The joy of homegrown

When  I was growing up, my Mum and Step-Dad took on an allotment (and then another) at the local allotment site.  From the age of about 8-11, my sister and I went over to the allotment site with my Mum to weed, water and do allotment things.

I loved walking round looking at all the different plots. There were certain magnificent ones owned by certain people that I loved to pore over.

One particularly fine one was owned by Paul and Eddie, I remember. Later in years, I met Paul in a different, musical capacity and always thought of his allotment.  They grew Patty-pan and Custard Squashes which I thought marvellous.

At the time, this meant my diet was largely made up of stews, casseroles and soups involving plentiful veg. At the time, I didn't enjoy this so much whereas now, as an adult, I relish plates full of vegetables!

I am grateful for those years of fresh-air, doing something real and down-to-earth, literally.

Even now, to these days, I get excited seeing any allotments or anyone's gardens involving vegetable plots.   I love Sophie's allotment updates! One house we almost bought had a wonderful allotment section at the bottom. I wish this house had that but then it is a wonderful house so I can't have everything.

This Summer, having worked hard to try and succeed with my courgettes and tomatoes, I think back on those halcyon days of growing.

My favourite garden to visit is my Mum's of course.

We have enjoyed lots and lots of Cavolo Nero cabbage and Swiss Chard courtesy of Mum. 

Look at those enormous plants she has below

 Her tomato plants are heaving with fruit!

 Even this TINY apple tree is covered!

 And look at that whopper Butternut squash!  The garden tour is definitely my favourite thing to do!

If I ever visited your house, please do show me your garden! I am super enthusiastic!  I'd love to see anyone's posts about their gardens!

Slightly foxed

Hi there,

Certain prints are such fun to wear.

Foxes, squirrels and other Woodland friends always make the onlooker smile.

This Run & Fly dress is a favourite for its running Fox print even if the material is slightly weird and paper-bag-like!

I wore it with my new Charity-shopped Rieker shoes. I have almost the exact same ones in black (now grey with ankle straps) which have lasted for such a long time and been a stawalt. Even though they weren't perfect condition- for £3 in the charity shop, I wanted to give them a go knowing I like the other ones so much!

Foxy accessorising too- CBC said that the two types  of fox did not go with the print but I decided to hedge my bets anyway!

Photos were taken at Frazer's tearooms in Battlesbridge.   I recommend this place to eat a nice lunch/breakfast/tea! They have a beautiful large garden to eat in.

Hope you are well.

My garden update- Late August

Greetings,
Hope all is well with you.
It is hard to believe that the penultimate week of the holiday is waning and that big list of things I wanted to attain looks more and more unlikely!

I thought I'd share a few photos from the garden.
We were away in Northumberland for 2 weeks and then came back for 1 day before heading off to our musical camp for 10 days.  The rain happened during that time so we came back to a delightfully green and lush lawn.  CBC feared that the lawn wouldn't recover from all the parching weather so he was so happy it was back, he lay down in it to read for the morning!

 There's not a HUGE amount of new action in the garden. The Passiflora, whilst less abundant, is still growing so we have new blooms and fruits in places.  The vine on the left side has been rampant and is taking over so I firmly removed it from strawberry plants, raspberry plants and other things to give them a chance.

 The Seedum is now starting to turn pink- it looks most attractive. Isn't it funny that once you know the name of a plant, you seem to see it everywhere and want to name it!

 Despite my wimpy not cutting off the side-shoots, the tomatoes seem to be doing fairly well, we've picked about 18 so far!

 I cut back the Roses at the end of June and am happy to report that they flowered again!  The bees seem happy to have a second chance.

 This shrub,whose name I don't know, seems to be flowering rather attractively. I am grateful to our predecessor.

 The Buddlea seems to be having a second go at blooming also. I am sad not to have seen any Red Admiral butterflies on there.  They usually flock to them.

 Aha, here are the aforementioned Roses!

