A busy time

I will be glad when the AGM on Saturday is over.  Life gets quite hectic in the ten days or so beforehand getting all the memberships up to date on the database as they come in the post.   There is always a flurry of late comers , but will slow down now. 

  

Last  weekend Brian and I went to a large charity shop in a nearby town and I found a small compact tripod at a bargain price.  I snapped it up.  I do have a larger tripod (also a charity shop find), but this one will be so useful for popping into my camera bag.  I even used it, albeit at the very short length on the table, when I went to my U3A photography group.  We were learning to use the timer on our cameras.  I did not think that I would ever use a timer, but on thinking about it I could use it for taking photographs of my pelargoniums to avoid camera shake.

On Tuesday our village garden club had invited Helen Yemm of Thorny Problems in the Telegraph to speak.  Now I love Helen Yemm's column, and if you have not read it, then I urge you to buy a copy of the Telegraph this Saturday and immediately take out the gardening section for a good read.  Helen gives down to earth advice on all manner of gardening problems.  Her talk was about downsizing your garden.  She had moved from a small London garden to a 2 acre garden which, it was obvious, she loved.  She had turned it from a field to a wonderful garden full of colour.   When she suddenly had to leave her precious garden it must have been like a bereavement for her.  However, she found a new house, with a much smaller garden, and began to grow her beautiful plants again.  In a short space of time she has created a wonderful garden  which looks much larger than it probably is. 

And a bonus – I won a prize in the Raffle – a signed copy of Helen Yemm’s RHS book – Grow  Your Own Flowers.  How lucky was that?

An award

Wow - I received an award from    Sweetauburnlife.blogspot.ie.

Sweetauburnlife lives in Ireland and only started her blog in January of this year.  Do go and take a look.

The award is for a favourite blog with 200 followers,  or less.   There are some rules to follow:-

1 Each blogger should post 11 random facts about themselves
2 Answer the questions the tagger has set for you, and then create 11 new questions for the bloggers you pass the awards to.
3 Choose 11 new bloggers (with less than 200 followers) to pass the award to and link them to your post.
4 Go back to their page and tell them about the award
5 No tag backs

Here are 11 random facts about me:-

1. I have been Membership Secretary of the Pelargonium & Geranium Society for 4 years and before that for 5 years for one of the previous Society's before it merged.

2. I love to grow pelargoniums of all types, but in particular miniatures and Angels.

3. I love to garden ,but only when the weather is not cold.

4. I love to travel

5. My three sisters all live in Australia

6. I love to read, especially mystery novels.

7. With my husband I love to visit car boot sales, table top sales and charity shops searching for bargains.

8. I am hopeless at drawing

9 I love to cook, particularly desserts and cakes.

10 I am Show Secretary of my local Gardening club

11 I love to take photographs – mostly of flowers.

My answers to the questions set by Sweetauburnlife;

1. What was your first thought when you got this award?    

    How wonderful and how very very kind. 
2. Tell us something about your corner of the world?

    I live in a small village in Surrey, we have one Church, one village shop and Post          

    Office, two pubs and a village green on which cricket is played every summer and 

    has done for nearly 200 years.

3. Have you ever been to Ireland?

    My first visit to Ireland was last September.  I met my sister from Australia there                                                                      

when she was travelling around Europe with two friends.  We had a grand time and I loved  Ireland and really want to go back soon if I can. 

4. Why do you blog?   It's a sort of 'on-line' letter to friends, some of whom I have never met.
5. What is your favourite cuisine?   I love curries
6. What are you most afraid of?   Not much, but I don't like spiders.
7. What are you most grateful for?    That I have a lovely husband, two lovely sons and a daughter in-law, and three granddaughters and a grandson.
8. What is your favourite time of year?   Summer - definitely
9. Are you introverted or extroverted? I have to admit I am bit, but just a bit, introverted.
10. What is the worst job you ever had?   I've never had one - I've loved all my jobs. 

