Last week I received not one but two hand written missives from bloggers who knew my postal address. Of course a handwritten letter or notecard requires a hand written reply and those have now gone in the post to Simone and Lesley. I realised however that since I rarely write real letters I didn't have any "proper" writing paper so apologies for that but I did write them both using a fountain pen and ink. I also discovered how much easier it is to write using a keyboard - being a touch typist I can more easily get my thoughts down as fast as I think them whereas with the pen I was lagging behind as it were and my writing was getting worse as I went along!
Lesley mentioned coloured inks and the etiquette surrounding this. I did remember learning that it was "correct" to use blue or black ink but not coloured ink but couldn't remember the details. Some research on the internet unearthed a website which said that apparently red ink can be seen as aggressive and should not be used and in some cases it is believed to foretell death! I hadn't realised that there were so many different inks available - on line of course as in the town shops when I wanted some there was Quink or nothing!! See this web page for some of the different types available - ink is obviously alive and kicking still!
Then of course there are the pens available to use. If you plan to write in ink you need a fountain pen or a dip pen (who remembers those from school?) I still have the pen my aunt gave me on my passing the 11+ exam - it had been given to her by her Canadian Air Force boyfriend so was a treasured gift! It needs repairing now though as the rubber inside seems to have perished with age so I am currently using a Shaefer fountain pen which my husband gave me. See my propelling pencil and pen still in the little bag I made for it nearly 60 years ago still with ink on it from back then!
As well as pens and ink there were other accoutrements required such as blotters - my writing case has a blotter seen above. Blotting paper came in various colours and qualities - I remember pink and green as well as white which is what I have here. Again who remembers blotting paper being stuffed into the ink wells at school so that it might be used as a missile when flicked with a nice bendy ruler when nobody was looking?!) Then there were pen wipers which were used to wipe the nibs of dip pens to prevent them going rusty and also of fountain pens to clear any excess ink after filling them. I came across this web site for all things to do with pens and ink etc - do check it out it's fascinating there are Sevres porcelain ink wells, blotters, leather cases for pens etc.
You may remember me showing you this book ages ago? Well I got it from the library again recently and have been enjoying reading it - in it the author speaks of writing letters and of having to cut quills to use as pens and making ink using elderberries (not too successful apparently as it was too pale) and oak apples cooked in a rusty iron pot - thank goodness we don't have to do that these days.
One last tid bit - I read recently that using plastic throw away biros is very ungreen both in their manufacture and disposal - I guess reusable is always going to be beter in the eco stakes.
A subject which would produce enough "stuff" for a small book - you'll be glad to know I won't be writing one though and certainly not here!
On a different note - remember this photo taken from the bus to London?
I sat in the sun and finished embellishing this piece yesterday whilst DH sat watching the Tour de France (how wonderful is that that in Jubilee year and the year that London hosts the Olympics we have a British winner?) I don't really know what to do with it now though other than toss it in the back of the cupboard and found it difficult to get effect I had in mind. I had no suitable ribbon to do the hedge as I knew it was neither black nor green so I used narrow cut strips of fabric - what a lot of misapplied labour I thought last night when I had had enough of it! Without the photo you'd never guess what it was meant to be would you but hey I enjoyed my couple of hours in the garden under the umbrella (yes it was so sunny we needed to have some shade).
I'll stop waffling on now and if you are still with me - thanks and congratulations you deserve a medal!
Let me know if you can't read it and I'll type it out for you 
This is the book it came from - another oldie although this one is only from 70s so a relative newbie!! 
BADGERS: Fot those of you who said you wished you had badgers visiting your gardens - here is why we don't really welcome them. Last night they did this...
...and the night before they exposed all the roots of this rosa rugosa on our boundary fence which we have now filled in again. With acres and acres of woodland between us and their set they still think the grass is greener this side of the fence! Bit like us I guess! 
AUTUMN MORNING: Yesterday morning when I got up this was my view from the bedroom - lovely autumn sunrise....
.... and from the kitchen - lovely isn't it?
Nobody ever says Yeovil why how wonderfull it's such a lovely town and yet.....
I happened to look up as we went into town to the Farmers Market yesterday morning and thought if we were abroad we'd be taking photos of this sort of thing and saying how lovely the towns are.....
Friday 11th - since our friends had expressed an interest in visiting Salisbury we couldn't not go to Stonehenge could we? I remember this when you could actually walk amongst the stones but now it is a matter of joining a throng of tourists to walk round the perimeter cordon which keeps everyone well away from the actual stones. Not the same at all but never mind. 
The water meadows at Salisbury
And an interesting sculpture in Salisbury Cathedral which attempts to reconcile two opposed elements - the thorns hard and cruel and the flowers soft and embracing are linked by the circular base which speaks of their fundamental unity (you will have realised that these are not my own words perhaps?!) - for more information check this website where you can listen to an interview with the sculptor. 
Those Brits amonst you will recognise this view from the Hovis ads no doubt but of course all that meant nothing to our friends who go to the boulangerie for their bread! It is a lovely place though isn't it? Shaftesbury was en route for home so we stopped off here for a wander round in the early evening sunshine.
We hadn't been to Forde Abbey before and were suitably impressed and will definitely go again - the house wasn't open when we were there but if it is anything like as good as the gardens it will be well worth a visit.
They weren't short of lettuce here! Peter Rabbit would have enjoyed this lovely walled garden.
This fountain is powered by a pump once used in the irrigation of strawberries once grown here for the supermarkets - it is apparently the highest powered fountain in England/Uk/Europe? I forget which!!
This lovely border was in the walled vegetable garden.
After a delicous lunch in the cafeteria at Forde Abbey we continued to Lyme Regis.
I don't normally include photos of people in my posts but couldn't resist this one - I wondered if her husband might ask my friend to step back a bit further!! (Actually it wouldn't have mattered if he had as it was slope and not a drop)
After a couple of hours meandering round Barrington we set off for East Lambrook where we hoped to have lunch and visit the gardens there. Sadly the cafe at East Lambrook only served cups of tea so we adjourned to the pub across the road for lunch before returning to the gardens.
