Just A Quick Catch Up .... Just To Say Hello!

Hello there ...

Sorry its been a while .... what can I say ....

we've been having techie problems.

The Internet died on us .. 'Oh No !

Luckily it coincided with the arrival of a child ... a grown up .. and very responsible one .. I might say ... Good job! .. he 'took us in hand'.. and dealt with the situation.

he did that .. talking a Internet-ty techie/foreign language .. to another young techie guy .... or various .. and ordered a new router .. the bit that had died?

Anyway ... all is sort of sorted ...although my laptop (well Hubby P's really) ... does not like this new router .. and refuses to talk to it ...so here I am trying to blog on Hubby P's steam driven antiquated PC.

I find this all a bit difficult because of my dodgy neck ... a long sorry saga .. I won't bore you with .. but just to say bloggy posting may be a bit hit and miss until I persuade the naughty laptop to speak to the router...

Hubby P did say that my 'throwing the b****y thing through the window' .. would not help ....

so Please bear with me..

 Meanwhile ... life is good .. we potter on ...

 

 Last week we were kindly given some free wood .. always welcome and stacked up ready for next winter ... this is where a big van is so useful ..

not always so when we want to park somewhere quickly.

 Hubby P gave it bit of a spruce up after a wet and muddy job ... good job he knows how to wield a sweeping brush .. he's found its the best way with such a big van... bucket of water and a brush .. can't beat the old fashioned ways.

Whilst he was picking up the gifted wood he spotted this old battered teapot ... buried deep in the stonewall .. part of the wall had fallen down (perhaps with all the rain and frost) and the little teapot was peeping out .. yes .. I know .. why bury a teapot in a wall?

 

As you can see it has seen a bit of life ... old and battered and it was full of soil .. but Oh' how I love it ...

...and just see how pretty it looks with a few flowers merrily doing their thing.

And before you ask .. I have rubbed and rubbed this little pot well .. if there is a Genie in there .. he's not showing himself to me.

I treated myself to a few spring flowers .. they were so cheap at the car boot it seemed just rude not to ...

This bit of sunshine has done wonders for the garden .. all is blooming its little socks off.

Anyway .. enough of me for now ..do hope all is well with you and you are making time to do what makes you happy ..

Bye for now x

A Day Of Sunshine ... Thrifty Doings and Make Do and Mend ...

Hello there ....

Well .... a spot of sunshine!

I must say it got me all excited and raring to go ...

we got all togged up (still a tad cold) ... and ready for a day playing outdoors .... an outside jobs kinda day.

Its nice to see the garden stirring after all those damp dreary weeks.

This little flower ... Coltsfoot .. reminds me of 'home' ...

Springtime ...when I was a child walking the lanes to school .. or running home ... these little flowers starred the sides of the lane.

They are a wild flower ... found on poor stony ground .. it took me ages to establish them in my garden. 

 This strange little plant sends up scaly little flower stalks .. and blooms long before any leaves ... and the leaves are a 'colts foot' ...bit horse shoe shaped.

Lovely bright and sunshiny coloured.... 

Little sprigs of Tansy .. an old herb ... bitter tasting .. used in the old days to add to dishes as a tonic .. to 'stir the blood'...

I think that might be a step to far for Hubby P ... he says 'his blood don't need no stirring'...

Hubby P set about fitting what he calls 'French doors' .. to the chicken shed. I just asked for a wire/mesh door so they could look out .. and get some fresh air in there. Hubby P found an old folding screen and a roll of wire and made a rather fancy folding door ... the chickens said they were most impressed!

Next up he set about making them some nesting boxes from an old wooden box.

This was much clucked over and tried for size ... we will see tomorrow if they have deemed it suitable to actually lay in.

The next project .. when I have found some chicken wire .. is a covered run at the side of the chicken shed ... its all coming along... its a case of Make Do and Mend here ..

everything that's needed comes along ... eventually!

Whilst Hubby P was doing the nesting boxes ... and he didn't need me to hold wood/nails/wire or whatever .. I pulled the very last of the scraggy leeks.

Mind you there was enough for a good pan of soup ... so that's tonight's tea then.

I weeded and dug over where the leeks had been .. and scattered a trug full of bedding/litter ... from the chicken shed (all nicely enriched with chicken ... you know what).

A bit 'fresh' really .. but I thought .. well its got a good few weeks to all rot down before its planted up again.

I covered the area with an old mat ... help the rotting down and suppress the weeds a bit. 

Just need that sunshine to up its game a bit ... the days a bit longer .. and it will be planting time.

This years leeks are up and will soon be raring to go.

So .. thinking of teatime ... a big pot of leek and potato soup ... and digging deep in the freezer I found the last bag (of last Spring's) nettles.