11. What have you learned today? That is was quite difficult to think up 11 random things about me!

My questions to my nominees:-

1  Do you have a favourite book?

2  What is your favourite food?

3  If you could choose, where would you like to work?

4 What places have you travelled to?

5. Are you a summer or a winter person?

6 What crafts do you enjoy?

7 What type of music do you like to listen to?

8 How long have you been writing your blog?

9. Do you have a favourite flower?

10 Do you have a treasured possession?

11 Do you have a pet?

My nominees are:

Ramblings of a Little Old Lady   Ladykis, who is, according to her youngest granddaughter, a little old lady (I really don’t believe that!)   She likes to scrapbook, take photographs and her family history, as well as knitting, sewing, quilting, embroider, cooking and keeping chickens. A busy lady.

Granny taught me to Crochet - Kate who loves to crochet, cook and keep chickens

Caroline Makes It  Caroline lives in Dorset and loves to knit, crochet and sew

Suzzie43   A blogger from Sydney, Austgralia who loves to bake, cook, garden and travel..

Kashi's Corner      Kashi loves to crochet, cook, sew, and read.

Hilly Town Blue Hariet is from Gloucestershire in the UK.  She blogs about crochet, knitting, sewing and life in the Cotswolds.

Cosy Times  Emma who loves crochet and all things cosy

Busy Busy BeeJay  Loves her family , knitting and reading

Clicky Needles  Aanother blogger from Gloucestershire UK who loves to knit, crochet, gardening and camping.  A busy lady who is also a teaching Assistant in a local school.

Lilley Stiches  Loves to crochet , knit and craft

Learning to Write  Jee is a Filipino married to a USA serviceman and living in Carolina and wants to improve her English.  She is also a fantastic crocheter

Busy two weeks

 The last couple of weeks have been pretty hectic, but brightening my days as I walk through the dining room is this Clivia.  It is about 5 years old and flowers each year, apart from last year when it just did not.  I was thrilled that it is flowering this year.   I love the brightness of the flower.

I had my morning at the IT place and now I think I am up to speed on how to manage the database.   All seems to be moving much more smoothly now.   Last week I had to send out Society magazines to those members who had not renewed.  The printer usually does them, but this edition has to have a show schedule in, but not to those who have not renewed.  They just get a note reminding them to renew, and it was simpler for me to do them.    This week many of those have renewed, so I have been kept pretty busy.   

My phone line is at last with BT.  I am giving serious thought to writing a letter of complaint as the whole episode was quite stressful.

One day last week Brian and I popped into our nearest village, which is larger than ours.  There was a Table Top Sale in the Village Hall.   Sadly it was not very well supported by sellers,  so we left to take a look at the Charity shops (we are great charity shoppers Brian and I).  I found a folding foot stool which I quickly snapped up.  I have one (another charity shop bargain) and when my cousin was visiting she liked it.  So I have my visiting gift for her.  She doesn’t read my blog, not being very interested in computers, so not worry about her knowing I have a present for her.

On our shopping trip we called in at Lidl and I picked up this lovely bunch of mixed chrysanths for half price - £1.50 - they are still flowering well.  We called also at Morrisons - the same bunch of flowers there was priced at £5.00 and not reduced!

Last Saturday was beautiful so we went down to Bognor Regis for the day and had a lovely walk along the front before venturing into town and a look round the charity shops.  I found a lovely book on crochet baby items which seems to have some lovely items in it.   I also found the crochet magazine Inside Crochet which I have been looking for for ages.  All shops had sold out round here.   It had this sweet owl hook gauge inside.  I’m not sure I will subscribe to the magazine, but if I see it in the newsagents I will get it if there is something inside I like the look of.

On Sunday we had a lovely lunch with Brian’s cousin and her family.  There are a lot of them so they hire a room in a pub.  This works out brilliantly as we order our food in advance.  The children, six of them, can play by themselves after our meal without worrying us or other guests.

The Blue Jug has been filled with greenery and flowers every day.  Just now it has viburnum again, plus another shrub that has slightly variegated leaves and a hellebore flower – just the one flower out at the time I picked it, but there are more out now in the garden.  The viburnum has the most deliciously scent that wafts out every time I pass by.

