Bank Holiday weekend

Ah, bank holidays! Why can't every weekend have one? Ours has been a good mix of home and away, practical and pleasure.

It started on Friday evening with a charity belly dancing event. I wore this tunic which I found in a charity shop this week for a bargain £3! A lovely evening though maybe not what I was expecting. I definitely didn't expect to find that the only drinks were mint tea and water!

Saturday, I went to the theatre with two friends to see I capture the castle. It was a musical production and very good. Later, Chickpea and I watched the film as she'd missed the play because she was out being fitted for a bridesmaid dress. Yes she's being a bridesmaid for her best friend whose getting married in October.

Bank holidays usually mean baking and this one was no exception. One of my all-time favourite recipes, Delia's ginger cake with lemon icing. Yum! And even better the day after when the ginger has had more time to develop.

Less successful were the waffles made in my new cast iron pans. The mixture stuck and burned. Back to the drawing board and the internet to find out how to use the pans properly as the instructions on the box were clearly no help.

This seems to be one of my most common positions on bank holidays: constantly washing up! All that baking and scrubbing of burnt pans. And yes, I still use the old-fashioned method. No dishwashers here.

Water of a different kind in my latest jigsaw. Not my usual subject but I enjoyed this one with all the patterns and colours. I always have a jigsaw on the go and have already started the next one - with a picture of ice cream!

More water and the grebes are back! I was really hoping they'd return after raising two beautiful stripey babies last summer. They're much earlier this year though as it was towards the end of 30 days wild in June when the babies hatched last year. She's been on the nest a couple of weeks now so it looks like we'll be having grebelings before long. So exciting!

There are already babies on the lake though - the first ducklings of the year born earlier this week. Eight here but she only had seven yesterday. I never get tired of watching ducklings.

And so to today and a walk in the woods. Carpets of wild garlic...

...and bluebells.

And smaller patches of wood anemones. My favourite time of year to be in the woods.

Especially when being entertained by water-loving dogs bounding around and chasing sticks.

Back home, I've put up a hanging basket bracket this afternoon from which I'll be hanging bird feeders. I only had a fat ball to hand until I can get a feeder. If you look closely you might be able to see a yellow daffodil in the background. That's also a feeder but the birds have steadfastly refused to have anything to do with it. There are sparrows nesting in next door's eaves and they pop by each evening for a dust bath before bed, squabbling over the best spots. So cute!

And that was our weekend. The cherry blossom has almost blown away now but it's been absolutely glorious this spring.

Hope you had a lovely weekend too. Not long until the next one! xx

This month I've been...

Celebrating...at Mum and Dad's Golden Wedding party. This was taken before most of the guests had arrived. It was a lovely evening full of fun and laughter.

Admiring...the beautiful autumn colours. The photo of the rudbeckias was taken yesterday after a heavy shower which is why they're so wet.

Harvesting...elderberries to make elderberry gin. It should be ready just in time for Christmas cocktails :-)

Auditioning...fabrics for my latest journal quilt. I'm a tad behind as this one is for June!

Tidying...my fabric drawer after pulling out all those fabrics. So satisfying but, alas, unlikely to stay this way for long!

Starting...a new crochet blanket. The pattern is Maybelle Square by My Rose Valley. The yarn is Stylecraft Special DK.

Continuing... to crochet my other blanket. Stylecraft Special again.

Walking...in Tatton Park.

Listening...to the bellowing of a stag as he marked his territory.

 

Strolling...through the woods today and hunting for interesting fungus.

So that's been my month so far: a curious combination of lethargy and busyness. Apologies for not having been around much and for not visiting your blogs either. I'll try to do better into November. However, there's still a few days of October left and I'll be back later in the week with a Halloween treat. x

Lately I've been...

...Crocheting. I've completed the main part of the blanket and have just started work on the border. Only 3 rows to go!

...Reading. I'd seen lots of reviews of this which was being billed as the new 'Gone Girl'. I don't know about that but I did find it a good page-turner.

...Baking. I made these chocolate, cherry and almond muffins yesterday to use up those half-finished packets of ingredients which linger at the back of the cupboard. The combination of flavours was good but I wish I'd stuck to my usual base recipe (which I used to make these).

...Colouring. I've just treated myself to this colouring book and a set of pencils. So soothing.

...Admiring. This miniature narcissus, Rip Van Winkle (brilliant name!), was a gift from Secret Santa and I love it!

...Planning. Yesterday I saw a man about a new fence. The picture says it all really.

...Walking. I had a quick walk through a small wood yesterday enjoying the warm sunshine. I actually went out with no coat on! It really did feel like spring is almost here.

