where's the lorry?

this is Iris 'Knick Knack', just a little one but its a beauty.
its probably about two inches across, and this is the only one that came out though there are other leaves in the pot.

and the frits are opening out
wow!
very fascinating!

erythroniums, I love them when their petals totally recurve.
this is a double Sanguinaria, also known as bloodroot.
it was a bit of tuberous root when it was gifted to me and its increased a lot in three years, there's quite a few coming up now.

and there is no lorry photograph, Robbies owners let me practice drive the horse lorry on Saturday and it was my intention today to take a photo and make a post about it. another day then. here's Robbie and me instead.

greehouse things

the onions seedlings, out in one of Billy's coldframes. these two coldframes are going to be very useful!
things! growing! whoppee!!
two kinds of lettuce, I am desparate for some fresh lettuce to eat.
some mizuna, to add to the 'hopefully soon' salad.
and some carrots, to have as a wee treat.

123 meme

I've just been tagged to do the 123 book meme by Alice, of Born2Cree8. I've done this meme before I'm always reading different books so it'll always be different.

you go to page 123 of the book you are reading, find the fifth sentence/phase and then post the next three sentences/phrases.

picture borrowed from PHOTOBUCKET

this is a library book "The Taking" by Dean Koontz:

"Molly, Neil . . .I'm sharing this out of concern for you. I don't mean to cause you any distress."
"Too late," Molly said.
"You're my friends," Derek continued. "I don't want to see you waste your final hours or days in futile resistance to an inevitable fate."

well, its a horror/thriller, we're being taken over from outer space, not to be read just before bed time. . . . I've just reached the part with the fungus..... and ther's lots of rain, hence the borrowed photo.

Permaculture in Practice: Bradford

this a lovely video of a community garden in england

todays flowers

vinca, growing in a pot
tulips also in a pot, intended for the doorstep but I think they're too big to sit on the doorstep

primula gold lace, its about the size of my thumbnail.
this double primula has lost its name, it looks a bit pink on the pc screen but in 'real life' its a deep red.
primula guineve giving a good show
a white fritillary, this is in a pot on the doorstep. you can just see the checkerboard marks.
a lovely 'snakeshead' frit. I love these when they open with their checkerboard markings.

pop in to see

Wildside , she has just posted a fabulous series of small community videos on chickens, bees, garden growing and cooking.

Always Use Good English

A man's cupping his hand to scoop water from a Highland burn.
Gamekeeper shouts, 'Dinnae drink thon water min, it's foo o' coo's shite n pish.'
Man replies, 'My good fellow, I'm English ....repeat that in English.'
Gamekeeper replies, 'I said use both hands - you get more that way.'

received in an e-mail today, cheers Fiona!
apologies to those South of the Border.

thank you Katarina

the garden at 8.30am this morning.

its a nice thing to recieve an award so I must say thank you very much to Katarina for my 'E'. Katarina is from Switzerland and her blog Roses and Stuff has the most beautiful pictures of camelias.

The Rules are;By accepting this Excellent Blog Award, you agree to award it to 10 more people whose blogs you find Excellent Award worthy.

its difficult to choose as I read more blogs than this.

1. Wildside
2. I Was Born2Cree8
3. Veg Plot
4. Frogma
5. Withinsight
6. Blooming Writer
7. The Hesitant Scribe
8. Down on the Allotment
9. Green Thumb Chronicles
10. Snappy's Gardens Blog

and the mowers are out!!

Tansy walking along the cat path. one of my neighbors kindly came in with his petrol lawn mower and started the grass cutting season off for me. it was too wet and too long for my wee push mower so this should get me going if I keep on top of it when its dry. this is the first cut its had since last September or October and it was badly needed.

Primula Guinevere. a pale coloured single but the interest is in the red stalks and dark coloured leaves. I like her.
drumstick primula, I can't remember if I bought, scrounged or grew these.
this is another one, nice blue colour.
and the rhubarb crown starts to produce some stalks. bags of sugar ready. . . . .

varying weather

Hebe Pink Elephant, showing its best colours with its new growth in spring. the weather yesterday was absaloutly stunning, sunny, warm and calm. I even opened up the door of the greenhouse. its the opposite today of course! horizontal rain!!
Corylus Avelana Contorta, this little shrub is starting to put on some size now, it was wee for years. it spends the winter being entertaining with its twisty wood, and spring the lovely catkins. then in the summer it fades into the background. a very useful shrub/tree.

I am a big fan of the lifestyle of Permaculture and completed an introdutory course last year with Ed Tyler, one of Scotlands most active and knowlegable permaculture teachers, he has just started his own blog called Local Futures and its well worth a visit.

flowers!

pots on the doorsteps, always a nice welcome home.
primula 'marie crouse'
primula 'pettycoats'
and an unusual frilly, pale daffodill. its come up in the border and I don't think there's very many of them, my favourite ones are an apricot colour but think they come up quite late.

across the Clyde

the sun catches one hill as the hill behind is obscured by snow, a brave sailor out in the cold! they're beating against the wind here, and probably came back the way at twice the speed!
it looks more dramatic in 'real life' the snow flurries drift across the hills. the water was very choppy, I wouldn't like to have been out kayaking today.

easter sunday

this is flake Rosie made last year

http://snowflakes.barkleyus.com/

many easter blessings

after a realy bad day

this made me laugh so I thought I'd share it. its from Lolcats

Book meme

image by Josephine Wall

thankyou to Bonnie for tagging me with this one


The Open Book Meme:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open it at page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence/ phrase.
4. Blog the next four sentences/ phrases together with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig your shelves for that very special or intellectual book.
6. Pass it forward to six friends


jings, here's what came out of The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, by Thom Hartmann. I bought it with part of my christmas book money as its been on my permaculture list of things to read for a while.

