BT - The Crafty Gardener

How Does Our Garden Grow?

2012-01-20T18:22:00.021Z

Even though it's Winter here in Ireland, it's been really mild so far, in sharp contrast to last year when it reached -16 and killed off quite a number of our plants.

This year we have, in January, daffodils out!

We also have some crocus and narcissus blooming - how strange it all is:

In fact, this narcissus was out at the end of December and several more have since joined it.

We have had a lot of rain and wind. One morning we headed off to Ennis and the bottom of our drive had been washed away and turned into a stream! We had to bump across it. During the next couple of days I barrowed some stones down and it's now all filled in - until the next deluge I expect.#

Our drive goes off to the left.

Back to the garden..

Here is our poly tunnel with the evening sun shining through it. We have had wonderful produce from inside. For our Christmas dinner we had home grown carrots, chard and a few brussels - gorgeous.

Here's the chef Jim with the carrots and chard.

And Buster with his new Christmas tiger! His friend Max, a local Labrador, came and called for him and they went off to play! Here's Max:

You can see how fast his tail is wagging - it's a blur.

Nasturtiums tumbled over the wall in our front garden - this was in October before they became too straggly and I pulled them out.

Just to remind me what the garden looked like in the Summer:

All lush and green.

Birds

We have been feeding the birds as usual throughout the Winter and there seem to be dozens of them permanently in our back garden. I took a bit of video yesterday so I'll see if I can download it for you.

It's been dowloading for about half an hour and still not worked so I'm afraid I've had to give up on it. Maybe it was too long. I'll try again next time. Suffice it to say there were goldfinch, chaffinch, great tits, siskin, coal tits and greenfinch. We also have 2 very large resident magpies.

Home Improvements

Jim has finished the new staircase and banister which leads up to his new office. It's quite small but it's warm and cosy up there.

New stairs and banisters. My doorway is on the left.

As you go up the stairs this is what you see. Jim's office chair on the right.

The cupboard contains the hot water tank and is a great airing cupboard, or hot press as they call it in Ireland. Jim has made all this - what a clever boy he is! He also raised the centre of the ceiling as prior to that, he couldn't stand up in there. You can see it in this photo.

Downstairs again and we now have a new kitchen cupboard. I can at last put my hoover away! It's also the store for cat and dog food, which used to hang about all over the place. We recycled these doors from our old shower room.

Our 'flying ducks' are a bit of a joke! I used to buy boxes of china and odd things from the Worthing auctions and sell them on ebay. These ducks were in one box and got badly broken. Jim stuck them back together and they became part of our 'bad taste' collection! They look rather good flying up the stairs!

The last room to do in the cottage is Jim's old office at the opposite end. It has always been damp and dingy in there so we have new, larger windows to go in. It has an upstairs too, which was reached by a ladder, so another staircase to build! The walls will be dry lined and the floor will be laminated wooden boards, in keeping with the rest of the cottage. It would make a marvellous room for a teenager with the upstairs for a bed and downstairs with a settee maybe.

Right, that's it for today I think. I have some papier mache on the go, so am going to give the pieces another coat. Have a great weekend everyone.

Crafting, Knitting, Crochet and Messing About.

2012-01-14T10:39:00.025Z

Gosh, two blog entries! I thought I'd do a post on my various crafting exploits. For Christmas, I made my Granddaughter Kitty a 'Jessica' doll and I also made on for a lovely friend Beverley who lives in Batley, Yorkshire for her niece. Here are the two in question:

I ventured into purples for Kitty's doll.

Jim holds Kitty's Jessica for a photo!

Bev's niece's doll.

I also knitted quite a few pairs of slippers. See 'Knitting' below.

I belong to a great women's group called Milliande. We often have 'swaps' of all sorts of things. Before Christmas we did a 'witchel' swap and here is mine:

I adapted a cardboard cut out that I already had as I was short of time and it went off to Canada.

My latest swap with Milliande is for 'pins'. These are sort of little brooches with a maximum size of 2". Here are the 3 I've made so far:

This started out as a collage of all sorts of material on top of black felt. I think melted it with a heat gun and put some cellophane on top which I also melted! I found the lovely glass button and added that to the top and did some sewing in thick gold thread. It's quite funky I think!

This pin is a little collage of papers, tissue and a curtain screw! I then sewed with pink thread on the top and added beads and the other glass button I found.

This one is rather like a shield. The silver centre was a large earring which I straightened out and cut in half. Jim made holes in it so that I could sew it to the felt. The background is a bit more of the collage in the first brooch.

Finally, this little one is just one inch square!

I only have to make 3 so now I have one spare.

Crochet

I have finally learnt how to crochet - well, a little bit! Here is my first Grannie square:

Now I am crocheting a headband. I rather like the effect of the colours (lovely wool bought from WoollyGathering in Tuamgraney) and the spike stitch that goes over the row below. I haven't finished the headband yet!

Knitting

Bev wanted a pair of slippers for her Mum who has quite swollen feet, so I made a wide pair with a slit down the front and apparently she just loves them! Another pair went to my daughter and another to my sister in law Miranda. Here is the first pair I made:

I think my daughter K has this pair. I found the pattern online and adapted it for size. Jim and I have a pair too and they're really warm and comfortable if not a fashion statement!

I did finish Jim's jumper quite quickly. The sleeves were too long but I soon adjusted those and he wears it quite frequently. I haven't a photo of it on it's own but here is Jim wearing it. We (the knitting/crochet group) met up one day in a cafe in Killaloe. Jim knitted a square!

You can see Jim's sleeves turned up!! I was knitting a pair of socks. They still aren't finished because I was supposed to do 'Kitchener stitch' for the toes and still haven't done it.

Messing Around

I love recycling as you probably know and I have collected all sorts of attractive carrier bags. I found a magazine article on fusing them and had a play. Here is my first piece:

This is melted carrier bags plus a bit of wool and some stitching over the top. I called it '3 squares' and rather like it!

A close up of one section.

The second piece I made turned into a document wallet! I'm not sure how that happened. I lined it with dark hessian.

Front.

Back.

Close up of a section.

I had a lot of fun making these and still have lots of bags left!

I think that's enough for now. I haven't mentioned all the beads I made or the dozens of key rings and fingerless gloves I've knitted....

Until next time.

Crafting, Christmas, Catching Up...

2012-01-13T08:17:00.018Z

Yes, I am still alive. I am determined to start blogging again properly in 2012. There - I've put it in writing now.

August was my last post and how can I possibly fill in all that's happened since then? I'll just try some edited highlights instead.

Jim has been going to painting classes and this is his first painting since he was at school. It's Lough Graney from our gateway and I think he made a pretty good job of it!

Family

Kitty and Jack seem to grow daily. I last visited them in December and of course a few photos were taken! Kitty has recently moved into Jack's old bedroom, which is now all pink and girly. She loves it of course and keeps running round the space in the centre - which she couldn't do in her tiny first room.

Me and Kitty. Jason and Sam had a pre Christmas party in the local hall and we were waiting to be ferried to the venue.

This gorgeous photo of Kitty was her nursery picture. I want to eat her!

Jack is doing very well at school, with a reading age of 8 (he is 6). Here he is having a hug from his Daddy Jason:

Jim's Family and Grandchildren

Before we headed up to Suffolk, Jim and I stayed a few days in Worthing and saw his 2 daughters and their families.

Here, Jenny is reading a story to Sonny. He is always smiling and an absolute delight:

Older daughter Ali now has Poppy and Thomas. We bought Thomas a new set of clothes for Christmas, and here he is modelling them recently:

Isn't he super?

Poppy is quite the young lady now and we had a wonderful if rather full on time at their house with Poppy, Sonny and Thomas.

Poppy, Sonny and Thomas on the settee.

Poppy is as pretty as ever:

Daughter K and family

I visited K and family in Chesterfield and spent a too short a time there. Luisa had to go to London for the day so K and I hitched a lift and went to London Zoo! I hadn't been for years and we had a lovely time - although the weather wasn't great. After the zoo, we visited K's dad, my first husband Ken in South London. He has lost weight and, since being diagnosed with diabetes, is feeling quite fit. Let's see what photos I can find:

I caught the train from Bury St Edmunds station to travel to Chesterfield. When I went to the zoo, I left my camera behind, so no photos of that trip!

Well, I can't seem to find any so here's one of K, Rachel and Luisa.

Poor Luisa is still not right from her operation. A day was spent in hospital yesterday for various tests. She is still in pain and has difficulty keeping food down.

Son Ben is still in Spain running his bar and has been reunited with long term girlfriend Hayley after a short time apart. I'm really pleased for them. I can't believe Ben will be 28 in February!

Animals

Buster is still as daft as ever - here is a photo of him with Jim. True love!

Sandy is also going strong. He spends much of his time curled up in his bed in front of the fire!

I have been doing a lot of crafting - making things for Christmas then learning crochet and just playing about! I think that's for another day though.

I'm Still Alive - Catch Up

2011-10-05T08:32:00.015+01:00

Kitty, August 2011.

Hello everyone. Yes, I'm still here and feeling guilty as usual for my lack of posts. I still spend as much time as I can outside but as the days become shorter I should be able to be more reliable in my blogging efforts.

Knitting

Every Thursday morning I go to a group in Tuamgraney called 'Woollygathering'. We sit and knit and chat and I really enjoy it. We had a sock making workshop a couple of Saturdays ago, but it wasn't long enough so we're going to have another two. I'd love to make a proper pair of socks. My current project is a jumper for Jim - a Jimmy Jumper! I've done the back and about half the front. Photos when it's completed (2012)?

Crochet

In the same group, in November, we are having 6 weeks of crochet. I'm very excited about this as it's one of the crafts I've never tried. It's about time I learnt.

Beads

I seem to have made thousands of beads! I will put them for sale on Etsy soon. If they don't sell, I'll have to string them up around the house as Christmas decorations! I've also made quite a few keyrings. I've hung various things from a single ring. They can be hung on a bag, your phone, anywhere really. Just a bit of fun.

Visitors

Sam, Jack and Kitty came over in August and we had a great time. The weather wasn't wonderful but it could have been worse. We did manage to go to the lake and have a bit of a splash around on their first day. They loved it.

L - R, Jack, me, Kitty and Sam. A distance shot to show the lake and lovely surroundings. The children are far too photogenic so it's hard to pick individual shots. Here's one of Kitty in her lovely 'wet suit'.

She is just adorable.

We went to Galway and nearly got blown away!! Jack, Sam, Me and Kitty in the pushchair.

The children enjoying helping Grandad Jim dig up, wash and dry potatoes. Look - sunshine!

We went to a family day in a local wood. Jack learnt all about his senses. Here, grandad talks Jack, blindfolded, through an obstacle course. They were very good at this.

We visited Clumber Park and sat on about every rock we could find!

I took this rather splendid photo of Jim:

That hat is rather chewed as Jim ran over it with the lawnmower!!

We walked to Lough Graney - Buster came too. More sunshine!

On the last day we made camps in the sunroom, made and ate cheese straws and generally played indoors. It was a super visit - come back soon!

New Arrival

Jim's daughter Ali had a baby boy, Tom, a brother for the lovely Poppy. Jim and I have both been to visit.

Here I am in Worthing having a cuddle.

Enough in one go I think! Today it's very windy and a bit drizzly. The Summer has been pretty awful here this year. Our outside vegetables have struggled but Jim produced lots of goodies from inside the polytunnel.

Blogging = must try harder.

The Gort Show,7th August 2011

2011-08-10T18:34:00.019+01:00

Gosh, how quickly has The Gort Show come around again? Jim is on the committee and has been attending meetings all year so it's been on my mind getting things ready for entry into the crafts section. I only entered 5 photographs too as I had decided to have a bead stall at the show.

I didn't do quite as well as usual but still managed to make a profit. Jim did very well in the flowers section too. Between us we seemed to have a fistful of winning tickets.

Here the judges are examining my rag doll Jessica. It's clear they preferred the knitted dolls best as she came 3rd. Archie, my male doll, received a 'Highly Commended'. I'll enter a knitted one next year!

There was one section for 'any crafts not entered in another section' and it was clear that the judges didn't have an understanding of the more modern crafts. A friend of mine entered a Nuno felted scarf which was absolutely beautiful. It took about a week of hard work to make but didn't get placed at all. Time for some new, younger judges I think.

Here are some of Jim's entries. His winning sweet peas on the left. His winning potatoes on the right and below at the bottom, his winning plate of pansies. Didn't he do well? The photos taken inside are rather 'yellow' but that's the lighting in the hall.

I hardly took any photos as I was busy on my stall outside. I have been making beads from paper/old magazines/old cards etc. I made some up into jewellery - bracelets and necklaces - and had a lot on display in an old printer's drawer.

