Monday, May 4, 2009

Mizzly Drizzly Day, 4th May 2009

Weather

Oh what a dull day! It's been misty and drizzly and windy and just generally yuk today. Even the dog didn't want to go out. I decided to have a good long hot bath. Mug of tea, bowl of cereal and a magazine. Delightful.

What, No Water?

After my bath, I went to turn on the cold tap and what happened. Nothing, that's what! So off I went to get dressed and went to the pump house, in the middle of the parking area. I know what to do when this happens, unlike the first time it happened when we had Jason, Sam and Jack staying and were without cold water for 2 days. Typical. It was still drizzling and I tried to encourage Buster to come out with me but he wasn't having any of it. So, it goes like this:

1. Switch off the pump
2. Turn the pump tap to closed
3. Get spanner and open up pump valve
4. Fill pump with water
5. Switch pump back on, wait for it to stop making a racket and reach the correct pressure
6. Open water tap, go inside and hey presto.

No water.

Right, must have done something wrong, or in the wrong order. Off we go again through the whole procedure. Back inside. Aha, I'd left the bath tap fully open! Luckily, having turned that off, it all worked ok, after I'd gone through the whole thing again, still in the drizzly mizzle.

Phew, then Martin appeared at the gate, wielding a pitchfork. Martin is, or rather was, a neighbour and has cows in our nearest fields. He is an alcoholic and his wife has thrown him out, so now he lives with his sister and she brings him over once a day to see to the cattle. Now that he is mostly sober, we have great fun conversations, and he is the fount of all knowledge around these parts! He does have a very strong accent and I do find him hard to understand. Still we muddle along and beneath the ruddy cheeks and rather tattered clothes, he's quite a good looking man. I was pretty wet by now and left Martin to go and get dry. I thought I'd put a mac on and have a walk round to get some fresh air. The rain eased a bit and I took a few photos. It's not cold, just damp. I did some sticky bob clearing too, on the other side of the fairy hill but then the rain became more persistent so I gave up and retired inside.

I carried a load of wood down to the house to cut up for Stanley. I lit the beast and he behaved very well. Now, if anything, I'm a bit too warm!

I actually cooked a spag bol tonight and very nice it was too. I ate it while watching Ashes to Ashes, which I'm really enjoying now.

Buster decided to be sick on one of my rugs, so that had to go in the washing machine! It's one I made but seems to be ok. Then BlackJack proceeded to do the same, but I managed to throw him outside in time! Animals! Now for the

Photos


Please click on any of the to enlarge. It's amazing what you can see.

The black tulips have lasted so well. I love the drops of rain on this one












Greens; there are so many shades of green. Here are the larger blue-green leaves of aquilegia and the yellow green leaves of the herb marjoram. You can see the rain drops of the aquilegia leaves.









I was trying to catch the red acer as the wind blew its leaves about, but it just looks quite static! Ah well, it's a stunning splash of colour and the little lime green one on its right.












A small pink azalea, the flowers spattered with raindrops. Do enlarge it to get the full effect (ie, click on it)
















Paper Cup


I covered with paper coffee cup, just for fun. I think it looks quite pleasing.






















Kitty's Quilt
















Sorry this is the wrong way round. As you can see, I've cut off all the extra material surrounding the quilt, I've also put some stuffing inside and backed it with white cotton. It feels all squishy now! I'm busy quilting it, but ran out of white cotton last night. Fortunately, a dig around upstairs soon uncovered some more. When I've done that I'm going to give it a gentle wash before I add the final embellishments and top tags to hand it from.

Panorama of The Deenery Front Lawns

I had a go at a panorama, in spite of the dullness of the day. It's not too bad, but not as sharp as the others. It shows the front garden from the top barn on the left down to the cottage on the right:



My son Jason and his family visited Kentwell Hall over this holiday. I stole a couple of his photos from the album on Facebook. I'm not sure why the first two are so small. I tried to enlarge them but they weren't sharp enough. You'll have to peer at them.


Jack, Sam and Kitty (Sam's tummy)!!






Jack and Jason (Daddy)


























I love this photo, Sam, Jack and bump!! And horse..... You can see Jack's smiling even from this angle. Poor Sam must have been tired.

That's about it for today. I'm going to quilt the wall hanging now, then pop it in the washing machine on 'hand wash'. It should survive that!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello! It has been raining all day here in Georgia USA too! What a dreary day! I love your flowers especially when I enlarge them for detail. The black tulips are lovely. We have a red acer too and today with the rain it almost looked purple. Your home and property are so very beautiful. I hope the sun comes out tomorrow!

BT said...

Thanks Mildred. I do too! After a day mostly indoors I need to get out. I love Acers the leaves are so delicate. Sometimes the black tulips look purple in the sunshine (when we get some)!!
'The sun'll come out - tomorrow' that's from a musical I think!

Heather said...

Our weather was horrid too and quite chilly - a bit better today. Lovely photos - that black tulip is so beautiful and I love your panoramas.

Jinksy said...

Your balck tulip is a real show stopper- looks as though it must be blackcurrent flavour on a stalk!

BT said...

Hello Heather, it's blowing a gale here today! Cloudy but not actually raining - yet! The black tulips have been amazing and have lasted so long too.

Ha ha Jinksy, I like that! Even with all the wind they are still hanging on. Most of the other tulips have finished now.

Son1 said...

Nice to feature on your blogg. It is a lovely pic of Sam, Jack, Kitty and horse. :-)

The quilt looks like its coming on well, be good to see it in the flesh.

We have had some lovely weather, yesterday was mixed, I'm hoping we get some nice sun for your visit. We are all looking forward to seeing you soon. x

Bea said...

Sam looks like she's ready to deliver! When's the due date?
You know, last year I took my favorite flower photographs and sent them off to Mypublisher.com and had them make calendars to give as Christmas gifts.
They looked like the kind you buy in fancy book stores. Your photographs should grace a month too, you know. :)Bea

BT said...

Jason, hiya. The quilt is looking good. I washed it and it's survived! It's so windy here today but mild. I'm glad you've ordered sun for my visit (I just typed son instead of sun!!)

Bea, Sam is going to have a caesarian, as she had to with Jack. I think it'll be around the end of May. She's going to let me know the exact date soon, so I can book my flight! She is big isn't she?

Jim and I have made Christmas Calendars for the past 2 years and they've proved very popular. We do a mixture of flowers and people, as I've usually some of the people they're going to! We mix 'em up!

soulbrush said...

what a huge bump, poor her, looks like it could be before the end of may..happy BT (blooming tuesday). your atc irish card is on it's way.

Sam said...

You blogers feel free to talk about me wont you.....;) x Its true I am the size of a house, even the plumber said that today, I'll have the last laugh we havent paid him yet! Get date on Thursday but about 3 weeks, oooh bliss to have my bladder and ribs to myself and to be able to turn over in bed without making involuntary noises.

The wall hanging looks fantastic I cant wait to see it really, we have a lovely old white wooden curtain pole which I think Jay can use to hang it above Kitty's cot.

Anyway we shall see you in a week, you wont miss me at the airport, I'll be the one taking up most of the car park!!!!! XXXXXX

BT said...

Oh thank you soulbrush, I can't post yours until Jim gets back, which is Friday this week! Hope that's ok. I'm too far from anywhere that's the problem!

Hi Sam the house!! LOL. Just ignore us! The curtain pole sounds great, I'll make velcro loops so you can take it down and (hand) wash it if necessary.