=The notion that we're "of course" destined to donimate whatever we can had far-reaching implications. This "story about how things are" literally changed the world, often in very brutal ways.
It was the basis for the philosophy used to rationalize the Imperial Conquest of most of the world by Britain. It was the basis of Manifest Destiny in America, in which Congress decided that their idea of god wanted us to take over the continent, so we killed anyone who got in our way, resulting in the murder of tens of millions of Native Americans.=

this short extract may not make sense as its a 'part of the whole', and you really need the 'whole'. its a very good book , I suggest everybody should read it, get it from your local library if you can. its full of cheery stuff about the world and the energy as we know it running out and all of us probably dying a long and painful death, which we might deserve. . . .

and I'm going to do my usual and not name people to do(something to do with hating chain letters) this but if you want to have a go leave a yes in the comments.

sheltering. .

I am inside the greenhouse looking out at this. . .
todays project is putting this lot back together
to make another bench, it'll get dismantled as I need a clear side to let the tomato plants grow tall.
here's the onion seeds, doing their mad 'hat dance'
and I'm starting to plant up more things, here are leeks, celeriac, sweet-peas and marigolds. they are all fairly hardy, I'm waiting a couple more weeks before starting everything else. a little warmer and I can put the onions out into a cold frame and clear up some space for the mad planting session to come.

Crazy Eights

Crazy Eights...


Lowa tagged me!


8 Things I'm Passionate About:

Rosie, her mothers day card to me read "I'm smiling because your my mother and laughing because there's nothing you can do about it" sweet child.
cats, mine first, then everybody elses.
horses, Robbie and Smokey first, then every horse in the world.
sea-kayaking, in Scotland of course.
Scotland, of course!
Permaculture
growing vegetables, actually gardening in general including cutting the grass
Quantum Savvy, see link in side bar

8 Things I Want To Do Before I Die:

go to Canada again, I have been once to visit friends.
go to the USA again, I have been once to visit friends.
go to Italy again, I have been once also to visit friends, note that I prefer to holiday in Scotland!!
get out of debt(not likely if I do the above three!)
enourage as many people as possible to grow some food even if its only lettuce in a pot on the windowsill.
win the lottery, ha, dream on. . .
own a horse, only likely if I win the lottery
get another dog, the kitties will not be happy . .

8 Things I Say Often:

No
Yes
aww, wee kitty
aww, nice horsey
fabulous
marvelous
tidy your room
thankyou

8 Books I've Read Recently:

currenty reading 'The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight', its great but now I feel like killing myself as theres no hope.
Squarefoot Gardening, Mathew Bartholomew. this is my veg growing bible!
Crow Stone, fiction by Jenni Mills, very good read.
Remind me again Why I Need a Man, fiction by Claudia Carroll, this is hysterical and I laughed most of the way through, related to a lot of it!
anything by David Eddings, have most of them on the bookshelf
anything by Stephen Donaldson, have most of them too.
anything science fiction/fantasy/horror , working my way round the local library!

8 Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over:(drifted into artists as I can't pick out favourites)

Mercy, by Duffy. can't actually believe I love something thats been number one in the UK charts for a month. me. modern music?
The Rising Sun, The Animals, an eternal classic.
Elvis
Doc and Merle Watson
Ginny Hawker and Tracy Schwarz
The Beatles
7 cant think..
8 ditto...

8 Things That Attract Me to my Best Friends:

Their ability to put up with the smell of horse.
That they like cats.
They tend not to have small children( sorry Fiona!!)
they can cook better than me, not hard
they like to invite me to eat at theirs
kayakers automaticaly join friends list
running out of reasons, i dunno....
sometimes theres no reason you just like people!

then your meant to tag-------
8 People I Think Should Do Crazy Eights:

but I'm running out of time and have to go to work so I'd like you to decide to join in youself and leave a link in the comments if your doing one.

home cats

Tansy and Daisy, practicing the matching bookends effect
sunshine for a brief moment

stable kittens

as I muck out the stables I open the bags of shavings for bedding, the cats seem to like to curl up and go to sleep in them. then I chuck them out as I need to use them.
and here they are all cuddled up nice and warm on a horse blanket. . which I had to chuck them off as it was needed back on the horse. . .poor things, they must just see me as a disturber of sleep.

snow

I stopped at the garden centre on the way home for essentials and these deer were grazing in the field behind. this is my zoom on maximum. it was nice to see them, and the garden centre was very quiet. . .no gardening today!