Odds and Sods - April 2018

April was a very changeable month - we had heatwaves, we had floods and torrential rain, and the heating was on and off constantly - the thermostat has never been so twiddled with in this house!  I was beginning to despair that we were ever going to get a spring.  And in fact it all came and went so quickly that I didn't even have a chance to collect beech leaves this year so the beech leaf gin is not on anyone's Christmas list unfortunately.  Fingers crossed for the blackberry brandy instead!

Finn has been ridiculously cuddly lately - not that I mind of course.  He had his annual MOT and check up at the vets in April and he's doing well - he has a small lump which we need to keep an eye on - but he's pretty healthy in every other way.   He doesn't seem to want to go for long walks - or sometimes even short ones, he sometimes just sits down on the front doorstep and refuses to budge!  Which is a worry because we've got a month off in September to walk 175 miles - I may need to do some re-planning.

Talking of which ...

I've finally started to break my new boots in - which are still looking very clean!

My weight loss is progressing well (23.5 pounds off as I type this) and I can start to see a difference now and am having to buy new clothes!

This is a spring vision!  Haring around the Norfolk countryside one day, I had to stop to take this photo - it's at the top of North Elmham village, where Mum and Dad, and now Amanda and Sid, live.  Beautiful.

I've been watching the progress of these beautiful magnolia buds on my daily walk to work - it was absolutely stunning for about a week!  I love magnolias but it's over very quickly and then makes a terrible mess when the flower petals fall over the lawn.  Maybe the fact that they're so short lived makes us love them even more?

Andy came up from Bristol for a week and brought these goose eggs with him - my god, they were enormous!  Much too meaty for me sadly so I shared mine with Finn.  We had to put them in tumblers as we didn't have egg cups big enough!

The blossom this year has been beautiful - I don't know if that's weather related?   I've spent quite a lot of time with my nose in flower blossom on my walk to work - I must look like a real weirdo!

Excited to report that my Runrig ticket has arrived - I'm off to see them in June and trying not to peak too soon.

The other exciting news is that I learnt that I had passed my latest two horticultural exams - on fruit and veg, and growing under glass.  75 per cent qualified now, just have to make sure I don't stuff up the final two!

Last word goes to Finn ... as always!

Made or Grown - April 2018

I've clearly gone completely off the rails with this project in April - the first photo I've downloaded isn't until 3 April!  Hey ho - I always knew it would be tricky, but what it has done is flag up the things I need to make for next year so that I can try again. I'm not giving up, I'm really enjoying it - when I remember!  

So here goes ..... April's efforts.

3 April 2018 - the scarf I made for Mary which she gave back to me.

4 April 2018 - this scarf is versatile enough to be worn with a coat, but also to just be worn for adornment in the office.

5 April 2018 - another of Mary's shawls, regifted back to me.

6 April 2018 - starting to warm up a bit, so wearing a cardi out in lieu of a coat.

8 April 2018 - poncho's back out again!

9 April 2018 - and another!

10 April 2018 - this shawl is also very versatile.

11 April 2018 - clearly the heating had gone off at work again and it had cooled down!

12 April 2018 - coat and scarf back on.

13 April 2018 - first gardening job of the year.   I think the hat was probably more useful in trying to contain my hair, than keeping my head warm!

14 April 2018 - scarf on up at Mousehold Heath.  (Although I did get quite warm racing around after Finn, and the coat and scarf did come off quite quickly!)

16 April 2018 - while sorting out my garden growing bags, I discovered a load of Pink Fir Apple potatoes I had neglected to harvest, so had them for tea with sausages and peas.  Amanda invited herself over!!

17 April 2018 - scarf on my walk to work.

19 April 2018 - strictly speaking, I hadn't actually made anything here.  However, I am responsible for how the coat looks now as, when I bought it, it was beige and black.   I don't wear beige!  So it was dyed a lovely bottle green colour which has faded to a sage green colour.   That's why it's included!

20 April 2018 - this coat is versatile over trousers and skirts.  And, look, I've even discarded the tights!

23 April 2018 - close up of dyed coat.

24 April 2018 - walking to work.

25 April 2018 - me, scarf, blossom.  

27 April 2018 - walking to work again.

28 April 2018 - more blossom!

30 April 2018 - realised that my holiday is looming and I need to break in my new walking boots before attempting to walk 175 miles.  Matched boots to shirt - to try and divert people's attention from (forbidden) footwear at work, and popped sparkly cardi over the top for even more diversion!

NDR

Andy takes great pride in his work - he has on every job he's been on since I've known him. Indeed, when we met in Portsmouth, I regularly got tours around the site to see what he'd been up to and, on one of our first trips to London together, I was shown the intricacies of the Jubilee Line and especially his escalators!

So, of course, while he was working in Norfolk on the Distributor Road, I knew I'd be in for plenty of road trips up and down the bloody thing!  

One beautifully sunny day in October after I got back from my holiday in Northumberland, I was treated to another site visit - he's so proud!

Boys and their toys, eh?!

Other People's Gardens - March 2018

Everything in March's post is about college - that has all changed in April as I've started to pick up some gardening work elsewhere - but this month is all about Easton.  But it has been incredibly varied!

As the weather was very changeable, sometimes we couldn't actually get out into the grounds, so we did sow an awful lot of seeds - mainly of the beans and peas varieties, to plant out into our allotment plots once the soil had warmed up a bit.

We made bug houses to encourage pollinators to our plots - we built these on the perimeter of the allotment plots.  We had such a fab day - we were basically left to roam around the college grounds and see what we could find to make our habitats - ours was beautiful I have to say, but we only managed to get the tall structure as we found a chair to build it around!  What a fab day!

We chopped the Cornus alba right back and separated it all out - the good stems for us to take hardwood cuttings; the more whippy stuff for the florists to use in their displays; and the really strong stuff to use as temporary plant supports for the herbaceous perennials - once they grow up, they'll disguise the supports, but in the meantime they're very attractive to look at and completely free!

But we also had terrible rain while digging our plots - it was awful, the rain didn't stop and we were just slipping and sliding across the plots.  Bloody awful!  I've borrowed this picture from Kim - I was so fed up with everyone standing around in the filthy weather that I got rather bossy and took charge of the measuring of the plot - but at least I know my triangulation now!