wilderness

Well this is it. The allotment! Not that it looks like one at the moment. More like a piece of wasteland covered in weeds. Since we first visited other allotment owners have thrown hedge trimmings and all sorts on it. The one next door has been re fenced and we can now see the rubbish that has accumulated ( fizzy drink cans mainly) down the side. We heard from another owner that a few years ago the council bulldozed all the buildings on the section where we are and consequently somewhere under all the foliage there is a concrete greenhouse base and wall surround and more worryingly broken glass.


Are we disheartened? Probably. Are we giving up? Not at the moment. Gardener SockBunny came with us and she suggested that we think small and clear a little patch at a time. Very wise!

I thought. Biddle stayed at home and waited for the sport to begin. I'll update on our progress.

Work does not seem to be picking up, only one day last week and none this so far and so I am trying to occupy my time. . There is also an issue over the way one agency is going to pay wages which I have t get to grips with. I won't go into this anymore at the moment.

Most of my crafty activities will now involve secret Santa type things for people for Christmas so there won't be many photos of what I am up to. One is almost finished and I am very pleased and want to keep it here with me.
It's October tomorrow, where is the year going? Its still reasonably warm and we still have not had any rain we obviously had it all in July and August. It's supposed to get colder at the weekend.

Annoyingly my RSS reader is not working and so I am behind on blog reading. This means I am doing other things like (sewing, reading) face booking.

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No rain

After a summer with more rain than was wanted, September has been dry,dry,dry. We have had 5mm in 12 days. And so yesterday this happened, I think its about the second appearance of the hose this summer.


Our little bush has looked very sorry for itself with more leaves on the ground than its branches


but the nasturtiums are doing well




yesterday I saw my first ladybird in our garden. I suppose the poor weather has kept them away.







And I imagine that the lack of sun is the reason the tomatoes look like this.

I have not done much in the creating line recently, one birthday card and I have a figure that is progressing slowly.

Last week I had two days work which was nice.

Its turned dismal and cold today after nearly a week of quite nice weather but no sign of any rain

Thanks for stopping by

Is Autumn here?

We have had some surprisingly cold days here just lately. But on Monday I did manage to sit in the garden and read with my afternoon coffee. Biddle joined me.



We later joined by Moriarty and trophy mouse who are visiting from the Isle of Skye.


Here they are watching for birds.

I have finished a couple of things since the holiday




yes the knitting is a letter N and is my contribution to this
I can't think of anything better than knitting and poetry.

The voile curtains in our kitchen were brightly multicoloured and my pride and joy. The fabric was bought in a sale and although they were many years old and looking a bit faded they wee doing well, until shortly after the arrival of Tia when mysterious rips appeared. Having hidden the rips for a while I decided it was time for news ones that would remain partly open so Tia can look out the window. These I made to hang while she was away. When she came home from her holiday for a week (or so) one was tucked behind a plant and the other looped in the blind cord. You can see how unsightly


So I made these


and now the curtains look like this



The fabric was a 25p remnant that had been in my stash for many years. The old curtains are now in the stash, they are bound to come in useful soon.

I have finished a x stitch square for a swap but won't post a photo until its been sent.

I have new knitting on the go now. A Biddle style jumper for an elephant. She pinched one of Biddle's so he decided I should knit her one of his own in a girly colour.

I keep looking at fabric and patterns etc but cannot come to a decision about what to make next. Witch isn't finished but I have had no ideas on embellishments yet.

It is too early to tell yet how the supply work is going to go this term. One agency is not hopeful. Some schools have at least 4 cover supervisors. Another agency is more hopeful.

Libby is still suffering the repercussions from her swine flu, two chest infections and long term medication.

Thank you for coming to visit and for the comments.

trains and buses, feet and a boat

We are back from our adventures. The weather could've been a bit kinder but on the whole wasn't so bad.
We did our usual practice, buying a train ticket which meant we could hop on and off trains. Our first adventure took us back to Gatehouse of Fleet and we stayed for two nights at the Bobbins guest house where we stayed last year.


It was raining when arrived but we managed a short walk in the evening


Afterwards we retired to a local pub for a delicious meal and a couple of pints of the most fantastic beer.
The following day we decided we would don our wet weather gear and go on our planned walk to the sea shore. In fact the weather was lovely and the only part of us to get wet was our feet negotiating some very soggy ground


Halfway through we stopped off at the Cream o' Galloway for a well deserved cup of coffee and left with a very big ice cream each!

On our last morning we visited a small castle ruin just outside the town.

John and Biddle braved the higher levels but I declined that treat!


When we arrived back home that night it was to find that my mac was poorly and the following day was taken to the mac shop for investigations. It is only turned off rarely ( holiday time storms) and would not switch back on. It was obviously very cross at being abandoned. This sulk cost me an amount of money I could not really afford ( warranty ran out in April). My other mac was pleased to be of use though even though its slow and and an has old operating system.

We were up for an early start on the Saturday for our trip to The Lake District. We walked from Patterdale to Howtown having ridden the Kirkston Pass
once more by bus, we did in fact travel both ways up and down.

The scenery on the walk was beautiful with lovely views of Ullswater


We caught the steamer from Howtown to Glen Ridding. The weather was warm and sunny. I really do prefer the quieter areas of the Lake District to Windermere.

A day at home and the return of Tia on Sunday, then off on Monday to Arneside and a climb to the top of Arnside Knott.

The view across to Grange over Sands was great

and Biddle enjoyed a rest on a rock


The second part of our holiday included a trip to the Harris Museum in Preston ( we only usually see the station) and then on to Lytham and St Anne's. The tide was in when we arrived but by the time we had walked from Lytham to St Anne's the sea was disappearing into the distance




off came the boots and socks and we paddled


We also spent a day in Doncaster and visited a nature reserve


and Saturday saw us travelling south into the Peak District of Derbyshire for a walk around a hill







Our holiday ended with a visit to the Leeds West Indian carnival on Bank holiday Monday


We had a fun filled fortnight, walked miles, but I fear weigh more than at the beginning when we set off.

John is back at work, Biddle is looking forward to listening to sport on the radio and I am awaiting the shrill of the phone in the morning!

Thanks for stopping by