New Camera Brings Delays While Learning New Software

Of course the first thing to find its way into the viewfinder of the new camera was the cat. She is happily curled up on her personal, hand-knitted rug, with bits of glitter in it. Fit for a Princess!!! The rug was originally in a patch of sunbeam but she has not noticed its passing. She is also keen on the piles of books which proliferate about the place. She jumps from one to the other and only knocks a few down. These piles are in preparation for the Tynemouth Station Bookfair this Sunday. I am hoping to take some prints and pictures and frames as well because Ylana has allocated me a "Wall Stall". I can use the wall behind me to display stuff.




The baby thrushes are doing well and Tigger has abandoned her efforts to climb up and inspect them because I have bagged the trunks of the two espaliered trees which provide access to the nest. Most cats will not climb through the rattle of the bags because they can't tell what is beneath the plastic. I've just wrapped them round the trunks and held them there with masking tape which can be removed in a couple of weeks when the nestlings have flown. It does the tree no harm but I doubt that the thrushes will nest there next year, after their alarm this year.

I found to my delight that there are a couple of peonies to the north of the summer house. Flamboyant and short lived, but I love the splash of colour and the splendour of them. They and the lupins were badly damaged at the weekend by the downpour followed by the strong winds.

This is the "rockery" that Simon has cleared. He has weed-sprayed it and I have snail-baited it so we have had a happy time killing a few things. When it has settled back to normal I will be off to Eggleston to select some plants to enhance the area. What grows really quickly and fills a bare area in a week or so? Apart from weeds!

I just went out for a perambulation and in the neglected jungle down the back are some fennel, black currants , pumpkin/squash looking things and a baby blackbird which I nearly trod on.

My sister and her husband came to stay last week and fell in love with the place. BIL is full of wonderful ideas to make me stay here as long as I can. "Craft in the Garden" sounds good. And I still like the idea of using wild foods. Last year I made Sweet Cicely and Lemon Cordial and also Gooseberry and Elderflower Jam. This year on my walks I have located many lovely wild foods I could use....Wild cherries, gooseberries, crab apples, blackberries, elderflowers and berries and even wild strawberries. I just have to remember where they all are at harvest time! I also spotted some lovely lichens for dyeing my spun wool.

While they were here there was a lot of climbing up and down step ladders and much drilling, none of which was done by me but I now have the mirror up in the front room, curtain rails in five rooms, curtains in two and pictures up about the place. It took the three of us together to re-hang the bookroom door but at last it is done and any more Jackdaws can be contained more easily. More of these improvements in the next post.

Cheers Gillian