mist . As I walked on and the eerie crunch, crunch sounded behind me I was seized with terror and took to my heels, staggering blindly among the boulders for four or five miles nearly down to Rothiemurchus Forest. Whatever you make of it I do not know, but there is something very queer about the top of Ben MacDui and will not go back there again by myself I know."

There have been several possible explanations for the basis of this legend, from atmospheric conditions to the Grey Man being a manifestation of the spirit of the place. Indeed, some places do have a particular atmosphere that can be picked up on, and this is what many people report about Ben Macdui. If I ever do venture to the Cairngorms to take a look at the haunted mountain, I will certainly be going in the middle of summer, I really wouldn't want to bump into An Ferla Mor!

Picture source - Wikipedia

"...tell me that the whine was but the result of relaxed eardrums, and the Presence was only the creation of a mind that was accustomed to take too great an interest in such things. I shall not be convinced. Come, rather, with me at the mysterious dusk time when day and night struggle upon the mountains. Feel the night wind on your faces, and hear it crying amid rocks. See the desert uplands consumed before the racing storms. Though your nerves be of steel, and your mind says it cannot be, you will be acquainted with that fear without name, that intense dread of the unknown that has pursued mankind from the very dawn of time."
Peter Densham (leader of the Cairngorms RAF Rescue Team 1939-45)

Excerpts taken from The Big Grey Man of Ben Macdhui website

Every wall has a silver lining

2010-10-31T10:23:00.000Z

Well, the battening is finally finished. Now we've moved on to the insulating. This has proved to be quicker and less problematic than we thought it would be, due to the purchase of a special handsaw for cutting the boards. So the brick walls are finally being covered over with silver.

When the walls and ceiling have been insulated, it'll be time for the building inspector to call again, to make sure everything has been carried out in line with the Building Regulations.Even though you know that the work should be correct, it's still a nervous time.

Mindful that the plastering will be carried out in the next few weeks, we've been looking out for light fittings and ceiling roses. We bagged a few bargains in the sales...
This one's for the hallway.

The living and dining room...

The second bedroom...

Our bedroom...

And the kitchen...

I must admit, I'm not 100% sure about the red ones, but hubby is convinced they'll look great. He has a good eye for design, so he'll probably prove me wrong. Since we don't have any storage space at the cottage where we can be sure these delicate chandeliers won't get damaged, they are currently being stored over here, and the living room looks like a light shop.

In the downstairs rooms we'll be having ceiling roses too. Here again, it has paid to research and shop online. The range is far wider, and the prices far keener (very important). We haven't bought any yet, mainly because there are so many beautiful ones that we haven't made our minds up which to choose!

natures powers and spells

2010-10-19T14:05:00.000+01:00

'Untill the vision waked with time

And left me itching after rhyme

Where little pictures idly tells

Of natures powers & natures spells'

'The Progress of Rhyme' - John Clare

Very often, the works and inspiration of one person can inspire another to create in an entirely different medium as a result of shared beliefs and understanding - even if they are a century apart.

I mentioned in my last post, that looking for one book can lead you in the direction of another when you are browsing on Amazon. When I bought The Winter Hare, another book published by Langford Press caught my eye. I've been back a couple of times to the page, but always stopped just short of buying it. I ordered the Shepherd's Calendar from my local library instead, to find out more about the poetry that was partly the subject of the book.
John Clare's beautiful verses about nature made my mind up that I must look inside this book's pages to see the art that his work influenced.

The book is 'natures powers and spells - landscape change, John Clare and me' - by Carry Akroyd. Carry Akroyd is an artist who found a common love of nature, concern for the countryside and a deep appreciation of its beauty and balance with John Clare.

In this book, she shares his lines, and her artwork inspired by them. She tells his story, and her own, wonderfully in words and pictures. His concern over the Enclosures Act, her deep misgivings about 'agribusiness', the loss of habitat and the displacement of species, and also the hope that there will be change.

Carry also shares her techniques, sketchbooks and exhibitions, and the hopes, fears, grief and inspiration behind her work.

Of course, this is supposed to be a blog about renovation, and I promise to share the progress with you next time. The battening has been a long project, but one which has given me some time to indulge my long-lived love of books and nature.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough, it's so beautiful and insightful that it brings an alternate mix of joy and welling eyes as you read. Again (as with the Winter Hare), my little pictures here don't do it justice.

The Shepherd's Calendar

2010-10-14T18:39:00.000+01:00

I don't read a great deal of poetry, but often when I search for a book on Amazon, I end up in a direction that I didn't originally intend.

That's how I met John Clare.

Unluckily for Amazon, and luckily for me, I am able to order so many books totally free of charge from my local library.

For me, this must be one of the most descriptive and enjoyable poems I have ever read - giving a wonderful insight into the village year in the 1800s. There's lots of community spirit... and the introduction explains the editorial and commercial pressures on a poet even back then! I think the commercial aspects took their toll on John Clare.

Anyway, back to the book. The entire year is described just as a calendar would be - month by month.

Here's a snippet of October...

"Nature now spreads around in dreary hue
A pall to cover all that summer knew
Yet in the poets solitary way
Some pleasing objects for his praise delay
Something that makes him pause and turn again
As every trifle will his eye detain"

Followed by three pages of observations, in the most beautiful and realistic way, of weather, animals, people and feelings.

Just a couple of my favourite lines, though I found it hard to choose....

"The flying clouds urged on in swiftest pace
Like living things as if they runned a race
The winds that oer each coming tempest broods
Waking like spirits in their startling moods
Fluttering the sear leaves on the blasting lea
That litters under every fading tree
And pausing oft as falls the patterning rain
Then gathering strength and twirling them again"

If you like the snippet, you can find lots more here, and at the John Clare Society here

"And cheer the lone bards mellancholy way
And now and then a solitary boy
Journeying and muttering oer his dreams of joy"

T-Rex

2010-10-03T14:17:00.000+01:00

Now I know the garden at the cottage is a bit overgrown, but I didn't think it had got to the stage of becoming Jurassic Park!

Nevertheless, when we went there yesterday to do some work, we found a Tyrannosaurus Rex in our tree. I bet you didn't know that a T-Rex could climb trees did you?