Here I am serving a young lady who wanted to make a bracelet for her mum. She loved it and it was a pleasure to fulfil her wish. I made some beads while I was there and people were fascinated by the process. Most people thought the beads were bought when they first saw them. I missed not being about to look around the show but really enjoyed the day.

Here is a bracelet and earring set that I made - it came 3rd in the jewellery section:

I made the beads out of an old valentine's card from Jim!

And a couple of bracelets:

The weather was pretty good until about 4pm when the heavens opened! Jim got some good shots of soggy people:

I love this photo of a clown running one way and the child running the other! We waited for a while for the rain to stop, but when it wasn't happening, packed away and went inside the hall. At least I managed to get a look at all the exhibits.

Look at those puddles.

Jim managed a quick look around and watched this heavy horse pulling his master around:

Unfortunately there were a few rumbles of thunder and the horse became too spooked to continue.

I took this shot of a collie dog on his way home - I wonder if it won a prize?

The next day, Jim went back to the show hall to help clear up. He took a few photos there too. This is the best one of 3 of the stewards rolling the blue tack off the photo display boards!

They were all rewarded for their efforts with lunch at the Lady Gregory Hotel.

I'm still sorting out the beads and equipment at home.

Work in Progress in the Cottage

Jim has been very busy making a staircase at one end of the cottage. We did have a roof ladder leading up to the little room upstairs in the roof space but it wasn't very easy to use. He is also building a storage cupboard at the bottom - just opposite the door to my study. I'll see if I can find a photo of it:

It has progressed further than this. The banister is now finished and he has clad the end wall of the cupboard with tongue and groove pine. On the left you can see the entrance to my study. The upstairs room can be a spare bedroom or Jim may use it for his office while he attacks the final room to be 'done up' at the exact opposite end of the cottage. Currently this is used as Jim's office.

Forthcoming Visit

On 18th of this month, my daughter in law Sam and the grandchildren Jack and Kitty are coming to stay for a few days. I'm quite excited at the prospect but do hope the weather is kind to us. It's absolutely tipping it down today.

Here are a couple of photos from my last trip to Suffolk to visit them:

Gorgeous Kitty - how she has grown! This was entered in as 'portrait of a child' but didn't come anywhere!

What a grown up young man Jack has become. He is now 6. Here he was getting ready to go to the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds for his first public performance. He belongs to a drama group and performed incredibly well. I was very proud of him. He played a chef and had to wear one of Daddy's ties.

Buster

He's still with us. He still goes off wandering with is friend Max the labrador but has so far returned.

I think that's enough for today. I'm sorry I've been absent for so long. Thanks to all those who keep visiting. xxx

2 Month Catch Up. Crafting Photos.

2011-07-06T15:15:00.015+01:00

Gosh, 2 months and I haven't done a blog post. What a failure. The trouble is that it's light until about 10.30pm so I'm often in the garden until then which doesn't leave much time for much else.

Crafts

I have also started attending various workshops in Tuamgraney. We met for a few weeks each Thursday to do knitting. I learnt how to cable and made a 'Dressage Vest', which I am very pleased with I must say. Here is a photo of me knitting it:

And wearing it:

Then at the same place I did a 'nuno felting' course. Nuno felting is felting wool onto another material. It was great fun and my final project was supposed to be a wall hanging but it hasn't made it to the wall yet!

This is the wall hanging before I had worked on it and shrunk the wool a lot. It then pulls in and the material goes crinkly! Here we all are at the end of the course with our efforts:

It's a wonderful atmosphere at the workshops and I'd recommend them to anyone in the vicinity. Next we are doing a few weeks of crochet. This will be a great adventure for me as I've never done any. I can't wait. Here is a link to their blog: There are a few more photos of the nuno felting on there. I have since made a blue wall hanging and various other pieces for fun.

I have made a wall hanging out of my stash of material which is for the sun room:

I also made a felt scarf but it's too itchy so it's become a wall hanging in the bathroom!

I quite like it in there! It has some sequins and stars sewn on here and there.

A felt experiment with a chiffon scarf:

Finally, a small mat made from wool and felted, then I backed it with chiffon and net and added buttons too.

My step Granddaughter Liane had her baby Coco on June 9th and she asked for a 'Jessica' doll from me, which I duly made, this time with dark hair:

Here is Coco with Jessica:

They were about the same size and as you can see, Coco has almost as much dark hair as Jessica! She's growing fast, as they do of course.

I have also been making beads and a pair of curtains for the patio doors in the sun room. Phew, no wonder I haven't had much blogging time and I still haven't got onto the garden work we've done. I think that'll have to wait for another day - or week - or month!

Another Wedding? Kirsty and Kerry, May 7th 2011

2011-05-30T07:00:00.018+01:00

The Wedding

It was the wedding of my Granddaughter Kirsty to her partner Kerry on May 7th - a truly wonderful day for us all. Here is Kirsty looking stunning in her amazing dress, with my daughter K walking her to Kerry.

And here's me, Jim and Jack and Kitty, big son Jason's 2.

The Bridesmaids. 3 of Kirsty's friends plus Lina, Kirsty's young sister, looking far older than her 13 years! She's the one looking directly at the camera.

This is my favourite photo of Kirsty and Kerry. Kirsty is just so photogenic. Yes, Kerry is a woman in case you're wondering.

Kirsty showing her 'something blue'. Proper 'Sex and The City' shoes. Aren't they fabulous?

The 'Best Person' on the far left was Luisa. I'm sure many of you remember that she almost died last year after an operation that went wrong. Wow - look at her now! Then lots of ushers, including my son Ben, who came over from Spain for the occasion. Ben's third in from the right and next to him is my Grandson Tony (Kirsty's brother).

A kiss for Gran from Kitty. She's just adorable.

It was lovely to see Ben again and get lots of hugs from him!

More hugs from Big son Jason and his lovely family, Sam, Kitty and Jack.

Of course we all took hundreds of photos! If anyone wants to see them all they're on Facebook and here is the link to the album:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150609817515235.684738.676090234&l=a538737897

I warn you, there are about 140! It was a fabulous day in all respects and Kirsty and Kerry loved every moment.

Jim and I had stayed for a couple of days in our Worthing house with Jim's daughter Jenny, husband Matt and gorgeous son Sonny. We hired a car and drove up to the wedding then drove back down again after a night in the hotel where the wedding was held, then breakfast with those who stayed.

We took a leisurely drive to Worthing on the Sunday 8th, visiting the house and gardens of Audley End en route. We have been there before but only viewed the gardens, but this time we toured the house too. It's a lovely place with sweeping gardens designed by Capability Brown.

We spent ages photographing a coot and its babies on the river! They must have been only a few hours old as you could still see eggs in the nest when Mum got up and turned round.

They were so cute!

Back at Worthing, Jim went to the park with Jenny and Sonny. He loved the swings.

On the Monday we visited Ali, Joe and Poppy. It was a very full visit!

Jim pushing Ali and Poppy on one of the park rides. Since then, Ali and Poppy have been over to Ireland to visit us - more of that on the next post.

As Monday wore on, I didn't feel at all well and in fact I had a bad stomach for a week! It seems several people at the wedding were also poorly so maybe we all picked up a bug. Here I am at home again on the Tuesday, sleeping on the couch with Buster!!

We have been working hard in the garden and have lots of photos - for another day I think.

Mostly Garden...

2011-04-29T23:41:00.027+01:00

One of my favourite parts of The Deenery garden.

William and Kate's Wedding Day

Did you watch the wedding? I did and thoroughly enjoyed it too. It was fun seeing all the guests arrive and the fashions. Then William and Harry looking splendid in their uniforms. Finally, the moment we were all waiting for - Kate and the dress! She looked wonderful with that waist nipping flattering choice. The pretty lace top showed just enough and her hair was beautifully natural. A lovely ceremony. I have a feeling this royal marriage will be a total success.

Around The Deenery

Our washing machine finally gave up the ghost, so we had to buy a new one. I love new white goods! Then our fridge/freezer (which was here when we bought the house) started leaking water over the floor, so that provoked a rethink of our kitchen design. As it happens, we had a larder fridge up in our barn, which Jim manfully cleaned until it sparkled like new. We thought we'd try it out in our utility room, which is just off the kitchen, and see whether it's too much of a pain going in and out of there. It fits a treat next to the new washer and it's no trouble to use, so there it will stay.

We took the old washing machine and an old big television to the tip on Thursday, just the old fridge/freezer to go next - then we'll have more space in the little lobby off the kitchen/diner. Jim has plans for that area.....

New Knitting Group

Jim spotted details of a group of ladies who meet up each Thursday morning in Scarriff (not that far from us and where the tip is), to knit and sometimes do other crafts. We went along 2 weeks ago. It's a lovely flexible group of women who simply knit and chat and learn new things. I loved it and bought some ridiculously expensive wool and a pattern to make with a cable running down one side. I've never done cable stitch before so I've now learned a new skill already.

The 2 'leaders' of the group also do other courses and in 2 weeks are starting a course on mixing felting and fabrics, which I have signed up to join. It's for 6 weeks and should be great fun. The weather's been so gorgeous that we've sat outside for the 2 weeks I have attended so far.

The Garden

Again, because of the weather, we have spent a lot of time in The Deenery garden. The biggest project has been the back 'yard' area, left in a complete stony mess after the builders had finished the extension. We have kept putting it off because it seemed such a daunting task.

Easter seemed a good time to attack this job and after 4 days of hard shovelling, mattocking and stone shifting, a new lawn has been made and seeded. Here are some photos - no grass yet of course!

A 'before' photo! The rockery (also part of the project), was half built here but we hadn't done any levelling or brought any of the many many barrows full of our home made compost down from the allotment area. Jim did the barrowing and dumping of the compost and I sorted it and spread it out.

Jim had just moved a large stone for the rockery. Can you see Sandy on it? Since BlackJack's death, Sandy spends a lot more time with us. He's more like a dog and if we're working outside, he's usually not far away!

Me working on the lawn - about half way.

The grass in the foreground leads to the arboretum. The rockery needs some plants now!

The view across the extension.

There's me at the end of the house to show some perspective. We also have a new bird feeder - that pole on the right!

Here is the view from the other end of the extension, from behind the wall we built last year! Jim's also finished the steps from the 'patio' to the gap in the wall. I am now on the bench at the other end. We had a large sherry to celebrate! Now we have a large pile of stones to shift then we can finish the corner where the stones are. We may gravel that area as the ground there is very solid and my washing line is also there. I can't wait for the grass to grow!

Other Garden Stuff!

We have moved the arch from the centre of the arboretum to the side. It's much better there and already has a clematis growing up one side of it.

The cherry tree on the right has been absolutely weighed down with blossom.

Jim's Photo Session

Lots of photos as Jim had a walk around the garden a few days ago.

Dazzling scarlet tulips and pretty narcissus

The Fairy Hill on the right and path down to the arboretum

Beautiful lilac - and it smells wonderful too.

Rose bed, rhododendron bed and cherry tree bed

The rhodo flowers are enormous. They start pink then gradually turn yellow.

The cherry blossom

Gorgeous new maple leaf

A lovely pot of bulbs. The white and green tulips are particularly special

I love my black tulips

Tulips galore and yellow alyssum

A bee on the white cornflower

I think that's enough for one day. I do hope you've enjoyed this garden catch up.

On Wednesday Jim and I are off to the UK until the following Tuesday. My granddaughter Kirsty is getting married to her partner Kerry on Saturday May 7th so it's a big occasion for all the family. Oh what a lot of photos there will be!!

Just a final note. I am thinking of all my blogging friends in the South of the USA. Such awful suffering from the 'twisters'.

Chichester Photos, Catch Up

2011-04-16T23:10:00.017+01:00

Gosh - almost a month since my last post - that's terrible. The trouble is, once the weather improves and the days get longer, I spend so much time in the garden, there isn't much left for blogging.

I spent 2 weeks in Worthing, travelling to Chichester and back each day on jury duty. It was a very interesting if rather harrowing time. The case to which I was assigned was domestic violence - and pretty nasty. Still, it was good to see how the British justice system worked and how different it all is from the tv court cases. The jury were a lovely bunch of people from all walks of life and mixed ages.

The weather the first week was amazing. Really warm and I had to buy some new clothes as I was too hot in my jeans! I took advantage of the late afternoon sun to take some photos around Chichester, which is a lovely old Sussex town. Here are a few examples:

An unusual view of Chichester Cathedral.

Behind the cathedral is a lovely garden, called 'The Bishop's Garden'. I spent quite some time walking around it:

A tower in the corner of the garden.

The cathedral from the Bishop's Garden. The sun has turned the bricks a wonderful colour.

The bell tower is close to the cathedral.

