Just about bordering on odd, I see things through different eyes.The heading says it all - I live, I love, I craft, I am me...

28/09/2021

Before I set off ...

Yesterday (Monday) was a delightfully quiet one after the last few weeks and weekends shenanigans.

Work has been busy both physically and mentally. As part of grant awarding bodies criteria, we have to achieve certain 'tick box' requirements to fulfil our part of the agreement. So, there have been sessions of teaching both volunteers and public as well as our apprentice alongside the normal gardening sessions. This will alter slightly as the weather turns and there is less gardening on offer. Over the autumn months and leading up to December (can't bring myself to say the festive c word), I'll be running crafting workshops where we'll be making decorations, wreaths as well as wintery garden advice. (find me a dark corner please - I need to hibernate)...

So, to sit quietly with a crochet hook in hand............. working on my latest hat was bliss. A double strand of Alpaca DK, it is thick and weighs 'a tonne' so there better be at least a week of really cold weather to wear this one! I tried it on this morning and it was like wearing a close fitting duvet.

Last week was our wedding anniversary and as is 'tradition' I completely forgot and when Himself presented a beautiful bouquet of Gerbera daisies, yellow and orange roses, yellow lilies and Hypericum berries with a card - it brought me to tears. He is a keeperπŸ§‘πŸ’–πŸ’š. Now a week later the flowers are just beginning to fade, but not enough to throw, so I have tidied them and freshened their water. I want to get a few more days from them.

In between the heavy showers I tried to garden - my own - but was chased by the rain into my greenhouse where I potted up some of the smaller succulents and cacti from my collection. They are such quiet little fellows, not screaming for attention or needing constant cossetting and I do love their stoic determined growth - I use them at work with those folk who don't see gardening as 'their thing' but do seem to be drawn to the simple honesty of these plants.
Eventually I ran out of greenhouse jobs and when the rain eased off a little, I escaped back to the house and switched the oven on and baked a pile of oak leaf shortbread biscuits. As usual, they did not last long.
Pan seamlessly appeared whilst I was in the garden and vanished as secretively and then reappeared when I returned to the house. Her now ever present company albeit on her terms is still something we are getting used to. It still feels special.

I am off to work shortly, however, looking through the window it is looking far from appetising, but as long as the rain holds off, I'll be fine, so if you'll excuse me, I better get ready.

What are you up to today?
Are you also working around the weather or are you safely ensconced somewhere indoors with mugs of tea keeping warm and dry?

Have a lovely Tuesday xxxxx

Edited to add: it rained............. all day, I got wet and had to change fully twice - sigh.

21 comments:

  1. Trying to clear the kitchen bench by the window as that is where tender plants will winter..at present a dumping ground for tools and Stuff!!
    And bramble and elderberry jelly.

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    1. Yes we have been moving plants into the greenhouse and into our covered back yard - glad we did it yesterday, the rain today has been torrential!

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  2. Usually I have to remind Beloved when it is our Wedding Anniversary but this year I forgot but he remembered a few days later! What a hoot. Well done Himself and he deserves a few extra home-made biscuits. Knowing poor weather was on the way I've saved up the indoor jobs that I've been putting off for some time! I think I can manage to run out to the greenhouse and tidy it up, better than tidying the house! x

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    1. Oh I am all for doing outside stuff before inside stuff but I have had to rethink that option now that the rain seems to have set in!

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  3. Ah, good to meet another succulent fan! I've had one or two on and off over the years, but have a decent sized little collection now; I've joined a FB page etc, and a local friend is very into them, so we just encourage each other lol

    Not sure what I'm doing today, working on the bedroom probably. It's been very blowy here the past couple of days and nights and today is overcast but dry so far. I need to get out and do a few things in the garden at some point.

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    1. oooh which page do you follow? I follow a 'local(ish)' one to me which is a bit sporadic but occasionally shares fayres and photos and keeps my interest piqued ... Bradford Branch of the British Cactus & Succulent Society.

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    2. On Facebook - Succulent and Cactus Collectors UK and Succulents Wales. The first is a group, lively, lots of posts, advice, selling; Succulents Wales is a small company. I've found etsy to be a good source too. I've got some leaves to try and root, some cuttings and now some seeds - all different things. I really need to stop now...........

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    3. Erhmmm... Just been in Etsy.... May have purchased a leaf or two ....

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    4. Mwwahaha - my job here is done ;) lol Hope they do well for you :)

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  4. In Wales the forecast is for rain pretty much all day. After a day out and about exploring yesterday we are hunkering down today. A bit of reading, a bit of embroidery, a bit of Internet browsing, a spot of lunch and maybe a little walk if there is a gap in the rain πŸ˜ƒ

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    1. You sound to have got today sussed - have a good one 😊

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  5. I'm new to following your blog, so can I ask about your cat? A rescue I presume? We had a completely feral tom (one of many who came our way back at our old home) who we adopted, had neutered when he was finally tame enough, and who took 2 or years to learn to purr. Now he's like Bagpuss, bless him.

    I have braved the Welsh weather (it has remembered how to rain here again, with brass bells on!) and done the grocery shopping, and am about to get changed and wield my paintbrush in our bedroom - the next of many rooms that needs redecorating in our new-to-us old house. A cheerful Forget-me-not type blue is being used.

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  6. She was a feral kitten and although we got her through a rescue she never really came to terms with having to share living space with humans. We also had another cat (younger) which we subsequently adopted to fill that need for a 'pet' that Pan was not fulfilling. I always said that I was grateful that she lived with us because we allowed her to be what/who she was without pressure, I always thought that if she'd gone to a different home they may have not tolerated her feral ways. Then about 4 months ago the second cat was run over and within a week Pan filled the space - on her terms naturally - however her character completely changed on about 48 hours and we are now able to stroke her, pick her up, she now purrs, will meow a conversation, follows us rather than avoids us, sits on the bed, asks to have contact - the list goes on. We can't fully lay the blame on the second cat as Pan was already cranky before she arrived however it was over seven years before she became 'nice' yet morphed into lovely girl two days after the other one's death - we will never know, but we are very grateful as before it was more of living parallel with a timid white shadow than having a pet cat.

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  7. Crafting workshops sound a lot of fun. I hope, perhaps, you might share what will be on offer :)
    The biscuits look delicious. I gave Lily the choice between oak leaves or Herdy cookies. The Herdies won this time. X

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    1. Ha ha ha good choice Lily! If you look back into my archives to December 2016, I did a craft a day leading to the 24th. All the instructions are there too 😊 most are designed to be child friendly too 😊

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  8. One busy lady all round at work and home. All looks good and the workshops sound super. Take care & hugs.

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  9. Love how you describe the succulents, I am trying not to succumb . . . {{snortle}}

    Enjoyed reading your reply to B/Belle about Pan. So bloody tragic that it had to happen the way it did, but it fills my heart to read how she has changed. xx

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    1. Thanks Jayne, however if you do succumb you'll never be able to escape, these little unassuming plants know how to entrap!

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  10. I am annoyed! Certainly not about your blog or posts...heaven forbid! I cannot comment as I used to the Random Acts of Crochet Kindness FB group seems to be taking up all my computer time. I need to sort this out! I am behind with everything even my WIPs. I am dying to start on one of your hats but I still haven't finished the cowl I am making...grumble...grumble. Cutting this short as I should be saying how much I love your posts which I do...sigh! Amanda x

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    1. Oh dear πŸ˜„! thank you Amanda you had me chuckling there (once I got past the first sentence haha)

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