According to our neighbour across the road, he's been floating around there all week.

We left him there whilst we did some clearing up and moving of wood for battening inside the house, and then checked out our finished steps.

We're really pleased with these, though we're planning on having a decked patio at the bottom instead of bricks, rubble and weeds.

Then it was back to the tree with a long window brush borrowed from a neighbour to fish the T-Rex out. Hubby managed to get him down, whilst neighbour John and I stood and laughed (not very helpful).

He wasn't very happy to be back on the ground.

"RRRaaahhhh"

Once he'd calmed down, we found him to be a very pleasant T-Rex indeed, in fact he even chauffeured us home.

I bet you didn't know T-Rexes could drive either, did you? Since their arms are so short, they have to use their tails to steer.

Well, I think it's safe to say that house renovation has finally driven me round the bend...

Radiator valves

2010-10-01T18:39:00.000+01:00

After that brief digression into nature and books, the weekend is here and the attention turns back to all things house.

Depending on the weather forecast this weekend, I'm hoping to get some exterior painting done at this end, whilst hubby is busy over at the cottage. The weather here at the moment can be dramatically different from the forecast, so I think it's just a case of wake up and see what it's like, and take things from there!

The builder finished the step on Tuesday, so I'll be able to show you the finished result over the weekend.

In the meantime, I thought I'd show you the valves we got for our radiators. Since the radiators look old, they'd look odd with modern valves. These fit the bill perfectly...

Slightly Foxed

2010-09-29T19:45:00.000+01:00

This is my latest bookish 'find', and a subscription is definitely on my Christmas list!
Welcome to Slightly Foxed!
You can access an online sample copy here. And did I mention the cover pictures are really amazing too? And that's before you've even flicked the page over and ventured inside...

"Slightly Foxed is a rather unusual kind of book review, informal and independent-minded, and its readers tend to be independent-minded too – people who don’t want to read only what the big publishers are hyping and the newspapers are reviewing. Each issue contains 96 pages of personal recommendations for books of lasting interest, old and new, both fiction and non-fiction – books that have inspired, amused, and sometimes even changed the lives of the people who write about them. And when we say write, that’s what we mean. Slightly Foxed contributors have a diverting way with words and are never boring.

Eclectic, elegant, and just the right size to read in bed or slip into a large pocket, Slightly Foxed is a reminder that, even in tough times, the value of a good book doesn’t change. So why not give it a try? You’ll be in excellent company."

Please don't hurt me... I'm only little

2010-09-28T17:55:00.000+01:00

...just the size of raindrop in fact!

Since we removed the Leylandii from our back garden, the space underneath has been teeming with plants and animals (and weeds!). We have a little apple tree which has produced some fruit as a result of some sunlight. Most of the apples have been left for the birds, but I gathered some today, and found someone amongst them...

A baby snail, still transparent, and pretty wonderful...

Deciding it's a long way down the apple, but going ahead anyway.

You could see it weighing up the space between the apples.

Making the decision to cross, rather than turn back

And then making the leap

Visiting the core of the apple, where you can see that it really is the size of a raindrop.

And then going on its way

It's back out in the garden now, just by the apple tree. I wondered why Bill the frog had started hanging out in that part of the garden recently...

I love a bargain!

2010-09-27T20:22:00.000+01:00

At the weekend we went to B&Q to look for a couple of pruning tools. When I pointed out what I wanted, hubby advised that we already had both such implements in the garage somewhere. Another reason to have a good clearout!

Whilst in B&Q, I can never resist a browse through the clearance plants. Very often, the poor things are on their last legs, though you can find plenty that are just in need of some immediate TLC. I got really lucky this weekend though, as they were obviously getting rid of lots of plants which were dying down for the winter. No problems with them at all, they just don't look so pretty.

I got two dahlia plants. They match perfectly with the Happy Single Wink I got over the summer. The foliage is virtually the same colour, and so are the flowers, but instead of being single flowers, they have multiple layers. the plants are more squat and bushy, so they'll look great in a group with the taller single behind them.

The label just said 'assorted dahlias' (not very helpful), so I don't know what their name is. They're very pretty though, especially at £1.20 each!

A couple of pots of Stargazer lilies, which had already been cut down for autumn - there are four bulbs in each pot.

A French lavender

And a 'windmill palm', which are one of the hardiest palms in our UK climate, I believe.

All these plants cost me just £12.40.

You'll have to excuse my photos today, they were taken at 7pm, and it was already getting dark. I'd been weeding in the garden, and discovered the dogs' latest contribution to my efforts to spruce up the borders - a large hole almost 30cm deep - arrgghh!

The wheel of the year and the ticking of time

2010-09-19T16:22:00.000+01:00

Many bloggers are noticing the definite change of summer into autumn. It's very apparent in the garden and countryside on my walks with the dogs.

I found an acorn still in its protective case a few weeks ago. At that point, the covering was bright green, slightly sticky and the acorn inside could barely be seen. Now, the covering is a light brown, showing signs of decay, and it has opened up to reveal the tiny acorn inside.

The changing of the seasons, and the appreciation that everything always has a time and place has fascinated me since I was a child. There is a natural balance, a cycle. This would have been so much more apparent before the advent of electricity, which meant we could keep our world lit and heated 24 hours a day if we wanted to.

I found this delightful 'wheel of the year' at The Chalice Well website (there are no credits given, so I am not sure who created this).

Interestingly, the time between the upcoming Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice is shown as a time of resting. The harvest would have been gathered, preserved and stored for the winter months ahead - all the hard work done for another year.

It's difficult for us to imagine the importance of a good harvest now. In fact, many of us don't think about harvest at all. Food is available out of season all year round in our local supermarket. Not so very long ago though, a good harvest would have meant the difference between survival and starvation - no popping out to the corner shop when we'd run out of bread a couple of centuries ago!

After that brief diversion, let me show you what I intended to. A shorter passing of time - a day and a night - illustrated by my hubby's object of affection - his grandfather clock. We had already inherited an old clock which belonged to the cottage, but hubby had his heart set on a grandfather clock. It wouldn't look right in our modern house, but it would feel at home in the cottage. Actually though, this clock was living right across the street. Our current neighbours owned this clock, and hubby had admired it when we visited their home. When they decided to sell it, they offered us it first. I must admit, I wasn't too keen on it when it first arrived (and it doesn't work), but it has grown on me, and I love looking at the details and images, even if it doesn't actually tell the time at the moment!

