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Sunday 1 July 2012

Sunday Scribblings

Sunday and another new month - half the year already gone it's frightening isn't it?  Thank you all for your lovely comments on my previous post - I am not sure you should encourage me though as I get the bit between my teeth and then there's no stopping me!  A  little posy picked from the garden this afternoon - I always wished for a picking garden and have planted seeds to this effect but so far the slugs seem to have polished off anything which raised its head above the parapet in my picking garden so this is what I found instead.


Thanks for your comments on my bees - I will of course be honoured to have them living so close to my back door - last year it was wasps outside the bedroom window!  We were told that they never re-use the same nest and that if they weren't causing any bother to let them be so of course that is what we did.  I had a word with them and asked them to kindly refrain from coming into the bedroom whose window they had chosen to nest in close proximity to (oops that doesn't sound like very good English "never use a preposition to end a sentence with" or something?!)  You may laugh at my having a chat with them but it did the trick and we had no wasps in the house at all last summer.  It's the same with ants - we used to have ants nesting under the stones on the patio area outside our French windows when we lived in Guildford and I spoke nicely to them and said that as long as they remained outside I would promise never to use ant powder nor to pour kettles of boiling water on them (though I was once too late to stop my mother in law doing just that and then had to apologise profusely to the remaining ants) or to use any other horrible way to get rid of them - we would live in harmony.  Which we did.  I even discovered that French ants understand English as I told them the same and not once did we ever have a problem with ants in the house and none here either I am glad to say.  Now you know why I am weird!


Hasn't the weather been strange - one advantage of the many sudden downpours is that although we haven't had any long walks recently I do get plenty of exercise running in and out to the washing line; plenty of step climbing as the line is on the higher level and lots of bending picking the washing from the basket on the ground and stretching to put it on the line only to have to dash out again a few minutes later to fetch it all in and then repeat the same procedure the moment the sun comes out again!  It is lovely and warm and sunny in between the rain so the washing does eventually get dry and I must be using up calories mustn't I!


I bought this little terracotta tile in Wells recently as I thought it very apt - I really must learn to "seize the day" although I understand that Latin scholars might not agree with that translation.  I took it to mean something like living in the moment and using the time I have rather than wasting it.  Whatever - I like it on the shed where I see it every time I go to the washing line.

Alongside the pebbled washing line area is our boundary fence which adjoins a wood - it is lovely to have nothing but woodland next door on that side although as you can imagine it is not easy to have an immaculate garden with all the brambles, stinging nettles and wild plants not to mention badgers! just the other side of the fence.  Good job I don't care for neat striped lawns and regimented plants type gardens isn't it?  Some of the foxgloves have grown from seeds I saved from plants in our French garden - they didn't grow the first couple of years we were here but when I planted an English foxglove plant, purchased from the market, nearby they realised what they were supposed to do and came up and flowered this spring.  I am hoping they will seed themselves and that we might eventually have many more.


In this little no-man's land alongside the fence I also planted some wild strawberries - a gift from a friend they came as a little book of matches but instead of having phosphorus or whatever it is that matches have they had seeds.  Like the foxgloves they didn't seem to fancy living just there but now they have taken to the area and have even produced fruit this year.

No supersize portions here though this was the number to be shared between two of us - good job the wanderer isn't here now isn't it?!!  I told my husband it was nouvelle cuisine though I hadn't drizzled couli artistically on the dish!!


Isn't lavender meant to be a Mediterranean plant which flourishes in dry hot summers?  Nobody told ours that and it's beautiful this year!

The patchwork group I used to belong to in France is hosting an exhibition this October and anyone can enter their work.  A couple of friends suggested I might like to enter something - the theme to be Legends, Myths and Stories.  My French friend had suggested I did something with an English twist to it and after much thought (and absolutely no action!) I decided to do something based on Glastonbury.  I did quite a bit of research into the various legends related to the town which was fascinating and wondered about doing something like a fabric book as it was to be story based.  I got as far as wondering how such a thing might be displayed - maybe a concertina type book would be best so I could do all the pages and join them afterwards and it could be displayed opened out, each page to be a small crazy patchwork with a picture (printed on fabric) of perhaps the Glastonbury Thorn, Joseph of Aramathea, King Arthur, the Chalice Well and so on as the centre piece.  Today is the last date for entering although the item doesn't have to be submitted till September BUT one must send a photo of the piece even if it is not finished.  Well of course mine is not even started so I think I will have to pass on that now!!  Actually, remembering how wonderful the items were in a previous exhibition which I went to with my friend when we lived in France, I wonder if it was a subconscious wish not to have my work seen alongside theirs which has had me delaying getting started?! The above photo shows how far I had got with it - not a single stitch made!  I truly do need to seize the day if by that is meant get on with it and stop messing about!