So they were added to the soup .. give it a bit of a zip.

That reminds me .. the bagging up and freezing of tender young nettles worked so well last Spring .. I will have to get out there and replenish the freezer .. free .. super nutrient rich greens.

Just make sure you pick away from roadsides to avoid any nasty fuel/smoke pollution ... and of course anywhere where dogs may have ... well you know.. all common sense.

So for tea ... on our laps in front of the fire .... 

nice warm soup with fresh from the oven bread rolls (AF bread mix ) and rustic cheese scones.

Ohhh.. it has been so nice to sit out in the sunshine ...

I do hope its been sun shining for you?

xx bye for now  xx

Thrifty Doings ... and Pretty lace...

Hello there ...

well .. a few pretty flowers blooming here..

Maybe we have turned the corner ... and Spring is on the way ...

I do hope so!

   

This is a rather strange sort of 'arrangement' .. but the colours work and it has a rather interesting look...

The large corms on top are some Turks Cap Lilly's I dug up ... with an idea of planting them back behind this log .. once we had finished this garden bed ..

well ..  guess what .. we haven't finished the garden bed ... and the corms are still sitting there. Mind you we haven't had any frost .. and they still look fine .. I should just pop them in somewhere for now.

We've just been a bit busy ... or its been too cold and wet ... and windy ..

just a tad windy here.

Yesterday and today we have managed to get a couple of hours outside to catch up on jobs.

Hubby P spent some time sawing up old.. broken .. past its best... furniture ... it makes excellent firewood.  

Thrifty as always here..

He trudged in earlier today and plonked this down on the counter .... a nice tidy/new washing up bowl full of cleaning stuff.

And posh stuff too ... posher/more expensive than I would ever buy ... I'm afraid its supermarkets basics all the way here.

Anyway earlier in the week Hubby P had a small clearance ... nothing grand ... 'bread and butter' stuff ... all work is good work ... it all adds pennies to the coffers.

He had to clear the cupboards and of course 'under the sink' always holds a stash of cleaning stuff ... so every now and again I get box full of very useful cleaning materials.

They are mostly ...of course....half used but that's hardly a problem .. the stuff isn't going to go off. 

It saves me a pretty penny ... and as I said .. its often posher stuff than I would buy ... this week I will have some nicely scented bathroom mousse to use rather than the 'basics' cream cleanser.

Its a bit worrying ...

 getting excited about a box of cleaning stuff!

Note to self ... must get out more ....

The day gets more exciting :-(  .... sorting wool.

Whenever we get in bags of oddments of wool I bag them up into cheapie 50p bags ... ideal for bits and bats of crafting and whatnot .... so it had to be done.

I had brought my tins of vintage buttons home ....

to have a sort out ... 

And a basket of vintage lace ... the basket had got in a right old pickle with people rummaging through it .. it all needed sorting out.

Whilst I was at it I realised that I have got rather a lot of lace ... I just keep throwing it in the basket as I come across it ..

so I put some nice bundles together and popped them on ebay ...

give it a go .. cheap and cheerful .. free postage an all that.

Its so pretty .. the old lace.

Again with the vintage buttons .. I thought I would try a few on ebay ... I think lots of people love a button!

I suppose I should have some sort of card with my ebay site on .. so I can give it to people when we are trading .. lots of folk ask if we have an ebay site. They are usually on holiday and would like to be able to 'shop' with us all year round ... especially the sewing and crafting ladies ... they love the buttons and lace and whatnot.

Its a thought next time we have some printing done ... I'm just afraid of the ebay becoming a bit of a bind .. a bit of a 'must do' .. as it is I do a bit when I have a mind to ..

Its something to 'think on'!

Leave you with another pic of the daffs .. and their cheery sunshiny colour .. how lovely.....!

Take care .... bye for now... x

Just A Work Day ... A Few Snap Shots ...

Hello there ... 

not a great deal to show you today ....

so I thought I would just share my day ... my working day..

There was a lovely sparkling moon shining down on us as we left the house.

We arrived at the Car Boot Sale site ... it was still very dark .. we have to be there early and get in a line of vehicles if we want a place inside the large showground sheds. 

Its not unpleasant sat cocooned in the snug darkness of the cab ... I have a blanket around my knees and a hotwater bottle to keep me toasty warm....

and of course my trusty basket of coffee .. hot soup and sandwiches ... for later.

Its fascinating sat watching all the goings on .. even at that early hour ... people are arriving .. greetings can be heard ... deals are being done ... heads in the back of vans ... its all very busy.

As soon as we are in the sheds everyone sets too .. setting up their stall ... the early birds are there hustling for the choice pieces.

Today we had a heap of tweedy coats and hats ... lots of lovely white lacy linen.