I have to confess I know nothing about clocks. This one was made c1760-80. I haven't researched it any further than that. Maybe something for next year.

Day...

A full moon...

Night...

Nature continues her cycle, but man seems to have left it behind! Whilst our ancestors would have completed the hard work of harvest and are now looking forward to a rest (even if it is a bit chilly without central heating), we are hopefully going to be taking advantage of the 24 hour world, and using autumn and winter not as a time of resting, but of 'much decorating'!!

No more milk crates!

2010-09-17T11:36:00.000+01:00

For many, many months now, the only way to get into the sunroom from the outside was to negotiate either a ridiculously narrow and precariously perched plank or two wobbly milk crates! That's all changing now, as we are finally having the steps built.
A day off work to do some exterior painting has been ruined by rain in the night, so I accompanied hubby to the cottage this morning to meet the building supplies company to unload yet more battening for the walls. I hadn't seen the steps up till now, and I'm so pleased with the way they will look.

Paul the builder is coming back to lay the rest of the slabs on Sunday, then they will be finished. I can start clearing this part of the garden when he's finished, as that is the last bit of external building work to be completed.

It was one of those deliciously bright and clear September mornings which really bring a smile to your face. Even the house looked happy, despite its semi-complete state.

The garden is winding down. Many of the plants look tired...

whilst others are bursting with berries.

Despite being a bit of a monster, the staghorn's canopy always reminds me of a tropical tree.

I took a last snap of the cottage as we drove off.

And chuckled at Frankie gazing at his reflection in the wing mirror. What a poser!

Neither time or inclination

2010-09-13T19:30:00.000+01:00

Has anyone else found that your inclination to blog has peaks and troughs?

Over the past couple of weeks my poor blog has been neglected whilst I get on with other things. I've not felt the inclination to post, or when I have started write, there is no flow or enthusiasm, and so the draft posts have ended up being deleted without ever seeing the light of day.

I have managed to find enthusiasm for something else though - the 'Great Declutter Project'.
The living room was my first victim, but the project is gaining momentum.

We had a couple come to look at the house yesterday, and the length of time it took me to get it ready for our prospective buyers (who turned out to be a waste of time) made it painfully apparent, once again, that:
a) we have too much stuff, b) I'm disorganised and c)our dogs are too hairy.

Where on earth do you start...??

2010-08-22T14:50:00.000+01:00

The house is coming along nicely - at the moment the rooms are being battened ready for insulation and plasterboard, and the log burner is in situ (no pics of that yet, due to materials in front of it).

Meanwhile, the garden has been left to its own devices...
This is not a problem in the front garden or where the pond is. They're looking a little tatty round the edges, but otherwise OK. The problem areas are where the waste wood and rubble from the building work remain, and the ground is bare earth.
I haven't been at the cottage apart from flying visits recently, and I was horrified to see the extent of the bindweed's progress. I've never seen so much! On the plus side, it's starting to hide the rubble, but that's not much of an up-side is it?

It's not only the bindweed which has gone mad in all the rain we've had, so have all the other weeds!

The little Fatsia Japonica I transplanted is in danger of being engulfed by weeds, but as you can see, the building work hasn't finished. A large step is to be built round the corner, so until that's done, I really am very limited in the progress I can make, as plants are likely to get damaged, crushed or buried!

I scattered some poppy seeds in late spring. Most of them got trodden into the mud or underneath wheelbarrow loads of crusher run, but there are a couple of survivors (Californian Poppies) whose seeds have drifted off the main area of activity.

So, on the one hand I'm glad I didn't get stuck into the garden from the outset, because it would have got ruined during the building work anyway, but on the other, I'm quaking in my boots about tackling all of those weeds, not to mention shifting the rubble!

Yesterday, hubby asked me what I wanted for my birthday (obviously I answered that question before I saw the weeds today). I replied that I would like to have some money to spend on plants. That would be a great present! A guilt-free splurge in the garden centre (whether local or online).

So far, I have only bought one plant for the cottage. I wouldn't say I'm not a fan of dahlias, but I've never really paid them much attention until I saw this one in B&Q last week. I didn't buy it at the time, but wished I had, so went back and got one yesterday.

The foliage is grey-green and the flower is a dusky pink. It's called 'Happy Single Wink'. It's in a pot at the moment before I bring it inside over the winter. Hopefully by Spring I will be winning in the garden, and I'll be able to plant it!

The area I'm planning to start on is at the back of the house. A smallish area, which, apart from the early morning, spends most of the day in shade. This is one of the least overrun parts of the garden, probably due to the shade, so I'll start here. I need a 'quick win' to motivate me to tackle the rest I think!

This is the view looking towards the garage (the door you can see is the back door of the garage). I think the sword-shaped leaves you can see here are some sort of day lily.

Looking forward, the wall divides the shady area from the weedfest beyond...

I've spent around three-quarters an hour wandering around and measuring up the garden today.

It's been warm and sunny, so I sat amongst the weeds on some of the spare damproofing membrane whilst I wrote down the measurements...

Have you ever had the feeling that you are not alone...?

All around me I could hear rustling noises, and weeds seemed to be moving in more than just the breeze. Out of the corner of my eye I could see tiny movements. A soft slap announced the arrival of a tiny frog on the membrane. Once it realised I was sitting there it didn't hang around long. I began to look around, and pretty soon was seeing signs of activity all over the garden. There were lots of tiny froglets, each no bigger than a thumbnail. At least someone appreciates the weeds and lack of human activity!

Due to their state of high panic and minuscule size, they were hard to photograph. I did find one minibeast who decided to stay still and pretend to be invisible, rather than hopping off though. This one is probably not even two centimetres long.

The mystery of the 'other' tadpoles was not solved as they all upped and left whilst we weren't there. I'm pretty sure it was toadspawn, though I will keep you updated if I find any in the garden. All of the mini amphibians I saw today were frogs. Perhaps the toads are a little more subtle and a little less prone to panic...?

