Levitating

Today's early morning low slung clouds quietly slipped away, revealing a glorious blue autumnal sky.

 I'd put off working yesterday due to claggy heavy mist and rain, which when half way up a moorland hillside trying to garden is not pleasant. Thursday's lovely weather more than made up for it.

It is definitely autumnal now - no getting around it and yes I know there are those of you who are atumnaphiles who can not get enough of the colours, the cool air, the dark evenings, the comfort food however they are exactly what gets me down. Where is the warmth and the sunlight, the heat of the day and the late nights?  Where are the swallows and swifts and the searing sunsets over the sea horizon? However, today certainly went someway to redeem it's rather dreary start.

Willow was her usual enthusiastic self, showing me how to just get on and enjoy life regardless what gets thrown at you - or in her case - for you ... a ball, a frizzbee or hoop.

Over the last couple of days I have been making slow roast pumpkin soup - working around having half a kitchen and it has turned out rather nicely. 

I'd planned to have it for the weekend however Himself was feeling a bit poorly and not wanting to eat much, so I enticed him with a bowl full of the pumpkin soup which he agreed to try. 

Suffice to say, he soon perked up and wolfed it down then hung around seeing if there would be seconds - sorry no, the rest is for the weekend! (We've got another birthday celebration and the soup is meant for that) Don't worry about him starving, he was offered other things to stave off his self imposed famine, he's fine.

It is now in the fridge, ready to be gently reheated and eaten with crusty brown bread - yum

Have you ever seen a caterpillar levitate? - Well now you have..... It is one of the Tiger moth family, not sure which variety, but on discovery it curled up in a fuzzy ball, balancing on the longer guard hairs making it look as if it was floating! 

It soon 'returned to its feet' and wandered off , determinedly heading towards my garden for a somewhere to hide.

So I suppose, the answer to the dilemma of how to survive autumn - be more dog, levitate like a tiger moth caterpillar, eat slow roasted pumpkin soup and just get on with it.... Wish me luck.

And the builders? They have finally gone!! Next step is a bit of electrical work then the walls can be skimmed and painted, the cupboards installed and the floor replaced - ooh that sounds like more than one step...... I shall keep you posted.

GIRL- rilla (guerrilla) gardening 🌱

 You know I said .....Once again, waiting in for the builders - this should potentially be their penultimate day with tomorrow just the final coat of paint - fingers crossed!

Well - ever the optimist I have yet again found that I was proven wrong - sigh.  While I was out working and Himself was in charge of baby sitting the builders he sent me a message saying that today's builder took one look at the new ceiling and offered to pull it down and do it again. Himself and I had already decided that we were not happy with how it was looking - as it dried so it began to bulge and we had the lumpiest ceiling you could imagine. Not quite back to square one but not far off.

Interestingly enough - what had taken four days for the two and sometimes three chaps to get this point in the make over,  was completely dismantled and redone in one by the new fellow. Guess who's business card we have taken. 

So. Today the new builder is coming in to paint the ceiling and take away all the rubbish the others had left - they all work for the same company - not as employees but as contractors. There is a lot I have not mentioned about our kitchen roof escapades, I could fill a small novelette with the shenanigans and disasters this lot have had however I have nicer things to share.

The reason I was away and Himself had the 'pleasure' of brewing up and chivvying on the builders - I was doing some 'guerrilla gardening'.  A secret garden make over as a birthday gift arranged by one of my garden clients. She and I had quietly planned this for a couple of weeks as she knew her friend would be away for a few days over her birthday.  

So Friday we swooped in while they were gone and completely redid a rather wonderful large stone watering trough. 

My lovely garden client made an excellent apprentice for the day :)

The house is on old farm land and the trough had been used for cattle. It then was unearthed over 30 years ago and hauled up to the then new house as a raised planter. With time the trough had just become a weedy collection of alpine strawberries and Alchemilla mollis. 

I'd suggested a mini alpine scree garden which seemed to go down well.  My client had managed to take a couple of sneaky photos and pace out the size of the trough so we could plan plants and design the shape. All good fun.

What a cracking view this garden has, it was such a lovely place to work for the day and by the end of it we had transformed the old weed ridden stone trough to a sweet mini scree garden - I love doing these sort of things!

The neighbour - a retired police man - came over to see who was fettling around in the garden and stood and chatted for ages, admiring our work and suggested we do a secret make over for the entire garden! Which - although is kept very neat, does need sorting, however it is rather large and I could see it being a year long project........ So, think I might just stop at this lovely stone trough😄

So - while I wait for the final (fingers crossed) builder, I think it is time to put the kettle on - fingers crossed for an end of the disruptions - the cat is rather fed up by it all 😄

One grumpy cat firmly attached to the duvet whilst avoiding the building chaos downstairs

..

