Five on Friday

Joining in with Amy and Five on Friday.

1. Photos from a stroll up a nearby mountain. Well, more of an anthill really but we pretended it was a mountain. Isn't the countryside beautiful at the moment.

2. Flowers from a verge in town. I've seen a lot more of this sort of planting this year, along with unmown verges filled with insect friendly plants. Have local authorities finally caught on do you think? I do hope so.

3. Enjoying July. Enough heat to make skin turn salty. Sports day with the thick smell of sunscreen and lots of drama. Nothing quite compares to the Year R (4 and 5 year olds) skipping race.

4. The allotment has got away from me this year. I'm being marvellously calm about it all. What's the worst that can happen? I have courgettes, what more could I need.

5. Bracing myself for the start of the summer holidays. It will be lively, no doubt about it. The littlest boy brought sweets home from school and gave a whole packet to each brother. He really does love them so much, he gives them a big hug in the mornings sometimes when he first sees them. After he gave out the sweets there was a bit of an altercation. The biggest boy said to him, "You know the tangy bit on the outside of these sweets? It's made of pug." It's amazing how they know the very worst thing to say isn't it. I've told them we will be concentrating on being lovely to each other all summer. Wish me luck with that.

Hoping you all have a very good summer weekend.

Five on Friday

Joining in with Amy and Five on Friday.

1. I managed not to miss the elderflowers this year and made a couple of batches of elderflower cordial using River Cottage's recipe, I made one with an orange and one without. Both good. Although the littlest boy was not impressed. "It tastes wrong. It just tastes wrong."

2. Strawberries, asparagus and rhubarb from the allotment. These early harvests are my favourites. Although I went today to pick more strawberries and the rain has wrought havoc. They are rotting and going mouldy and the mice are having quite an impact as well. I brought back a small punnet, but it was only a fraction of what it should have been.

3. Still practising calligraphy in odd moments. I have some new black ink and it's really scary. Drips fly out and it's only a matter of time before ink meets carpet in a disaster of epic proportions. I honestly am the clumsiest person I know. I managed to flick a massive swathe of tinned tomatoes all across my face and hair when I was cooking earlier. Yesterday I dropped a yoghurt which exploded in spectacular style all over me and the floor. It's a daily thing.

4. Last weekend I took the boys to a Festival of Nature in the city centre. It was brilliant, loads to see and marvel at, and a few food stalls too. I particularly liked the fermented foods one. Sauerkraut and kimchi amongst other things. The kimchi (an Asian fermented/pickled/spiced cabbage dish) was absolutely delicious. And apparently very good for the innards, what with all of its beneficial bacteria. I've had a go at making a batch but I'm not sure it's going to be successful. I put some garlic in, and the smell was so strong I've had to banish it to the garage while it ferments. I shan't give up though, I really like the idea of fermented pickles. I'm not a fan of things with vinegar poured over them, but the acid produced in fermentation is much milder and the flavours of the vegetables still comes through. Has anyone tried fermenting? Any tips?

5. Sad news on the wildlife front. The baby crane out at the wetlands place died. Anyone who has been watching Springwatch will know how low the survival rate can be for the young of pretty much everything. Lots of predation and other calamities. The cranes are very special as they've been extinct here in the southwest for 400 years. Around 90 were reintroduced to the Somerset levels a few years ago, and they are old enough to breed now. A couple of years ago the two chicks that hatched were taken by a fox. Last year a chick was reared successfully. Hopefully there will be more in the future.

Wishing you all a good weekend with hopefully a little summer sunshine. CJ xx

Five on Friday

Joining in with Amy and Five on Friday.

1. It's taken me a while to get back into the swing of things after half term. I have lists of things to be done, here, there and everywhere. A To Be Done Very Soon list, a Don't Forget This Needs To Be Done At Some Stage list, an Allotment List, a separate Garden List and a Writing List. It's not always clear what the things on my list mean. There's a list in the kitchen that simply reads "Warrior Queens".  Say what now??? And one that says "Make a plan". I know what that one means. I've been drifting along with this writing thing in no particular direction. I need a focus. And I need more structure to what I'm doing.  X amount of time doing marketing, pitching etc. X amount of time messing around with a website, that sort of thing. But mostly I need a direction, something to focus a laser-like beam on. Well, that's not really me, I'm more of a floater arounder. But I do feel I need a Plan.

2. I've been faffing around in the garden this week (instead of making that plan). It's been gorgeous pottering weather. Pick a strawberry here, pluck a weed there, sprinkle a little water about the place. Late yesterday evening I was out there talking slugs over the fence with my next door neighbour. It was that cool, calm, blissful time of day. You know, after the children have gone to bed.