Rainbows and castles

2010-08-20T18:41:00.000+01:00

I suppose if you have enough rain, you eventually find a rainbow!
I would be lying if I said the past six weeks have been easy for us in terms of renovation budgets, with many sleepless nights, tossing and turning and dreaming of pound signs (or lack of)!

Still, if you try to make things happen and move forward, then (hopefully!) eventually they come good.
Today it has been extremely humid (23 degrees Celsius - hottest it's been for weeks here in North Wales) and very, very wet!
I set off down to the marsh with Frankie this afternoon. Down the green lane...

And soon enough, it began to rain. One of those warm, drizzly showers that never seem heavy, but still soak you through.

We carried on...

Following the lanes at the side of the estuary, and crossing the railway bridge...

And finally down towards the sea.

This is a little way further along than where I usually walk, because I wanted to show you the castle.

Due to the drizzle, there wasn't a person in sight, and I had the path at the front of the estuary to myself.

All of a sudden the brightest rainbow appeared. My pictures don't do it the slightest bit of justice, it was one of the most fantastic rainbows I have ever seen, brightening up the day and reminding me that there has to be rain to have a rainbow! (cheesy I know!!)

My camera couldn't capture it all, but I have done my best. You'll have to imagine the huge open skies above and to the sides I'm afraid!

I don't know if you can quite see in the picture below, but there was a very faint double rainbow too.

As quickly as it arrived, it faded.

Leaving behind one very happy human and a tired Jack Russell.

The Peacocks

2010-08-19T19:02:00.000+01:00

Sorry to anyone who was looking for the original peacock post - it seems to have disappeared!?

I did intend to tell you about my ornamental peacocks. We don't have a large enough garden for real ones obviously, which is a shame because I absolutely love their cries.

I got these from Crocus in their sale a good many years ago, and I absolutely love them!

They are looking a little worn round the edges now (birds love them for nestmaking), but I can't find any more to replace them with, so I'll continue to try to repair them. They overwinter in the shed so that they miss the very worst of the rain and snow that winter offers, though this rainy summer has taken its toll too!! They used to be brown, but are now looking a little grey!

And yes, I know the grass is far too long, but it always seems to start raining at about 4pm here, round about an hour before I'm heading home from work!

If anyone from Crocus reads this - please sell them again, they're gorgeous!!

Fools sing life in an empty song...

2010-08-06T21:06:00.000+01:00

I'm way behind the times with this book review, it was written in 1995! I chanced upon it in a blog post over at pebbledash. The copy I reserved finally arrived at my local library just yesterday morning.

Yesterday afternoon we were collecting some things that we'd bought for the house on eBay, so some travel was in order. I picked the book up before we set off, and read it through in the hours we were on the road. I showed hubby Howard Sooley's wonderful pictures as he drove, and we talked about Derek Jarman, his life, his choices and his death.

I think this is a book which will stay with me for a long time. Derek's beautiful Prospect Cottage in Dungeness, his garden, his passion, his imagination...

Lizards you are bent not straight.
Lizzy the lezzy
is quite the best,
she's made the mat
a little nest,
she's the sleekest lizard
of the lot,
curled in the sun
like a sleepy pussy
all yellow and green
she's the best HB's seen

Derek doesn't play with words too much in any of his poems, they are both thoughtful and very direct (a lot like his films from the Google research I have done on his life!)

His descriptions of the landscape and his garden in the book though, appear to me to be more considered and romantic.

"The old lighthouse for tourists who cross the marsh on the Dungeness light railway has an extraordinary room of glass prisms - an Aladdin's cave. From the top you can see that the Ness is made of waves of shingle fanning out to sea."

Our eBay purchase was in Morecambe, and I must admit I did have a sit down on the front of the bay, picked up a few pebbles for my garden and thought about how wonderful Derek Jarman made his shingle garden in the shadow of Dungeness Power Station look...

"Dungeness is a magical location. When you visit, tread softly, for many choose to live here for the solitude and silence that once attracted Derek, and now holds me.

Keith Collins (HB)

A poet and a wonderful friend

2010-08-06T14:47:00.000+01:00

A little bit of a break from the norm today ... my first ever blog interview with a poet!

I've followed Kat Mortensen's poetry blogs for quite a while now, and we've become good friends, speaking on a regular basis on the phone (ok, well maybe having a gossip and a giggle on the phone is more accurate).
If you'd like to read Kat's poems, you can browse at leisure at her Invisible Keepsakes blog here, or even better, buy her book at the Shadowstalking site here.

Just recently, Kat has published her first volume of poetry 'Shadowstalking', and I greatly admire her tenacity and determination in making this happen!

Kat is an extremely intelligent and very entertaining lady, so when she said I could come up with some interview questions for her I was a little phased! I love reading poetry, but I know nothing about the structure and inspiration for it - I only know what I like to read.
What on earth would I ask?
I decided to ask her some questions which weren't about poetry at all. I like to find out about the person too!!

Here goes!

If you could visit anywhere in the world that you've never been but wish you could, where would it be?

"I would love to go on a Scandinavian/Russian cruise and visit St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo. I think the natural beauty and the history that permeates this region, is incomparable. I'm not much of a tropical-cruise person, but anywhere that has cultural offerings and fine food, I'm there! I would love to see the Norwegian Fjords or the volcanoes of Iceland.

On the other hand, I've never been to Italy and the coastal towns really appeal to me. I'm a big fan of pasta and I'm sure I'd be in heaven in a place like Ischia Ponte, where one of my favourite films, "The Talented Mr. Ripley" was filmed."

If you were stranded on a desert island, which three people would you choose to be there with, and why?

"Can I say my husband? I can't imagine being anywhere in the world that I would not want to have him by my side. I guess he doesn't count in this instance though. If you mean someone from history, or someone famous, first of all, I've never been someone who has been "star-struck". Yes, I did have my teen crushes on Shaun Cassidy and Leif Garrett and Peter Frampton, but if they'd been in town, I would NOT have gone out of my way to meet them. I prefer to admire from a distance and as an adult, I recognize that we're all just people anyway.