Stories from the weekend

 Once again, waiting in for the builders - this should potentially be their penultimate day with tomorrow just the final coat of paint - fingers crossed!

However, whilst waiting I thought I would pop in and do a bit of blog hopping and share a few silly stories as I go along.

Monday's story rates as the sweetest - Our rather matronly (curmudgeonly) cat is very much happier being outside but returns multiple times a day to snack on her biscuits or to check on us or as is the case this morning - to complain about the weather.

We have a cat flap in the kitchen door that she uses and it has a very distinctive sound. When we had two cats you could tell who was coming in by the sound of the slap.  On Monday I worked in my parents new garden - it has been neglected for about four years according to the neighbours and judging by the length and girth of the dock roots - I am not going to disagree! It was windy yet warm and by the time I'd cleared half the bed - I'd had enough, headed home and having had a shower and recovering with a huge mug of tea..... the cat slapped through the cat flap.

She cackled her raspy hello and almost immediately afterwards there was a second little slap of the cat door.  I looked up to see if it was the wind which had moved it or if the cat had gone straight back out only to see that hot on her tail was a baby squirrel..... It had followed her in!

There are a couple about - definitely a late summer brood now abandoned by the mother (quite normal) and learning to be independent. Except this one really fancied having a cat for a grumpy aunt. I swooped in to pick it up then hesitated..... this was a healthy little female who might just bite - whereas the squirrel kits we handled during covid were both injured and dehydrated and in no state to fight back. So I reversed and grabbed a dog towel, turned to carefully drop it on the squizzer only to find it had vanished.  Cue comedy music as I, with the "help" of both the dog and the cat, tried to catch the little thing. Boy could it scarper!!

Eventually I managed to usher it out into the back yard via up on the kitchen roof, under the table, behind the bench and the wellie boots and then outside - much to the amusement of a couple of neighbours who cackled gleefully at my antics. You are welcome ladies - glad to give you a chuckle!!😄

Any hoo - its back out with its sibling and hopefully learning not to follow strange cats home.

Sunday's story - little less silly. With a house full of family for the birthday bash, the dog was well and truly hyped up - she loves the boys and their girls and having all four of them, plus my folks sent her 'giddy-levels' to stratospheric - Himself took her off to the garden and she raced around to the far end and back in record time - her fizzy feet must have really been fizzing.  

About ten minutes after her zoomies, she pottered into the kitchen where sandwiches were being made and we (Eldest's fiancé and I) noticed her eye and cheek were a bit too red, so we bent down to investigate and discovered she had ripped her eyelid open. 

Eldest's fiancé immediately cuddled the dog still, I grabbed kitchen paper and dabbed off the blood to see where it was coming from and - bless her - Wills did not cry or struggle although her chin wobbled a little  (it really did).

I flipped her eyelid over to make sure it was not torn in half which would require taking to the vet to suture and checked her eye itself was not damaged. Fortunately the 'only' injury was the complete removal of fur and skin the size of my little finger nail above her eye and 'grazed' skin below.

Being an ex vet nurse has its advantages - so a piece of chicken as a treat, bit of antibiotic cream to stop any infection and the dog was back to being a goofy idiot it had been ten minutes before.... 

Typical collie - pain is just an inconvenience, playing/working/chicken comes first!! And now? Well, she is sporting a rather fetching scab and could not care less. 

Final waffle - yesterday I tried another new recipe -  (Lemon curd thumb buns) verdict - ok-ish. not as good as I had hoped.

I need to stop...... not good for the waistline!

Hopefully my next comms won't start with  ... whilst waiting for the builders ...........

Super scrummy pancakes for breakfast

A very welcome calm start to the day - The builders have rung in sick today and I have put them off for tomorrow as I am busy. So a blissfully clear drive, an easily accessible back door, a kitchen I can walk in and make a brew and loiter, no large blokes whistling or singing, no plaster dust, no off cuts of wood everywhere and a lot quieter!  I shall make the most of the builders being away for the next couple of days.

The house-full of family and birthday celebrations went well. I adore having the boys and their girls staying with us however, once the house has emptied and all has been cleaned and put away - there is that lovely moment of calm.

On Sunday I made a new to me pancake recipe for breakfast and they worked beautifully.  The original version would not have made enough for the gannets around the table, so I doubled it. They are like eating little lemony flavoured pillows of yum. I didnt take any photos - but I do recommend them.