3. The biggest boy, who is 12, is now the same height as me (5'9" ish). I like to think I am a shade taller, but realistically even if I am he will be my height by next week. I have to buy him Small Man size clothes now and size 10 shoes (which is size 11 in the US I think). I can't keep up. I'm still heavier than him though.

4. I had a stroke of genius when it came to the backspace key on my laptop that's been driving me bananas. I swapped it with the Caps Lock key which is the only one on the keyboard the same size. I never use Caps Lock, so it's worked out perfectly. I can't tell you how happy it made me after a week of buying the wrong thing online. I have a key that doesn't fit, a bathroom lightbulb that doesn't fit and something that came from the US meaning I had to pay a fortune in Customs fees. The website had prices in pounds sterling so I didn't realise it would be coming from abroad. I was Not Happy. But the good news is I can hammer away on my backspace key so there's no limit to how long I can ramble on here now.

5. Photos from last weekend. We went to Cirencester for pizza to celebrate the littlest boy's 8th birthday. Pizza is just about his favourite thing ever. That and dogs and his beloved bear Jo Jo. Over tea today the biggest boy said, "When you get your dog, you'll wake up one morning and Jo Jo will be laid on the floor without his head. And your dog won't be feeling very well and they'll x-ray him and inside his tummy they'll see a bear's head." The middle boy, who can take any story and run with it said, "And they'll sew it back on and the next night he'll come to life and eat the head off of your dog". Nightmares anyone?

Five on Friday

look closely for the baby coot

Joining in with Amy and Five on Friday.

1. I'm still enjoying the spring things everywhere. Sarah has the most fantastic post looking at a local hedgerow, all is green, green, green. She's pretty good at identifying everything as well and her photos are second to none. She's completely captured the magic of this time of year.

Down at the wetlands place there are little feathery chaps everywhere, cheeping away, and plenty more to come. Hopefully some tiny cygnets next time we go, and maybe even some baby cranes. I shall wrestle the long lens off of the biggest boy and try and get a shot or two.

2. A new lavender. I can't resist them, although they don't always do very well for me. This one is called Anouk and it's a lovely dusky reddish purple. Although I find they seem to change colour on me somehow. I bought a white one last year that's now half purple, and a very subtle pink that changed to a bright pink after a year. There's some strange garden centre alchemy at work I think.

Have you ever seen those orchids that they make bright blue? What are they thinking?! I'm tempted to buy them just to nurse them back to whiteness. Maybe that's the plan.

3. Blotting on with the calligraphy. Blotting being the operative word. When I first dip the pen the ink comes of in a big blob, then it runs out really quickly. The first few dips of the session don't seem as bad though, so I'm thinking I may need to wash the nib every so often. I do love a few good lines of something to copy out. I have a couple of poetry books at the ready - "By Heart - 101 Poems to Remember" and also Carol Ann Duffy's "The Bees" which is wonderful. I shall write a few lines out for next time, it's heady stuff for bee lovers.

4. Notes from before. Someone asked about the rhubarb shortbread. It's from Nigella.com and there's a picture of one I made earlier (a year ago in fact) here. I also have rhubarb crumble and rhubarb flapjack in the fridge now...

And the plant I asked about the other looks likely to be a saskatoon. Also known as a western serviceberry or western juneberry. Apparently they eat nothing else in Canada. It's a bit like a big blueberry only less fussy about the soil. My antennae have pricked up and I'm on the lookout for one now. I shall grill the plotholder when I get hold of them.

5. A friend of the biggest boy has a new dog. He explained to the littlest boy that it was a stray. Here was a conversation we had later on.

Him: Mum, if you find a stray dog can you keep it?

Me: You'd need to try and find his owner sweetie.

Him: Yes, but if you couldn't, could you keep him?

Me: You could talk to the Dog's Home, they'd know what to do.

Him: Yes, but if you wanted to, could you keep him?

I think we all know where this is going. No unleashed dog will be safe. Lock up your hounds.

Five on Friday

Joining in with Amy and Five on Friday.

1. I thought I'd mention my love of all things word-related today. Books, writing, handwriting, pens, crosswords, everything. This week was National Stationery Week. And yesterday was Notebook Day. Doesn't get much better than that. The biggest boy understands, he is a notebook person as well. I can rarely sneak one into the house past him. And when we see a notebook shop we draw in a deep breath and I try to stop us from going in. I don't know if I can articulate the attraction. It's the potential I think. I'm a bag person as well. A nice bag, a fresh notebook and a good book and I'm ready to go. I'm particularly fond of the Silvine notebooks, so good to find ones that are Made In England.