 I am happy to report the courgettes plant is flourishing BUT there is far too much foliage and not too much courgette!!!

 Aside from the two my Mum picked for us whilst we were away, there are two more obviously growing and a few tinies but not the amount I would have hoped for. Still, I have FINALLY grown courgettes by myself! (plant provided by Mummy!)

 We forgot that a friend gave us a Begonia in a swinging pot when we had our housewarming. We have planted it rather too late but thought we'd see how it goes! It's got this far so far!

I spotted this interesting Caterpillar on the Verbena Boreanis which Louise has identified as a Mullein Moth caterpillar! Not sure if this is a good or bad thing as apparently they can decimate a plant!

I'll leave you with my proud moment of Courgette cutting!

We ate this bowl full with shallots and green lentils plus Cavalo Nero from my Mum's garden for dinner and it was YUMMY!

How has your garden been this month?

TARDIS Tuesday- A summer spin on Clara from Day of the Doctor

Hello there,

Greetings friends.  I apologise if I have not visited you for two weeks. I have been at my orchestra camp and in the little free-time I have had, the terrible WiFi signal has meant that loading blogs and posting comments has been virtually impossible. Thank you for your kindness in continuing to visit despite the fact I have not been. I will try to catch up asap!

I've found TARDIS Tuesday quite hard in the Summer- a lot of my Doctor Who outfits are more suitable for Winter, Spring or Autumn.  Thus, today, I have taken a few liberties with this one.

I'm featuring Clara Oswald's outfit from the 50th Anniversary episode, The Day of the Doctor. 

Image borrowed from Mariah's Cosplay site

Image borrowed from Worn on TV

The basic outfit is this red floral dress from River Island teamed with a Biker jacket, black tights and boots and a Horseshoe necklace.

I've done a Summery version of this outfit before, last Summer, but I featured a similar dress from Tescos's which I bought in a Charity shop.

This time, I have the same dress and I remembered to add a black belt.  I found a horseshoe necklace on Ebay for 99p which was quite simple and nice.

 This was a nice outfit to wear on a warm day but the dress buttons are a little gapy!!

What do you think?

xx

Two simple floral cards

Before I write about these cards, I should write a simple caveat- they are easy to make but are a little time consuming!

Remember my target to make 10 cards- well I am up to 6 I think!

The aforementioned envelopes are the materials used for these cards- I got my full-worth out of those!

A floral punch is the ultimate crafting essential for my card style- I have used these workhorses prolifically over the years. I have 4 sizes.

The large flowers here are formed by overlapping 3 of each colour flowers and then I used an old biro on a piece of foam to rub over the petals to make them curl and stand out.  Glue and some poundland gems for the centre. I prefer to leave my cards without a greeting in order to maximise their versatility if they are not made with a particular individual in mind.

The base card of this was scrap- from a sample card set. The flowers are punched from a smaller punch - arranging and sticking them was what took so long.  The centres are from a silver Sharpie pen.

Card-making is for even the most self-confessed inartistic individual- you just have to be able to stick and punch shapes at the most basic level.  Why not give it a go?
xx

Strawberry dressing

Simplicity!! 

I think that is what I like about summer dressing- just throw on a top and a skirt or just a dress and you are good to go.

No worrying about matching a cardigan or finding suitable shoes for that longer skirt or trousers or finding your jumper layers weirdly over that shirt!

A charity-shopped top which has been worn and loved for a few years, some lovely collar clips from Katie, a second-hand Cath Kidston skirt from Depop (bargain at £6!) and those much-loved spotty Primark shoes I blogged about a few weeks ago and that was it!

It's nice to feel light and not weighed down by garments or heavy fabrics- that's what makes it even better. Much as I will hear the blogging bandwagon start up about enjoying layering up in cosy knits as they sip their Pumpkin chai lattes, there is nothing I like better than those thin layers and good old-fashioned water!

