Back at last

Surprise!

I'm back!

I can't believe it's been over a month since my last blog

And who's fault is it?

Well....

1. That little bundle of love I call Annie does take up rather a lot of my time

2. The sudden spell of decent weather has meant a lot of time spent in the garden

Although there are a few gaps where plants have mysteriously disappeared since Annie arrived!!!

3. My laptop has been playing up, and I don't find it so easy to blog on my ipad! I can't explain why, I just don't find it easy!

4. Because of all of the above I also haven't found much time for crafty pursuits to blog about!

But I do have a few things nearly finished, so should be able to share them soon!

This one is almost done, just working on the border now!

Certainly my watercolours haven't seen the light of day in the last 2 months!

And I can't remember when I last made a cake - it's difficult enough to just cook dinner with my not-so-little helper around!

What I HAVE found plenty of time for is walking

And of course plenty of cuddles!!!

Be back soon!

xxx

I had a little nut tree....

One Happy I'd like to share with you...

Before we moved to Poppy Cottage 18 months ago we lived in Milton Keynes in Walnut Tree.

Behind our house was Walnut Tree Farm.

And in Walnut Tree Farm was, yes, you've guessed, a walnut tree.

It was a beautiful tree, but the trouble was, it blocked the evening sun from our garden.

Not long after we moved I was planting out some plants we'd brought with us, and in one of the pots I found a walnut with a tiny shoot growing.

It must have seeded itself, from the tree in the farm, in the pot when it was in Walnut Tree.

I was really pleased, we'd been in the house in Walnut Tree for 17 years, and it felt like we'd brought a bit of our old home with us!

I carefully planted it back up in a pot and kept it watered all through last summer.

It grew.

Not a lot, but at least it was growing!

In the winter the leaves fell off.

And early this spring when I checked on it there were little buds.

Then along came Annie Airedale.....

And with one swipe the buds were gone!

I moved it out of her reach and tended it carefully

And 

Tah dah!

When it gets too big for the pot I'll transplant into a bigger one

And when it needs planting out it has been promised a spot on a neighbour's land where we can visit and watch it grow!

52 weeks of Happy: I think spring has sprung at last

I've completely lost track of where I am in 52 weeks of Happy, so I'm just going to share some things that have made me happy this morning!

I was out in the garden keeping Annie company while she saw to her 'business' and thinking how nice it will be when I can take her out for walks - only a few more days now - and she can trample down the flowers and foliage in the fields and hedgerows instead of in my garden - or maybe as well as!

I noticed that quite a lot of the flowers we planted last year are coming up again

We obviously got the fencing up just in time to save them!

My geum is looking lovely

The lupins look like they'll have LOADS of flowers this year - so long as I don't let the greenfly get them!

My yellow aquilegia is looking gorgeous

These photos just don't do it justice!

My white aquilegia doesn't have quite such dramatic flowers as the yellow one, but hopefully will still be lovely. It didn't really flower much last year! And Annie tore out half of it a couple of weeks ago so it's recovering nicely!

My fuschias are starting to grow. 

I love these particular fuschias; they were growing in the garden of a house we bought on the South coast in 1988. We took cuttings when we moved from there in 1994, and ended up with a garden full of them for the 17 years that we lived in Milton Keynes. Of course we took more cuttings when we moved to Northamptonshire 18 months ago, so our fuschias are well travelled and quite old!

Hollyhocks and sea hollies - a must for a cottage garden!

Not sure what this is, we put it in last year, very pretty!

The pink poppies, which Poppy Cottage was named after, as there was nothing but weeds and poppies growing in the garden when we moved in! 

The lavender that Miss M bought me for my birthday last year is surviving OUTSIDE of the fenced in flower bed - Annie clearly doesn't like lavender, must buy more!

This was pretty last year, with yellow flowers, again I can't remember what it is called!

A pink phlox....

Something tall - I only know this because the supporting stake is still there from last year!

Oh there are going to be some lovely surprises when all these plants flower and we remember what they are!

This is an arabis which we 'planted' a couple of weeks ago in the wall where Annie can't reach it!