Also in the town is the Market Cross - a splendid piece of architecture with lots of carvings around it:

The Market Cross. Below are some of the carving around the cross:

There were plenty of super shops in the town. This pretty window caught my eye:

I stayed at our Worthing house, where Jim's daughter Jenny, husband Matt and son Sonny are staying. Poor Sonny had an awful cold that went to a chest infection and felt very sorry for himself:

He slept a lot on the settee. The day I left he was showing signs of improvement thank goodness.

I also saw Poppy, Ali and Jo and we went and fed the donkeys, which Poppy loves to do:

Poppy has grown quite a lot and is a real charmer:

Ali and Poppy. We indulged in rather a splendid cream tea!

In stark contrast to our 5 acres in Ireland, this is our tiny little garden in Worthing! It goes as far as the large pink flowering tree. There is also a paved area at the side of the house and a small front garden. I spent the time I was there rediscovering the front garden, which had disappeared under a sea of weeds! I took this through the upstairs window so there is some reflected light, but you can see the results of my labours:

Jim and I have been very busy in our garden here in Ireland, but I'll leave that for another post. I'll try and make it soon!

Holiday to UK and Athens

2011-03-19T15:27:00.025Z

Hello everyone, I know I know, it's been ages since I posted. I haven't been able to get organised since my return from holiday - mainly because the weather's been good and I've been gardening most days. Plus I had another rag doll to make for my son in law's Goddaughter! Now it's finished. I'll try not to make this too long...

Worthing

First up was a trip to Worthing, Sussex, where we stayed until we flew out to Athens. I did take a few Sonny photos! Here are just a couple. He is such a charmer but mum Jenny says he has turned into a toddler overnight with his behaviour!

He is such a character. He now does a 'smile' on demand for photos - it's very funny:

I spent quite a time taking photos around Worthing as the sun set. Here's a couple of them.

Worthing Beach and Pier in the warming evening sun

Beach huts and the promenade. Joggers going home.
Athens

The trip to Athens, as I've mentioned previously, was to celebrate Jim's 65th birthday. Jim has been twice before and it was his choice, whereas I have never been there. On the whole the weather was OK - a cold wind sometimes blew in exposed places and on the last day it tried to snow! But we had our fare share of sunshine and wrapped up warm.

The Acropolis from our hotel balcony. What a view! The hotel was quite central and just what we wanted. I'd recommend it. It has a roof garden, where I took the same view at night:

The streets around our hotel were really busy and bustling with life. Street sellers were on every corner. There were the newspaper and sweet stalls, the ones selling gloves, hats and scarves (they did a good trade) and the fabulous ones selling bread and huge iced doughnuts and Danish pastry type things. They were really cheap too.

This stand was in the square near us every day, selling strong Greek coffee. You can just see the brass urn in front of the bald chap walking past.

We saw colourful market stalls:

And a horrid smelly fish market full of my most hated food! Also a huge meat market with lots of 'heads' for sale. I did take a photo but won't post it here!

Lots of lovely Churches:

(this was taken from our hotel window).

This one was actually a mini church where ladies sold 'God' things, statues, etc.

Many many ruins!

The huge amphitheatre below the Acropolis.

The Temple of Olympian Zeus

And a close up of the pillars:

The weekend we were there was carnival time so we saw lots of people dressed in strange garb. At one point we met a whole group of cyclists all dressed up and holding up all the bad tempered car drivers!

We had a meal in a different taverna each night. The first one (recommended in Jim's super Athens book) was amazing. It was run by a young couple and the meat was cooked in traditional large metal containers. The menu was all in Greek so the couple took us to see all the food and made recommendations. It was all delicious. A group of mostly men was on the other side and one of them played an instrument like a dulcimer and also sang. He was very good. The owners suggested we move over to sit by them, which we did. Another 2 chaps fetched guitar type instruments and we were royally entertained for a long, lovely evening. We did get a bit smoked out - even though smoking is officially banned in public places - many Greeks don't take any notice.

The star player.

Jim's Birthday

On the eve of Jim's birthday we tried a restaurant off the main square. It was fast, full and great fun and decorated for the carnival. We sat for a long while and a large party of Greeks came in but couldn't all fit around the table. We moved so that they could all squash together and received a bottle of wine for our trouble. At just gone midnight I went to the head of the large gathering and asked if they could sing 'Happy Birthday' in English. I started it and everyone joined in. Jim was chuffed to pieces! The waiter then brought us a couple of shorts - and the bottle (40% proof). A few minutes later the waiter again appeared with a cake and a candle (purchased from Starbucks down the road) and we had the whole 'Happy Birthday' again! It was excellent - a perfect birthday celebration for Jim.

The waiter with cake and candle! The table behind joined in our celebrations!

Jim and me on his birthday.

One of the things we noticed about Athens was the amount of graffiti. It was everywhere and a real eyesore. Also the lack of money with many houses in a very bad state of repair.

Now I have picked some of my favourites! I loved the stuff by 'Sonya', the black and white but as you can see, most of it was just the usual rubbish. It's a problem they really need to solve. Even some of the statues had it on them.

I'm going to make a Facebook album of all my photos a there are many many more! Do pop over if you have time. I'll pop a link on later.

All in all it was a great holiday and I loved Athens. Jim had a super time too, which was the most important thing.

Bye Bye BlackJack

2011-02-26T14:20:00.007Z

BlackJack as a kitten, December 2007.

Just a quick post today. BlackJack, our 3 year old black and white cat, had to be put down yesterday. The crystals in his bladder hadn't shifted and he also had stones in there and eventually he couldn't wee at all, so he was in pain. The last day and night he kept crying and had stopped purring. Jim and I took him to the vets, who agreed there was nothing further to be done for him. I held and stroked him and the vet was very kind and gave him a sedative first. He was only 3 but was very friendly and home loving and we miss him. Poor Sandy doesn't know what to do with himself as they've been together since birth. He has given us a lot of pleasure in his short life and we did all we could for him.

We buried BlackJack in our rose garden, where a rose had died and we will buy a new one to put on top of him.

On a happier note, it's Jim's 65th birthday on March 6th and we are going to Athens next Thursday (from the UK, where we go on Tuesday) for a few days, which should be lovely. I have never been. Jim's been before and it was his choice to re-visit.

Crafts

I have made 3 bookmarks and 2 Artist Trading Cards for a swap:

And the ATCs:

The theme was 'Spring' as I hope you can see!

So that's about it for now. I'm off into the garden as the sun is shining.

UK Trip to Chesterfield.

2011-02-22T16:10:00.021Z

Trip to Chesterfield, Derbyshire

What fun I had too. I stayed with my daughter K and her two wives Rachel and Luisa. K and I went to see the play 'Equus' at Chesterfield Pomegranite Theatre on the Thursday night and it was simply superb. As an added bonus, after the play, the cast all came to the bar for a question and answer session. As a thespian myself, I really enjoyed that and K and I had a great informal chat with the director and the leading man who played Dysart.

During the day on Thursday, K, Rachel and I went into town as it was the second hand market there. We wandered around the stalls and Rachel was amazed at how long we were out - 4 hours! It's a novelty for me to go as in Ireland I haven't found much in the way of car boot sales or second hand stalls. I picked up a few bits and pieces for my craftwork for pennies. Here are a few photos of the day:

I rather liked this splendidly colourful zebra.

K bought this splendid 'Hulk' hand for Lu - I love this shot.

Fun bits and bobs - I like the tiles very much.

K chatting to Rachel who was flicking through one of her purchases from the market. We had chips for lunch with melted cheese on top. Delicious!

A colourful rail of scarves.

Wow, foot long hot dogs! We managed to resist but they sure sounded good.

The following day we walked round the market 'proper' and I can't remember which day some of the pictures were taken! Not that it matters. This splendid shire horse and cart were there on Friday:

When I called his name, Ben, he turned and looked at me! What a fantastic face.

A carousel was there but all covered over. I can imagine the ghostly horses riding round during the night!

The main feature of Chesterfield is the church, known as 'The Crooked Spire'. Here you can see why:

There are many lovely old building in Chesterfield too.

Saturday

Another highlight of my visit was a wonderful carvery meal shared with 11 of my family. We were there from 1pm until after 4pm and never stopped talking and laughing.

We all look a bit 'at sea' in this photo! L - R. Kyle, Lu, Rachel, Chris, Rachel, Miranda, K, Lina, Kirsty and Tony's hair!

This is a better shot, taken by Tony. I am in it too! Kirsty and Kerry (top right) are getting married in May, so that will be my next trip to the area. The lovely lady at the top of the table is Miranda, my ex sister in law. We all still love her. The 'Rachel and Chris' on the bottom left are Miranda's daughter and fiancee.

It's a meal out I will remember for a very long time.

Sunday

Sunday was my going home day but Kirsty came over again to visit me and take Lina to stay with her for a few days, as it's half term week. Liane, my step Grandaughter, also came with her son Connor and carrying her new baby, a little girl, due in June:

Here is Liane eating a healthy apple with her little 'bump'.

We had a bit of a surprise one morning, when the garden was covered in snow! It had mostly gone by the end of the day, luckily:

It seems very quiet back here in Ireland! BlackJack is much better and it's been quite easy to give him his medicine.

My toe has repaired itself well, thank goodness, and only wept once - when I wore high heels to go and see Equus!

Yesterday was a lovely day and I did lots of garden clearing but today the rain is back. As I have cystitis anyway - I'm having a quiet day and not doing much.

Poorly BlackJack - Poorly toe.

2011-02-11T02:10:00.014Z

BlackJack and Sandy Playing and Fighting in the garden.

Poorly BlackJack

Poor BlackJack has a suspected urine infection. I took him to the vets yesterday and they injected him with some antibiotics and gave me some to take home. Today he's been crying on and off and trying to wee but just leaves little drops of blood around so I rang the vets. I took him straight in and they kept him there overnight. Were going to catheterise him and test for the bug so they can treat it. Poor little thing. I told them to be very careful with him. Every time I picked him up he started purring straight away.

Poorly Toe

I went up to the shed in the dark 2 nights ago and smacked my big toenail really hard on the top step. I thought it hurt and when I looked it had torn the top of the nail away from the toe. AAAAH! I even took a photo of it for you all!

I have since managed to soak it and cut the nail a bit so it is less vulnerable. Today it hurts slightly less and is less swollen too. I have been wearing socks with sandals - not a cool look but needs must!

Cat Update

BlackJack is back from the vets. He makes crystals in his bladder and they bung it up. Have to give him cranberry juice every day for the rest of his life and antibiotics now for a while. If it clears the crystals, all ok. If not it's very bad. I have bought pure cranberry juice for him - only half teaspoon a day so good if it works. Fingers crossed everyone.

New Rag Doll

I took Bridget, the new rag doll I've made, up to Ann Brodericks. She just loved her. I had tea and fresh brown scone with cream cheese and smoked salmon. Lovely! As the sun was shining when I left, I walked over to Ann's car parking area and took the following joiner of the view. Do click on it to enlarge for its full potential.

Post

On the Milliande Art Community for Women we have a section which is called RAAKs (Random Acts of Kindness). You can add your name and be sent/send a piece of art to anyone or all on the list. I received my first RAAK a few days ago and it's a lovely Valentine's ATC (Artist Trading Card).

This lovely ATC is from Rainbow Painter in the USA. She is trying to send one to everyone on the list - and it's a long list! I have since received some more things but haven't photographed them yet. I shall have to send some off myself.

Gort Rain

We have had quite a lot of heavy rain recently and on the way back from Gort, I stopped and took this photo of one of the rivers in flood:

It has subsided a bit today.

Naughty Cats

Both happily asleep on our bed. Bad cats!

Sandy just looked at me and stretched. 'Nice here isn't it BlackJack'!!

I soon chased them off.

Visit to Daughter

On Wednesday I am off until the following Sunday on a visit to see my daughter and family in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. I'm looking forward to seeing them all again.

I am in a rush to make another 'Archie Doll' for K and so far only have a head and body!

His face is rather cute though! He has odd ears.....!

The Garden

Before I was indisposed with my toe (which bled again this afternoon), I started doing the back yard and have taken a little collage of photos for you to see:

The wall you can see has been made good on the right and then there will be a rockery which will go round the other side too. In front of the wall will be a gravelled area and we will move the bird table there and the bird bath. The rest will be grassed to tie in with the lawn you can already see. The left of the wall needs making good for a couple of feet. I think it'll look great when it's done. I'll have to wait until I come back from K's I think when my toe should be all healed.

That's it for today. I'll try and do another post before I leave for the UK. Must get Archie finished...

Another Suffolk Trip. New Rag Doll Completed

2011-02-07T00:08:00.020Z

Suffolk Trip

Hi everyone, I had a great few days in Suffolk. We went to a playbarn, shopped, lunched, went out for a ladies night and meal, lunched, had tea..... actually a great deal of eating happened!

