Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Gardening and Catch Up

Garden

I've been carrying on with the bramble and blackthorn clearing, in spite of the frost and ice on the ground! Jim came and did some too a couple of days ago and we cleared quite a large area.


An icy puddle, left by a footprint. Isn't it pretty?


That's frost on the ground! These spindly ash trees were totally buried in bramble and blackthorn - we can see that they were planted in a little clump now. Poor things have been eaten by deer several times.


Jim tugging away at a blackthorn. I did take a photo of him holding it up but it was blurred!

I had a bonfire last night, even though it was damp and eventually rained. Jim went and had a walk round there today and it was still smoking!

The Spare Bedroom


Jim has finally assembled the unit for the spare bedroom. It's no great thing of beauty but is just what's required in there. Somewhere for our guests to hang their clothes and put bits of clothes.





Here you can see it in relation to the door. The draws in it are tiny! They'll just about hold pants and socks though!

Gorgeous Lina

My daughter K and 2 Granddaughters went wedding dress shopping for Kirsty, who is getting married on 7th May. Lina played dressing up:



Isn't that just the best photo? K took it of course!

Luisa

K posted a photo of Lu on Facebook on 19th January and I thought I'd show you how well she is doing.




Luisa sitting at her work computer (at home). Just dipping her toe in. She looks so well! I can't thank you all enough for your prayers, candles and good vibes. I truly thought we'd lose her.

And here's a photo from today:




In Nonna's (Chesterfield, reasonably new swanky eaterie), actually out of doors being sociable!

Gosh these photos make me smile!

Art

I've been dipping in and out of various projects. I've made 7 woven rectangles towards the rug I'm making out of them. That will be going in the spare bedroom when it's finished. Photos then.

I'm making another rag doll for Ann Broderick, my coffee morning friend, as she'd like one for one of her Granddaughters:



What do you think of it so far? LOL! Ah well, it'll be done soon enough.

I'm off to the UK on Thursday until Tuesday to see Jason, Sam, Jack and Kitty. It seems like months since I've seen them as our December trip had to be cancelled of course. It's Sam's birthday on Monday so we (Sam and a lot of mums from school) and I are all off for a meal on Saturday night. That should be great fun.

On the downside, I dropped my hearing aid on the kitchen floor and broke it. Now I am using my old National Health one that sits outside my ear and makes my ear sore. Plus it's nowhere near the sound quality of my other one. Ah well, I'll have to get sorted out with a new one. More expense!

Stones

I had a bit of a disaster with my daily stones. I had been collecting them in a 'note' on Facebook and it's just disappeared! Luckily I'd posted quite a few on here and some on my FB profile, so I've gathered up those and put them in a document. Here's a couple:

In the darkness, the bonfire crackles. Tiny flames lick the damp wood. Yet it smouldered slowly all night long.

Sandy, our huge ginger cat, sat in my Thorntons cardboard box. But not before he'd attacked it and eaten one of the flaps. Crazy cat.

Have a great week everyone.

11 comments:

Rachel Green said...

Everything looks splendid though i loathe ash trees! Darned things are weeds here.

Could you not insure your hearing aid?

Have a good trip.

BT said...

Hi Rachel, I know what you mean about ash trees but they are natives! There must be 1000+ in the bluebell walk! Baby ones. I keep pulling them out there! My aid was insured but it's too old now.

Heather said...

In a garden the size of yours, a little ash grove would be lovely but we have sapplings all over the place and they are a pest. Hope you get the hearing aid sorted and have a great trip to the UK. Looking forward to seeing further developments of the doll and rug. Love the 'stones'.

The Weaver of Grass said...

You are certainly keeping busy Gina. Have a good trip to the UK - wish you had relations up near here so that we could meet for coffee and a chat.

marianne said...

No work in the garden here...... Well probably there is but I don't like working in the garden in the winter.
Glad Luisa is recovering, a small miracle.
Lots of good things are happening in your world;)

DK said...

yay Lina, Lu and a new dolly too! Smashing to read, have a great time with Jay and family xxx

Stampmaiden said...

I'm happy to see that Luisa is doing well. Thanks for the update.
Those sheets of ice are quite artsy! Looking forward to seeing future blooms :)

BT said...

Weaver, that would be wonderful. I'm coming to Chesterfield - not quite near enough though. I will make it to yours one day, I promise.

Thanks for the other comments people, I'll try and do an update tomorrow. xxx

kj said...

i'm happy to be stopping by, gina. so glad your heart is calm and oh that first photo. amazing! awardwinning. i love thin ice.

i love thin ice? hahaha, that's probably half my problem in life!!!

love
kj

BT said...

I've emailed you kj

Bella Sinclair said...

That IS a very cool ice puddle!

So happy to see Luisa up and about and doing well! YAY!