The usual vintage scarves ... compacts... jewelry and the like. 

A lot of new in Vintage clothing from the 1950/60's ... this sun dress and jacket made a nice splash of colour.

Pretty brooches ...

Beads and bangles ..

This Sunday Car Boot is on all the year round on the Showground at Mona ... 

a smaller affair during the winter ... but it grows and grows in the summer .. it can be huge .. lots and lots of stalls .. lots to see and bargains to buy.

It is rather like a market in that it has stalls selling just about everything ... from vintage collectables ... to your everyday groceries.

Today I just grabbed my camera and took a few quick shots early on .. just before it got too busy and crowded with people.

 One of the fruit and veg stalls ....

Nice .. fresh as you like veg..

The cheese stall ... some seriously tasty local cheeses here .. a girl could go mad! I limit myself to one a week ... this week I have the Wensleydale with cranberries.

The butcher van .... just the same company that does the local markets .. good value meat .. and often in summer he does BBQ packs and whatnot for the holiday makers ... nothing quite like bangers (sausages) on the beach!

Micheal here sells toilet rolls .. kitchen paper... washing up liquid and the like .. during the week he supplies the B&B's and hotels and whatnot... always a busy man.

We even have a chap who sells fishing gear for the men (and women... of course!) ... not that I know anything about fishing .. but he does a roaring trade during the season ... we have lakes rivers and of course the sea on our doorstep.

He often sits behind his stall tying fly's/flies? ... 

There are a number of stalls selling lovely ..interesting vintage and collectable things ..

these are all beautifully restored.

They are all labelled .. good job because some of them are so unusual you couldn't even guess what they were used for ... and yet they would be in regular use at one time.

All that lovely wood ... 

and shiny brass ... 

its a feast for the eyes ...

Anyway that was my day ...the sun shone .. the people came out... we had a good day .. 

the packing up is always the hard bit ...

but now we are sat by a nice fire warming our tootsies.

Hope you enjoyed the trip ... its a funny old job we do .. when I was a girl I wanted an outside job ... but I never envisaged myself doing this ... life is a funny old journey.

And as they say ... it takes all kinds to make a world ..

so what kind are you ?

... what do you do or did do .. I know many of you are retired ... 

there are so many jobs .. ways of life/living out there ...

xx bye for now xx 

Its Just That Kinda Weather ... Pudding Weather...

Hello there ...

well we are still here  .. we haven't been blown away quite yet.

But what's to do in this awful weather ... but feed up a cold and achy Hubby P on a nice ginger and syrup sponge ... with a dollop of custard.

It was a bit of a make it up as you go along sort of effort.

Hubby P had gone out to work and I thought a nice pudding would be welcome this evening ...

we don't eat dessert every evening as some people do .. just now and again... when its puddin weather!

I tend to just mix up in a bowl ... my Kenwood mixer is in the cupboard but it doesn't seem worth pulling it all out for one little pudding.

As I said .. make it up as you go along ... I have a couple of tins of this in the cupboard ... from A Food ... not the greatest stuff ...

a bit like axle grease (as my Grandad would say)..

But it needed using up ... so I tipped a whole lot of ground ginger in the mix .. to disguise any taste from the 'not so great marg'.

That's how it came to be a Ginger puddin!

I rustled up a few scones as well .. just to fill the oven .. but nice with a slather of butter.

So what else ...

Not a great deal ...

 I found these lovely 1950's nightdresses ..

Such a change to find everyday stuff ... that everyday Mums would wear .. rather than fancy things that people 'put away for best'.

But of course the everyday stuff would be worn until it fell to bits ... or cut down for children's wear ...

These are so lovely ... such a warm heavyweight flannelet fabric with pretty feminine touches ... just a little lace here and there.

I just love this spotty one.

Anyway I've washed and ironed them ... ready for selling ... don't know if I should try them on ebay.

I've put a few bits on ebay today ... a couple of you have asked how to find my ebay .. well if you look on my side bar near the 'about me' bit .. there is a 'my ebay' link ...just click on it.

I try and keep everything cheap and cheerful on there ... we non of us have a great deal of money to treat ourselves.

Although I must say I do use ebay a lot .. to buy bits and bats of things... I like to think people on there are just like us ... small sellers .. ordinary people just trying to make a living ... rather than the huge shops taking over our towns.

So if its say.. seeds I am looking for .. I will browse the little independent seed people on ebay rather than say go to Wilkinson's .. or Lidl even.

Just try to do a bit for everyone .. where I can.

So we are all set for our puddin tonight ... and can I say a big thank you for all your comments ... 'keeping in touch' with the wider world through your blogs ... has kept me sane as the wind and rain has lashed the cottage ... 

and they say more is on the way ... keep safe everyone.

xx