Thank you and giveaway

Firstly a huge thank you to all those lovely bloggers who kindly too the time to suggest ways to solve my blogging problems.

I have now deleted the magazine blogs I no longer require - I think I wasn't signed into something or another so wasn't getting the right menu to stop following. Tick.

I understand the html business but am too scared to delete codes if I am not sure which ones are spaces and which ones are somthing important but I will try it out again later. Tick.

Icon - well nobody seems to know why i am a grey square and not a coloured photo on peoples followers lists but maybe I am a grey blob so we'll leave that. Tick.

Scanning - well I spent all evening yesterday scanning and trying to upload as a jpeg file my document and although I got it on the blog it was too small to read properly but no problem you could click on it and read it larger that way except that page 2 wouldn't work like that so you'd have been left with page one read and page 2 requiring a magnifying glass to see! So in the end I deleted the post and went to bed in a thoroughly bad mood! Not yet ticked!..

So on to this morning - blue skies - aren't Autumn skies amazing? I seem to be much taken with skies lately and today the sun is shining and the sky is this brilliant blue - stunning.

Little butterfly enjoying the sunshine on the fence

I picked the last of the sweet peas - or is it? I keep thinking that there will be no more but although they have very short stems and take several days to appear they are bravely flowering still.

This was the document I tried to share with you last night - I can let you see the text but I cannot as yet show you the illustrated version as here - I will try again sometime but for now for those who are interested in my stories here's another memory post - skip this if you wish and go on to the give away below!

Fuchsia—especially the common or garden variety always take me back to the time when my mother and I lived in the Forest of Dean and we used to occasionally take the bus to visit one of mother’s aunts (one of her mother’s sisters) and her family who lived in nearby Bream. They lived in a double fronted stone house with a lovely cottage garden which backed onto commonland and just inside the front gate was a big fuchsia bush which in September would be covered with the startling cerise and purple flowers dancing in the breeze. As we used to get the bus home from just outside the gate we spent quite a bit of time standing beside this bush although it couldn’t have been in bloom every time we visited.

There were 3 cousins, 2 sons and a daughter and the sons worked with their father in his monumental masonry business – they all died eventually of silicosis since even though they didn’t go down the coal mines they were constantly breathing in the dust made when they carved the memorials for those who did! They had a much nicer house than Grandfather’s with electric light and even a television but their toilet was still down the garden, though much later they did install a proper bathroom with an indoor toilet. Great Uncle Len kept ferrets which I found endlessly fascinating, I loved their silky velvety coats and their long lithe bodies, their bright beady black button eyes and also their little needle sharp teeth! He also had a flock of geese which roamed free on the commonland behind the house and in the spring when the goslings arrived I was besotted with them too. Oh how I wanted one, they were so fluffy and yellow and cuddly. “When they are big enough you can have one” said Uncle Len “and then you can eat it for your dinner at Christmas”!! Like that I didn’t want one at all but it was eventually decided that we would have 2 - one for me and one for mother and mother could eat hers if she wished. I adored those geese and they followed me everywhere like puppies. We kept them in the shed and they had the run of the piece of garden to the side of grandfather’s house, which we were able to fence off, and we fed them on scraps and bran. They got up to all sorts of mischief too and one day my mother had been dyeing my brownie beret navy blue for me as I was about to join the guides and new berets were too costly, and she inadvertently left the pan of navy dye outside and the geese found it and tried drinking some of it! It didn’t seem to do them any harm except that they had purple bills and tongues for ages afterwards and looked very peculiar. Of course to get to the toilet we had to go through their enclosure and once when my cousin, who was about 10 the same age as me, was staying with us (where did he sleep I wonder?) he was so frightened of them that I had to go to the toilet with him – he did so want to be macho and brave but the geese were a step too far. They made excellent guard dogs too since many people were afraid of them when they were fully grown for they could be quite fearsome so they were quite useful. I don’t remember any eggs but perhaps we had two ganders! Of course we couldn’t eat them but they did get sold at Christmas time a year or so later since we were going to stay with my mother’s brother in Liverpool and there would be nobody to look after them – that was what I was told anyway, so I dare say they were eaten but certainly not by me nor by my mother!

Now I promised to do a GIVEAWAY if I reached 100 followers and that number has been reached so... I must try and think of something that I could give that might be of interest to you all - not easy since I know you have very different tastes and interests. So this is the choice: the bag ladies amongst you might like either of the 2 bags shown here - one is knitted and the other felted and both have been seen on my blog at the time of making.