And amazingly the honeysuckle is surviving despite Annie's intervention!

And the herbs - she obviously doesn't like them either!

I'm really getting quite excited, hopefully my cottage garden will look lovely again, despite the need to fence parts off!

xxx

Me an' my shadow

 There doesn't seem to be much time for blogging lately.

Because of my shadow.

  So my 52 weeks of Happy has been sadly neglected.

Because of my shadow.

I don't have any new crochet to show you, WIP or otherwise.

Because my shadow eats it whenever I get it out.

I haven't done any painting for a while.

Because my shadow demands all my attention.

I haven't managed to get much done in the garden.

Because my shadow digs up plants faster than I can plant them.

I haven't been on any country walks.

Because my shadow isn't allowed out yet and I can't go without her.

Baking?

Nah

Housework?

Nah

Reading?

A little

But happy?

Yes, definitely!

And tired?

Oh yes!

xxx

52 weeks of happy; week 18

What a lovely week I've had!

So many reasons to be Hap-Hap-Happy!

First, my new shadow, aka Annie the Airedale

Last week we were inundated with visitors, all coming to welcome Annie.

She was pleased to see everyone, and had a very busy and social week, but was pretty tired by the weekend!

Now that it's just me and Annie at home she has stuck to me like a little shadow!

I have managed to snatch a few moments to add a bit to my granny blanket

 It took a few attempts to take the photos though as Annie kept running off with it!

I've enjoyed sitting in the sunshine in the garden while she plays close by, and had tea and cake

This is Mary Berry's lemon drizzle cake, but this time I changed it into orange drizzle cake - it was yummy!

Mr B and I managed to fence off some of the garden before Annie could eat ALL the plants!

She trampled most of the bluebells

The geum is coming up nicely

We saved a few plants from being eaten!

Butter wouldn't melt in her mouth!

And finally, at the end of each long and tiring day, we managed to snatch a few hours in front of the television

All those little crochet blankets are coming in useful!

Hope your days are HAPPY too!

xxx

52 weeks of happy: week 17

Well, it's Monday again so time to tell you all what made me happy last week!

Hmmmm, let me see... last week already seems a long time ago. Sleep deprivation is affecting my memory.

Ah, yes!

On Wednesday I spent a very enjoyable morning having coffee with a new friend in the village. It was a lovely sunny morning and we were able to sit in the garden watching the lambs while having a good old gossip!

Thursday I wasn't looking forward to as I had to go to the dentist. At my last check up last year I'd had to have several fillings, two crowns, and root canal work, not very nice and very expensive!!!

So imagine my surprise when this time I got the all-clear!

No treatment needed!

HAPPY!!

My third happy last week was our village book club meeting on Friday evening, which is always fun when we discuss the latest book we've read.

The book in question was actually dire, but we had such a laugh discussing just how dreadful it was that it made up for the awfulness of reading it!

This is how it was described...

'Laugh-out-loud . . . a teeming world of characters whose foibles and misunderstandings provide glorious amusement. Something deeper and darker than comedy' Sunday Times

 I can safely say that not one of the 14 of us found it at all amusing, other than when discussing it after a few glasses of wine!

My fourth, and biggest, and best, and happiest Happy last week happened on Saturday.

It was, of course, collecting Annie the Airedale 

And anyone who isn't already fed up listening to me talk endlessly about how gorgeous she is can find out more here!

That's it for now folks, I'm feeling extremely knackered tired looking after the new addition to the family so I'm going to have a quick nap while Mr B and Mr R keep an eye on Annie!

Hope you're all having a happy, happy time!

xxx

Puppy news!

Morning all!

It's a bit early for me to be up here in Poppy Cottage on a Sunday morning, but there is a very good reason!

Yesterday we collected our new puppy, Annie the Airedale!

So far she is being very good, and seems to be settling in well.

Famous last words?

Maybe

Anyway, if you would like to follow Annie's progress, pop across to see her on her very own blog, The Antics of Annie the Airedale

She will be very happy to see you there.... when she wakes up from her nap

xxx