I think I'd want someone around me who was both entertaining and intelligent. So, leaving out my husband for the time-being, I'd have to say I would enjoy having the fictional character of Hercule Poirot (as played by David Suchet, who is a very nice man, it seems, so if the character is unavailable, the actor will suffice, Canadian author Peter Robinson of the Inspector Banks mysteries, and singer Kate Bush. I think we'd be muddling through, trying to survive, but with Poirot's brain cells, Peter Robinson's imagination and Kate Bush's lovely voice and personality, I think I'd be pretty content. And you probably thought I was going to go all literary, didn't you?"

What's the most useful thing you've ever learned?

"That's easy! It has got to be how to navigate the internet and manipulate the technology to best present my blogs. I have learned so much in the last three years from simple trial and error, but I have a keen mind that likes to absorb new things and so I am fascinated by the challenges that the internet has to offer. I still learn something new about technology almost every day and I have yet to experience even an ounce of boredom in the pursuit of that knowledge. My only issue is that sometimes there are frustrations along the path to success with technology. I get anxious when I can't make things work, but I am not one to give up and will often drive myself mental in the effort to see things to fruition."

More floors and fireplaces

2010-08-04T20:05:00.000+01:00

Hurrah! We finally have continuous floors upstairs, with no gaping holes or minor gaps - all solid, no need to tread carefully or jump over large gaps. Another health and safety disaster averted!

The floor in the second front bedroom was the last to be completed. Hubby finished this off yesterday.

We've moved on to the fireplace in the dining room. It had been mostly filled in. Originally it was pretty large, as we found when we knocked it back to how it would have been, and I guess this might have been used as a space for cooking as well as heating.

We have a tiny woodburner for this room, and it looked dwarfed by the space. The brickwork was in poor condition too, so we chose to have a further course of bricks built around the originals.

This afternoon we have been cleaning some of the quarry tiles we lifted from the living and dining rooms to use as a hearth. Here's what it looks like now...

Paul the builder will be completing the fireplace and mortaring the quarry tiles in this weekend.

It took us ages to clean just these few quarry tiles using brick acid, wire wool and elbow grease. I really do hope there is a better way of removing the thick, tarry floor tile adhesive that they were coated with, as I have a whole patio's worth to clean! They look so lovely when cleaned up that I can't possibly not use them. If anyone has found a way to successfully remove floor tile adhesive please do share!!

Floors instead of holes

2010-07-28T21:46:00.000+01:00

At last we can walk into what will be the bathroom without fear of falling straight into what will be the kitchen!

Lots of these little beauties arrived last week

Oak floorboards...the price neatly negotiated and trimmed down by hubby.
He has been laying them for three days, and is making great progress so far. The wood is beautiful, and will remain as natural as possible.

We were laying out the bathroom this evening. Simply planning where the actual fittings will go is so encouraging when just a couple of weeks ago, we weren't able to walk too far into the room. It really makes us remember how far we have come, and hopefully how quickly we are heading toward the end result.

And in the room that will be our bedroom, the new floorboards really make the fireplace look beautiful. We will put in a hearth to cover the concrete base that is there currently. I would love to keep the exposed brick chimney breast. Sadly, it is pretty damaged (you can't see this from the picture) and has been channelled round the side at some point and then filled with mortar. I still think it's beautiful though, and will be very sad to see it disappear behind boring old plasterboard.

Two big 'thank yous' are in order this week - firstly to our neighbour Keith, for all the work on the electrical wiring, and secondly to my 'other half', who has worked more hours over the past year than anyone really should want to, often on heavy, dirty house projects after coming home from a full-time job!

The Winter Hare - a hare lover's paradise...

2010-07-22T19:38:00.001+01:00

"I first met the Winter Hare as an orphaned day old leveret, when he arrived on our kitchen floor one Sunday breakfast time."

I first came across the art of Andrew Haslen though the Woodland Trust's e-cards, but I didn't know until this week that he had written a book. It was released in June of this year.

This book was described by an Amazon reviewer as a 'coffee table' book. I've never thought that was a particularly flattering term (generally just means 'big and glossy'), but this is one book I definitely will be keeping in the living room, and if we had a coffee table, it would certainly be right there on it.

It's a beautiful story, memories and a collection of pictures. I know that my photographs won't do it justice here, as it really is a breathtaking book that you need to hold in your hands and turn the pages to appreciate fully!

The book follows the progress of orphaned leverets (in part due to the author's well-meaning dog). From their infancy to their release, their progress is charted in a mixture of words, sketches, linocuts, watercolours and oils.

In size, it lives up to the 'coffee table' ideal, at 30cm tall and almost the same wide, but it showcases the paintings perfectly...

This is my favourite...

I also loved the glimpse of how an artist works.

"The ideas for my linocuts can come from a finished painting or can often come from a few scribbles..."

It's not all hares, there are so many birds, native mammals and of course the author's dogs too.

And this wily foxy face.

Here I have shown such a tiny portion of the wonderful pictures in the book. It's full of so many beautiful images of the British countryside, sketches, thoughts and reminisces.

Andrew runs The Wildlife Art Gallery in Lavenham, Suffolk, and you can view his beautiful works, and those of many other artists and sculptors on the website. If any of you have ever been, please do tell me about your visit!

"In all the time that I observed the three hares not once did I catch them sleeping."

Radiators and animal friends

2010-07-21T19:41:00.000+01:00

Ok, so we have taken delivery of our new radiators.They are cast, like the traditional ones, but a great deal more energy efficient, and we've bought some thermostatic valves which are really beautiful, with a wooden wheel to set the temperature (unfortunately I forgot to take a picture this time!). We were going to deliver the radiators elsewhere to have them sprayed white, but they weigh a ton!!! We're doing them literally 'in house' now.

Of course, I have the lowest boredom threshold ever, so I really hope we are spray painting these somehow. How come primer isn't a nice colour, like white or cream???

Frankie paid a visit to the house now that the floors are down, and took an instant liking to the french windows in the kitchen, giving a pleasingly broad view over his garden (aka domain or kingdom).

I can see these quite quickly getting covered in 'nose marks' when we move in.

"Who, me???"

Yes, I'm talking about you, and your extremely wet nose!

"How could you think such a terrible thing? Butter wouldn't melt..."

Back in North Wales, other better behaved wildlife include a recent resident squirrel.

