sunshine hearts from nature (with help from Youngest)

A late posting today, still taking it easy after yesterday.

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Last summer during a wonderful warm spell in Northumberland we were pottering around the camp site getting ready for a picnic when I noticed that Youngest wasn't anywhere to be seen. I wasn't worried, but I did wonder where he was. I walked around the caravan and saw this......

He had quietly picked some daisy flower heads and made this....

Look, he said, I made you a heart

aww thank you!

My knee does still hurt but it is a different hurt |:) and I'm sure it won't be long when I can get out and about and I am so-oo looking forward to summer!

Thank you everyone who wished me well, and Ju24 - your sister was right! 

July - in a montage (or 2 or 3!)

I've been gardening today and apart from feeling absolutely shattered I am happy happy happy (can you tell?!!). 

Years ago, Himself and I were watching some  mindless American sitcom (the name and story line have deservedly faded into history) but we do  remember one sentence the main protagonist said and it was..... 

I am very tired - but it is a good tired! 

Any way, in the spirit being on hols, I shall do a July round up in a trio of montages!!

Firstly - a mix-up of garden and garden festival pictures, the garden - despite my work-induced neglect - looked good but not good enough to win anything, but the boys did well both winning a second place in their catagories. 

Our knit and natter group took over a huge area in the local church and we displayed both flowers and our work and received loads of lovely lovely comments.

We managed to squeeze in a lot of family and friends time in between work and sleep - Youngest finished junior school (a mixture of sadness and glee) and won the Technical Cup which took us all by surprise and delight!!  

Our blondies (young hens) are growing both in size and friendliness - they don't get much choice with the friendliness as they are regularly seen firmly tucked under a boy's armpit (poor chooks). 

A tree house has been built and now is the centre of many a boy-game or just gentle contemplating of life as they lie on their backs and watch the sky. 

My Dad celebrated his birthday (from last year!!) with a helicopter flight and we went along to watch and share, we also took a picnic and spent a lovely day enjoying the sunshine and family. 

Poor old giddy dog has had more than her fair share (as she thinks) of baths recently as the boys have discovered the 'delights' of washing her in the wheelbarrow.....they fill it up with tepid water and she hops in (well she is instructed to jump in and she so well trained she does, despite really really not wanting to!) then she is lathered up until she looks like a meringue, rinsed and dried and then all three of them play up and down the lane until she is dry. 

Youngest has rediscovered his camera (strangely it 'appeared' in the greenhouse....) and has been taking photos of EVERYTHING! 

Our veg garden is doing us proud, we are harvesting a goodly amount for such a small space. Yesterday I lifted all the garlic and they are now drying. 

The black kale and the Chinese mustard have been featuring heavily in our 'garden soups' and the onions are excellent and won't be long before I have to lift those too. 

Our peas, although only a few plants - gamely gave us just enough to have as mange tout initially then peas in salads latterly while the butter beans have been delish raw as well as being chucked in soups. 

The potatoes are still quietly growing and I haven't had an investigation yet but the tomatoes and courgettes in the greenhouse are the best we have had so far. We've picked tomatoes every second day and have them in lunch boxes, in salads and on picnics.  The beetroot have been a bit of an experiment - usually I plant them individually and allow to swell, but this year somebody on television (for the life of me I can't remember if it was a chef who gardened or a gardener who cooked) said to leave them in little bunches and lift a whole bunch at a time and they are sweeter and cook quicker. They do cook quicker, but they are definitely fiddly to deal with - so the jury is still out. 

Leeks are growing nicely and the rhubarb is now resting after providing it's first good crop - it is still a young plant and I didn't want to frighten it too much!

Eldest's wheel barrow entry to the garden festival is providing us with salad and herbs on a daily basis - it has been so so successful that I will encourage him to do it again as it has turned out to be so productive!

Well, that's just a little taster of our July - not a lot was done, but so much happened! 

Tomorrow is the 1st of August - can you believe it?? This year has flown by - it will be Youngest birthday at the end of the month - it doesn't seem so long ago he was just a tot :).

Tomorrow we are celebrating our day by going off to the local tea rooms for the obligatory carrot cake and tea then for a walk to return for the boys to wallow indulgently in the huge paddling pool Himself bought for them today - we may have to crack the ice of the top first and beat back a polar bear or two....!

Right I am off to bed! G'night!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

ooh it's lovely to be back :)

01.09.10 In which I discover it is - September Already!

Hello - We're back and ......

Golly-gosh, wow and similar expressions of surprise, despite knowing full well that after August comes September, suddenly here it was - S-E-P-T-E-M-B-E-R! But hey - who said it could do that so-o-o-o-o darned quickly!

Oh what a lovely weekend away we had. It was wonderful, wonderful wonderful - err did I mention how wonderful??

We went back up to Dumfriesshire and Galloway for the bank holiday weekend - wish all weekends were three days long, think I could seriously get used to that :)   Saturday was a bit damp but that didn't squash the general enthusiasm of the boys. What are puddles for except for jumping in? Why dodge rain when you can run around in it and catch it with your tongue? I am a little less 'waterproof' than they are but we still got out and about and enjoyed it.

We were not the only ones being busy in the rain - we kept finding these little locals popping about, much to the delight of the boys. How perfect is that? Look at those incredibly tiny toes.

