Friday meme

Have taken the lead from my friend's blog at  http://talesofsimpledays.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/right-now.html "Happiness is pretty simple: someone to love, something to do, something to look forward to.” ~ Rita Mae Brown Here are mine right now: Someone to love - my children and my man, all sources of great strength and happiness to me in difficult times. Something to do - there is always something to do in my home, it's where I'm happiest and happiest just being and doing, so home stuff to do makes me happy. Something to look forward to - the rest of my life, to include all of the above and more. xx

Crochet cushions finished at last

Getting on with thsoe jobs that have been hanging around a while!  I finally got the inner pads made for these two and completed them this afternoon - another one off the list.  Pleased with the results, they'll certainly brighten up the sitting room :) Photo shows fronts and backs of both I've also mended a pair of trousers and am halfway through taking up my new-to-me kitchen curtains; again, not a huge job, just took me a while to get to. They will be hung by tonight :)

Crochet wreath

We've had a lovely swap challenge on Creative Living - you send your partner the 'ingredients' for a craft item for them to make something, while you use the same to produce your own creation, then compare them! This is my offering so far; I loved these colours too much to separate them, so kept them all together. I think they're very retro - remind me of late 1960's melamine tableware!  I still have the other components to make something with; I have something in mind, but it's going to be fiddly and messy I think, so won't be starting it this late in the day, but will keep you posted :)

Amish words

If you admire our faith, strengthen yours If you admire our sense of commitment, deepen yours. If you admire our community spirit, build one. If you admire the simple life, cut back. If you admire quality merchandise or land stewardship, then make quality If you admire deep character and enduring values, live them Amish Peace - simple wisdom for a complicated world.

Tuesday so far..............

The day is panning out well so far, it's now exactly 3 o'clock, and yes, the kettle's on again lol  It was a bit grey and dull when I got up, but brightened up quite quickly. I did all my computery bits, e-mails and the like, took my Scrabble turns, had breakfast and tea - by which time the sun had come out, so off outside First job was to open the greenhouses and water them - there is so much going on in there, hundreds of seedlings of all sorts of things looking gratifyingly healthy. It really does pay to wait and be patient and not sow too early - I trust my instincts in this now, and rarely take much notice of the seed packets. After 25+ years, I go with the flow. Tomatoes are coming on in leaps and bounds, quite a few different types; disappointed my new pink Brandywines haven't germinated - they weren't cheap, so might have to put some more in. I got Bloody Butcher seeds yesterday in the mail, so they were sown straight away and are now up in the metal greenhouse. Parsley and basil are well away, lots of beans and peas, sweetpeas, various flowers, including the lovely statice which can be tricky to grow. The kiwi vine is rampant, and the potted globe artichokes and strawberries are looking really healthy in the wee wooden house. I need to get back up there and sort throught the seeds again to make sure there's nothing I've missed, and I got my clarkia seeds yesterday too so they need to get in asap. I took time to wander around the garden and sit down and just look and watch. It was alive - hundreds of bees and bussing insects adding to the birdsong cacophany - wonderful to watch and lsiten to; the sound of a far off tractor, a helicopter, occasional road traffic mingled with content chicken musings and quacks from the ducks stretched out in the sun. The goats rolled their heads in the sunniest spot in the yard, clearly enjoying the warmth. The trees are excitingly covered in leaflets and blossom - all the apples are well on their way, and the quince and medlar; the mulberry is just starting to show her leaves, as is the sugar maple, and one big thrill for me is that I might, just might, get some dark red blossom on my wee horse chestnut this year already! Fruit crops are looking promising - all the varieties of plums were dripping with blossom, as was the pear tree, and there will be good crops of blackcurrants, red currants and gooseberries; still rhubarb to pick. Flower-wise the allium buds are fat and healthy looking, and the blue comfrey was covered in bees, with a beautiful orange tip butterfly for company. It's gone dark now, and we've just had a heavy shower.  I came indoors to find my new steam juicer has arrived, so am really looking forward to having a go with that - it sits ont he stove, so no electricity is used :)  Also, my chilli plants were delivered, so I will pot them on in a minute, pt them on the window will and try and remember to label them!  The stove is turned up for bread making, and a pot of potatoes for potato salad is to be cooked for supper; we'll have omelettes tonight to get through some of the egg mountain, and I'll make shortbread and a fruit cake of some sort to replenish the tins. Reading wise, I have my new Resurgence and Mother Earth News magazines and a book  - 'Crafts of the Highlands and Islands' for later. There are various knitting and crochet projects to hand, and I'll do a bit of writing later too. All in all, a good day :)

There Is Pleasure In The Pathless Woods There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more, From these our interviews, in which I steal From all I may be, or have been before, To mingle with the Universe, and feel What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal. George Gordon Lord Byron

Thought for a rainy Sunday

Living a life

Happy to share this one, it says it all :)