Now Wearing Purple

TULIPS AND TEACUPS My blooms are almost spent, but I do love them at this stage as you can see the inner workings, so to speak, which are so beautiful. I bought these colours, as that's all that was left in the shop at the time, but it's the yellow ones that truly make my heart sing. A few in the kitchen. I put some in what we call 'the gaudy vase' in the dining room too. On the home front, I've been sterilising my cups and mugs today -  yes, I know, I lead such a glamorous life.  I'm not a hygiene freak  you understand, it's just that I hate tea stained china (and teaspoons). We did have a dishwasher, but jointly decided to get rid of it as we actually enjoy 'doing the dishes'.  We tend to do it together - aaaah, the romance - no not really,  it's just that there's only two of us, a dishwasher seemed daft. Also, when the Aga's on, it creates so much hot water, it seems stupid not to use it. Interestingly (...

WARNING When I am an old woman I shall wear purple With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me. And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter. I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells And run my stick along the public railings And make up for the sobriety of my youth. I shall go out in my slippers in the rain And pick flowers in other people's gardens And learn to spit. You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat And eat three pounds of sausages at a go Or only bread and pickle for a week And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes. But now we must have clothes that keep us dry And pay our rent and not swear in the street And set a good example for the children. We must have friends to dinner and read the papers. But maybe I ought to practice a little now? So people who know me are not too shocked and surpr...

A BREAK IN THE RAIN! The last few walks we've taken have been squelchy, slippy and pretty disgusting to be honest and that's why we decided this afternoon, to take a bracing walk down into Witcombe Valley. Also, sheep are now  grazing in our  usual bog, I mean fields.  The two little specks in the centre of this image, are people...it's quite a large valley.  When Mr. was a nipper, and there was snow,  he used to slide down that hill on a plastic bag. As you can see...SUNSHINE and blue skies! We walked up into a small wood in order for Pearl to check out some old rabbit holes. This ones a bit blurry, as she decided to pull on the lead as something had piqued her interest! Interesting knobbly, mossy tree trunks.  That white protrusion proved a very handy seat when I had to haul up my socks, which kept riding down...I hate that. Beautiful, velvety tree moss.  I love the way it forms on just one side of th...

NORDIC SHAWL AND DOG CLAWS I have deliberated over whether to crochet this shawl  for some time.  I just love Annette's colour pallete and her creations, but after crocheting my first shawl, twice, one for me, one for my sister, I felt a bit done with it.  Then I found this page on Annette's site and was totally sold...apart from the fact that I now couldn't make up my mind which colours to choose.  I looked through my stash and found I had rather a lot of this. I bought this Stylecraft Special DK in Mocha to make a crochet bag for my Step Mum. who had a few small projects on the go, but no bag to put them in when on the move. It was the very first thing I made and gifted and was I a happy bunny when my Step Mum said she was over the moon with it. I decided to make my Nordic Shaw with this yarn as the main colour, but then kept changing my mind.... curse that Nordic Shawl parade, too many choices! I really love this grey version, the musta...

PICTURE HEAVY DAY OUT What a fabulous day! As the weather for the weekend looked dire, we decided to shoot off to one of our favourite spots for a good romp this afternoon. I did a quick bit of housework, as Mr. was at work this morning and I felt guilty about that.  I had to fortify  myself  first of course. Had to finish up the Christmas squirty cream somehow and no, that's not an Amaretti biscuit perched on top. We usually only take some bread rolls, cheese and a flask of coffee on days out, but as we decided on the plan yesterday, I baked a leek and stilton quiche. We'd already harvested some of our own leeks and crickey, they were strong.  I also had a pot of double cream from Christmas that was still in date and some left over stilton,  so they were used up. To go with it, I  made a bulgur wheat salad, and for pud, yet more Christmas leftovers, Stollen cake. The dogs always get fretful when we start making preparations, and I alw...