The original recipe (in Italian) had the still hot pancakes dropped into a saucer of sugar before serving, which I did try - bit unsuccessfully as sugar got everywhere, I had to wash my fingers after each one, the sugar, once warmed, got 'clumpy' and did not stick evenly. 

Italian lemon yoghourt pancakes - makes 6 - 8 pancakes, double/treble as necessary!

85g plain flour
1 tspn baking powder
pinch bicarb

20gm sugar

1 egg

120g vanilla yoghourt 

2 tspn lemon juice

grated lemon zest

Frying pan with a lid (preferably glass)

oil for cooking

sugar for dusting

Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl

Mix all the wet ingredients in a separate bowl then combine gently, do not over mix or beat.

Allow to rest for about 10 - 15 mins (the mix then develops a beautiful fluffy texture)

Drop gloopfuls (I used a soup spoon) in to a lightly oiled med hot pan and lid up briefly - this helps cook the top half of the lovely fat pancake, then flip over to brown.

When done, drop into a saucer of sugar, (or omit this stage) then pile up on a plate and serve with toppings of choice.


They did not last long....

Very few photos were taken however I shall subject you to a couple of building snaps I took during last week.

Skimming the plasterboard

think he was singing something by Celine Dion at this point

quick snap of the back yard - it was still 'tidy' at this point

it got worse!

It appears we had three false ceilings - no wonder our kitchen felt dark and small!

The next step after the roof, skylight and ceiling are completed? We will be ripping out the outdated brown cupboards and replace with white ones - can't wait!

Duvets, tea, gifts, fud and chrimbly cloth - anything else?

Jobs list lifted out of my note book this morning

Willow bedding

Willow is a rather 'wiffy' dog. She is definitely from working stock with her coat oiling up instantly to give her a decent (stinky) water proofing for running around on the hills rounding up sheep. So, she gets fairly regular showers (jokingly known as a 'shampoo and set' in our household) and her bedding hurled into the washing machine. Over the last eight months and with various holistic / homeopathic / dietary sensitive trials, regular flea treatments and baths, her coat is now a gorgeous deep red without patches of missing hair and chewed raw skin and paws. She does smell less 'doggy' but I can see that her skin, her nervous self chewing and scratching as well as her working collie genes will be a constant for the rest of her life.

Willow bedding on the line - smelling a whole lot sweeter

Move tea/coffee et al

We are having work done on the kitchen roof. We have two rather miss matched but friendly builders bumbling in and on the house. An odd dynamic - a young boss (his first company) with very little knowledge but keen to help and get on and 'do' and a middle aged builder with the knowledge and a very kind and genial nature guiding him along. Sounds good until you add in - both have ailments of one sort or another - the kinds you could sort out if you made the effort - they both sing or whistle, different tuneless tunes at the same time. Then complain to the other about their inability to be musical.  Then there is the nicknames they give each other. None rude or insulting - just rather ..... inappropriate? (Baby cakes any one??) and my list - re tea/coffee? well, if any one wants a brew, I'll be making it in the lounge.

Wrap pressies

We had two planned events for September - one, set in stone, is a birthday bash this weekend. The other is the aforementioned kitchen roof work. Initially the two events were a happy three weeks apart. Unfortunately due to some (many) issues with the roofers - they have slid into one and the pressure is on - the builders are very aware they need to be done and dusted and out of my kitchen and my hair so I can clean away the dust, tidy the house, cook and prep for Saturday. 

Dog-fud

In the back of the car is 25 kg of salmon and potato dog food - need to get it out. But I hear you ask why call it dog-fud. 

Years ago - pre kids - Himself and I were listening to a Scottish musician being interviewed one late night and he was asked a general 'what do you get up to when you are not doing music' and he liltingly chatted on about his dog then said 'aye I mus rememberrr to buy dog fud' and the English presenter asked what was fud? To which the singer replied - Och you English would call it foooooooood - extending the ooooo sound in the most deliciously Scottish way. So - dog fud it has been since then.

A rather over excited dog who thinks this WHOLE BAG is for the eating of NOW!

Chrimbly cloth

Whilst being 'house bound' with the roofers, I have made friends with my sewing machine. We go through phases of liking or hating each other - at the moment we are doing ok!

half way there, next half incoming!

The festive table cloth is now over half way - rather rustic and certainly keeping me entertained whilst preventing cabin fever. Once the patches are all together and ironed, I plan to top sew each one then stitch on to a backing cloth to give it strength (and to hide all scruffy bits at the back!) voila! at least that is the plan....

a deliberate attempt to look 'patchworky' and spontanious rather than meticulous and beautiful 

which I know I could never do - I am realistic as to my abilities and patience!

