Bundle of Bundles, 17th March 2009

I am participating in a project I read about on Seth Apter's blog, 'Bundle of Bundles'. Almost 100 people have joined and I asked if I could 'play' too, to help make it up to 100. Seth replied with a yes, so today I have had great fun sorting out things to go into my bundle, wrapping it in toilet paper, a 'gift' bag and finally, tying it with string. It is hanging proudly from one of the Nootka Cyprus trees on our vegetable patch. It has wonderful views, over the garden one way, to our house another, to Maghera, one of County Clare's hills and over our vegetable patch the other! What a lucky parcel it is. I took photos, of course!! Below is the 'brief' for making the parcel:

Hi BT! I would love to have you join in. It is definitely not too late. Basically you need to create a "bundle" out of paper and what ever other materials you want to use. You can see many examples on my blog. Wrap it up somehow and place it in nature. Hang it. Bury it. Submerge it. Lean it. Whatever you like. Then let Mother Nature be your collaborator. Take a photo of your bundle in its new home and post it on your blog. Then wait and watch. On May 1, all participants will then post an "after" picture on their blog. There will also be a part 2 to the project. I will send details to everybody soon. So happy you want to play!! Best, Seth

And here is my parcel:

Some of the items assembled. They include a toilet roll (for wrapping), some designer prints, 2 photos, some textured paper, some crepe paper, 3 cotton buds, 2 sticky fish, a lollipop stick, 3 different sorts of material, a Christmas card made from our pressed leaves, an ATC (Artist Trading Card) and a gift bag.











A closer shot













My 2 ATCs, material and other bits and bobs.











Jim did some of the string wrapping


















Here it is, hanging from the tree. It also has a bee hanging below it, courtesy of MacDonalds!




















































A more distant view






















These last 2 shots taken into the sunshine to show the lovely hillside view my parcel has









So there it hangs until May 1st. I do hope we get some good storms!



Our dog Buster is very odd. He is now quite large but that doesn't stop him trying to sit on your lap at times:

















What a baby. The dog's pretty daft too!










I have been working on digging one of Jim's allotment beds, the largest one. It's almost finished, but I was beaten by the dark today. This is how far I've dug:





Today Jim planted Broad Beans and some Gladioli bulbs up against his willow fence







Jim has been working on the bed next door, which is to become our fruit bed. So far it has rhubarb, strawberries and blueberries. We also have some raspberries, blackberries, tayberries and gooseberries to plant on this bed. It's not cleared yet, but the top end of the bed is, where the rhubarb and strawberries are.

















All the fruit bushes ready to plant












I couldn't resist taking a few flower photos! The primroses are fully out now.











The forsythia in front of the sleeping shed











It's been the warmest day of the year so far. Absolutely lovely with blue skies and a little breeze occasionally. We spent some time in the orchard this morning and Jim mowed the grass. It looks fabulous. Photos tomorrow.

Then we moved up to the vegetable plots as you can see. We sat outside mid afternoon and had coffee and biscuits and then had another coffee towards the end of the day as the sun shone low over the veg plots. It was still warm, then the sky became streaked with red. A day to make you feel good to be alive.






Gosh, I love this blogging lark!
In case anyone doesn't know, Jim now has a blog and does occasional postings about plants. The one he has just done is, most appropriately, the Shamrock. http://livingwithtwistedwillow.blogspot.com/ if you'd like to have a look.