Just a few photos to show you. The rest are on Facebook if you're interested.

Kitty at the playbarn with smarties.

Sam and I ready to go out for a meal with lots of other ladies. It was great.

My delicious pudding.

Ladies who eat a lot!! I'm right down the far end. It was Sam's birthday on Monday 31st so this was our excuse to celebrate. We went on Saturday night.

On Sunday it was a trip over to Dereham to see Nanny Maureen and Grandad Ivor - this time we ate in a pub! What shall we have today? It was roast dinners all round:

Jack loved his:

And Kitty enjoyed pouring the gravy onto each and every plate with the cute little gravy boats!

We had a quick whizz round some shops, Kitty rode in the trolley with Jack pushing - a recipe for disaster! Sam behind.

Kitty at home with a basket hat!

While Jack played on his space hopper.

Jack having Daddy time before bed and some Gran time, below!

On Monday, guess what? We went for lunch! This time Jack was at school so it was just Sam, Jason, Kitty, Rene (Sam's Mum) and me. We went to the Harvester and I enjoyed a superb fish and chips. Kitty wasn't really hungry so Jason quickly eat his dinner then entertained her inside and outside:

Here they were dancing to the background music!

Sam had a 'WI' for her birthday and we all had fun playing on it. Sam and I both enjoyed the tennis. I can play much better on the WI than in real life!

My photo of the trip is this one of Sam and Kitty having a love in:

I left early on Tuesday morning. At Shannon airport I waved to Jim in the queue for the plane I had just arrived on - he was heading to Worthing for a couple of days! It was Thursday before I picked him up back at Shannon!

New Doll

The new doll for Ann Broderick has now been finished. I'll probably take it to her tomorrow (Monday):

Meet Bridget (as she's Irish).

Here is the back view. I put a little plait and bobble on the end of her hat for a change.

My new table

I never seemed to have any space in my office to work so Jim converted an ironing board, which I don't use for ironing as it's just too big, into a work table. I love it!

He's fixed a board to the top and it still has the pointed section of the ironing board, which I can use to iron the seams on the dolls' dresses, etc. What a clever boy! I have another order for a rag doll so I'm just sorting out the material.

I think that's about all the news apart from the incessant rain we've had for a few days. And lots of wind.

Happy Monday everyone.

Oh, the 'River of Stones' has finished and I have submitted 10 of mine for inclusion in the book they are going to make of them. I'll be happy if one is picked. xx

Here's a link to my Facebook photos

Gardening and Catch Up

2011-01-26T01:37:00.020Z

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.

General Catch-Up's Back Art, Garden, Surprises...

2011-01-20T18:09:00.019Z

Post

Through the post today came 2 lovely surprises. In our postbox was a lovely postcard made by Lisa of Greenbow

Lisa is a wonderful artist and has an interesting blog called Artsy Endeavors

This is the postcard she made:

I just love getting art through the post. Thank you Lisa. I haven't sent mine yet - on its way very soon.

2nd Surprise

A courier driver rang to ask for directions to our house. Jim and I were racking our brains to think what we had ordered. We always find it easier to go and meet the drivers up at Broderick's Furniture store on the main road, which Jim did.

Well, the big box had Thornton's written all over it but I thought maybe whoever sent it had re-used a box. But no. Inside was this lovely box, some superb green tissue paper and a little note from my daughter K saying she had 'Supplies because you ran out - intolerable! Hope they don't take too long to get to you. Love and miss you Momma.' What a lucky Mummy I am, and here is my present:

The box contains all the best bits of Thorntons from their continental chocolates to their amazing toffee (which can remove your teeth)!! Thank you thank you K. xxxxx

Spare Bedroom

Jim came back from shopping yesterday with a 3 section storage/wardrobe for the spare bedroom. We have been wanting something like this for some time but just needed to find the right piece, the right size, at the right price. And indeed now we have it. As often happens with boxed goods, none of the instructions made sense but Jim managed valiantly to put it together, with a little help from his able assistant (me). We struggled through into the room with it this afternoon, where he is finishing it in situ. I will take a photo when it's all done.

Jim's Health

Jim is feeling much better thank you everyone. The antibiotics seem to have knocked the abscess infection on the head - I just hope it's sent it away. We shall have to see. His heart still goes a bit weird now and then but knowing there isn't any damage to it, he isn't worrying about it so much.

Garden

I have struggled on with some of Jim's help to remove more brambles and blackthorn. It is really looking much better now and it's good to reclaim the land back from intrusive plants and shrubs/trees.

This is the path from the last post on my blog - now all clear of brambles and blackthorn. The hedge to the right is thick blackthorn and we have trimmed it back to try and keep it a bit contained. The trees to the left are mostly willow.

If you follow the path round and up in the meadow direction, there is a little entrance to our bluebell walk. This had become quite overgrown with bramble and Jim spent some time clearing the blackthorn, while I finished the bramble yesterday. Turn right and this is what you see:

In the spring, the bluebell walk lives up to its name and it also has primula and some lovely ferns and violets too.

In this photo, at the brightest part of the sunlight you can see the telegraph pole. The last section to the pole is very overgrown with brambles and will take some clearing.

This is from the inside of the entrance to the bluebell walk out onto the meadow. There is my bag full of tools as usual and a huge pile of rubbish too, in the sunlight.

We have just rediscovered this lovely tree. It was covered in grass, brambles and blackthorn.

Above is the next section of young blackthorn to be cleared. The right hand tree is a silver birch, newly revealed and just along from the evergreen in the photo above.

I took a photo joiner to show the work to be done!

If you click on it and enlarge it, you can see my hat hanging in another silver birch tree to the left of the photo. The telegraph pole is clear and all the humps and bumps on the meadow need cutting down too. Only 3 acres of that to do!! To show where this is in relation to The Deenery, I take a quarter turn to my left:

Can you see The Deenery in the distance? lol. And my shadow - the sun was very bright. All the bramble in front of me is yet to be cleared - you can see it creeping across into the meadow. To my right is the telegraph pole.

Can you see the large evergreens down by the house? The other day I called at Mrs Broderick's charity cafe up on the main road and took a photo of where we are from there. You can't actually see the house but you can easily spot the trees:

Of course the angle of the trees is different but you can see where we are!! This is taken with the camera on full zoom. Here is the same view with the zoom retracted:

Our trees are about in the centre, showing up against the background of Lough Graney. I do hope I haven't bored you with all this! I find it fascinating to see where we are in relation to the surroundings.

Daily Stones - A River of Stones (aros)

I am a little behind with my stones, but have done some since my last post.

Day 11, January 12th aros

I don't know what to say today

I've not been out - at home all day

I've looked at the cats and then the dog

My mind is in a total fog

So this little verse is today's contribution

I know - it's a very poor substitution.

Day 12, January 13th aros

I stopped the car and gazed at the stunning views; green patchwork hills, an amazing palette of colours and Lough Graney shimmering in the valley. 'Gosh' I thought, 'It's not a bad place to live.'

Day 13, January 14th, aros

Rain lashes the bedroom window. Birds cling on to the nut holders defiantly.

Day 14, January 15th, aros

I gardened until it was dark, then the light of the moon cast shadows as though it were almost daytime.

Day 15, January 16th, aros

As with yesterday, the moon's light bathed everything in its pale splendour, but neither I, not my camera, could capture this astonishing beauty

I think that's enough for today. I had a day inside today to let all my scratches heal! I'm going to start making another rag doll for Anne Broderick, who wants one for one of her Grandchildren. Plus I was determined to do a blog update. Part one completed. Hurrah.

Love to all.

Christmas Cards? Garden, Artist Doll.

2011-01-13T00:05:00.015Z

Oh I've been very industrious lately. Since the Christmas cards have come down, I absent mindedly did a collage with some of them:

Then I started thinking about next year's cards - yes really - and cut out a 'tree' template. I cut several trees out:

And here is my first card! It needs some writing on and maybe a bit more glitter, but the idea's there. What's the betting I can't find them by next December?

Artist Doll

A lady who saw my 'Santa's Helper' doll on Etsy shop asked whether I could make her an 'artist' one. She teaches art at school and wanted it to sit on a cupboard. Well, I had a go and haven't charged her yet. I hope she likes it when it arrives:

She wanted the smock to be plain so that she can splodge paint on him!! What fun eh? I do hope she approves.

Garden

I mentioned that we've been trying to clear some brambles from the path to and from our little wooded are (well, one of them). I took a photo just to show what we've done so far:

Not a wonderful photo as it was very dull and rained soon after I had taken this. The carrying case on the left was a present from Jim for me for Christmas. It's brilliant. I started off with 2 coats and hat, but as you can see, I shed one coat when I started to warm up. Much more to do in the other direction though. You can see a bit of the bramble in the foreground. Blackthorn has also grown up all over the path and has to be mattocked out. It's hard work but good fun.

Dotee Doll

I made this Dotee Doll for Jim for Christmas - he seemed to be the only person without one.

She was made from a Christmas tea towel and embellished with stars and sequins. Her 'tail' consists of 3 pieces of raffia with a snowman, spring and heart button attached at the bottom.

Sandy

We think Sandy now thinks he is a dog and has taken to lying on the mat just like Buster, his head right down and even one leg out the back - it looks most odd!

He certainly believes in getting comfortable.

Today's Stone aros

I took Buster for a quick walk down to the lake. It was really misty and almost dusk. I noticed the following:

The farmer's gates no longer swing
Bound together now with wire and string
Young cows huddled close in the barn nearby
With curly coats and winsome eye

Visitors

I forgot to mention that we had Wolf and Melanie for tea a couple of days ago. Sunday I think. Jim made hot scones again and they went down a treat. We sat in the sunroom and chatted for well over an hour and drank 2 mugs of tea each. I managed to throw the first one all over the floor. Melanie bought me a present, which I have since used:

Wasn't that thoughtful of her? I put it by the kettle when Jim had gone to bed, not feeling well and I had done just what it says here!

Jim

Today Jim took himself to the doctors and came back armed with strong painkillers and strong antibiotics. It seems he has an abscess above the tooth he had root filled before Christmas. That could be the reason for his heart arrhythmia as any infection can set it off in some people. Fingers crossed. He is so fed up with being ill. On top of everything else he is now full of cold.

As a goal to getting better, he has booked us a 5 day holiday to Athens in early March to celebrate his 65th birthday.

Love to everyone - we could do with some sunshine here.

New Cushions, New Projects.

2011-01-11T13:08:00.006Z

Cushions

I had bought a bed set a while ago for our king sized bed. It included one of those 'runners' that goes across the bed towards the bottom of the quilt - but it was pretty useless as it just fell off all the time! So I dismantled it and made cushions/pillows out of it - now we can sit up in bed and watch the birds or do the crossword puzzle in comfort.

The little one at the front came with the set, the other 4 are the ones I made. They're a bit slippery though and every time I tried to take the photo the one at the front slid down!

Gardening

We've been managing to do a bit of gardening here and there. Tidying up and mostly bramble clearing. It's amazing how much they grow when you're not looking at them. I did about an hour yesterday, but was completely pooped. I need to get my energy levels back up again.

I'm off to do a bit as soon as I've finished this - hopefully I'll last a bit longer today.

Projects

Well, one of my projects was the bed cushions, so I can tick that one off. Also I need to make some bigger cushions for the Sunroom settees as the ones we have are very old and flat. I could do with being able to get some cushion 'innards' really, but haven't seen any for sale in Ireland yet.

I have also embarked on trying to make a large rug for the snug floor. The theory was to weave small sections and then sew them all together. Having said that, I have just made the first one and it took ages - so watch out for photos of the completed rug in about 2013!

I have, believe it or not, already designed my next year's Christmas Cards! I was playing around with Christmas paper and bits of sweet wrappers and came up with the idea. How crazy is that? Mind you, by next Christmas I'll have forgotten both what my idea was and where I've put the prototypes!!

My Little 'Stones'

Here are the stones I have done since my last blog post. It's getting harder to remember to do them each day. To find out about this project, click on the link over on the top right hand of my blog page.

Day Seven, Jan 8th

Fairies dancing up and down the wardrobe door through a crack in the curtains. Mesmerising

Day Eight, Jan 9th

Soft rain bathes the verdant lawns. Maghera hilltop hides under a blanket of mist

I still have today's to do

Jim

Jim's still not on top form. Now he's all achy and his heart is still all over the place. Time for a trip to the doctors soon.

I hope everyone is ok out there. Thinking of the poor inhabitants of Queensland, Oz, who are suffering so much in the floods.

Birds Galore 7 January 2011

2011-01-07T02:21:00.013Z

Bird Watching

We seem to have more birds feeding in the garden than we have for ages. Both Jim and I love watching them. We can open our bedroom curtains in the morning and enjoy their little squabbles and fights to get the best place on the feeders. Recently we have had a pair of redpolls. We did have one last year but this is the first time it's reappeared - and with a mate. I did take some photos but mostly through the window, so they're not wonderful.