The challenges of January

January was a challenging month, to say the least.

 I am still dealing with memberships for The Pelargonium & Geranium Society (PAGS).   The membership section of the website continues to baffle me at times, but I am told there will be hitches to begin with until the site settles.  I am going on Monday for an update on how to do more with the site.    For those of you who don’t know, I am membership secretary of The Pelargonium & Geranium Society.  I've held this post for over ten years now, but with the new database it has become a challenge.      

My other challenge is that since the beginning of October I have been trying to transfer my Broadband and telephone from one supplier to another.  It should be simple.   No!! The Broadband went over without a hitch, but not the telephone line.  Who has been holding up things I don’t know – each supplier tells me it is the other one.  The fifth attempt will be on 12^th February, so everything is crossed the line is transferred this time.

 Saturday last week we went into town and I bought myself some of these lovely narcissus to cheer myself up.  They are still going strong and fill the room with such a lovely fragrance.   And on Thursday we got these lovely daffodils,.  They were in tight bud, but this morning when I came downstairs they had all opened.  Beautiful!

I finished off the crochet navy blue wrist warmers, and I love them.  My granddaughters were pretty impressed as well, but did not want me to make them a pair!

Yesterday, as the day was sunny, Brian and I went over to Wisley Gardens, and then went out to lunch at a local Harvester restaurant.  Thank you Brian!     I love Wisley!   I am so lucky that it is only 20 minutes away so able to visit often.   I took quite a few pictures, but it was not easy as the wind was quite strong.  I was anxious to try out my new 55-200 zoom lens that I had for Christmas.  And to use my new wrist warmers, which worked a treat, keeping my hands warm whilst leaving my fingers free to use the camera.

Alpine House

Alpine House

In the wonderful garden centre at Wisley I bought these Dahlia tubers and seeds, garlic bulbs and shallots.  I wasn't going to grow garlic or onions this year, but have weakened.   I really don't want to grow onions, but love growing shallots – so satisfying seeing all those little bulbs clustering around the one planted.   Just need a fine day next week to get planting and sowing.     You can't see in the photo, but the single dahlia tubers are call Pooh, and the dahlia seeds are called Yankee Doodle Dandy.  Silly names that I thought would appeal to my cheeky 6-years old  grandson.

Snow and Marmalade

After a weekend living in a winter wonderland of whiteness – which I love – the snow is beginning to go, albeit ever so slowly.    We did not get to go out in the snow so I have only the few photographs I took in the back garden.     I love the garden covered in snow – it loses its usual wintery tattiness and looks smart enough to be the country garden of a stately home instead of a lowly ‘cottage in the lane’.

Waiting for summer

I spotted this red-legged partridge in the garden scavenging for left-overs under the bird feeders.  A rare winter visitor to our garden.  

Last week I made a start on the yearly ritual of marmalade making.   Half way through I have made 10 pots and will make another 10 this week.   We do eat a lot of marmalade in this house, and I love to make extra for family and friends.   Each batch takes me a morning to make – and I do cheat as I chop half the fruit in my food processor, the rest being cut into the usual thin slices.   Then I cook the fruit with the addition of water in the pressure cooker for fifteen minutes.   After bringing back to room pressure the sugar is added and then boiled until setting point is reached – probably about 20 minutes.     We like a dark marmalade, so I add a tablespoon of black treacle with the sugar.  This gives the dark colour and I think a bit of a ‘tang’ to the orangeiness.

I’ve been keeping up with the multi coloured granny square blanket.  I am enjoying it and it is easy and quick.  Last evening I spent darning in ends.   At the same time I am making another pair of wrist warmers in navy blue, but I think I might run out of yarn and have to undo them.    That’s OK – I don’t mind and if I find I am just a tad short I will undo them and make them a couple of rows shorter.