And Bill, the most sociable frog in the world, who always comes to sit by the chairs when I read on the patio. I don't know what became of Ben, but he may be there somewhere.

Last week he got 'Cutting For Stone' by Abraham Verghese on his reading list and before that 'All the Way Home' by Bookey Peek, this week we're on to 'The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane'.

I'm not sure on frog book club choices, but he certainly seems to enjoy my selection. Hope he can keep up!

Swifts sleep in heaven

2010-07-10T13:09:00.000+01:00

This is a phrase that Lesley over at Printed Material featured in one of her blog posts on swallows and swifts. It has stuck in my head ever since, as I thought it was such a lovely way to describe the swift's rather less than peaceful sleeping habits!
This weekend hubby is laid up and under the weather, and I've been at a loose end. So, this afternoon I decided to have a go at trying out some calligraphy on my PC, rather than by hand. A quick search on Google revealed a horde of calligraphy fonts that can be downloaded absolutely free of charge for personal use. The best site I have found so far is Fontspace. There are so many lovely styles to choose from! I downloaded just five, but I'm sure I'll be back for a return visit...
This only took about 15 minutes to do.

For me, it doesn't have the satisfaction of writing, decorating and embellishing by hand, but it is certainly a great way of trying out ideas and layouts, which can be rehashed and rejigged very quickly. I'm sure if you have a more sophisticated software package like Photoshop, you could have a lot of fun!

Frogs, dogs, toads and ferns???

2010-07-04T08:15:00.000+01:00

I'm a bit puzzled by the tadpoles in my pond. I have been for a few weeks now, as there are two decidedly different types in there. At first I thought some of the tadpoles were just larger because the spawn had been laid at different times, but now the difference has become even more obvious.
Due to the reflections of the tree over the pond, I hadn't been able to get a clear picture, but I managed to get this one yesterday. It's still not particularly clear, but you can see the two different tadpoles together.

I noticed that the smaller tadpoles were developing legs much more quickly, but that some of the tadpoles, rather than developing legs, were simply growing much bigger by comparison. Now, the small tadpoles are really looking more like tiny frogs, whilst the larger ones still have very small back legs and nothing to speak of at the front. Could they be toads? If they are, I think it must be a Cheshire toad, as I certainly don't remember any of the spawn that I transferred from my defunct pond being in strings.

The pond has really come to life just over the past week. The waterlily had just a couple of buds visible last weekend, but now the flowers are out - 6 flowers and 5 more buds. It has come into its own since it was moved to this pond, it has much more room to stretch its roots.

Perhaps, when the tadpoles grow up, I will be able to have some hostas and lupins around the garden without them being decimated by slugs. Next spring, I can't wait to really get stuck into planting up this garden!

Reason for Hope

2010-06-30T18:50:00.000+01:00

"Words can enhance experience, but they can also take so much away. We see an insect and at once we abstract certain characteristics and classify it - a fly. And in that very cognitive exercise, part of the wonder is gone. Once we have labelled things around us we do not bother to look at them so carefully.

Words are part of our rational selves, and to abandon them for a while is to give freer reign to our intuitive selves."

Jane Goodall

Every so often, you read a book which really means something to you, something which provides you with genuine inspiration. I don't mean of the renovating or decorating variety this time either!

I've recently finished reading Jane Goodall's autobiography (of her life so far). From her early childhood in the war years of England, her first trip to Africa, her studies of the chimpanzees of Gombe, through to her campaigns for environmental and animal welfare issues. Jane Goodall really is an inspirational lady.
This book encompasses Jane's spiritual hopes and beliefs too, and ponders our existence and hope for the future. I loved reading it so much, not just to find out about her amazing studies into chimpanzee life, but also of her work to raise awareness of the environmental issues we all face, and of her hope that compassion and kindness to our planet will prevail.

I really can't recommend this book highly enough... it's just wonderful, I'm only sorry that I have to take it back to the library.

Jane shares alot of herself in this book, through personal thoughts, feelings and poems. This is one of my favourites...

The Old Wisdom
When the night wind makes the pine trees creak
And the pale clouds glide across the dark sky,
Go out, my child, go out and seek
Your soul: the Eternal I.

For all the grasses rustling at your feet
And every flaming star that glitters high
Above you, close up and meet
In you: the Eternal I.

Yes, my child, go out into the world; walk slow
And silent, comprehending all, and by and by
Your soul, the Universe, will know
Itself: the Eternal I.

Jane and Rusty 'The Inseparables'

Proper floors

2010-06-29T19:09:00.000+01:00

I've been away! Apologies to Poetitkat for missing our 80s day due to being ill.
Through a mixture of computer problems, floor problems and a stomach bug I actually had to look back on my blog before writing this to see where I was last up to.

Over at the house, our progress with the floors went from bad to worse, and eventually you realise that it's best to leave some jobs to the professionals! Three failed attempts at levelling later, and we were ready to throw in the towel. Our builder sorted it out in just a day... how embarrassing!

Anyway, the insulation was laid....

The damp-proof membrane went down... and I remembered how much I hate sewing. Why doesn't anything of a fabric nature do what I want it to? How do you gather a piece of plastic to fit neatly round corners??? I'm now seriously rethinking my idea of making my own blinds and curtains.
I've chosen a neat bit to show you here, this is under the stairs.

And finally, the concrete on top. Nothing is standing still at the house at the moment, there are already some pieces of wood on top of the finished concrete from the grooves cut for the copper plumbing pipework.

Any this is my favourite picture (unimpressive as it is in itself), because it shows the first fixes of both electrics and plumbing - water, heat and light!!!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I seem to have missed two frogs from my pond relocation. They jump out of my flowerpots every time I water them (which is every evening at the moment). I have lots of pots, and they seem to be in a different one every time, so I never know where they are going to leap out from. One even joined me whilst I sat on the grass afterwards.

Of course, I have called them Bill and Ben, the Flowerpot Frogs.

Happy wanderers

2010-06-07T19:18:00.000+01:00

How on earth do you follow a post on the wonderful Jasmine??? Going back to renovations is looking rather dull and uninspiring in comparison!

