I have been really lucky on the firewood front this summer; a house down the road is being renovated, so I spoke to the builders and they've let me have all the wood out of their skip. Two weeks ago I nearly bust a gut barrowing it all up the street and onto the patio, Rosie helped me with a couple of bits that were too long for the barrow. Some more wood (can't be any left in that house!) pitched up last weekend and Phil brought it up for me.
Aaaannnd... with all the work being done on the park, the contractors have a great pile of pallets and wood offcuts in their yard; Phil and I managed to load a lot of it in the back of his Punto (my van is still in dock) last weekend, but I need to go back with the van when I have it back to collect the rest of the pallets.
That'll be me sorted for firewood this winter then! Just need to get a couple of bags of stove nuggets to keep the fire in. And to get all the wood sawn up.
*grins* Goodness, I feel virtuous!
I have 6 extra hens - only for a week though - Sarah and Stephen have brought their 6 black hens over for me to look after while they are away on hols. The girls are in the eglu and rablu, and have given me 4 eggs between them so far today. They are lovely girls and very friendly. I will leave them in their runs today, but will let them out tomorrow when I have put my girls in their run.
The garden is looking lovely right now... well, it looks lovely through most of the 'warm months', but right now, it is green and 'floribundant'. The buddhlia bushes are a mass of purple flowers, buzzing with bees and flitting with butterflies, the Perovskia is just waiting for more sun to make its display; the plum tree is so heavy with fruit that I will need to thin it out a bit to give them a chance; both the crab apple and eating apple trees have a good crop too. The crocosmia lucifer is a blaze of deep scarlet flowers, such a lovely contrast with the green spikes of leaves.
A few things didn't make it this year.. the sweet peas got slugged as did the eternal sweet peas - shame as they are my favourite. A couple of other things haven't surfaced after the winter, but a kind freecycler gave me some plants when I collected wood from him, so I gained some plants in the end. I had a self-set Rowan tree in the front garden, which I wanted in the back; I dug it up and potted it, but it has died. I want one anyway, so will go shopping in the autumn to find one for the back. I have been collecting seed pods from wildflowers that we find on our walks, they are scattered in the garden, so perhaps they will hatch in the spring.
Really must get round to some dead-heading, but there's just so many other things to do too.. I need a couple of weeks at home!
Isn't this beautiful?
"It's a beautiful example," says Adam Frank of the University of Rochester, New York. "Spherical ones are very rare." One explanation is that the image is looking down the throat of a typical cylindrical nebula. However, it is still remarkably symmetrical, Frank says.
Gaahhhhhhh! This ghastly rain is really getting on my nerves. Enough already!
We've got the heating on at work and it's teeming down outside; all I want to do is sleep and eat.
A dull and gloomy start to the day, we were racing against the rain as well as for life.
I do this race every year to raise money for Cancer Research UK; I reckon that I must have raised over £4,000 over the years. Rosie raced with me for a couple of years, but bowed out this time so I was back to running - nowhere near as fast as before as I hadn't been training, but good enough.
The race had a new venue this year - Cornbury Park near Charlbury instead of Heythrop Park - same theme though - a big stately home with acres of ground, woodland etc. We nearly didn't get there though; the postcode I was sent in the pack didn't lead to the entry gate, but to another one, the other side of the estate; no signs or stewards to be found to tell us the right direction either. We, and the couple of dozen other cars turned round and headed off around the estate to the next gate - this wasn't the right one either but there WAS a steward there, so I hopped out to run off to the start as time was kicking on - Phil and Rosie drove off to find the right entrance. Ran about a mile into the middle of the Estate to find the race gathering!
Some hasty photos taken in the cold and gloom:
Here I am, slogging over the finish!
On Saturday, we went down to London for the day. Started off in Croydon (as you do!) to see the Mary Rose exhibition at the Whitgift School. Lovely location; an extravagantly landscaped and appointed school, which even had flamingos
This lovely chap in the front was doing a little dance, paddling on the grass to bring the worms up.
The exhibition was superb, comprising of loads of the artifacts preserved from the wreck, all in beautiful condition. I love this type of exhibit; it really brings a subject to life; the leather shoes were amazing - you could see every stitch in the leather and how the shoe formed to the foot depending on how the wearer walked.
Rosie had a quizz to do and managed to find all the answers. I could have stayed to watch the whole video about the discovery, but we had to potch on.
Next stop on a gloriously sunny day was in Brixton.... my, that has changed since I used to hang out there - positively respectable these days! We were hunting for Rosie's Cafe.... tucked away in one of the avenues in the covered market, and founded by Rosie Lovell - a young woman with a passion for 'proper food'.
She serves food that is homemade, and a fusion of all the ethnic groups to be found in the market; a tiny place with just 4 tables inside and a couple more outside, she has a micro-deli too. I bought 'My Rosie' a copy of the other Rosie's book as a present a few months ago, partly because of the name and also beacuse my Rosie loves cooking, and most of the recipes in it are do-able by an 11 year old.
It was busy in the cafe, bustling but really welcoming, and Rosie L took the time to sit down with my Rosie, write in and sign her book and have a wee chat. Fair made my Rosie's day *grin*
We had some lovely homemade food and cake, Phil and I shared a delicious quiche and each had our own ciabattas with fillings, plus some carrot cake.
The micro-deli was very well stocked and I came away with a tin of smoked paprika - the most gorgeous retro styled tin... I must take a photo of it.
There's always got to be a shot of Rosie eating a brownie!
Pottering back through the market, some of the stalls had the old wooden stall carts, which I pointed out to Rosie. Took this photo of one, which had carving on the whele and main body. Couldn't make it out, but there wasn't a date on it.