2. Continuing my flirtation with calligraphy. I found gold ink in the local stationery shop. Gold! I've just got a dip pen so I'm experimenting with it, thick strokes and thin strokes. It's so tricky at the beginning. I had a lovely hour with the littlest boy tonight though. He likes to do it with me, with his little calligraphy pen that he asked for. It was such a treat to have quiet time alone with him while everyone else was out. It can be quite loud and competitive when everyone is here, but it all calms down when it's just the two of us.

3. I made some of my own stationery this week from a couple of vintage maps I found in the local community bookshop. I cut them up (I know, I know, but there are so many homeless maps out there I think maybe some of them are destined to be other things) into A4 sheets and printed some faint lines on them. I like straight lines, but the paper is too thick to see a guide sheet placed underneath.  A word of warning, one or two of the sheets caught in the printer in horrifying fashion. They need to be as flat as possible otherwise it all ends in disaster. Then I made some envelope templates and did some matching envelopes. I've got a great old book that I'm going to use for envelopes as well. I think. It's actually such a lovely book that I might not be able to cut it up, but it was one I bought for £1 specifically to make envelopes from. We'll see. The biggest boy likes to police me quite closely and he was pretty horrified to see the maps being cut up. And also I opened out an envelope to get a template and he was aghast at that as well. I promised to stick it back together and use it. And when I come in the house sometimes he'll say things like, "Is that another new notebook?" So if I start cutting up books my number may be up.

4. I've noticed quite a few posts about letter writing lately. I have a few friends that I write to from time to time. The bee is on an envelope I decorated for one of them. Letter writing is a slow pleasure. Time to sit quietly and put down news and thoughts and share a little. I often think how wonderful it would have been to have been a lady of leisure back when the morning was spent attending to correspondence with perhaps a quick turn around the shrubbery before lunch. I should like someone to deliver a little pile of envelopes on a silver tray along with a light breakfast first thing in the morning.

5. I'm reading "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society", as recommended by several of you when I mentioned that I was enjoying another book set in Guernsey in the 1940s. It's written as a series of correspondence between islanders and a woman in London. I'm loving it. It's funnier than I imagined but also very moving in its descriptions of the German occupation.

So there you have it. I'm totally immersed in a world of words and ink and letters and writing. It's a dreamy place to be, especially while the weather is so wild. When it warms up I shall venture outside a little more and tackle plant related things, but in the meantime as the hail lashes the windows and the mornings bring frost I'm happy to sit at the table and write. Wishing all a good weekend. CJ xx

Five on Friday

Joining in with Amy and Five on Friday.

1. Excuse the horrible light in the last photo, the sun is barely up. I wake like clockwork every morning, far too early. By early afternoon I'm tired. The other day I put my head down on the desk (well, it's the dining table actually) next to my laptop and went to sleep. I can't recommend it, I could hardly straighten my neck afterwards. Maybe I need more exercise to wear me out a bit. I'm pressing on with the calligraphy which is SO much harder than the professionals make it look. I do it last thing at night instead of knitting. I'm writing the date on the pages in the hope that I'll see an improvement in a few weeks (or years...). I've ordered a new bottle of ink. Being a particularly clumsy person with pale carpets, bottles of inks scare me. We all know where it's going to end.

2. There was yacht racing at the coast at the weekend. The littlest boy found the most adorable French bulldog puppy to play with. French bulldogs are at the top of our list of Potential Dogs now. Although I fear we should go for something a bit more robust, see clumsiness above. In reality, dog ownership is over two years away and it will be a secondhand one. In the meantime we like to picture ourselves with every different breed we take a fancy too.

3. Technical hitches are continuing and I still get an email every single time I leave a comment on someone's blog telling me it is not possible to notify them. I spent the whole of Saturday morning trying to set up a new email address, but I just couldn't get it to send and receive in Windows Live Mail. (I use Windows Live Mail because as I recall I couldn't get Outlook Express to work last time I had to tinker with something). I wasted a whole glorious sunny morning on it and was no further forward by lunchtime which made me SO cross.

4. On Monday I tried to plug in a new DVD player, which you would think would be simplicity itself. Except that there are about forty wires stuffed through the back of a really small hole in the tv unit and so that bit was tricky. When I finally managed to manoeuvre out all of the old wires and get all the new wires in place (the new wires were different from the old wires, and I'd already had to delay everything while I bought a new wire because the old ones didn't work...) the new DVD worked perfectly. You thought I was going to say it didn't work didn't you. No, it was the television that no longer worked. I spent a while ranting and grinding my teeth and finally the only way I could find to fix it was to put the old DVD player back in underneath the new DVD player. A lot of my life is cobbled together in this way.