The woods are still very bare but there are a few signs of new growth. I'm particularly excited about the wild garlic because I can't wait to make some of my pesto again.

So that's a taste of what I've been up to. Just so you don't think I'm a complete billy no-mates, I've also met up with friends but don't have any pictures! I've also been quilting and have a couple of things to show you next time.

Today, Chickpea and I were going to go to the pictures to see Still Alice. However, it turns out that even though we have several cinemas nearby, not a single one is showing it! Very frustrating. Instead we're probably going to a garden centre. Have a lovely day wherever you are. x

Home and garden

As promised, this time I have a tour of the garden and a few other random home-related things.

My bargain chilli plant is flowering. I was worried it wouldn't fruit with (hopefully) no insects in the house to pollinate it, so I've tried hand pollinating the flowers with a small paint brush. No sign of any chillis yet though.

While I was on staycation I bought some of these strange fruit from the supermarket: they're mangosteens. Have you tried them? The nearest I can get to describing what they're like is lychees but they're fruitier and more fragrant. We really liked them but they're a bit pricey so will have to be a rare treat.

Chickpea wanted to make a cake a couple of weeks ago and chose this one from our favorite Clandestine Cake Club book: it's Blueberry, Peach and Amaretto. Absolutely delicious and the cake was lovely, light and moist - she obviously has the right touch for baking. The top is drizzled with blueberry syrup and, as there was far too much, I used it up by mixing it with plain yoghurt - mmm! I really can't recommend this book highly enough - everything we've made from it has been absolutely yummy.

Talking of blueberries, look at what we have in our garden! I'm so excited!!! It's our first ever crop as I only planted the bush last year. The gooseberry which was planted at the same time hasn't even flowered so it seems even more miraculous that our little plant has produced these perfect little berries.

Elsewhere the yellow courgette is in full flow. I grow them every year as they're so reliable and prolific. We've already harvested several and we ate more for dinner tonight.

We also ate our first crop of yellow beans tonight. There's something so satisfying in wandering into the garden to pick vegetables and minutes later they're on your plate.

The name of these is 'Dwarf Orinoco': if you're a geographer, you're probably thinking of the Orinoco river now. If you're a music fan, maybe this song by Enya. Me, I'm thinking Wombles!

The tomatoes are also doing well. This one is 'Outdoor Girl'.

And this is 'San Marzano'. My 30p bargains couldn't be doing better. I've managed to grow plenty of green tomatoes before though and they usually end up falling victim to our fickle English summers and rotting before they ripen. Fingers crossed the sunshine and warmth last long enough for me to taste at least a few of them.

My clematis have done quite well, though the light pink one has performed better than the dark pink.

On the other side of the garden, I've had plenty of flowers on this one too.

As usual I planted up troughs to put along the small wall outside the kitchen. There's a mix of petunias and pelargoniums and both have been flowering away for several weeks.

I recently treated myself to an osteospurmum and absolutely love the purple daisy flowers - so pretty.

Another purple beauty has been my orchid. This was taken a couple of weeks ago as it's finished flowering now. I think it's a common-spotted but I'm not 100% sure.

I am 100% sure this is a goldfinch. They used to be pretty uncommon around here but this year they seem to be everywhere. I've been trying unsuccessfully to get a photo of them and then, Friday morning, I opened my bedroom curtains to find this little fellow perched on the telephone wire outside my house singing his heart out. They have a lovely twittering song which you can hear on the RSPB web site here.

My yoga class has finished for the summer but we've decided to carry on meeting and to go for a walk instead. On our first walk we started off in bright sunshine but with dark glowering skies behind us. The colours were so dramatic looking back over this field - we had just walked along the path in the middle. Eventually the sky did catch us up and we all got soaked.

We were lucky not to get soaked in Manchester yesterday as it absolutely chucked it down. The Haunted Underworld tour was really good. I would have taken photos but most of it was conducted in complete darkness in musty cellars. The guide is a great story teller and made us both laugh and jump out of our skins!

Today the weather was lovely again so I went out for a quick walk. I was on a mission for a photo for the Scavenger Hunt and, although I didn't get what I wanted, I did find these:

Comma.

Hedge Brown

And lots and lots of speckled wood. I know I've shown you photos of them before but I just liked this one.

And so ends another weekend. Chickpea is impatiently waiting for me to finish to watch a dvd with her ('This means war') so I'll bid you farewell and hope you enjoy the rest of your Sunday. x

PS Don't forget, my Blogiversary giveaway is still open if you're interested. Closing date is 25 July.