Goodbye ~ Gleannmhor Quince ~

 a few weeks ago and didn't know this was to be our last ride out. you were the very best of horses. 

away today, though I knew yesterday and didn't want to say. 

greenhouse temperature and seeds

 

Here is the  new temperature guage for the greenhouse, it looks like its mild but we've a harsh wind coming from the east which is making it feel much colder... and of course its always a bit warmer in the greenhouse. 

My seeds have been ordered from MoreVeg Seeds , although any packets from last year that remain are  unsorted .... that is a plan from another day. Last years poor germination makes me think to start again with fresh seeds rather than use up the old. 

Two cats in the house now means there are frequent fights, they don't hurt each other but make a lot of noise. Hopefully they will settle down and I  do not need to keep improving my aim with the water spray bottle... its an old cleaning spray borrle labeled  'water for bad cats'. .......

I've not long finished reading the Larkin Family series, H E Bates,  and now am reading the complete works of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle,  on  my kindle, its so far been easy reading. it doesn't get too gorey or violent which are things I try to avoid. The Larkin books were purchased recently with an amazon token I recieved as a gift.... and surprised at how much it costs to have them electronically... the Sherlock one was a free download that I found in my content from 2000 and not read yet... don't know why it hadn't been read yet .

greenhouse temperature today

always milder in the greenhouse, round about 2pm the car temp was telling me it was 4c on the road. 

the barometer in the house  showing a really high pressure, the weather reports do say dry and cold into next week. 

this weather is ideal for hunting New Zealand Flatworms, six yesterday and three today. its  devastating to have them in the garden, after discovering them in the spring I have collectetd thousands this year and  drop them into a bag of salt. . over the last few years I always wondered why I would dig over the soil and never see a worm, even though I bring bags and bags of horse manure and well rotted muck with worms in it from the farm. so now its obvious why. 
 

''on blogger since December 2005''

well, the title kind of says it all. 

so in these 20 years there have been  many ups and downs. 

there are still cats. though different ones now. 

still gardening , also was a break from that for a while . 

there is no longer kayaking. I loved it so much but in that I am now a ''has been'' . 

still horses. there were always horses. not blogged about because it did not exist in 1972 which is when the learning properly started. thank you Meryl. you are much missed

started of cynical and have since multiplied that by many hundreds of percents. well done world. 

and I would like to thank Lidl for selling a one at a time cheese toasty maker. genuinley love it. 

 

plural of cat....

according to Beans, the plural of cat means there is one too many ... she just stole my dressing gown while I was doing yoga... 

 and the extra cat, that makes one too many... Lucy, she stole where Beans usually sits on the sofa. 

Mamuse Pearls

Mid summer's garden

a cool windy day after two very hot days. good to get a bit of rain anyway. caught a ray of sunshine this morning., wee Beans making an appearance. 

 

What is No Mow May and is it just for May?

I wear the Fringe....

Scenic Drive - Fort William - Corran Ferry - Salen - Kilchoan - Ardnamur...

Cookies !!

 the first 'baking' I have done for about 10 years.

an inexpensive ready mix, just add butter and water.. except I use milk instead of water. 

12 minutes in the oven and just crispy outside and soft in the middle. perfect. 

they are very sweet though, so not able to eat them all at once ... lol

Steve Noonan, the Nina Demos - Buy For Me the Rain

the simplest version of this I have heard. I love it. 

I was gifted a box of cd's to play in the car. one cd had this song as a live version. so on getting home did a youtube search and found the published hit version. as usual youtube will throw in extras which turned up this version. 

Garden Cat

 Beans in todays garden, a wet windy day. She wasn't out for very long. 

I'm not as comfortable using the camera as I used to be, so easy just to snap away on your phone. This isn't quite in focus, using the display rather than the viewfinder, think I need to lean it on my head to get it steady... lol...  or is it the age of the camera not working quite properly. 

Age, another thing, mine... it hurts my eyes to use the viewfinder, giving me  a headache. I don't wear glasses for normal day to day things, but do for reading now. 

making soap as a hobby

 

melt and pour soap. using clear and white soaps.

 

 

various colours  using mica, some glitter

added Beans for interest, how sweet is she sleeping !! awake she bites... lol

again more mica colours, this one using all clear soap.

oh, also all each soap batch I did had a different fragrance, some essential oils, some fragrance oils. 

my tutuorials came from YouTube, just look up 'Melt and Pour Soap Making' and you will find a thousand videos... lol

 

Happy Solstice !!

 

I always look forward to this day, and that we will start to get lighter longer days. I suffer from Seasonal Affected Disorder, SAD  ==  due to not getting enough light, this year was such a dull summer too, so I started to use my Bruer light in the mornings in September !! The light is on for about 20 minutes in the morning while I have my first cup of tea.

some science....

making candles as a hobby

pouring candles

watching them start to set up

nearly cured here

four lovely candles. Two for  me, two were gifted.

I get my supplies from Candle Shack, as they are not too far away to collect from and save postage. 

Wax is EU464. Fragrance oils are Warm Woods and Cashmere and Enchanted Forest.
 

wax melts

the fragrance oil to make candles comes in 50g bottles... I use 44g to make two candles which leaves just a little bit in the bottle.... what to do with it? so I decided on wax melts. also used a little bit of colour in the wax for the first time.

and here they are, the next morning, popped out of the moulds. I will be gifting them as I don't use wax melts. and for future candle making I will just straight away use the little bit up making wax melts. otherwise all these little bottles sit about taking up space. 

GW 494 wax and  fragrance oils are from Candle Shack . I used Cucumber and Melon, Warm Woods and Cashmere, Enchanted Forest. 

the colours are left over from the first candle kit I used, and the moulds were gifted to me. 

 
 

to ripen tomatoes

my little kitchen drawers are just the right size to fit a seed tray, where the tomatoes can ripen. 

after a dismal, cold and wet summer, they are just sitting in the greenhouse and not ripening at all, I've been brining in a hanfull every coupleof days to ripen and eat. now i'm just about to collect in another seed tray full and that will be all of them. 

there have been some nice broad beans to munch on , they are nearly finished now. little turnips early on, and there are nice leeks waiting to get bigger before eating.

not much success with anything else this year.
 

Laundry scent booster recipe. Stop using chemicals to scent your clothes...

 

posting to save.. think its a great idea and would like to try it sometime

greenhouse update

 

the tomatoes are just starting to show a slight blush, maybe there will be one to eat at the weekend. 

Beans has been here for a year now, the greenhouse is not her favourite place, 

not comfortable enough she says. 

she is a nce wee cat, not much into cuddles but will keep you company.