And yes - my hand writing is rather 'rustic' too - a combo of being left handed, feeling cold (the unfinished roof has dropped the temperature in the house) after deciding a while ago that I no longer need to impress anyone with my hand writing as well as 'leaving' behind the despised years and years of having to do the much hated lines and lines AND LINES all through my summer holidays ..... in order (and failing) to improve my hand writing. 

I no longer apologise. 

I have since worked through several items - and it gives me great pleasure to cross them off!

And just a few snippets not on the list - the dahlias catching this morning's early light, the spider web beneath the arch last night and a scared of-the-drilling-and-hammering dog from yesterday.

amazing how swaddling in a duvet whilst in your crate

makes the world almost right again

Finally the builders have landed, three of them today - the pressure is on and despite them very 'kindly' offering to come on Saturday to finish it off I have politely and firmly declined the offer reminding them that there is a birthday bash this weekend and I have a house full of guests - ah...... we better crack on was the response..... yup.

Guess what?

 STILL waiting for the same workmen - this time they have had the grace to text and confirm the day AND time they will be landing.... however -

Their timing is not good as today I have a lot to deal with and I am just not sure which way to turn first. It is, at the moment too early in the morning to make the essential phone calls and possible transporting of my folks to the bank - they are struggling with understanding online insurance, online banking, online booking of the internet/changing off address/etc etc and although I can help to a certain degree - but most of my help seems to be trying to catch up or fix what they have done before it gets too disastrous! 

So while I wait for the rest of the world to wake up - I thought I'd share a walk we did yesterday.

We have a brooding lump of a hill which looms over the village and I suspect a good number of the villagers climb the hill at least once yearly, Himself included. I have not been up for a while and mindful that I have neglected to gasp my way up the soggy moorland sides of it, we went up on Sunday.

The approach from our house takes us up via the old cobbled track, down through the older part of the village past jumbles of tiny cottages and expensive new builds which are still wrapped in plastic and scaffolding looking quite out of context to the rest of the homes - the price of greed I suppose...

Eventually the houses become small holdings, chickens, horses and donkeys filling the fields, then they become farms where sheep and beef cattle then take over. 

Finally we reach the moor road, stop for a brew and a view before turning upward to the hill.

The ground underfoot immediately turns wet. The foot path glints with rain water puddles and boggy pools and Willow gets rather excited as she tries out as many watering holes as possible.

As we make our way over the marshy shoulders, you can just about hear the brook burbling down beneath the reeds and a mewing buzzard through the winds which are cold and cutting. The gradual slope suddenly goes upward, where the foot path almost takes on stair like steps caused by thousands of feet over the years, leaving you no choice but to follow the exact stride as you walk (gasp) up the flank.

Almost at the top of the steep section are a handsome collection of stones known as Lad's Law and I have photos over the years where Himself as a younger man and then the boys when they were various stages of little and not so little are seen climbing up and over the rocks. Today was no different although rather more precarious than usual as the buffeting winds were not making it easy.

We turned back on to the path, soon spotting the trig point where we thought we'd stop for our break but at this point we knew that it would just be a brief visit - far too windy to linger. 

We did have to however, is the 'obligatory' dog-on-a-trig photo - can't break with tradition can you!

As soon as we could, we dropped down off the top and hunkered into a grassy bowl out of the wind. Definitely time to open the flask and bag of dog biscuits!

After a short while and before we could cool down too much, we set off again, traversing the top of the hill from rock formation to rock formation, exploring their strange weather beaten shapes and secret pools of water.

Then, just as we reached the end of the path before turning back down, a large party of folk suddenly appeared, ragged breath and red faced, having just come up the path we were about to follow down. Several managed to gasp a greeting as we walked by. For the most part, the descent passed quietly and it was not until we reached farmlands again when we met a farmer moving his flock. 

He is one of the village 'icons' known for his foul temper and active dislike of general folk. As we reached the gate he was about to go through - he looked at me and said ... I know you..... you used to live in the village. I smiled and said that we still do and that somethings don't change. He grunted, then smiled broadly which both Himself and I know to be a rare treat and wished us a good walk.

Again we set off, through the farmlands, then the small holdings, returning to the main street through the village and down the cobbles to home where a much needed mug of tea or two restored three very wind blown but happy walkers.

PS - the roofers have arrived, only three weeks and one hour late.....