Me and Tilly Too

Wednesday, 7 March 2012

Hi everyone, hope you're all well?

It's been a strange couple of months. The Col is away for a while and Tilly and I are home alone! I don't mind my own company and can easily find things to do, so no time to get bored. But where does the time disappear to? I never have enough hours in the day to get normal stuff done, let alone any sewing or quilting. I think I'll have to put aside a day to do something I really enjoy and tell everyone I'm not available. My Mum always says that as you get older that time seems to speed up. It's happening to me!!!!

I had got a plan that while The Col is away I'd paint two bedrooms, the study and get the kitchen redone.

I've done nothing!

Absolutely nothing!

Clearly, I need to give myself a kick and get on with these things.

Trouble is, with the kitchen, I don't really know what I'd like to replace the cabinets with. Do I go for a modern, contemporary look, the cottage/farmhouse look or maybe a more plain and simple Shaker type? I have a good sink and taps which I want to reuse. My electric hob is perfectly useable and I like it. I did think about just changing the cupboard doors to save money but to be honest they've seen better days and the cupboard carcasses are more than a little tatty on the inside. A new oven is needed as only half the grill works and I'm fairly sure that the thermostat in the oven has a mind of it's own and plays tricks with me, especially when I'm baking cakes. I need to think hard about layout and what sort of cupboards I'd like. I've always fancied having a proper larder, I think that's a thing from my childhood. At the moment I have lots of little cupboards and they drive me nuts. You can never find or see anything, so definitely won't be having anything small. Of course, there's always the concern of who to do the work. I could go to Ikea, Wicks, Homebase etc. Then there's the small, local, independent company or someone who would just come and fit whatever you buy...... gosh! so much to think about. Watch this space!

On the sewing front, I did make a cosy for an iPad. It was for a good friend and she loves it. The pattern came from; actually I'm not sure where I got the pattern but suffice to say, it's not my design and I should give credit to whoever the design belongs to, if only I knew!

We had a beautiful sunset the other day.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you.

Lesley

Sunday, 19 February 2012

An Early Start

I got up early this morning to get out with Tilly and my camera.

It was beautiful, just the frost, the sunrise and the birds singing, brilliant! Oh, and quite chilly too.

Badger and deer footprints

Another badger

Not sure what made these footprints, could be a squirrel, rat, stoat or weasel. If anyone knows, please let me know. They were only about 2.5cm across and don't appear to have claws.

Have a great Sunday.

Lesley

Saturday, 4 February 2012

It's Been A While

Yes, and hasn't it been a while?

I've spent weeks wondering how on earth to start this post seeing as I've been gone for ages. Do I say, "sorry I've been gone so long" or "I'm back, did you miss me?" Well, I am sorry it's taken so long and I'm not sure that you would have missed me "that" much but here I am backing in the land of blogging. Time seems to seep away and some days I achieve lots and others I don't appear to achieve anything, other than all those chores that need doing. I can't even begin to think about what I've been up to since OCTOBER!!!!! Surely, it can't be that long? Christmas came and went, so did the New Year. November went by in there somewhere too. What do you know, it's February! Where did January go to?!

Tilly and I are on our own for a while as The Old Colonel is away. We've been doing some walks in the woods and across the fields. She doesn't mind the cold (and boy, hasn't it been chilly), and will happily wade through the stream at the bottom of the woods, even on a freezing cold day.

We have three foxes that visit our garden and this one is in a very poor state. He has mange and has lost most of the fur on his back end. It's the first time I've seen him out during daylight hours looking for food and I'm guessing he's probably quite poorly. Hope he makes it through this cold weather.

My first jars of piccalilli. The recipe said, leave to mature for two months. Not sure if I can wait that long!

And this was the sunrise one morning last week, beautiful.

Thank you for taking the time to come back and check on this old blog after all this time. I'm looking forward to catching up with you all.

Until next time,

Lesley

Friday, 28 October 2011

Trees

I've been out and about looking at trees. Now,that may seem slightly sad or make me rather strange (or both and no, I don't hug trees) but I'm always amazed by the shapes that trees form as they grow and what makes them grow the way they do.

Man made.

A beautiful silhouette at sunset.

Half of this trunk is dead and rotted away and yet still lives.

The apple tree in the field next to our house. This dead branch housed a hornets nest last year.

Roots and ivy

Not quite sure how this stays upright, it's about 60 foot tall and thriving, despite most of the roots being exposed and leaning more than the tower at Pisa!

Tunnel forming hazel wood

A branch from this beech tree (one of the largest in the wood), came down earlier this year. This photo doesn't do it justice. I'm surprised we didn't hear it, it's enormous and must have made a huge thud as it landed. It took out two other trees as it landed too. Lots of firewood.

This is where the branch was attached. It must have fallen through the two branches.

Some trees appear to be watching you!

Very spooky!

Hornets nest apple tree, took another battering this year when a big branch laden with apples came down in windy weather. The rotting apples in the field smelled like a cider brewery.