I had a comment on the Jasmine post from ShySongbird that really struck a chord. She had been banned by her parents from watching a particular children's programme because it made her cry. This took me straight back to my childhood in the early 80s, when The Littlest Hobo was on TV. I remember crying to my mum because the dog always left at the end of each episode, and I just couldn't understand why he didn't stick around and settle down with his new friends (she assured me that he was a happy wanderer). For several years afterwards, the theme tune to this programme always made me cry.

Nowadays, everything you could possibly want to watch or listen to is on YouTube, so I thought I would look up The Littlest Hobo, and there he was waiting for me, theme tune and all! Imagine my horror when the familiar tears welled up. 36 years old, and still crying at the Littlest Hobo!

In my defence, the past week has not been the best; the oil spill in the US has been really bothering me, Rachel lost Scooter, I found out yesterday that someone has deliberately killed one of the swans on our local pond, the saplings planted by the council round the pond recently have been ripped up and thrown into the water, though on the positive side, work is supposed to be starting on revitalising the pond this week.

To finish on a brighter note, yesterday saw a big weight lifted off our mind - the roof is finished, the house is finally waterproof and Rachel found Scooter!
And I found a Littlest Hobo t-shirt...

(I know, it's very tacky, but I've just got to have a reminder of my favourite TV dog from all of those years ago, and it'll look great with jeans.)

A story to make your heart sing!

2010-06-03T18:42:00.000+01:00

When all the news in the papers is bad, sometimes you just need a bit of cheering up.

Luckily, this heart-warming tale was waiting for me when I opened my inbox this morning, courtesy of The Kind Life.

Digging a little deeper into this tale, it was originally reported in the Daily Mail in December 2008. If you haven't seen it before (I hadn't), it's a wonderful story...

"In 2003, police in Warwickshire, England, opened a garden shed and found a whimpering, cowering dog. The dog had been locked in the shed and abandoned. It was dirty and malnourished, and had quite clearly been abused. In an act of kindness, the police took the dog, which was a female greyhound, to the Nuneaton Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary, which is run by a man named Geoff Grewcock, and known as a haven for animals abandoned, orphaned, or otherwise in need.  

Geoff and the other sanctuary staff went to work with two aims: to restore the dog to full health, and to win her trust. It took several weeks, but eventually both goals were achieved. They named her Jasmine, and they started to think about finding her an adoptive home.
Jasmine, however, had other ideas. No one quite remembers how it came about, but Jasmine started welcoming all animal arrivals at the sanctuary. It would not matter if it were a puppy, a fox cub, a rabbit or any other lost or hurting animal. Jasmine would just peer into the box or cage and, when and where possible, deliver a welcoming lick.   

Geoff relates one of the early incidents, "We had two puppies that had been abandoned by a nearby railway line. One was a Lakeland Terrier cross and another was a Jack Russell Doberman cross. They were tiny when they arrived at the centre, and Jasmine approached them and grabbed one by the scruff of the neck in her mouth and put him on the settee. Then she fetched the other one and sat down with them, cuddling them."

"But she is like that with all of our animals, even the rabbits. She takes all the stress out of them, and it helps them to not only feel close to her, but to settle into their new surroundings.. She has done the same with the fox and badger cubs, she licks the rabbits and guinea pigs, and even lets the birds perch on the bridge of her nose."
Jasmine, the timid, abused, deserted waif, became the animal sanctuary's resident surrogate mother, a role for which she might have been born. The list of orphaned and abandoned youngsters she has cared for comprises five fox cubs, four badger cubs, fifteen chicks, eight guinea pigs, two stray puppies and fifteen rabbits - and one roe deer fawn. Tiny Bramble, eleven weeks old, was found semi-conscious in a field. Upon arrival at the sanctuary, Jasmine cuddled up to her to keep her warm, and then went into the full foster-mum role.

Jasmine the greyhound showers Bramble the roe deer with affection, and makes sure nothing is matted. "They are inseparable," says Geoff. "Bramble walks between her legs, and they keep kissing each other. They walk together round the sanctuary. It's a real treat to see them."  

Jasmine will continue to care for Bramble until she is old enough to be returned to woodland life. When that happens, Jasmine will not be lonely. She will be too busy showering love and affection on the next orphan or victim of abuse."

Floyd on Floyd

2010-06-01T19:30:00.001+01:00

"We set sail. My friends returned soon enough, but I stayed away, exploring the Mediterranean for some eighteen months. I was completely foolhardy, didn't have enough money to go sailing, and hadn't thought about the future at all.

Perhaps I'll come back to that period, but for now just imagine that you have been with me on Flirty, along the way getting into scrapes, cooking, sailing, making friends, drinking, smoking and meeting women."

I have been reading Stirred But Not Shaken, the autobiography of Keith Floyd over the past week. And what a great read it has been. Keith Floyd has always been my favourite TV chef, I enjoyed watching his programmes, particularly Far Flung Floyd, and love it if I find they are being repeated so that I can watch them again.

Keith Floyd lived a spectacularly colourful life. His childhood as part of a hardworking family are fondly remembered and beautifully described. Once school was over (too soon for Floydy's liking), he spent stints as a journalist and a brief spell in the Army before drifting into the kitchen, and of course, he excelled.

He made and lost fortunes as many times as he was married. He got into all manner of scrapes and difficulties, both personal and financial. I can't work out if he was too trusting of people, extremely naive, or just not interested in the more banal aspects of life (like reading contracts). He is regretful of his relationship break-ups, and yet appears not to have learned from his mistakes.

One thing Keith Floyd certainly did not seem to find during his life was a sense of peace, there always seems to have been a niggling restlessness or dissatisfaction. As his health deteriorates and his TV career slows, the tone becomes more thoughtful. Keith describes his life as 'catastrophic'.

This book made me laugh out loud in places, and appreciate Keith Floyd for who he was, faults and all. Well worth a read.

Are you just reading books by dead people?

2010-05-31T19:37:00.000+01:00

The title is a comment from husband yesterday evening. Obviously not intentionally, but it does seem that the words I am reading this week are by people that are, ahem, no longer with us.