This is the best shot of the redpoll - you can see his red cap and red chin and chest. In shape he's like a siskin but not the same colour.

Now this one made me laugh. The redpoll is in the middle of these 2 wonderful goldfinch! How cute their red faces look. They are probably our most plentiful bird at the moment.

Here you can see 3 goldfinch, the redpoll and a great tit. He's the one on the right hand side of the left hand feeder! I like the goldfinch holding onto the top of the feeder. Maybe he's on watch duty.

Although very blurred, I love this photo of the redpoll chasing off the poor little blue tit below!

Here we have 4 goldfinch and 2 siskin. The siskin are the one on the top of the right hand feeder and the one below. As you can see, they are bright green and yellow, although the female is less colourful. They often feed upside down then lift their heads up either to swallow or check for trouble.

Finally, on the right hand feeder we have 2 Greenfinch. The one on the right is the male and on the left is the female, much more dull of course. 3 Goldfinch are there too. I'll list the birds that we have visiting most often:

Goldfinch
Chaffinch
Greenfinch
Blue tit
Great tit
Coal tit
We have long tailed tits fly about but they don't come to the feeding table.
Siskin
Redpoll
Pied wagtail
Hooded crow
Robin
Magpie
House Sparrows (not often)
Hedge sparrow (dunnock)
Blackbird
Thrush of various descriptions. Of course other birds fly around but don't come near the house and then we have the summer visitors such as the swallows and house martins.

I must set my Canon rebel camera up on a tripod and try and get some better shots when it's warmer.

A River of Stones

I have joined this group and each day of January you are invited to write a 'stone'.

About a river of stones

So I did! I'm not sure whether the links in the above paragraph will work. Please click on the 'badge' on the right entitled 'A River of Stones' and you will learn a lot more detail about the project.

Day one, Jan 2nd 2011 My first 'Stone'

A great tit rides the merry go round half coconut to get the fatty seeds.

Day two, Jan 3rd 2011

The sun hides his face behind a cloud - but lights up the hillside with its glorious beams.

Day Three, Jan 4th 2011

A photo smiles at me - my heart leaps with joy - for Jack - a special boy.

Day Four, Jan 5th 2011

Melted cellophane, vegetable nets, scraps of cotton and paper - reborn as a usable postcard. Recycling rocks.

Day Five, Jan 6th 2011

Golden Christmas coins spill onto my desk - would that they were real - in either guise they make my mouth water.

It's an interesting little discipline to do each day. I have a 'notes' section of Facebook and am posting my stones on a note each day. If you'd like to follow them, this is the link:

I will post the next few I have written on each of my blog posts too.

Jim and I went to Limerick today to do a little shopping. Oh the excitement of it! Apart from that, life goes on. All the Christmas decorations are down and packed away. I am making cushions for our bedroom out of the useless bit of 'throw' that went across the end of the bed. It just used to fall off each night so cushions will be much more useful. I will take a photo when all 3 are done. The first one is already on the bed.

Have a super Friday and good weekend everyone.

New Year's Eve 2010 ATCs & Postcards

2010-12-31T19:00:00.022Z

Me wearing a romper suit - one of my Christmas presents from Jim!

The view from our meadow towards Flagmount and to the right, Tipperary hills.

Hello everyone. Can it be NYE already? Guess it must be. We're not doing much to celebrate - I'm in my office and Jim's in his! Mind you, we did do some gardening earlier which we both really enjoyed. It's lovely to get outside now that all the frost has gone. I did some weeding, digging, rock moving and path weeding. Jim attacked a load of blackthorn that is threatening to take over up on the meadow.

It was a quiet Christmas at The Deenery but we enjoyed it. We had a walk round the land and opened our presents:

2 piles of presents, mine on the left! I have a new phone and had a box of Thornton's chocolates:

This is the 2nd box! Jim bought this in Tesco yesterday as it had been much reduced - which is more than can be said for my waistline after I've eaten them all! I have charged up the phone but that's it so far. I'm not good with new things and instructions..

I also had a lovely warm hat - of course now it's too warm to wear it! I'm sure some cold weather will return before our Winter's end.

How splendid is my hat? In my hand is an ice crystal. I've been amazed at their beauty, like little works of glass art. Here is a little pyramid of crystals:

Do click on this photo and enlarge it.

Here is a photo looking down on a whole heap of ice crystals on the meadow:

Again, if you get the chance, click on this photo.

Buster and Sandy came with us on our walk:

I had some treats in my pocket for Buster.

We walked all round the meadow admiring the frost on the ground. Buster and Sandy came all the way. Then we heard Blackjack coming up the path. He was a bit late to the party! He decided to try and frighten us by arching his back and puffing himself up! It didn't work:

Buster 'what's he doing Mum'? lol.

They all tried to get through the cat flap at once. Crazy animals:

Here I am with my Christmas Dinner:

It's now 2nd January - I didn't finish the other night so will try to do so now. Tonight a couple who live by the lake came for tea at 5pm. We made scones and banana bread and had a tin of Cadbury's Chocolate biscuits and large mugs of tea. It was lovely to entertain someone having been on our own all over Christmas.

Art and Craft

Between Christmas and New Year I made some postcards with all the bits and pieces I'd saved from sewing, wrapping and sweet eating! I think they came out rather well:

Then I cut up an old art project into ATC sized pieces. Some of them are ok as they are and others will need some more adding to them. I think they turned out ok:

These are all for swapping if anyone would like one or more of them. Just leave a comment here or email me.

That's it for now. Wishing everyone a very Happy, healthy and artful New Year.

A Little Drama in The Deen House

2010-12-24T20:15:00.012Z

A frosted leaf at Doorus.

Our Little Drama

The best laid plans of mice and men..... Jim's not been feeling too well for about a week. He suffers from heart arrhythmia and high blood pressure, both of which he takes medication for. We went shopping to Limerick on Wednesday and in Tesco he said he'd had enough and needed to go home. Once there he fell asleep.

He woke at about 11pm and felt awful. His heart felt as though it was swollen and he could feel that his blood pressure was high. He looked ashen when he came to me and said he thought we ought to visit the hospital. His BP was 177/something too high! So off we went in the car to Limerick where we knew they had 24 hour Accident and Emergency facilities. It was white with frost and thick fog drifted across the roads. We arrived about midnight and Jim was taken almost immediately into 'cubicles'.

Sticky leads on the chest, hooked up to the heart and BP monitor, his BP reading 180 now. I could watch on the monitor every time his heart missed a beat. They took a trace and showed it to a doctor. They asked the usual questions. Any pain? Any tingling or pins and needles in the arm? Their fear was clearly heart attack, as was ours.

To cut a long story short, after an all nighter in A & E, Jim's BP was down and they took several blood tests. Apparently if the heart is damaged, it gives of an enzyme which is unique to the heart and so far the blood tests didn't show any of this particular enzyme. At about 6am, they said they were going to keep him in and do further blood tests. I drove home at this point, having left the dog and cats on their own and unable to do much else. Jim was looking happier too and I knew he was in the right place.

Both lots of blood the next day were clear of the heart enzyme so at least we knew his heart was undamaged. The end result was that a very few people with arrhythmia are very sensitive to anything else going wrong with the body and that can set off a particularly severe bout of it. It's possible Jim had an infection of some sort without really being aware of it. So - thankfully no heart attack and 'keep taking the tablets' for his BP with maybe the addition of some aspirin each day.

I had tried to catch a bit of sleep in the morning but phone calls and texts mostly prevented it. Visiting was 3pm onwards so I got ready to go back and hopefully collect Jim. There he was sitting in a little 4 man ward awaiting the final result of his latest blood test. All was well and home we went - no alcohol and take it easy was the order of the day. His heartbeat was still a bit erratic but certainly much better than it had been the night before and his BP was down to its usual level. It was all a bit frightening but at least we weren't having to spend Christmas in hospital and no lasting damage had been caused.

We had been hoping to travel by car to the UK on 27th December to visit our family from Yorkshire to the South Coast, but all logic told us that wouldn't be wise in the circumstances. The weather has also been dreadful both in Ireland and even more so in the UK, so we sadly had to cancel our trip. I have all the presents here all wrapped ready to go and it'll be sad not to be able to watch everyone open them - but it can't be helped. Hopefully we'll be able to go over some time later in January and have a 2nd 'Christmas' with our families.

Jim is now quite relaxed and feeling much happier. We will enjoy our Christmas at home and just chill out for a few days, which will also be lovely.

A happy Jim back home with his hospital 'bracelets' still on.

Weather

We have had a bit of snow but lots of frost. Limerick was just amazing. The whole world seemed to turn white there - it had clearly been much colder than at Doorus. It was stunningly beautiful to drive through. The trees were all white and the fields too, just like a Christmas Card. As I drove home from the hospital, the car lights shone on all the frost, lighting it up like diamonds - absolutely breathtaking.

Naturally I did manage to take a few photos here and there!

Frosty pole and Lough Graney in the distance.

Lough Graney is partly frozen and during last night (our sleep patterns are a bit topsy turvy) Jim and I could hear really strange 'booming' noises coming from the lake. Today we spoke to a local and he had heard it too. We think it's from the ice but it was very strange.

This is all frost, not snow. Jim took this photo this morning before he went to bed!

A world of white - Limerick, on the way to the hospital.

A weeping willow straight out of Narnia.

Isn't that beautiful?

Has such a mundane fence ever looked so pretty?

Bus Shelter Cobwebs

A tree in the hospital grounds.

I do hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a Happy and healthy New Year. See you all after Christmas.

Mixed Post, Ennis, Archie Doll +

2010-12-18T22:46:00.015Z

A Very Cute Shop Window Display in Ennis

Luisa

Great news. All being well the doctor said that Lu can come home on Monday! This is just fantastic. She'll be very weak of course and won't be able to do much but at least she'll be home.

On Wednesday Jim took me to Ennis to do some Christmas shopping. He carried on to Limerick to buy some pellets for our stove. We left early as it was supposed to snow in the afternoon. I had fun around the Chrismassy shops and everyone seemed to be in a good mood.

These figures were all animated and so pretty.

I rather liked the red stars hung in an arcade on the way to Dunnes stores - where I picked up lots of goodies!

While I was waiting for Jim to pick my up, the sky got darker and darker and then it started sleeting/snowing. I ran over to shelter in Aldi's just before Jim came down the road - and drove straight past me! We did manage to find each other and headed home.

The sky got darker and darker!

Cows in the Meadow

Yesterday, I looked out of my studio window and saw several cows up in our meadow! Our gate was firmly shut so I'm not sure how they got in. Anyway, Jim and I herded them along our path and eventually out of the gate. We checked to see if any more were about. During the evening, Jim went up to the barn to get some pellets and there were another 2 small cows standing on the parking area! Off we went again and managed to get them out too. Of course they are Martin's, our neighbouring alcoholic farmer.

Here are a few of them - taken through my window, thus the splodges!

Today there was another fox on the arboretum. Jim managed to get one reasonable photo:

New Friends

Our neighbours Pete and Sandra haven't been about for ages and I was worried about the cats. I went down there and the cats appeared, so someone must have been feeding them. Later on, a white van appeared - and we happened to be by our barn so they stopped and we had a chat. It turned out that they were coming from the other side of the lake to feed the cats every few days, so we have taken over duties of course. I think we were away when P and S left so they couldn't ask us.

We invited 'Wolf' and 'Melanie' in for a cup of tea and enjoyed a pleasant hour chatting with them about this and that. They bought their place with no roof, windows, doors, running water or electricity! How brave they were. We thought we had a hard time with the builders here for a year. Wolf (short for Wolfgang) is an artist and Melanie makes Irish Straw items, a bit like corn dollies from what I can imagine. We had a lot in common and I'm sure we'll keep in touch. I hope so anyway.

Apparently P & S are in Australia, which we had guessed as Sandra's parents and a sister live there.
Archie

I finished another rag doll a couple of days ago, he's called Archie and everyone loves him!!

Back View

His face close up.

Side view to show off his hair cut!

His trousers were made out of an old pair of my jeans and his socks from an old white tea shirt. Only the shirt and bow tie are new material.
ATCs

I took part in at ATC swap all with a Christmas theme and these are the ones I received:

They are now hanging on my Christmas Tree. Festive Fun.

We are about ready for Christmas. In case we get snowed in we bought most of the food - which isn't that much for us two. I think we have been reasonably lucky with the snow so far. They have had it really bad in the UK again. My son Jason battled from Suffolk to SE London in the snow. His normal one and a half hour journey took 3 and a half. Still, at least he got there ok.

I think that's all from me on this catch up and I hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Christmas Decorations....