We stopped off at a rather delightful stone circle. No tall and stately stones here, no siree but lovely dumpy pudding shaped stones nestled in a field with a herd of curious heifers and bullocks for company. An ideal stage to show my current WIP.

I started this lovely project here but sadly didn't have enough of the Zwartbless wool to complete the clapotis, so I frogged it back (frogged?? well when you pull back the wool you 'rippit rippit') and started a ripple scarf.  And as it grew, so did my delight. I just love the way the colours of the wool mirror the colours of the stones. The stitches just flew off the hook. 

I just love love love! the way the pattern creates a 'weave' that mimics the roughness of the rocks

Where ever we went, rain or sun, car or walk, bicycle or picnic, the ripple scarf came too, and I am sure the sunshine helped it grow and grow more and more gorgeous - and despite it's high wool content, it doesn't feel scratchy in the slightest.


Everywhere I looked, I could see delicious images that reminded me of the stitch and the colours of the wool

I have fallen in love 

(again - My name is Hawthorn, I am a wool-addict and no I don't need help)

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I have to say that our weekend was a tonic to us all - I mean - imagine waking up in the morning and seeing this view from your door?

How relaxing and calming is that? The hint of the warm late summer sun streaming in onto your feet as you sip the first morning coffee. Yum. That beautiful brilliant blue of the sky with hardly a cloud.

What a wonderful way to end the summer holidays.....

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ONE YEAR BLOG-IVERSARY COMING UP!

Who'da thunk it! 

I've been doing this blog for almost a year now.

 I started blogging on  the 09.09.09. 

So I am going to celebrate with a GIVE-AWAY!!

All you have to do is leave a comment between now and midnight (UK time) 9th September 2010 letting me know how long you have been dropping by and what you think and I'll pick a winner at random on Friday 10th September. 

I am busy crafting surprise gifts of felty goodness which can be used as festive tree decorations or just for fun. I will post sneaky photos-clues shortly.

I'm happy to post internationally, so any one can enter.

Sorry, no anonymous comments so please leave your name or pseudonym and don't forget to check back to see if you were selected!

28.06.10 - Weekend

Saturday -

We sit scoffing fruit salad and yoghurt in the garden as we plan what needs doing today. The boys have their garden competition entries to start and Himself is going to lay some concrete for paving slabs. And me? Well, I keep looking at my garden and the weeds keep looking back at me, they cheerfully pop up overnight from areas previously cleared - how do they do that?

Eldest scrubs out his chosen 'creative container' - an ancient old zinc bucket, gifted to me by a man in his eighties. The bucket  had previously belonged to his 102 year old mother.......

Youngest disappears into the back of the garage to retrieve the red tray he is using for his mini-garden, it also needs a bath.

There is much planting and pulling back out and re-planting and shoving back in and yanking back out of all their chosen plants - I wince at the 'hands-on' approach the boys (particularly Youngest) but stand well back as these are their entries and I am not to get involved. Finally, after much juvenile cussing and muttering under breaths, they stand back pleased with their results.

Eldest's creative container is delightfully done -  a mix of annuals and vegetables

He is relieved and proud of his work - so am I....

Youngest's mini-garden - not quite finished (art in the making) is still being constructed. He is last seen wielding the hair cutting scissors (aargh - not them!) as he creates a little hen hock for his flock of plastic chickens.

I get fed up with weeding and edging and make a start on the adult creative container 

- but this one is a secret!  

Oh - ok, just one picture as a hint............. 

might show a few more teaser pictures as the week goes on!

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We missed celebrating the solstice on the 21st, so I plan to have one tonight - in the garden. After all the collective hard work, I think that the boys (all three) and I need a treat. Himself puts the benches out as I cook all sorts of easy to eat finger food. We bring out candles to symbolise the fires as we sit and eat and watch swallows and bats and a tawny owl and watch the sun go down. 

And when, finally the candles have burned low, the sky is almost dark and the boys are tired, we wander back into the house - it has been a good day.

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Sunday - 

A wonderful walk on ancient tracks, along quietly bubbling streams. A walk under huge beech and oak trees and along old stone causeways. A walk that cleansed the soul and made us feel so very alive.

Steeply wooded valleys 

Stone steps worn by years of trudging clog-weary feet

Last remaining relics of now long gone mills just 'appear' out of nowhere.

Sunken tracks beneath beech tree woodlands.

Coming out of the darkness of the woods and into the bright warm sunshine bathing the meadows.

A quiet moment of reflection.

It is days like these, with my boys, I feel free.

23.06.10 - if the shoe fits............

Are they indicative of our lives? 

Our need to connect with the outside. 

Our need to dig and grow.

My need to dig and grow. 

They stand (usually lie) around the back door, ready for action, ready for feet.  All sizes, different colours, different needs. Steel-toe capped, protective front ridges - mine, green and muddy - boys, they wait.

Waiting for a walk on the hills, 

waiting for a quick dash to the kitchen garden, 

waiting for a play in a stream, 

waiting to check the hens and collect their eggs - ever faithful, always mucky.

Mud splatted, waterproofed, sometimes dusty but always there. We slip in and out of them as easily as we breathe. An obstacle course of boots, shoes and wellies at the back door.

Old friends.

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A glimpse into my garden

I love this time of the year, still summer, with promise of more yet to come.

17.09.09

Tiny hairs bristle.

The flowers of the borage attract bees all summer long to the small kitchen garden behind our house.