Or you can choose something in crazy patchwork such as a needlecase, heart, camera case (for this you'd need to give me measurements), knitted heart or little Friendship hanging


Or a tiny cushion like this blue one about 3 inches square or a 12 inch cushion cover along the lines of these two which I showed you recently.

I'd add a couple of lucky dip bits to whatever the winner chooses to make up the giveaway package. All you have to do is leave a comment saying which gift you would prefer and what colour schemes are your favourites if I am to make something for you and I will draw the winner this time next week. Gift should follow as soon as possible afterwards although if you choose anything other than one of the bags you will obviously have to wait for me to make it!

Mellow Yellow

I was pegging up the washing this morning when I happened to notice this stunning flower on my courgette plant - it's a yellow courgette and although it's had loads of fruit they have been very small and pretty tasteless but this flower makes all that seem unimportant. It got me thinking about the colour yellow....






.. how sunny and bright it is and how it can lift the greyest of days.

.....So I went round my garden taking photos of all the yellow bits I could see - it is a dull day here so maybe these yellow pictures will help dispel the gloom.

Something else to dispel gloom is the wonderful support and friendship one receives via blogging so I also wanted to say a big Thank you to all those lovely people who have commented on my recent posts - I wish I could respond personally to you all but for now here are some comments of my own on your comments - if you see what I mean?

Several of you said I should wear the green shoes and Lesley even suggested I flaunt my ice skater's legs! Well of course the legs in the photo are not quite like that now - it was after all nearly 45 years ago - and I really wouldn't want to frighten the horses so I will wear the shoes but certainly not with a skirt like the one in my picture you'll be glad to know!

For those who liked the sound of elderberry syrup the recipe is simple: Take 4 lb elderberries picked from their stalks and rinsed. Add to 1 pint of water and add 8 cloves. Briung to boil and then simmer until all the fruit is crushed and the juice pressed out. Bring to boil and skim off any froth (apparently you can add the beaten white of a new laid egg to help clear the liquid but I didn't do this). Strain through a sieve and to each pint of liquid add 1 lb of demerara sugar and boil till it thickens into a syrup. Cool and pour into clean dry bottles and when quite cold seal and store in a cool dark place. To serve add boiling water to taste and a slice of lemon. Yum! Sorry the recipe is in Imperial measurements but the book is from the 1940s - I am sure you can convert if need be.

It was interesting to see your comments on badgers and squirrels - it obviously depended on whether you had been plagued with either. Helsie badgers are quite large weighing in at about 10 kg and being abbout 750 mm long and maybe 300 mm at the shoulder. check out this website for more info. They can and do cause immense damage especially to lawns - nobody round here has a bowling green striped lawn! Are they timid? Well I came home in the car one evening to find a couple having rumpy pumpy on the drive and they were not keen to move!!! I don't think they are that timid and they certainly don't seem mind the security light coming on and are happy to sit about under the street light but would probably rather avoid man where possible.

Squirrels - we probably all know that they are considered a major threat to our natural bio diversity and are to blame for the decline in our native red squirrels now sadly very scarce since the arrival of the greys. But they are amusing to watch and it's not their fault that they were introduced back in Victorian times but it does just show how dangerous it can be to tinker with different species and to introduce them to other habitats and so on. Cute? - yes and no!!

Now I need your help:

1) How do I delete a blog I no longer wish to follow? I have several - mainly from various magazines - that I don't find interesting anymore and I know I got rid of some before but now I can't see how to do it.

2) How do I upload a scanned document or photo? I know Jill you said you had scanned your memory posts as jpeg files and uploaded them that way but I can't seem to do it - can anyone help me?

3) Has anyone discovered how to get the spacing right on a post - I never seem to achieve a post with evenly spaced text - so often it it too near the photos and other times there are too many line spaces. As a one time typing teacher (I know you'd never think so to see my skills now would you?!) it offends me like this but I can't seem to do anything about it.

4) Anyone know why when I follow a blog my little icon comes out showing just a grey shape and not the coloured photo as on my profile?

Speaking of followers I see I now have 99 and although not all of you actually comment - wouldn't that be something? And although by now some of you may not even read my posts I am amazed to think so many people find what I write interesting enough to add themselves as followers. Now since I missed my 1 year anniversary and I also missed my 100th post I thought that when I reach 100 followers I will stage a give away of some sort so watch this space!

Sunny September Sunday morning Stroll

We have had my sister-in-;law staying this weekend and this morning we took her to Ham Hill to show her the views. Remember I showed you some photos last week here?