2010-12-10T18:35:00.023Z

Our Welsh Dresser with 'Charlie' the latest rag doll and 4 porcelain snowflakes.

Luisa

Lu is battling on. She is now walking to the loo - has most of her tubes out but has picked up another infection so is not able to have visitors except K. She's still up and down with the temperature but on the whole it's all great progress being made. Hoorah!

Latest Doll

I have just finished another rag doll. She's called Charlie and here she is:

I think she has rather a cheeky face!

Here is a close up of her fancy boots:

I am half way through making a boy doll now.

Christmas Decorations

I have just about finished the decorations around The Deenery. Would you like to see? Of course...

This is a little tree in the kitchen/diner.

At the other end of the same room is a bough and a decorated Silver Birch twig (plus our new little tv)!

And Buster:

Well, he's quite decorative!

The silver birch twig and a Christmas photo on the wall which I took in Chesterfield.

In the pellet basket another birch twig and on the wall a plain wreath I bought and then decorated.

A close up of the wreath. Look at the cute robin poking his head out of the top!

In the snug - my big Christmas Tree.

The fireplace has a dangly thing in the centre, various soft toys and 2 decorations on the mantelpiece which have tealights in them. The Santa in front of the TV was made by my daughter K many years ago. I was in a play called 'Season's Greetings' and the tag in Santa's left hand says just that! What a clever girl! I treasure it, along with all the other home made decorations from my children.

A long dangly hangs from the snug ceiling! Here it is in close up:

The angel on top of the big tree.

That small wreath in the photo was bought for me by a friend I used to work with at the NatWest Bank, Nikki. We had a lot of laughs together and still keep in touch via Facebook. I'm hoping she'll come to Ireland next year.

At the back is a collage I made and in front, 3 decorations which have lost their hangers. The angel is the last remaining piece of a nativity set my parents used to have when we were children. I have no idea where the other pieces ended up but I'm glad I have this reminder.

Jim cut and arranged the holly on top of a kitchen cupboard. Our holly's berries have all been eaten by the birds so Jim foraged for this in Martin's hedge!

Jim also arranged these baskets on a high shelf with some tinsel!

That's about it for now. I still have quite a few decorations left in one of the boxes. We had mince pies for pudding today. Lovely.

I'm not very organised with presents yet but there's still time - I hope! Wishing everyone a super weekend.

Luisa, Garden Update at last

2010-12-03T17:05:00.015Z

This is a 'joiner' I did of Lough Graney 2 days ago when the lake was really clear and the sky a gorgeous blue. Do click on it for the full effect.

Luisa

Best news in the world, Lu's got so much better in the past 2 days that they're moving her to a ward, maybe even today, Whoohoo!!

Bearing in mind they didn't expect her to get this far by Xmas... they don't know our Lu! -grins and bounces around like a looney!- x

Latest blog update from K! How amazing is that?

Since I posted that a few days ago it's been the usual Lu rollercoaster. One day she's up, the next down. She's had fluid in her lungs which was removed via a tube stuck between her ribs. AAAH! Lots of shouting and yelling but it seems to have done the job. The good news is that she is now on the ward and has about beaten the septicaemia. So keep thinking of her, K and Rachel - as I know you all will.

Me and the Garden

Life trundles on. We have had snow, which melted a bit and now it's solid ice. Not good and we are stuck in again. Jim went to go out yesterday and came back having been warned by the neighbours it was too risky. However, the snow always provides photo opportunities!

This big fluffy fox was wandering around the garden today. He must have been hungry.

Jim took this one a little while later. He has a cute face.

Frost on a pile of red crocks. They were candle holders but blew off the table and smashed.

You can see the snow is more like ice here. Frosted leaf and colourful stone - I think it must have been part of the old barn wall with the paint it has on it.

The sun shone through the reeds and melted the snow on this sedge head.

More sedge seeds and melting frost. A beautiful blue sky.

Sandy and Buster walked all round with me!

Frost covered thistles. Click on any to enlarge and get a better view.

Flagmount had a strange 'hat' of cloud sitting on top of the hill:

That reminds me, our friend Kevin, who lives right by the lake, had a fire a couple of nights ago. Jim thought he could hear voices in the middle of the night and apparently it was the firemen trying to get their engine back up to the road. In the end they had to go through the forestry and cut one of the locks at the end of the track to get out. So you can see how bad the roads are.

Luckily only one room, the bedroom, of Kevin's house was badly spoiled and water ran down into the kitchen. We walked down to see if there was anything we could do but Kevin seemed fairly laid back about the whole thing! I don't think I would have been. Jim and I walked round Kevin's house to the lake and the reflections were amazing. I have loads of terrific photos but I'll just put a couple here:

Flagmount sky reflection.

Flagmount above and below Lough Graney! The right hand side of the hill is the same section you can see in the 'cloud hat' photo above.

Back to today and Sandy lagged behind as Buster and I walked back up the meadow. I called him and he appeared, greeted by Buster:

These two get on really well. Buster's asleep on my rug at my feet right now.

That's a quick update. I've been busy making dolls for birthday and Christmas presents and trying to sort out our Christmas Cards. I am making photo cards this year as it'll be quicker and I'm all behind. They are my photos though!

I'm off to bed soon as it's 2am. I do hope everyone is ok and had a good weekend.

Update on Luisa

2010-12-02T09:52:00.003Z

Hello everyone. I'm back in Ireland. We just beat the really dreadful snow in the UK and flew back from Gatwick airport as the snow was just starting. Here it's not too bad except for the ice which is treacherous. We have the heating going at full belt and are keeping warm in the minus temperatures. Gatwick airport was closed yesterday!

Luisa

K stayed in Sheffield overnight last night because of the deep snow. She put this update on her blog just now, so I've copied it for you all:

Yesterday was both glorious and dreadful. Her skin is totally back to normal, all swelling gone, yay. She looks more like herself again, and although she still has septicaemia, it's finally turning around, whoop! The wounds are being treated well and are going to heal, just take time.

Basically all news was positive except that she still struggled to breathe, really badly. So, another scan was arranged, of her chest again but this time particularly to look for any other problem than the chest infection.

Bingo! There was massive fluid gathering at the base of her lungs, no wonder she couldn't inflate her lungs! The answer was a really dreadful but truly miraculous big needle shoved between her ribs, to drain the fluid. Scanner was brought in and the surgeon did his job there and then, poor Lu was roaring with pain but then.. Omg it was amazing.

The fluid came rushing out and within minutes of that I realized the sound of panting and gasping we'd so got used to this past fortnight... had gone. I looked at Lu and smiled and said, do you realise you're not struggling to breathe? She raised heh eyebrows and smiled saying, without gasping... you're right!

Awhile later, morphine relieved and smiling, she slept properly for the first time. Still on a facemask but with her chest rising and falling almost normally. I laughed out loud and woke her accidentally when she snored! Bearing in mind she's not been able to blow her nose, cough, hold anything for lack of breath.. to hear her snore was beautiful and amazing!

Well I managed to type all that out so not bad. Sorry for the delay. Last night I just hurt all over, hardly surprising.

Off into the snow again soon in order to get there again today, and I'm really hopeful that she'll be feeling lots better now she can breathe!

-doffs cap-
DK

So apart from the nastly needle, it's all looking so much better. Phew! It's been a rocky road, up and down with her temperature, the infection, her scar and white blood cells. Now I can truly say I think Lu is really over the worst.

Thank you to everyone who has been thinking and praying for Lu, K and Rachel and me too. It's really meant a massive amount to us all. I hope to be able to catch up with some blogs soon, please forgive me for my lack of visits.

Much love to all

Gina
xxxx

The Power of Love?

2010-11-23T17:49:00.002Z

Dear Luisa is conscious which must be a good sign. She's not out of the woods yet but we're all more hopeful. Still intubated and hooked up to loads of drips and machines. I'm off v early in the morning, not sure when I'll be back.

Thank you for all your love, support and prayers.

Please Help. Family Issues.

2010-11-22T13:10:00.002Z

Hello all my blog friends.

My daughter's partner Luisa needs all your thoughts and prayers right now. I am flying over to be with K on Wednesday (earliest I can get there) so please do what you can. I know many of you are Christians and will say a prayer for us at this awful time.

The following is from my daughter's blog and the photos is of Luisa:

URGENT re LUISA aka LEATHEREAGLE

I am calling out for help, from anyone and everyone who knows and loves our Luisa, aka LeatherEagle.

I believe in the power of prayer, whatever your beliefs or lack of. So, light a candle, say your prayers. For the record Luisa's personal favourites were Green Tara, Kuan Yin and Ganesh. She also always loved the Saints, St Francis in particular. Thank you.

She is very, very sick. Having had surgery last Thursday (gastric bypass) she ran into complications over the next couple of days. By Saturday night it was obvious this was more than the expected pain/recovery so tests were run during the night leading to her being rushed back into surgery due to complications.

Bottom line, both her small bowel and stomach leaked into her stomach cavity/abdomen. That's meant to be a sterile environment. This means Luisa is now effectively on life support due to septicaemia involving massive medication (antibiotics, drips galore) and in particular medications to keep her blood pressure up and stop her heart (and other organs) from failing. This is as serious as it gets, the doctors have told us in no uncertain terms that she may or may not, make it through this.

Hence my imploring you all to take note, stop and spend a moment wishing her well.

Naturally this means she is unconscious so well wishes direct to her are pointless, however I WILL keep note of responses and messages so that - hopefully - she can read them when she's all better again.

Bottom line is she is VERY ill, in Critical Care for the foreseeable future until (hopefully) the sepsis recedes and she can fight back.

I am asking for ALL your prayers, wishes and candles (depending how you float your boat) to carry her through this and out the other side.'

I know you will all do your best for us. With thanks,

Gina
xx

Snug Photos at Last - Etsy Account

2010-11-20T05:29:00.016Z

Last of the Autumn Colour at The Deenery

Snug

We have just about finished the snug at last. Jim has one or two little 'snags' to deal with and we have the photos and pictures to put on the wall.

I can't find most of my 'before' photos, but here are a couple of them:

Mucky fireplace and hearth and exposed central heating pipes, now all beautifully covered up by Jim.

Entering from the kitchen/diner. Old carpet gone.

The fireplace. The tv used to be in the opposite corner but is much better in its new location. We are rather pleased with the fireplace. Jim made the clock for Jason and Sam but they said it didn't work. It's been her working away ever since!

Oh yes, very relaxing!

Jim enjoying the paper in the lamplight. Under the radiator you can see where he has blocked in the pipes. I hated those!

We do need 2 new 2 seater settees but for now these will have to do. I really want ones with plain covers.

Our art deco mirror above Jim's desk. The wooden tray belonged to his Grandmother. You can see me in the mirror! The right hand door goes into Jim's office - oh, so does the left hand door! We think it must have been 2 rooms at one time but rather like the oddity of the 2 doors.

So there we have it. It's so cosy in there we've been spending far too long sitting and chatting and watching tv!

Etsy

I have opened an Etsy account and listed my one item - a little stuffed toy 'Santa's Little Helper'! Here he is:

He was meant to be Santa but didn't really look like him so he's become an elf. I must say I love his little shirt and trousers!

Raggybaglady is my name. I will be listing some of my bags later today.

Sandy

Sandy seems to live in my wool crate - talk about chilled out:

He looks so funny here - he's lost his ears!

Funny Potato

Jim got the giggles the other day over this potato he found:

Bottom or Boobs?

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

New Rag Doll, Dotee Dolls and Random Sky Photos

2010-11-16T17:51:00.023Z

Crafting

Rag Dolls

I have just finished my 2nd rag doll. As I used rather stretchy material, she's larger than the first one!! Weird.

Here is Jessica:

Her hat is a bit in the dark but it's the same as Hannah's with the addition of a pink bobble on the end.

Here they are both together:

You can see Jessica's head a bit more clearly in this photo. The hair is sparkly beige but seems to have come out yellow here.

Dotee Dolls

I became a bit hooked on making Dotee Dolls. (If you want to see the inventor of these little cuties, click below). Dotee Dolls are an altered art doll created by Dot of http://dotslifeandart.blogspot.com

A little Japanese Dotee.

Another Japanese Dotee, with butterflies on it.

And this is the back. I reversed the pattern and coloured the fabric to match the front, adding 'hair' too.

Here's a Christmas one with sparkly hair.

I have done some others too but can't post them just yet. Shhhhhhh!

I am in the process of making a Santa at the moment. He's very fat!

Max - Buster's Mate

Buster has a friend called Max who calls for him quite often. We always know when Max is at the door as much squealing goes on from inside and out! Yesterday they happily trotted off together but later in the day, Max reappeared on his own. He was waiting for Buster to come out - they must have lost each other somewhere.