The first is not only by someone who is no longer with us, but was also a pop star... quite a big one in the UK.
Stephen Gately was a member of Boyzone. The band split up and he pursued a solo career in music and theatre. Actually, I wasn't really into Boyzone, and it was only curiosity and the rave reviews on Amazon that led me to reserve this book from my local library (coupled with the necessary degree of evening escapism required after digging out all of the floors.) It's a childrens book, but so were the Harry Potter novels, so I wasn't too put off by that.

The writing is not quite up to JK Rowling's benchmark, and it leaves you to fill in the detail with your own imagination (no problem!) as the story itself is full of room for the imagination to build up the picture of the tale as it progresses. The book is set around a magic tree within an ancient forest - the forest is under threat by a power hungry sylph from one of the four kingdoms. The four kingdoms are, of course, the four seasons. I won't spoil the book by saying too much about it here in case anyone wants to read it themselves, or thinks their kids might enjoy it, but of course, the stars are three children, who take on the evil forces and their worst fears.

A strong environmental theme is carried throughout the book, along with the interconnectedness of everything.

I didn't really expect to enjoy this book as much as I did, especially after the first few pages, but it gradually developed and kept me so hooked I read it in two days.

My next book provides an almost unbelievable, impulsive and flamboyant tour of life, love and food by my favourite chef. I'll share the book tomorrow... in the meantime, a rather brief poetic synopsis by one of his friends.

I woke up this morning
Ol' Floyd is back in town
I was getting drunk by lunchtime
Unconscious by sundown

He's a wizard in the kitchen
And a wizard in the bar
He can make a bottle disappear
Just like a superstar...

I've got the Keith Floyd Blues
My liver just ain't working anymore
It's gonna take a hundred doctors
To get me back the way I was before...

A tiled floor

2010-05-30T10:06:00.000+01:00

Finally I have something nice to show you at the cottage, rather than piles of rubble!
Last summer, we put a small porch over the front door. It's more for decoration really, it's not really wide enough to protect you from anything other than a shower. It adds a bit of detail to the front of the house, as we were worried about it looking a bit dull.

Up until this week the floor of the porch has just been concrete. About a month ago we ordered some tiles for it. We tried to get some original Victorian floor tiles, but they were hugely expensive. There were some on eBay, but again, these were not cheap, and we could only find listings for quite large areas of floor. Since we had such a tiny space to cover we didn't want to pay hundreds of pounds to use only a small amount and then be stuck with oodles of tiles.

We bought some reproduction tiles in the end, though the quarry tiles around the edge are from the cottage, and have been recycled for a new purpose. They used to be on the windowsills.

We're really pleased with the end result! Since the tiles are so small and the pattern so detailed, hubby didn't fancy laying these himself. It's been done by a professional, and the work is perfect.

It's great to see even just these little bits getting completed, it keeps us motivated in the face of all that rubble!

Yes, there was life before the computer

2010-05-27T19:32:00.001+01:00

I've noticed whilst browsing blogs, that lots of us are feeling that we spend just a little too much time on the computer. I spend the best part of my day in work staring at one, and when there is a power cut I have approximately 30 minutes of work I can do which doesn't involve it, and then I'm twiddling my thumbs.

This got me to thinking about pre-computer life - carbon paper, tippexed (or correction fluid) documents... and then I remembered something I hadn't shared with you about the cottage.

When we first bought the cottage, our solicitors told us they had some documents referring to it which had been sent by the vendor's solicitors. Not expecting anything exciting, we were surprised when a huge envelope of almost A3 size turned up.

Here's what was inside, the old conveyancing papers for our house. The first dated 1879, through to the early 80s (same flourish at the top, but with typewritten text below, and no mistakes).

There was a lot of life before the computer!

The first is a document in which a mother bequeaths the property to her son. Her signature? Simply an X.

Some wonderful flourishes, courtesy of a stamp provided by a law stationers in London

Or handwritten ... I'm extremely envious of this person's handwriting skills!

The fee was shown on a little stamp at the side of the document.

And every detail of why, when and where is laid out in the most beautiful handwriting. They must have taken hours to prepare!

Then I looked at the documents we received when we bought it. They are standardised, so probably took about 10 minutes to prepare, so how come we're all so busy?

I guess the people who created these were given far more time than we are nowadays. Look at how many houses there are now compared to 1879!
Everything has speeded up and multiplied, more and more of everything, in less and less time...

Halfway there with the floors

2010-05-25T17:57:00.001+01:00

I can hardly believe how much time has gone since I last posted here!
Well, it’s been the hottest weekend I can remember for a long time, and much of it was spent taking the crush and run we’d ordered off the driveway and into the house, so that we can start to get the new floors laid downstairs.

The weekend before last was spent moving the broken up concrete out and loading it onto a trailer, then using the remaining broken bricks which had been underneath as a base for the crusher run, or is it crush and run? Seems to be an interchangeable term. Anyway, this is a mix of mainly small gravel and powder, which compacts down to give a firm base for the concrete to be poured on top of.

Here are the floors with the brick rubble on them...

And here with the compacted crusher run on top...

After hours of work manually shovelling this stuff into wheelbarrows, you can’t imagine how glad I’ll be to see solid concrete floors downstairs.

We also managed to get the second step out of the kitchen floor – it has a very faint inscription on, which you can still make out.

We've decided to use this as a step under the French windows in the kitchen. It was a huge effort to get it out of the house, as it must weigh about a third of a tonne. We tried getting it onto the wheelbarrow, but it was way too heavy to lower down onto it. Hubby then ‘walked’ it over to the doors and onto a ramp made of two wooden planks. All was going well until he started manoeuvring it down the ramp into the garden. I was steadying the wooden ramp when the step lurched sideways down towards my head. I put my arm up to protect my head, and the step hit it before hubby was able to stabilise it again.
Result? One very sore and bruised arm. It was very lucky that he managed to keep hold of it and pull it away from me, as if it had come down and hit me on the head, I very much doubt I’d be here talking to you today!

Anyway, it’s out in the garden ready to be moved into position when we are up to the task of moving it again. At least it only needs to move a couple of feet on flat ground this time.

So progress is being slowly made, and that’s the last of the heavy work done (for me anyway!). It's nice to open the front door and for there just be a couple of inches below floor level, rather than over 12 inches of void until your feet reach bare earth.