How do you feel about Summer dressing versus Winter and Autumn?
xx

24 carrot card!

I am wondering if I have beat some record for myself in making a card for a birthday in advance?  It is my Dad's birthday in the latter-half of June and I decided to make a start on his next year's card in July!  This is mainly because I was addressing my target to make 10 cards in the holidays and was perusing pages of my ancient craft mags and found this idea I quite liked.

 I should point out at this stage, that this card also makes use of some of the other envelopes that I received cards in from kids at school. I like a bit of recycling!

The idea for this card came from Papercraft Inspirations.

It also took AGES and was incredibly fiddly.

You have to make yourself 24 orange triangles and 24 green triangles the latter of which then need to be fringed.  That alone took an age without counting the time to stick every carrot down individually (PVA with a cotton bud FYI).  Then you have the individual letters for the caption and then the sticking down of a layer of green and brown.

Is it any wonder I decided just to draw the fork in with a silver Sharpie pen instead of cutting one out out of silver card.

This requires no tools other than a corner-rounder punch and the alphabet punch. 

I HOPE it looks good. Was it worth the effort?  I guess I have until next June to find out!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday - Clara in Cold war, Take 3

Hello there,

There was no TARDIS Tuesday last week because I was away in Northumberland and we had headed up the coast to Embleton to stay at an inn and there was no Wifi! My mother-in-law was taken ill on the Sunday and we had to rush with her to hospital after an ambulance so packing was a little last minute too!

This week's TARDIS Tuesday is one that I have attempted twice before and one is one I like very much but keep trying to improve it!

In the Series 7 episode Cold War, Clara and the Doctor are off to a party in Hollywood in the 80's BUT something goes wrong and they end up in a Soviet Submarine which has an unwanted guest.

Clara's beautiful blue metallic button-down dress is quickly soaked as the submarine is under attack.

IMage borrowed from Doctor Who role playing wikia

She dons a Soviet  naval jacket to keep warm but remains in her blue dress and glittery shoes.

Image borrowed from this Pinterest but belongs to the BBC

There is much speculation over where her dress comes from- it seems to be handmade and a one-off so I haven't seen anyone in the exact dress but many people feel it is based on a Vivienne Westwood pannier dress.

Here is my one.  Say hello to the piano in the background!

 I have a blue cotton version of the Vivienne Westwood dress I mentioned which does seem very similar in shape.  I got it out ready for music camp as we are performing The Rake's Progress with some scenes involving ladies of the night- so I figured this was a bit 'wenchy'!

 It is far too hot for a proper nautical coat so I donned my navy blazer which has featured in a few TARDIS Tuesdays.

 Also, I had just washed my hair so I made sure not to dry it to give the impression of 'in a flooding submarine!'.

And to top the outfit off, I have the same Red or Dead shoes that Clara wears. I did have a cute little silver bag like hers which my Canadian colleague gave me but I have no idea where it is!

It is certainly a glamorous outfit for Hollywood- maybe not the best attire for a flooding Submarine!

What do you think? Does the shape work for her dress!? 

Full of Greens fritters recipe for Mum!

In my Summer tasks list, I said I wanted to cook dinner for my Mum. Embarrassingly, since not living with my Mum, I haven't really cooked her dinner/lunch somehow. We've been out for lunch but it was only in February that I cooked her steak for lunch and she commented that it was the first time I had cooked her something. 

She's subsequently been round for my party but I did want for us to cook for her so I invited her round the first Thursday of the holiday.

She is a big vegetable eater so I decided that we would make her a recipe from our favourite veggie recipe-maker, Anna Jones- her Full of Greens fritters (recipe can be found HERE) .  I had a glut of courgettes from the school garden and we had two packs of feta left from our party that weren't used (in fact, I was going to make these!) 

I DO take umbrage her saying in the link above, that these make their way from chopping board to table in 10 minutes. I was grating, chopping, zesting and grating for a good half an hour.