The cats are frightened of Max but all he wants to do is play. They teased him through the cat flap.

He's looking at BlackJack through the cat flap! Black Jack and Sandy were both growling at poor Max. I managed to get one of both sides of the door:

Poor Max, eventually he went away and Buster came home later on his own and very muddy. He hasn't stayed out at all since his long disappearance thank goodness.

Garden

As the sun set, the sky was quite dramatic yesterday, so I roamed around with my camera.

Red sky and swirly clouds over the living willow fence.

A line of cloud above Maghera (the hill opposite us). In the foreground you can just see a yellow hollyhock still flowering in our garden. Click on the photo for the best view.

The moon appeared.

The thin red line over Lough Graney

Moon Lines.

Doorus Sky - probably my favourite.

BlackJack and Sandy were keeping an eye on me!

A few leaves are still left on the Liquidamber.

We had a power cut last night at about 10pm. Jim brought me a Baileys, which sent me to sleep! I went to bed at 10 and woke up at 3am! So here I am. Cup of tea time.....

Trip To Worthing, Poppy and Sonny have grown

2010-11-13T17:16:00.013Z

Sonny.

UK Trip

It was a blustery few days away! The day we set off (Monday) we had had a very stormy night but thankfully the wind had died down when we had to fly. When we arrived in the UK, we had caught it up!! We caught the train to Shoreham-by-sea and were picked up by Ali and Poppy. We went to theirs and had a few hours together. Ali was working the rest of our stay, so we were pleased to be able to have this time.

As you would expect, I took a few photos! Poppy has grown a little and has an amazing vocabulary. She also repeats everything a lot, which I remember Ben and Jack both doing.

Poppy playing with a dinosaur. Ali had a 'cube' of old photos and Poppy looks just like Ali did at the same age. Ali's hair went dark and with Poppy's dark eyebrows, I expect hers will darken too.

Playing with her Zebra.

After a while, Poppy had a sleep and when she was woken, she was a bit grumpy! Ali suggested we could go and feed the donkeys some carrots, which Poppy thought was a great idea. We wrapped up warm and off we went.

Poppy proudly carrying the carrots for the donkeys. Grandad towers over her!

Poppy feeding the donkeys. She has no fear of the animals at all.

There was a farm shop nearby and lots of chickens and geese (honkey honkey geese Poppy calls them) and some goats too, so we went and looked at them all.

Poppy liked this greyhound statue as much as the 'live' animals.

A fine, if rather muddy, cockerel. We said goodbye to all the animals and headed back to Ali's. Jim and I had a fine time with the Play Doh and Poppy. We rolled and made spaghetti and fed it to the dinosaurs! Then Joe (Daddy) came home and Ali drove us to Worthing and our house.

From one Grandchild to another, Sonny has grown and is almost walking. He just loves his Grandad and wants to be picked up all the time. He is a lovely little boy, really happy and fun.

'Grandad' with Sonny.

'My library book' says Sonny (well, in his head I'm sure).

Pick me up Grandad.

I have a large fluffy dog which Sonny gets to play with as a treat. That's him lying on it in the top photo, my best 'Sonny' shot of the trip.

Here he's blowing raspberries!

All too soon the trip was over. Poor Jim had a root canal filling at the dentists and has been in pain ever since. It took an hour and a half to do. Today he says that it seems to be improving thankfully. Teeth, they're nothing but trouble.

We had another bumpy flight back to Ireland. It's been wet and windy since - although I did manage to get into the garden and do some tidying up for a few hours - in between showers.

I have been making more Dotee Dolls and have almost completed my 2nd Rag Doll.

I hope everyone's having a good weekend.

House and Garden Updates, 7.11.10

2010-11-07T18:50:00.032Z

Leaf strewn path at The Deenery

House

We have been working on our 'snug' for a while. It's turned into a bigger job than we expected but we're trying to do it really well. The floor has been vinyl tiled and the walls are all a soft beige and the woodwork white. We ran out of white paint yesterday so I haven't been able to complete that part. It's all sanded, filled and ready though.

We decided to paint the old fireplace surround very dark brown and white. It's quite dramatic and I think it'll look great when it's finished:

Just a rough idea of how the fireplace will look.

Here's one of the white doors and surround:

It's all smart and shiny.

You may notice the shelves to the left of the boiler. They were behind the door into the snug but we've moved them to this new place as when you pushed the door back, it always hit the shelves. I like them there. So far only stuff from the snug has been dumped on them but when we've finished in there, I'll think about what to put on them. Jim's cup for winning the flower section at the Gort Show looks rather good on the top of the shelves I think.

We're off to the UK tomorrow until Thursday, this time to the Worthing end of the country to see Jim's children and Grandchildren. Ooh, lovely Poppy and Sonny. Less exciting is that we're both visiting the dentist! Jim took Buster to the kennels and he wouldn't get out of the car. Jim dragged him out and then Buster stood there shaking. Poor Buster. Then he howled of course.

Garden

I had a quick walk round today to see what was still in flower and look at the gorgeous leaves still left on some of our trees. A short while afterwards it started to rain and now it's raining and blowing a gale. It's good to be inside and warm.

Lovely colours still on the 2 acers and the Liquidamber.

A closer shot of this lovely small leaved acer. When we brought it from the UK it was about 18 inches tall. It obviously loves it in this spot.

I love how violas seed themselves in unlikely places and flower away! How pretty is this little one?

The Spring flowering primula 'Wanda' has got a bit confused with the mild Autumn weather! OK, it does look a bit tatty.

The laburnum leaves are a pretty yellow and my danglers keep their colour and sound all year.

The above mahonia blew down a few days ago so we put a stake in and tied it back up. It seems to have survived ok.

The red dogwood is showing its true colours. An old plough is in front of it.

Gorgeous pyracantha berries.

This pretty sycamore tree is a beautiful yellow up by the gate rockery.

I'm not sure how these dahlia have escaped the frost but they still keep flowering.

Fallen leaves on the lawn

The view to Lough Graney from our fence today.

The magnolia stellata is turning a lovely yellow/green and this rose still thinks it's Summer.

The 2 hedgehogs outside my porch door. The one on the left is now growing perennial alyssum! The alyssum has decided to seed everywhere this year, as has the alchemilla mollis of course:

I love it when things self seed in odd places.

From L - R. The sweetcorn bed, the arboretum with beds and the newly covered paths.

Sandy and BlackJack

Sandy loves to be really comfortable. I made the following 'joiner' of him:

In the first two he's in one of my wool boxes in my studio, in the last one in Buster's chair!

When I was in the garden today, BlackJack followed me about as usual:

He ran up to me as soon as he spotted me outside!

Well, he was on the grass in this photo, but now I can't see him!

Well I'm off to bed now as we have to be up early in the morning. I'll be back Thursday afternoon, after we've picked Buster up from the kennels.

Trip to the UK - Ickworth, Ikea, Playbarn, Halloween

2010-11-03T23:56:00.024Z

Well, what a great time I had in the UK with my big son and his family, Jason, Sam, Jack and Kitty. We had a packed itinerary which I really like and the weather was great too, which I like even more!

We all piled off to Ikea on the Thursday (28th), I had arrived late the night before. I haven't been to an Ikea for ages as the only ones in Ireland are in Dublin and somewhere up in the North. Kitty was obviously tired:

She decided to try out this rather lovely bed! Sam thought she'd try Kitty out on a pair of reins. Jack loved them - I think he thought Kitty was a horse! But she was very fast and tried to outrun him:

She loved having them on. Much looking was done and some buying. I bought some small boxes for my cotton reels and 4 reindeer for my Christmas Tree.

It's compulsory in my book to have Ikea meatballs for lunch with their gravy and red stuff (jam?) on! They're lovely. It was a fun if tiring day.

On Friday we had arranged to have a Chinese Buffet meal with Jason's Grandad Ivor and wife Maureen in Bury St Edmunds. All you can eat for £7.99. What a bargain and the food was just delicious.

L - R, Ivor, Jason, Maureen, Jack, me and Kitty at the head of the table. Sam took the photo!

Kitty had fun with her chopsticks - look at the food on her tray! Jack enjoyed the puddings most of all - he had 3 bowls full!

We had a little walk round Bury and I made a trip to the fabric shop. I managed not to spend too much. I bought a couple of fat quarters and some more material to make rag dolls. I love that shop.

On Saturday we took Jack to his swimming lesson in Haverhill then popped off to get some supplies in Sainsbury's before heading home. It was a beautiful day and after lunch we headed to Ickworth for a long walk round the grounds. I took loads of photos as it was so gorgeous.

Jack Sam, Jason and Kitty. Look at that sky!

I loved the roots of this tree overhanging the stream. The red you can see behind the leaves is Sam!

We passed a cottage with this really spooky mask hanging in the garden.

There were lots of dead trees, this was just one of them. Jack said it looked like a monster!

This was meant to be Jason with horns!

A lovely Ickworth view - with another dead tree!

Kitty walked the last part although she hasn't much idea of going forward. It's sideways or backwards mostly. She just loved it though.

She looked so cute trotting along.

Jack had a lovely Mummy cuddle.

Back near the car park is a play area with a zip slide, which Jack loves. Kitty and Sam played on the smaller equipment. I sat and drank coffee and ate some chocolate fingers! Then Kitty came back and she and I went for a wander. She went into the willow maze they have there and just ran and ran around it. It's so lovely to see her free and running in the fresh air.

Off she ran into the maze.

Soon it was home time and we were all tired and had very muddy feet.

On Sunday(my last day), we went to a Playbarn in the morning and stayed until after lunch. We were the only ones there to start with but soon some other families came too and we all had a good time playing. Jack, Jason and I had a fight with the balls!

We had a volcano experiment to do when we got home! Jason, Jack and I painted 3 containers to look like volcanoes then, armed with mintos and coke, headed out to the garden. They didn't work very well so Jason made one in the bottle and that did! I was a bit slow with my camera:

That thin line is the volcano lava!

Here is the one that almost worked:

Jason and Jack then carved out Jack's pumpkin as it was Halloween that night. He did a good job:

We put it outside in case any trick or treaters appeared. One family did come later on and Sam and Jack gave them some goodies.

Kitty sitting on the bottom step unimpressed by Jack's pumpkin!

Finally Sam had bought 3 gingerbread house kits to make. We decided to have a 'girls v boys' contest and Rene, Sam's Mum, was the judge.

Jason and Jack's in the foreground, mine and Sam's behind. Rene made us laugh going round and peering at the 2 houses (she had no idea who had done what). Finally, she made a dramatic point at ours! Jack was very tired by then and burst into tears so Rene felt rotten!

If you look carefully in the mirror behind, you can see Jack's reaction!

Phew, what a hectic few days we had enjoyed. I love staying with them all though and Sam fed us well as always. The diets went a bit out of the window so I'm back on it now.

Kitty is at that adorable age. She isn't talking much but has started to say different words at last. Jack is a crazy live wire, still very funny with the occasional outburst! All to be expected at 5 years old. I love them both to pieces.

Hurling - Ruan v Killanena Final. Moon Photos.

2010-10-27T01:49:00.031+01:00

Well we had such fun on Sunday. It was a bank holiday weekend here in Ireland and the final of the local hurling team's season. They were playing Ruan, a small village just outside Ennis and the game was playing at the Ennis ground.

It was an absolutely beautiful day, the sun shone continuously. We arrived in good time and didn't really know where to sit/stand. The seated stand was in shadow so we stood at the Ruan goal end where it was warm in the sun. This is our viewpoint:

The whole thing kicked off with a parade lead by the Tulla Pipe Band with both teams walking behind. The stand looks empty here but lots more arrived as time passed. You can see the 'goal' on the pitch. The players can score a goal or between the posts but the goal gets more points.

We soon realised we were amongst mostly opposition supporters when we let out a cheer as Killanena scored between the posts and then a goal! We cheered of course.....

The teams 'break' and scatter. Can you imagine a more perfect view with the Ennis Abbey in the background?

The scoreboard was just behind us and it amused me to see the little hand appear through the 'window' when the score changed! At this point Ruan had 2 scores from over the posts and Killanena had one goal and 3 scores from over the posts. 'Come on Killanena'!

I amused myself with a shot of the side of the scoreboard 'hut' and other interesting shapes and textures!

Killanena score - the ball is up in the air there somewhere!

At half time we moved position and went over to the side of the main stand. We were just about in the sunshine and it was more fun being with the crowd. We also had a closer view of the players and were near the Ruan goal for the 2nd half. Here is the half time score:

Exactly even! The second half was really exciting. First one side scored, then the other and so it went on.

Here a Ruan player is about to take a free hit from a fowl. They have to pick the ball up with the 'hurley' then toss it up and whack it! It takes a good deal of skill and the game is fast and furious.