On the way to the summit we passed a real autumn conucopia of fruits such as these lovely blackberries with their beautiful coloured leaves.....



...some lovely purple sloes - I always feel it is such a pity they don't live up to their promise and are so very very sour and only fit for making sloe gin which I don't like!

I am sure these glistening elderberries weren't here last week when I came looking!

Distant views didn't disappoint ....

.. nor did close ups - aren't these teasels against the skyline pretty and isn't that sky an amazing blue?

I've been more aware of skies recently for some reason and have noticed just how beautiful the cloud formations are.

A pleasant place to sit and take in the view although this morning there was a chilly wind so a more sheltered spot was nicer!

We wended our way back to the car planning to stop at Montacute House for a coffee till I remembered I hadn't brought my purse containing the National Trust tickets so we came home and enjoyed a coffee in our own garden instead!

Thomas is wondering if he might do well in the cold frame! He's not silly as it was a sheltered warm place to sit and next to our table and chairs so he was in a good place for some fussing too!

Lucky me!

Bloggers are such lovely generous people I find. I don't know what I have done to be so lucky but I have received countless gifts from bloggers in the year or so I have been blogging quite apart from the many giveaways and swaps I have be included in.

This week a beautifully packaged parcel arrived in the post - and when I opened it I found this lovely card...

...and a selection of lovely ribbons. Aren't they beautiful and don't they look lovely presented in a box like this? THANK YOU, THANK YOU Cheryl. I am really touched by your kindness. One of my patchwork cards is on its way to you. I am now spending some happy moments wondering how best to use these treasures and in the meantime I am enjoying just looking at them and feeling them - yes I know sad aren't I?!!

On Thursday we went to the Scrapstore as my husband wanted a couple more plastic folders like one I had got from there before. He found his folders and I found this lovely fabric. I couldn't resist it and I have 3 peices each of decent size and probably enough to make 3 tote bags. As we paid £1 for the lot I felt I'd got a bargain. Watch this space for the finished articles!!

Thought you might like to see our resident squirrel - or one of them. As well as badgers we have several squirrels who have been keeping us amused with their dashing back and forth as they collect the hazelnuts from the tree at the end of our driveway. I hadn't realised how vocal squirrels can be till this year and this lot do a lot of chattering. One was sitting having a little rest on the fence yesterday when he spotted a ginger cat wandering his way - you should have seen him go and the angry mutterings that emanated from the tree for quite a while left the cat in no doubt that his presence was not welcome.

Here is a photo of one of the badgers taken from my front door - it is not very good as it was too dark for my little point and shoot camera but you can see he's there. They are out there at night now crunching on the fallen nuts which the squirrels have dropped. We don't need a wildlife garden we have one just the other side of our fence where there are acres of woodland!

Have a good weekend.

Black and white post!

Something different for you today - this blog is nothing if not varied - a little story set in the 1940s. I tried to scan a Publisher page with this on and saved it as a jpeg file but couldn't get it to work so that you could read it - anyone know how to scan things and upload them into blogger?



A wartime story

Once upon a time there was a man whose name was – well it doesn’t matter what his name was and to protect the innocent for the purposes of this story we’ll call him A. Now during the war when things were difficult to say the least, especially if one lived in London as A did, he met a lady and fell in love, or so he thought. When he discovered that the lady who we’ll call B was pregnant he didn’t know what to do for you see she was an Irish Catholic and he was a Protestant but his family were adamant that he must do the right thing and marry the lady. Which he did.

Now it would be lovely if we could say that they settled down and lived happily ever after but this was of course real life and things didn’t pan out quite like that. The lady’s family back in Ireland disowned her, for not only had she committed a sin by having relations with the man before marriage she had then compounded the sin by marrying a Protestant, and they didn’t want any more to do with her. And the marriage was perhaps not surprisingly under the circumstance shall we say less than perfect.

Whilst the lady was busy with her new little baby girl with no support forthcoming from her own family and perhaps precious little from her in-laws or her husband the man met another lady who we’ll call C and fell headlong in love with her too! It was, as I mentioned, wartime and perhaps people took their happiness where they could find it never knowing what might befall them tomorrow, or even later on today, so maybe we can feel some sympathy for both ladies and even perhaps for the man. Not long afterwards the second lady also become pregnant and had a little girl but this time there could be no marriage since the man was already married to the first lady!

So C took her little baby and went home to her father – she had no mother since her own mother had died when she was but a young girl - where she stayed for a year or so and all the while her father thought that she was married to the man but that the man had to stay in London because of his job. The man did visit her occasionally even though she was now living some long way from London and the lady took the little girl up to London for her first birthday and apparently to celebrate the little girl’s birthday went out with the man to dinner and a show – nobody knows where his wife, the first lady, thought he had gone at these times but maybe during the war it was possible to arrange such things.