 Shredding the spinach alone took a while. Grating the courgettes was WONDERFULLY quick though!

You've probably heard this tip before but I tend to zest lemons that we have juiced (CBC likes to use them in all his cooking) and freeze them in a box.  You can see I also zested a lime too in the same box- just makes it easier to do them all at once.

 Here was the mixture of feta, spinach, courgette and Parmesan pre-eggs.

As is often the case with guests, I will do all the chopping and preparing and washing up and leave CBC to do the actual cooking.

The recipe made 12 of these fritters and they were delicious! I recommend them.

 It was en extremely hot day when Mum came round and we decided to eat in our dining room/front room which we have only ever used to serve the buffet for our party.  We discovered it was the coolest room in the house, being north-facing and I have subsequently been crafting in here.

So, that was the first time we ate at our dining room table (usually we eat at the kitchen table). We served the lunch with brown crusty bread, carrot and orange and then a leafy salad.  Mum was delighted to be cooked for, especially healthy meat-free meals, so I was glad to have invited her round.  Here's to many more!

Would you eat the fritters?

xx

What is it? #59- Cloud scapes.

Oh it is SUCH a great amount of time since my last What is it?  It was November 2017! To be honest, Winter is always a sparse time for spotting interesting clouds but I am shocked it has taken me this long to see some interesting clouds.   CBC, who usually groans when I say that a cloud looks like something, frequently pointed out interesting clouds as we were in Northumberland.

We were there for almost 2 weeks and I was without internet for 4 days as we went up to the Coast.

Anyway, here is a cloud which really resembles a shape, a thing, a person, a character, an animal or an object other than a cloud.

 Want a close-up?

What does this remind you of?

Leave me a comment below- it's all a bit of fun- promise I am not trying to psychoanalyse you, I just love seeing what people spy in cloudscapes!

Then, next time I do a What is it? post, I will share the responses!

What about last time?

I asked you what you thought was growing on the plant and I can reveal it was an Achocha, a courgette/cucumber-type plant from the Andes.

What did the illustrious commenters think it was?

9 comments:

1. 
   Confuzzled Bev10:15 am

   I am useless with plants so it's no good asking me! Haha. Is it some kind of cucumber?

   ReplyDelete
2. 
   Elizabeth Rebecca8:15 pm

   Is it an unripened strawberry?
   
   https://lizziedailyblog.blogspot.co.uk/

   ReplyDelete
3. 
   diaryofapennypincher8:42 pm

   Ooh, I'm rubbish at guessing games, I'll say pumpkin!

   ReplyDelete
4. 
   Julia1:51 am

   It looks like some kind of cucumber veggie. I really have no idea. Sorry..
   Hugs, Julia

   ReplyDelete
5. 
   Corinne5:13 am

   Hmm, kind of looks like a lycee!
   
   Corinne x
   www.skinnedcartree.com

   ReplyDelete
6. 
   Susie - secondhandsusie.blogspot.com11:15 pm

   I grew something that looked like this, it was called 'fat babies' or something like achocha, but mine never fruited :(

   ReplyDelete
7. 
   Louise11:33 pm

   Are we meant to be guessing the actual plant or what it looks like?! I've never grown them but I think this is a baby cucumber?
   
   Thanks for your comment just now too - glad you enjoyed the frosty pictures... sorry I've not visited your blog much lately - been super busy at the house for last couple of weeks!
   

   ReplyDelete
8. 
   piseth san4:22 am

   Thanks for all your efforts that you have put in this, It's very interesting Blog...
   I believe there are many who feel the same satisfaction as I read this article!
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   ReplyDelete
9. 
   Lisa7:00 am

   My first thought was cucumber and I can see others thought the same!
   Lisa x

   ReplyDelete

Yay for Susie who got it right but lots of you were in the right ball park!

Do leave a comment if you would like to join the fun!

xx