Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Thpooky October


Pumpkin soup
Spooky Cathedral Close at night
My toady friend trying to get away from my over zealous speedy weeding
The ritual carving of the pumpkin 

In October I mostly:

- was bitten by midges on the head whilst gardening
- started wearing my attractive boiler suit to work
- did lots of charity shopping
- listened to Radio 4, especially like Desert Island Discs and Woman's Hour
- started knitting a scarf
- raked leaves, planted bulbs, cut back shrubs and acquired rock hard biceps
- spotted a cattle egret next to the cows in the field behind the bungalow!
- made curried carrot soup and pumpkin soup


I loved the Helianthus in our front garden


Lots of colour still around


Sunny dog walks,


admiring nature


and trying to find Eddie's ball in the leaves


I made coffee muffins with Esme.  


I even dragged her on a walk!


Frank has been good


and bad!

A new venture for us was a trip to the Bournemouth 'Arts by the Sea Festival'.  


The 'Cockatoo Art Bar' 
- a 1965 Morris ambulance with a revolving birdcage on top for spontaneous shows


A solar powered cinema!


The 'Umbrella Tree'.  A moving installation set to slightly eerie music.


'Kitsch & Sync' were a quirky dance, theatre and performance company


They were hilarious


A member of the audience got roped in to the show!


This installation was made out of drinking straws


and the 8 metre long 'Message in a bottle' by Lulu Quinn was made from recycled bottles that had been washed up on the beach

After having a dance to one of the live bands and a go on the fruit machines we strolled down to the beach to watch the sun set


Such fun!



Lots of people were admiring the extra gorgeous sunset caused by sand from the Sahara in the atmosphere 


Bit overcast but still love the view of Gold Hill in Shaftesbury


where we had great fun with our friend Basil snurging around the charity shops


Ooh, sun has come out!


This was a charity shop haul from Wilton - I adore my new tartan waistcoat and don't care if it makes me look like someone from 'Monarch of the Glen'


We have had the usual autumn fog - Eddie?


But on the whole it was very mild

I'm off in to the sunset for a blog break now to knit my scarf, read my many books, light the fire and batten down the hatches for winter.......


Ta ra for now!

'Soon there will be three souls in the house: himself, his dog, his hawk.  The thought thrills him.  He loves this house.  He calls it his workman's cottage, his badger's sett, his refuge.  Outside, light and leaf shadows move on the high grey gables.....'

                                                                                  - 'H is for Hawk' by Helen Macdonald

Monday, October 9, 2017

September - muy bien


In September I mostly:-

- Read books
- Started cutting back customer's gardens
- Put the heating on!
- Had a knitting lesson with a nice (patient) lady called Heather in a sumptuous shop called 'Born to Knit' 
- Swam with fishes
- Bought some harem trousers for €5
- Drank Sangria - bought and homemade!
- Watched Flamenco dancers
- Saw Tony Robinson (Baldrick) enjoying a meal in Javea
- Had 18 mozzie bites, Sarah had 24.  NB.  NOTHING STOPS MOSQUITOES!


The tomatoes are still coming thick and fast


Wish we could grow tommies all year round


I cleaned up the onions for storing


The chillies are struggling to ripen


Frank likes to sit on the bonnet of the car whilst we have coffee in between jobs


If only I had time to pick some!


The Brewster with barrel no. 30!
Woodford Bure Gold 4.3% with Amarillo and Cascade hops


I made chocolate brownies


More moody skies and unpredictable weird weather


Shooting season has started.  There are pheasants and partridge everywhere.  Luckily, Eddie can't see them!


My Mum took up some trousers for me.  This is her lovely sewing room.


And some of her gorgeous art work.


In action!


I have been learning to knit and glad I still had my Ladybird book!
I have been making some rather strange shapes but it is soooo relaxing.


Autumn is here


Mr Eddie Balls


Nice view

We ran away for 10 days to Spain.  No rain (well only 1 hour of monsoon), no nip in the air, and no gardening!  Bliss.


Gordon the Gecko on the bedroom window


Sarah did do some gardening on our arrival.  She cut back the bougainvillea but I went on strike!


I read the paper instead, gazed at the view and enjoyed the smell of jasmine from the garden below


Sigh.....


Not sure what this orange flower was.  May be Campsis?  


Sarah got the giggles in a supermarket.  How childish.


I swam in the sea and read my Tristan Gooley book on the beach
14 degrees at home and 27 in Javea (in the shade)


It was a pleasant temperature for walking.
'Cap de Sant Antoni'


Parc Natural de Montgo


We visisted Calpe for the first time


The huge limestone rock in Calpe - 'Penon de Ifach'


A view of the rock from the beach


Benissa was new to us too - one of the oldest medieval towns on the Costa Blanca
We had a look around the church and nearly ended up at a funeral!


My nature table after a trip to the beach


Trumpet vine


We revisited a mirador (viewpoint) called Portitxol that we loved before but it had been too hot.


We walked out to Cap Prim and looked back at Javea and Montgo


One day I found a Praying Mantis on my beach finds!  Agh!


At the weekend we went to the tapas festival in Javea 'Tapeo'


A jazz band called 'Los JazzMatics' played whilst people danced the Lindy Hop


Of course I had to have a Cafe Bombon whilst in Spain


A beautiful Hibiscus spotted on a walk


I can never get tired of walking on Montgo


Very happy person on the mountain


Very happy person with wet feet


Two happy people with Sangria


The waitresses at this bar must know us by now!  'Spasso' has the best spot on the beach.


'Octopus' has quite a good view too!  Woops.


Reluctantly leaving Spain - Benidorm below


and begrudgingly arriving in Southampton - humph...

Unfortunately, I arrived home without any reminders of my relaxing holiday.  I left my beach finds in Spain with Trish (Patricia the Praying Mantis) even though she was gone when we left I didn't want to chance finding lots of babies running around the house!

'' The strandline is an unpopular spot for a beach towel as the density of decaying matter and the small creatures feasting on it make for strong smells and yelps, but they are well worth investigating.'

- 'How to read water' by Tristan Gooley (the God of the natural world)