birthday and a new member

On Friday Biddle had a birthday and so did I. It was a quiet birthday because I had to go to work. We had some very nice cards


and some very lovely presents John gave me these



my sister sent me these and some shortbread which we have eaten


When Elizabeth came on Sunday she brought me these and a cake




On Saturday we went to the Saltaire Arts Trail
It is a lovely event people all over the village open their houses and display work by local artists.
There was also a craft fair in Victoria hall. the standard on show was very high and I visited Swirly Arts
of course I had to buy a chicken

here she is whispering her name to Biddle. She is called Elsie. She spent her first night with Grace and some of the other chaps


I popped to the allotment everything is coming along nicely






This is how the old plot now looks

Could not leave without one picture of Tia

meet

Secret Keeper Summer from the secret keeper pattern by Magic Threads


She is going to reside in the kitchen. If you have seen pictures of my kitchen you will know why she will enjoy being there and fit right in.

Also say hello to


we finally gave up and bought a new one as we were having so much trouble with ink cartridges and other idiosyncrasies.

Tia has been up to her tricks this week. This is the wall paper by the backdoor. I keep telling her she is an indoor cat. However she keeps miaowing at the door and scratching


Needless to say it looks much worse in real life. In the evenings she loves to sit on laps but kneads at our legs so we have little holes. John turned his lap try upside down and this was the result:




Of course if we buy her a beanbag cushion of her own she will have nothing to do with it.
The hostas are really good this year. I think this is because it had been so dry and there wee no slugs or snails. so I thought I better photograph them before they were munched in this rainy spell we are having.


The winter pansies have come into their own



We have been fed up over the last week. When the bill for the allotment arrived we had been charged for the old one John left last year. So we have been uncertain about this one but hopefully it can be sorted out. We have already tasted radish and salad leaves






At the end of the week I join the ranks of those with a zero at the end of their age. I am not sure how I feel about this. Well I do, it's all very depressing. Biddle is far happier he is just thinking about the four c's: cake, chocolate, Chinese food and cricket.
I think I will join him

nothing much doing this week

no sewing no pictures and probably no allotment

produce and other things

John was thinning out rows of plants today and came home with these


we had some for tea and there some left for tomorrow.
Tia was investigating on the window sill today

This is what she found

We have a new printer



Secret keep is coming along but I am stuck I cannot decide what to trim her skirt with so here she is - half dressed and armless!

Spring is very welcome..

... but this week the air has been heavily laden with pollen from trees like this



hawthorn is not kind to me. Once the hawthorn has gone it will be privet and all through the summer cut grass. I rarely sneeze but have a sore throat, sore eyes and headaches. No one I prefer Autumn.
We finally had rain all 3mm of it spread over two evenings. The dry spell has brought birds to our garden not just for food but water too. Our male black bird treated himself to a long bath and the thrush who is usually seen on the grass beyond our wall popped in to quench his thirst.
We have had the hose-pipe out several evenings so our bushes continue to grow



Bad cat has plenty of foliage


I have been rummaging through the fabric stash and have put these together



if her face looks rather flat it is because it has not been stuffed yet. I hope to assemble her over the weekend.