21 comments:

  1. I think this has been a very good year for foxgloves, no matter where I see them they're brilliant, they must like rain!!
    Thoses little match books of seeds are great I have grown plants from them too. When I was first given them I thought them a bit of a gimmick but they do work!
    What a shame you didn't enter the exhibition, your idea sounded wonderful!!
    Vivienne x

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  2. I think the idea for your French exhibition sounded good,, I liked the photo of how far you had got with it! I think you should carry on any way,, and maybe enter a different exhibition!!!

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  3. My foxgloves are doing well this year...so they must enjoy the wind and rain!

    Wondering where your French exhibition is taking place - my friend is finally going to live in teir French holiday home permanantly, they live in a tiny village and their nearst shopping town is Rufec. She worries she won't meet any other quilters, though I have told her there is a strong quilting community i France. I'm hopoignto visit her next year and visit the exhibition in Nantes.

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  4. a lovely post Jane.
    You were lucky to get that stamp. The post office here in Glaston, sold out in 20 mins and when they reordered the stamps, the same thing happened, so I never got one.
    Interesting what you said about the wasps. We had a wasp nest at our last house which we had treated, but every year, we would see wasps hovering along the same bit of roof, as if they were trying to find the entrance (which we blocked up).
    I love your tile as well, very attractive.

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  5. Your little book idea sounds lovely...maybe you could just seize the day and make it anyway?? How lovely to have a garden bordered by woodland, the foxgloves do look especially happy this year. Your posy of flowers is so pretty, and your words always make me smile :)
    Have a lovely week ahead.
    Helen x

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  6. I think your book idea was great but a lot of work to do in a short time. Any chance you could start now for next year even if you just di the pades ready to adapt if the categories aren't the same next year?
    Wish I could have similar discussions to yours with cockroaches but I'm afraid they don't understand Oz speak !!!
    Cheers

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  7. Oh dear Proofread Helen !
    Translation is "if you just did the pages "

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  8. Jane, the rain has not let up here long enough to put any washing out for days! I wish I was getting the exercise of taking it in and out but sadly, it has to dry indoors. You will know what Welsh weather can be like I know. Gorgeous photo of the flowers in the posy vase and lovely to see what's growing in the garden with you at the moment.

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  9. Your garden looks wonderfully lush, and it's lovely to have woodland next door and woodland plants on the boundary.
    Of course you should talk to the bees. That's just common sense!

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  10. Loving the look of the woodland next to your garden. We inherited wild strawberries here, they make a very pretty edging down one side of a path but spread terribly into the flower beds...... HOWEVER, the berries themselves do have a unique flavour. Its another dull, rainy day here so I am doing inside jobs. Clothes will have to dry in the airing cupboard....

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  11. I'm going back a couple of posts to where you were talking about bees in a pipe in the 'bank', I didn't know bees gathered in a colony in the ground until a few years ago when I found a half-pot (keeping sun off clematis roots)had been moved. The badger had scraped out(and eaten) a bees nest leaving one or two creatures crawling about in the ruins. The next night it was completely demolished.I'd never seen bees going in or out as the opening was covered with plant foliage. I wonder if they were the same kind as yours? Perhaps some bees just prefer living in the dark...

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  12. What a delightful read - does your chat work on slugs and snails I ask myself, they re not quite in the house - yet, but it is disconcerting to find a snail climbing up the window.

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  13. I do, so, enjoy your posts, always interesting and entertaining with pictures of beauty thrown in too. Thank you.

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  14. It's somewhat comforting to know that we are not the only ones experiencing crazy weather. Grey overcast skies, cool temperatures and occasional sunny breaks. I'm longing for summer weather.

    Your posy is so pretty. I'm sure the flowers appreciate all the rain.

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  15. What a full and fascinating post!

    There seem to be foxgloves everywhere I go at the moment. So pretty, though my mother taught me to be afraid of them ... as if I was going to eat them!

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  16. Lovely bouquet! And I do love your terracotta sunny panel and your garden as well. Oooh, and you`ve got a magical lavander and yummy strawberries too :o)
    Your pachwork is GORGEOUS! Sooo beautiful :o) aaaah... Thank you for sharing
    Have a nice day
    love
    Natasha

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  17. Carpe Diem. My favourite motto. I often tend to forget it though.
    You sound like you're in a great mood. Good for you! Wonderful post (though it took me three days to read! ahem....)
    xo

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  18. Jane, you are funny. I think your idea for the project is wonderful. Why not seize the summer and go ahead and start? Have it ready for the next contest!

    Your lavender is beautiful--I wonder if it would even grow here as hot as it is.

    I hope the strawberries tasted good.

    I must speak to the crickets in our basement--use your technique. Actually, my husband is plugging holes with concrete caulk where pipes enter the home. And, we will be using a bug repellent. I would hate for them to come upstairs.

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  19. I am definitely going to have to try talking to the little creatures. It would be nice if they didn't like to invade. I do talk a lot to the cats, especially about how wildlife is supposed to stay in the wild and not in the house - so far it hasn't worked though!

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  20. I think you need to come and talk to my ants please, the garden is inundated with them. Especially the new 'paved' area where we had our greenhouse and shed.

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