We drove on up into the west end, leaving the car by Trafalgar Square so that Phil could catch an exhibition while Rosie and I took in some window shopping in Covent Garden.
A hot and tiring day; Rosie fell aleep in the car on the way back, can't believe that I didn't doze too!
Baggage
By Evelyn Colbath
From the Shelter Dog
Will You Help Me Unpack?"
Now that I'm home, bathed, settled and fed,
and all nicely tucked in my warm new bed,
I should unpack my baggage, lest I forget,
There is so much to carry, so much to regret...
Hmm...Yes there it is, right on top, let's first unpack Loneliness, Heartache and Loss,
And there by my leash hides Fear and hides Shame,
As I look on these things I tried so hard to leave,
I still have to unpack my baggage called Pain.
I loved them, the others, the ones who left me,
but I wasn't good enough for they didn't want me.
Will you add to my baggage? Will you help me unpack?
Or recoil from my things and take me right back?
Do you have the time to help me unpack?
To put away my baggage, and never repack?
I pray that you do, for I'm so tired you see,
But I do come with baggage, do you still want me?
Nearly had me in tears
This has had me wreathed in smiles this morning; a bit American, but sooo happy.
Lurchers are the best. They play the hardest, run the fastest, love you the bestest and are never ever dull.
I have loved and been loved more than I ever thought possible with any dog.
I just love that quote.
We had another training session with Julie last Friday... well, we nearly didn't have it with all those storms; I called her in the afternoon, when it was dark as night, the wind was howling and it was thrashing with rain and thunder. She very kindly suggested that we use the barn at her training area rather then the field, good idea too as the rain and wind were beating down on the barn (more like October than July!)
I wanted a way to get Ruby's wandering Saluki attention to stop her doing a couple of things that aren't too good; she had a tendency to run off after other dogs/people and also to steal other dogs' balls/toys and scab food/poo off the ground. Once she was zoned in, there was absolutely no way of getting her attention at all. She'd just race off and I may as well not exist. I needed something to stop her in her tracks and to make her obey the 'leave it' command.
We'd tried various tactics with no success, not even with high value treats. Julie came up with the idea of using a remote controlled collar, which puffs pressurised air under her chin to get her attention. Not harmful at all, but it needs to be used correctly, so my training and Ruby's started. We began without the collar and with high value treats and getting her used to the meaning of the 'leave it' command with no distractions and things that she had to learn to leave along/stop doing. teaching her what the command means if only I can get her attention.
We graduated onto using the collar, and goodness me did it work very well; if she ignored the 'leave it' command, then she was sprayed and I instantly had her attention, and my hound back at my side for treats and rewarding.
I have used it since, sparingly, to stop her jumping up at people and running off after other dogs.... BRILLIANT! She no longer does the saluki thing of heading for the hills, but her attention is right back with me. I have found that she's now paying more attention to the command on its own, which is the idea, and I'm needing to use the collar less as she gets the idea of what is and isn't acceptable.
We're hoping to use it to stop her from lunging at the cats and chickens.... but that's the next step. I have the collar on loan from Julie, with a refill can for the air, but I am using it so sparingly that it ought to last for ages.
Fab idea and I'd recommend it to anyone who has an 'attention defecit dog'.
Well, we were very nearly rained off, but the Dunkirk spirit won through and it went very well. I helped set up first thing, before sprinting off to do a poultry course and back again in time for food!
The street was cleared of cars, swept and tidied... bunting put up and houses decorated.
We had a bring and share buffet, loadsof donated drink, cakes, book exchange, free plants, face painiting, live music, Fire fighters to amuse the children, a police van for them to play in. Great fun was had by all.
The pictures say it all really:
Tidying up before the decorating
Antony taking a break from DJing
Ruby got wet too, and in scuffling around to dry off, she ended up with her bandana over one eye!
BBC news filmed some of the event and here's the story.... Kerry singing and Rosie features too. Click on the video to view
Scan of article in local paper (me in me rain hat, cuddling Jim Kinton!):
Ruby has a training session this evening, so I needed to make up some bribery... sorry .... treats for her.
I got a couple of those disgusting frankfurters out of the freezer and put them in a bowl, on the back of a kitchen work surface to defrost. Out of reach of the scabbing hound - or so I thought.
At lunchtime, I went to dice them up into tiny pieces with some cheese, and they'd gone. After frantic hunting around the kitchen, I can only assume that the thieving lurcher has had them, although she assures me that it wasn't her but the 'norty fairies' who did it.
More are now defrosting shut in the microwave.
Lesson learned!
Let's set the scene first.......
Phil's brother, Pete lives in Brill, about half an hour from us and a really lovely setting right on top of a hill near Bicester with fab views. There's an old windmill (c1680) on top of the hill, perched above some old earthworks; this mill has got increasingly decrepit over the years and was recently renovated.
At Brill on the hill
The wind blows shrill,
The cook no meat can dress…
(Nursery rhyme)
A town well graced with many fair houses and good buildings, and the best yeomen of any one town in the shire, delicately situated upon a fertile, fruitful hill in the midstof the Forest, and blessed with all kinds of commodities, as corn, hay, grass, herbs and roots, wells and springs… And the earth within serving for the best brick and all earthen vessels…
(Description of Brill, written in 1622, being part of a letter written to King James I.)
On Sunday, they had a party to celebrate the completion of the works. The Pub on the hill put up a marquee and there was a bar, live music, barbeque and games. The adults and the children all joined in with a tug of war, which went on for ages in various stages. Blessed by the sun that day, we really enjoyed ourselves and Ruby found all the squealing children a bit exciting.
Here we are.. Pete is the bald one standing up - he shares Phil's hair-do!