With all the snow about I am finding it a bit difficult to find much to put in it, at least anything that is different to what has been in it so far this year.     At lunchtime I picked more Viburnum – I think this is Eve Price – some more Garya Elliptica and some gold  Euonymus.  Not a very bright combination, but that is all there is just now.  I must make a note to myself to get more winter flowering plants for next year.

Super Chunky Wrist Warmers & the Blue Jug

I have made some lovely wrist warmers, or fingerless gloves, this week.  So easy and I made them in about an hour and a half.  I am now making another pair - one pair is never enough!   I love these - I have had some bought ones that I used for taking photographs in the cold weather, but I think they will be good for pottering in the greenhouse and also for driving.   You can find the free to download pattern for them on Ravelry - look for Mary Thomson Designs - Super Chunky Wrist Warmers.   Thank you Mary - I love them!

My other news this week is that I treated myself to an iPhone!!  I have an iPod and also an iPad, which I love.  I bought the iPod about three years ago when I was going on a visit to my friend in California.  We visited lots of nurseries and I wanted something to make notes on.  I had previously had an HP iPac hand-held computer (anyone remember those?) for a few years which I loved.  It had a small folding keyboard that I could use for long typing sessions.  However the iPac was not compatible with our new computer, so I needed something similar.  The iPod fitted the bill.  I also love it because it holds all my music and I can plug in my earphones and listen away to MY music in the greenhouse.  I emphasis MY because Brian and I have totally different tastes in music - his is classical, mine is jazz and blues, with a bit of pop.  And I have to confess that I have a bit if Reggae on it as well.  So quite totally differing musical tastes.    Actually I do quite like a bit of classical, but he likes very heavy stuff!!  The iPad was a birthday present from Brian and I think that is the most amazing gadget.  The iPhone is my present to me - my Samsung Galaxy was playing up - only had it about 18 months which is not long really.   I hope the iPhone will last a bit longer.

This week the Blue Jug has some yellow winter jasmine in again, which is practically the only bit of colour in the garden this week, but even that is beginning to go over.  The long tassels are Garya Elliptica - a new shrub for me and it needed a bit of pruning.  There are also some sprigs of a curry plant that my sister bought for me when she was over visiting from Australia and we visited The Eden Project together.  The curry plant brings back some nice memories.

Please leave a comment - I love to hear from my followers.

Granny Square a Day count up and my blue jug

A Happy New Year to you all

I need to update you on the Granny a Day project started by Ali last year.  I have made one scarf, one baby blanket, 16 squares to make a bag (probably) a multi coloured blanket and now I have started a solid square multi coloured blanket.  All these have been recorded in my previous blogs, but here is the multi-coloured solid granny square blanket which has not been recorded 

Sadly I did not quite make 366, just 15 short. (sorry Ali)   I was doing so well up until about two weeks before Christmas when I went down with a very bad bout of cystitis, resulting in a course of anti biotics, plus struggling to organise Christmas, and deal with updating memberships for my society on a new web based database here.   Not really an excuse, or excuses, but that's how it was.  I really enjoyed the Granny-A-Day challenge, and hope to find another one this year.   I am also enjoying the multi coloured solid square blanket, and want to start another in more muted colours for a certain member of the family!

My Blue jug - I inherited this from my mother in-law and it sits on the pine dresser in the dining room an is usually filled with flowers from the garden.  This year I have set myself a challenge to have flowers in it from the garden every day of the year - not an original idea - Margery Fish did the same thing and wrote a book about her vase of flowers from the garden.   So, what is in this, rather dreadful display?   It does actually look much better in real life. I promise!!   There are some sprays of yellow Winter Jasmine, some buds of Viburnum and some gold Euonymus.   

A sure sign that the days are lengthening - I spotted at the beginning of this week a couple of rhubarb buds peeping through the ground.  Today I have a leaf and many more buds peeping through!  I don't think it will be long before I am making rhubarb crumbles.

The sharp eyed will have spotted that I have changed the name of my blog.  I don't want to write just about crochet - there are lots of other things that I want to write about.   I may change the URL: as well.  I haven't decided on  that yet.   I hope you will all continue to follow my blog- I would love to receive your comments.