Towards the end of the game, the crowd stood up as the action was at the other end of the pitch - the Killanena goal. Ruan were only one point behind - would they score a winning goal?

Killanena have been in 3 finals and lost the last 2. We watched the last one too! Not this time though:

Bottom right, the final score. One goal each but 9 hits to Ruan and 10 to Killanena. At last they'd done it - by one point!

There was such hugging and celebrations.

Then followed the presentation of the cup. Number 15 from Killanena - the captain - is Mark Flaherty - the son of our neighbours Michael and Elizabeth Flaherty. Their other son is also in the team! Here he is, having given a little speech in Irish and English:

And here the crowd watches:

'We are the Champions'

I took a few abstract photos of course. This is my favourite:

Hat and hurleys abandoned.

Empty terrace.

Team mascot? Job done...

Barbed wire

Fortified by a coffee and a shared bag of chips, we headed home. As we approached Killanena we were surprised to see a fire by the side of the road - then another and another. They were celebratory fires of course!

The Killanena flag and fire by the road.

As I looked over the horizon the moon looked as though it was sitting on the hill. It looked beautiful and I got out of the car to try and take a shot of it:

How amazing it looked just sitting there.

When we arrived home the moon was shining brightly and reflected in Lough Graney. I grabbed my new Berghaus coat and ran down to the edge of the lake to take some photos!

This was on the way to the lake, the reflection looked like a fire.

Down at the fishing stand with the moon and the lights of Flagmount reflected in Lough Graney. I quite liked this one.

A similar shot but taken a little further to the right.

It seemed so bright I took a lot more photos but in actual fact it was too dark.
It was so beautiful down by the lake I stayed for almost an hour! My nose was a bit cold but I was still warm.

Jim had been worried about me and thought I'd fallen in.

We had beem so lucky with the weather as the next 2 days were pretty rotten. It was very very windy both Monday and Tuesday, with rain as well at times.

What a great day it was. Now Killanena go up into the next division, the 'seniors'. Let's hope they do as well there.

Off to Suffolk tomorrow evening - back on Monday night.

If you're interested to see more about hurling, this is on U-tube:

Horses, Flowers and Sky.....

2010-10-24T01:32:00.028+01:00

The Deenery Front Garden, taken today.

Horses

I went to post a letter a couple of days ago and on the mountain road was a field with a few horses in it. I stopped and made friends with them. They were funny, if I was in the car, they'd come right up to the gate but as soon as I got out, they backed off.

Look at that lovely blue sky.

These two look as though they're having a chat!

Four in a row.

the one nearest had a beautiful colour nose.

It was clearly a good joke!

Go on - tell us another one!

The Deenery

When I arrived at the post office it was shut for lunch! I always forget that, so I drove back to Killanena and up the long lane which goes high above Lough Graney so that I could photograph The Deenery in the sunshine:

Can you spot it? If you come straight down from the centre of the furthest right hand bit of overhanging tree, you hit us! Not the big one to the right of us. You may have to click on it to see.

There we are!

This is a joiner I took from the top of the hill. A chap called Joe lives in the house you can see on the far right. What views over Lough Graney and Flagmount he has. Do click on it and see whether you can still spot The Deenery!

The red roofed building is a derelict farm. The lake looked like glass that day. The striped brown section at the bottom left is the bog, where locals used to cut peat for burning on the fire. We have rights to a piece of it apparently.

Garden

Today I had an afternoon outside as it was so lovely. Inside we are still working on the snug and making progress.

This is some of the area I have been working on lately, weeding it then putting gravel down.

I am now working my way up the hill to the parking area, which has mostly been done already. That boulder needs moving!

The cosmos keep on blooming and even some sweet peas.

The liquidamber is looking magnificent.

Round to the back again and the roses carry on valiantly.

I think this pink double hollyhock looks like a powder puff my mother used to have.

Throughout the day, the sky made beautiful pictures.

I do love the clouds. By teatime the sky had tinges of bright red over Lough Graney, it looked gorgeous. The new header photo was taken then.

Our ginkgo biloba has turned a fabulous yellow.

This little holly is covered in berries. Can you see the silver bandage on it? The builders snapped it in two with the digger and Jim 'mended' it. We didn't think it would survive, but it seems just fine. More cosmos are flowering behind it.

There is even a lupin still left.

This is a 'joiner' photo I took looking out over Lough Graney from our gate. The clouds were a beautiful colour.

Of course I took far too many photos of the garden today with all the flowers. I'm just loving the fact that we still have so many. Pansies, dianthus, polyanthus, pansies, cosmos, sweet peas and even the tender busy lizzies are still in flower.

I hope every one's enjoying the weekend. Tomorrow we are going to watch a hurling match. Killanena have got to the finals so we are off to see them WIN! Last time they made it this far and we watched them, they lost so it must be their turn now.

Mostly Dotee Dolls and Artist Trading Cards

2010-10-22T00:04:00.020+01:00

Dotee Doll Swap

Have you heard of a Dotee Doll? I hadn't before I was invited to take part in a swap to make two!

A lady called Dot in Australia invented these little dolls to spread happiness around the world and they've really taken off. They are really just little stuffed bodies with a head, a hook to hang them from and a 'tail' of some sort hanging from the bottom. The body can be between 3 and 6" long I think. I really enjoyed making these, they're quite easy and basically apart from the rules above, you can do what you like! Anyway, here are my two:

Front

Back.

Her hair is made of feathers and she has a little hat on!

The back. I am posting these 2 dolls to a lady in Ireland from the http://milliande.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network A group of women artists and crafters of all sorts. It's a great site to belong to. The ATCs are also for a Milliande swap.

If you google Dotee Dolls there are lots of photos and a link to Dot's blog too.

ATC Swap

The challenge was to make at least 2 ATCs as Christmas Ornaments to hang on a tree. I made 6 so I get a few different ones back for my tree. I made mine double sided too:

That's all 6, both sides! I think they'll look ok on a tree and have lots of sparkle to catch the light.

They are being posted to Canada to the lady who is organising the swap.

Other News

Jim and I have been laying vinyl wood look tiles on the snug floor. It had a terrible old carpet in there which I hated. It's almost done. We did have some trouble trying to stick the tiles down but seem to have got the hang of it now. We have to paint the ceiling and walls now then it's finished. Oh, and buy a large rug for the centre of the room. Photos when it's done.

Nothing much else to report. I'm off to Suffolk, UK again next week for a few days. Jack and Kitty here I come.....

Walk through Dillons' Wood to Lough Graney, County Clare

2010-10-18T16:19:00.029+01:00

Jim's photo of Autumn leaves.

Hi everyone. Jim and I were at a loss what to do yesterday as it rained and we were hoping to finish the poly tunnel we are making. I did some crafting and Jim did bits and bobs. The rain cleared for a while so we decided to risk it and go for a walk. Can't do with being inside all day.

Buster had gone off with his friend Max - so it was just us! The cats were happy in my office:

BlackJack sitting in some of my wool.

Sandy had to take the chair!

Oh look - you can see Hannah on my desk.

Along the lane the lake is on our right:

It looked fine enough. We reached the wood and enjoyed seeing some fungi and lots of lush green moss, plus an abundance of lichen. The wood had a real 'carpet of leaves' on the ground.

Jim in Dillons' wood.

It was about here that we felt the odd spot of rain - well, heard it really. Ah well, 'we're not made of paper' we quipped.

We passed several animal 'holes', one of which I'm sure was a badger's home. This I haven't seen before though. A slug nest?

If you enlarge it you can see a slug crawling about.

We disturbed the ducks by the lake. There was much quacking and flapping! Look how misty is was - the photo is almost in black and white.

I spotted this white feather in the shallows. It looked so pretty with the mist settled on it.

Flagmount was disappearing under the rain cloud which was heading our way!

Luckily we had hats and coats so wrapped up well. Gosh, it did rain!

Jim took some photos of some fishermen in the lake! Rather them than me:

He found a feather and put it in his hat! You can just see it.

Flagmount half gone:

It was very slippery round by the rocks. The grasses looked lovely as ever.

Luckily, the rain soon passed over us. What a difference:

Some pretty lichen, moss and fallen oak leaves.

We walked up to the road and back through the wood - the road cuts right through it.

On the path up to the road there are 2 of these amazing oak trees. They have massive leaves and as you can see, their colour is stunningly vibrant.

Here is one of the fallen leaves, glistening from the rain.

We passed some really weird fungi too. I've never seen any like it before:

From above, it looks like something from Doctor Who!

Mr Anonymous (aka Jim) has just sent me this:

I found the fungus. It's Helvella crispa, also known as the white saddle, elfin saddle or common helvel. It lives in damp woodland especially alongside beech and by footpaths - which is pretty well where we saw it to a T. As to edibility the books say it was considered edible but is now regarded with suspicion. I think that means you didn't ought to eat it. JimX

The sun was shining on Lough Graney again:

I laughed at these cows waiting to be milked. 'Beware of the bull'!!

But a bit further along, there he was:

I wouldn't want to argue with him!

Back home and it was a complete change of clothes for me. The bottoms of my trousers were soaked and I'd also got very hot inside my coat and hat. We were both glad we'd made the effort though.

Here's a little bit of silly video that Jim took of me!

I had not idea that Jim was videoing me! I thought he was just taking a photo. Not very flattering but mildly amusing!

A Misty Morning in Doorus, County Clare

2010-10-13T02:00:00.025+01:00

The header photo was one I took this morning. I awoke early and saw the sun was just peeping through the mist, so decided to get dressed and go straight outside, camera in hand of course. This is the view from my studio:

One day we'll get all our piles of stone moved!

Round in the front garden, the sun was just shining on our ornamental grass:

I went through the gates:

Which were covered in webs, and looked out over to Lough Graney - which was shrouded in mist too:

It's over there somewhere!

Round to the back garden and the dahlias look as though they've been tied up:

The sun was just starting to creep onto the lawn:

There were cobwebs everywhere, it was like a magical kingdom:

Can you see them all on the meadow?

A cobweb cat's cradle.

And a cobweb cocoon.

Followed by a cobweb chorus. The alliteration is purely coincidental.

Flagmount had disappeared - no, I can just see the very top of the hill.

I almost trod on this beautifully frosted dandelion clock.

On the hillside opposite, the mist was clearing just a little. In the foreground you can see the gorse is dressed entirely in cobwebs.

On the ground, the sun was melting the frost on the grass and cobwebs. Please click on this photo to enlarge it - it's lovely close up.

Here is a closer look at the gorse. There must be hundreds of webs on there!

Back near the house, the holly looked striking with its dark green leaves, red berries and cobweb:

Outside the sleeping shed, the red dogwood leaves look stunning:

That is an old plough in front of it - hidden by long grass and a pair of my old wellingtons, once red but now faded to almost white.

The cold nights and sunny days have turned the leaves red on the liquidamber too:

Phew, I took over 100 photos, so it was hard to whittle them down to these. I hope you have enjoyed my early morning garden tour. I came back with very wet feet (I'd headed off in my slippers) and trousers!

We went out tonight - I'll tell you about that next time..

Rag Doll

2010-10-09T22:58:00.006+01:00

Rag Doll

I've finished the rag doll I've been making as a present for someone (secret)! I think I'm in love with her! She's called Hannah and here she is:

Well that's her top half!

Look at her big feet!

I used a pattern and just adapted it a little. I mostly used recycled material too. The hat and scarf are from a sweatshirt of mine, the boots from some material I had in my stash, plus the dress. I had to sew a couple of bits together for that so it has an extra seam! I seem to have had the red gingham for ages. Now I'm embarking on another one!

She's sitting resting against my computer screen and every time I look at her it makes me smile!

Garden

I'm still busy in the garden. I'm currently weeding all the 'hard standing' areas then covering them with gravel. It's a slow job but the parts I've done look so much better. We still have loads of flowers in bloom, although things are beginning to look a bit tatty. Tonight I had a bonfire too, which was great fun.

The nights are drawing in, which I don't like much, but at least we're warm and dry inside now.

TV

Jim and I have been watching a good deal of the Commonwealth Games. We're really enjoying them and in spite of all the bad press, Delhi seem to have done a fine job.

Cold

I have had a real stinker of a cold. (Thank you Kitty)! I started with a sore throat last Saturday, went through all the usual stages and I still have a runny nose and the sort throat is back because I keep coughing so much. It is a bit better today though.

Diet

I've decided to try and lose the weight I've put on in the last couple of years. It's Jim's cooking! I started on Monday so we'll see what this Monday brings. I have about a stone to lose, so not too bad.

I think that's about all I have to mention. The cats are fine and Buster.... well, is Buster! He still goes off and plays with Max and has only had one whole night away for quite a while.

Love to everyone.

Please continue your healing thoughts/wishes/prayers for Mildred and John, a dear blogging friend and her husband.