5. Here at ATR Towers a mad Rubik's cube obsession has gripped the children. I wake up to the sound of cubes being turned and it's the last thing they do at night. I'm guessing they dream in little plastic squares. The biggest boy has a dodecahedron shaped one now as well. When someone scrambles someone else's cube uninvited a riot breaks out. I am staying at the table clutching my bottles of ink and hoping it all blows over.

Five on Friday

spot the tadpole

Joining in with Amy and Five on Friday.

1. The Easter hols are rolling to the end far too quickly, although sometimes just keeping up with the demands for food is quite overwhelming. There's a bit of a Rubik's cube mania here at the moment. Before that it was juggling. I made them all three little bean bags each, and I'd have taken a photo if I could find them but they seem to have mysteriously disappeared. We had a crafternoon yesterday and made some cards and things with stamps and copious quantities of ink. I like to give handmade cards, even if they are a bit rough and ready. 

2. The frogspawn in the garden is rapidly turning into tadpoles. They are mostly huddled together at the moment, but the braver ones are having little swims about. 

3. On a grander scale, I watched a programme about the gardens at Buckingham Palace the other day. They are absolutely phenomenal, organic of course, and teeming with wildlife. Apparently there are 85 different birds that visit and 10 times more fungi than in the surrounding parks. There are royal beehives there and wild areas and ducklings on the lake. I'd never seen it all before and I was absolutely blown away. I would like to be the Queen after all. Or even the Queen's gardener. 

4. I've been trying a little calligraphy in the evenings. It's something that doesn't come instantly, more of a long slow process. Late at night I write things out in a sort of unwinding way. I'm not really sure where to start, but starting somewhere has to be a good thing. I'm tired by then and I can't always be bothered to find a quote to copy so sometimes I just write lists of words.

5. Do you imagine it will be warming up any time soon? I'm hoping for some lovely picnic weather soon. I've just about adjusted to it not being winter any more and I'm bracing myself for all of the outdoor work to be done. But it seems unseasonally chilly. I nearly froze at the park on Wednesday. I'm feeling the need to wear a t-shirt and sit in the sun for a bit. The littlest boy is dallying with shorts already of course. Although today he wore the evacuee costume with sunglasses and an odd hat. Anything that will persuade him to change out of his pyjamas.

Wishing all a good weekend. CJ xx

Five on Friday

Joining in with Amy for the first anniversary of her Five on Friday link-up.

1.  Games are popular round here in the winter, especially with the littlest boy. If he can't find anyone to play with he'll play all by himself. The other day he played Monopoly on his own. Last night I played Connect 4 with him until it got a bit wild, then a few rounds of Postman Pat pairs. He doesn't mind that the cards are quite babyish, in fact he's rarely bothered about things like that. He beat me rather a lot. I'm guessing there's so much information in my brain that it's almost full, with no room for Postman Pat memory cards.

Other favourites are Whot, which I played when I was little, Labyrinth, Coppit (again one I used to play), Yahtzee and chess. The evenings are getting lighter though, yesterday he was still outside playing football with a friend at 6 o'clock. So before long it will be all about the ball games.

2.  There are one or two buds in the garden. The camellia, rosemary and also the peach blossom. I'm not sure if the peach is earlier than usual, I think it might be. A late cold snap won't do much for our chances of peaches. Nor will the perennial flying footballs, see 1. above.

3.  I am powering through the pain of giving up eating yummy things for Lent. After two or three weeks I'll be fine, it's just the first bit that hurts. My willpower fades as the day goes on. By teatime I'm hopeless.

4.  A little something from Nick Hornby that made me smile. Some homework excuses, borrowed from publishers' rejection letters. Here's one to give you a flavour of it. "I'm sorry I haven't done my homework, but my homework diary is currently full, and I'm not looking to take on anything else right now."  The boys have made notes.

5.  The beautiful Bewick's swans (photos by the biggest boy) will be heading off back to Arctic Siberia before too much longer. I shall look forward to their return in October when they'll have their youngsters with them. As time goes by I appreciate the rhythms of nature more and more. I love to see wildlife featured on other blogs.  I wonder, those of you who like the natural world and walking in the countryside, was it something you did when you were little? I'm wondering if this is an important part of creating a love of wildlife and the outdoors. If so, I really hope it's something I'm passing on.

Wishing all a good weekend. CJ xx