Nobody knows either what might have happened had the man not become ill and died leaving both ladies each with a little girl to bring up on their own. There were just 2 years between the little girls and the man died when the younger one was just 2 years old. Might he have settled down with his wife and the first little girl, might he have left his wife and maybe married the second lady or might he have left both of them and gone off with yet another lady? Nobody knows nor shall we ever find out since both the ladies and the man are now dead.

But that is not the end of the story because quite by chance and purely because of the invention of the internet which allows people to search for their relations on-line the 2 little girls, by now ladies in their 60s, got to hear of the existence of each other. Neither had had any idea that they had any siblings. The younger one had even asked her mother when she first discovered that she was illegitimate if her father had any other children but her mother said that he didn’t! Maybe he had never told her about the first little girl for surely the lady would never have wanted to steal another child’s father had she known the truth.

Now the story gets even more surprising because quite by chance the elder little girl lived not far from the area to which the younger one was about to move and so they were able to meet each other.

It would be nice to say that they fell into each others arms and were just like sisters from that day on but of course 60 plus years is a lot of history to catch up on and although they enjoy an occasional outing together that family feeling may well take a very long time to develop if indeed it ever does.

And the younger little girl does sometimes wish she hadn’t tried to find her father’s family on the internet since it might have been nicer to be able to continue to think of her father in a slightly better light!

____________________________________________________________

I hope you enjoyed this little story and I leave you to draw your own conclusions!

Sunshine and showers (heavy rain)!

View from my bedroom window this morning! Indoor games today methinks!

This is in stark contrast to Friday when we had another wonderful September day. We took the car for its MOT and walked back into town along what used to be the railway line but is now a path which runs beneath the trees alongside the river.

Hard to believe that this is but minutes away from the town centre isn't it?

It was a lovely walk back to the garage to collect the car and so quiet we might have been in the middle of the countryside.

In the evening we decided to go to Ham Hill to see if we could find any elderberries - this is the view from the top - stunning eh? It was again absolutely peaceful with nothing but the scream of the swallows (or were they swifts - my ornithology leaves a lot to be desired!) swooping overhead in the evening light catching their supper no doubt.

We walked on round the summit and back down to the car park picking elderberries along the way.

I picked only about a pound and a half of elderberries but it was enough to make 2 small bottles of syrup - good for winter colds. As I tossed the stalks into the bowl having removed the berries I was struck with the lovely colour and shape they made against the base of the bowl - something one could use in a textile design of some sort maybe?

Pink Feather Paradise has chosen me along with many others for the above award. I now have to:

a) Thank the award giver - Thank you for thinking of me.

b) Post 7 interesting facts about myself - well this gave me cause for concern as I couldn't think of anything remotely interesting to tell you but this is what I came up with eventually:

1) My favourite flower is the primrose so you can imagine how delighted I was come Spring to discover that we had bought a house with a garden full of them! This is the bank alongside our drive.

2) I used to love skating - this is me with my instructor at Bournemouth Ice rink back in the distant past!!

3) I was "green" last time round and I even had an article published in this publication - the magazine relied on readers articles so it wasn't a big deal but I did get £20 for it and can now say I am a published writer - can't I?!!!

4) Lime/chartreuse green is a favourite colour of mine and last week I bought these shoes in the sale in Sherborne - Lovely aren't they even if not exactly what an OAP should wear and they probably won't go with anything!

5) I once had a piece of my weaving - this inkle woven belt - exhibited in the National Exhibition of the Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers of which I was a member. I can only think it was a small item which fitted a space they had since several of my friends also submitted stuff far better than this!

6) I can't stand Sudoko nor jigsaw puzzles - once my daughter got to the stage of more than 25 piece puzzles I used to say "Ask your father"!! I just don't seem to have the brain for such things! Can't do directions either and to hold a long list of "turn left at the next roundabout then....." is impossible for me I need to see it in diagram form to be able to remember anything!!

7) A couple of years ago I discovered I have a half sister! Maybe I'll tell you more on this later.

c) The last thing I should do is to pass this award on to 15 other bloggers but I think I'll pass on that and say that I follow so many lovely versatile blogs I will offer it to all of you wonderful bloggers.

I see the sun is peeking through now so it's "rain before 7 fine before 11" perhaps and I'd better stop faffing about here and go and get on with the day.