Now Wearing Purple

I DON'T LIKE MONDAYS Never have, so first thing and to cheer myself up, I had a mocha latte, sprinkled with Spanish hot chocolate.  I'm not much of a coffee fan to be honest, I find it too bitter, but I love a latte and found these on offer at  £1.25 for eight sachets (£2.49 in Asda).  I only buy this sort of thing when they are on offer, because I'm a bit of a tight wad, and the thought of my mug of coffee shop style latte only costing sixteen pence makes me smile! Continuing on this theme, we popped into our nearest town yesterday, to pick up some essentials.   It was very busy for a Sunday, due to the snow and people not being able to shop earlier. I noticed how packed Costa Coffee and Starbucks were. I tend to avoid large corporate coffee shops, opting for smaller family run ones, but that's just me.  I love ones like The Orchard Food and Coffee shop, which is funnily enough on the site of  another long gone coffee establishment,...

THE BEAST ARRIVES! Oh my, so loving this.   If you're fed up with images of snow, look away now. The last time we had snow was eight years ago, so I feel the need to document the event. There is a dichotomy here,  in that I  feel selfish for loving this weather when there are people out there sleeping rough. I know there are protocols in the UK when these weather conditions hit and should you see someone sleeping rough, once reported, help is sent to them.  I cannot imagine being in such a situation and my heart goes out to anyone living this way.   I also feel for livestock and wildlife and with lambing underway,  farmers must be struggling.  The timing couldn't be worse, but thankfully it will be very short lived here in Somerset as temperatures are set to rise and rain is due tomorrow. This is the view from the bathroom window. This orchard is a great source of enjoyment for me, as there is always something of interest, rabbits, foxe...

Decided to have a little blitz today, as I've been a bit lazy of late, something that is not good when you have two dogs and a log burner.  Oh my, the hair and smuts, shameful!  I gave the Aga a good going over as well and felt really good when everything was nice and shiny.   I also downgraded the amount of twinkly lights that we have been using to create the hygge atmosphere. The evenings are getting lighter now and I feel it's time to embrace Spring. Loving that I can buy daffodils from my local village shop for £1.00 a bunch. which means I can fill a vase very cheaply. In contrast to impending Spring, the Beast from the East arrived in our neck of the woods with a cough and a splutter.  I love a bit of snow, in fact I adore it, just as long as it doesn't hang around too long. We got in the car to take the dogs for their run with the sun shining, drove 50 yards and the snow came, small powdery flakes, the kind of snow we had in 2010. It lasted...

A HAPPY GOTCHA DAY I can't believe that one year ago today, Elsie came into our lives, at a very sad time. We'd just lost our beloved Ridgeback Lab cross, Feebie to cancer, her brother Roly, a rescue greyhound going the year before, one month earlier. This time of year is hard for us, which if you've never owned a pet, might seem strange.  Our grief was the reason we desperately needed another little soul to save, and this one saved us. We picked Elsie up from the Travelodge car park in Peterborough, as her lovely foster Mum had agreed to travel an hour to drop her off.  We'd stayed overnight, as we thought a six hour round trip would be too much for Pearl, who's not fond of long journeys.   The transfer had to be quick, as her foster mum was in bits at having to let her go.  She just managed to take a picture of Elsie with me in the car, before quickly leaving. I don't think Elsie had any idea that she would leave her at this point. Once the car doo...

 I'VE STARTED, SO I'LL FINISH I've painted some boxes with a first coat of Annie Sloan duck egg blue chalk paint  I really want to put some kind of embellishment on the ends of them, perhaps my favourite flowers, one on each box, but can't quite decide.  I should have finished more of them, but I've been watching the Winter Olympics and loving it, especially the skiing and snowboarding events - totally in awe of the feats they achieve. I also found a bag of small granny squares tucked away in my craft cupboard (it's getting less cluttered by the day) and thought I would crochet some more to make a small project bag.  I have a few  unfinished WIP's lurking about so I've made myself a promise to finish them before starting anything new.  Maybelle Squares...there are more. Solid Granny squares... cot blanket?  Just need someone with a baby! Round cushion cover.....almost complete. There is a basket full of stuff that I haven...

Always xxx Heart pattern from Atty's blog 

WE ARE NOT AMUSED! Her face says it all! As I mentioned in a previous post, this Bernat dog coat was meant for Pearl, but despite measuring her from collar to the base of her tail, it worked up in a larger size (my tension was off, I guess) and swamped her.  Lucky that she has a slightly larger sister! However, someone was not at all happy with it, refusing to co-operate in my photo shoot.   I was hoping for a canine, Ellie McPherson style strut on the decking, but Elsie was having none of it and flatly refused to look at me. It's quite mild here at the moment but when we have a nice cold snap, she might be more appreciative of it. I have also finished my Nordic Shawl. I've already been wearing it in the evenings, before the fire is lit and it's so warm and cosy.  If you want a lovely warm item of clothing that crochets up really quickly, give this a go. Information and links showing lots of examples are in my previous post.   I ought to b...