'baby rice'

organised?

four boxes of seeds, lined paper, squared paper, pens, pencils. . . . last years plan to compare.
there are three beds of 4x8ft, one 3x8ft,one of 4ft square, other stuff is planted in amongst flower beds, in buckets and pots and the greenhouse.

New Years Resolution::I have to stop saying 'you can never have too many seeds'.

some time later; this has now reduced to a box of unopened veg seeds, a box of half used seeds and box of flower seeds. I have outlined next years plan, and really don't need to replace the seeds I have. So this years shopping list severly reduced from 'whatever you like' to these four things; beetroot, corn, parsnip, potatoes.

re-the weather

Miss Daisy dainty paws looks on,
as her friend Tansy, the naughty one,
considers what she is going to pull down from the tree next.
too wet to go out and play, even in my new gardening clogs.

and there is fog

weather report:

A return to much more unsettled conditions will take place during Friday and over the final few days of 2006. Heavy rain along with strong to gale force winds will push across all parts of the country during the course of Friday, bringing some hazardous traveling conditions. Winds will reach 50 to 60 mph across exposed Northern and Western parts. Another area of low pressure will quickly follow on behind during Friday night and overnight into Saturday morning. This low pressure has the potential to bring some severe and damaging winds to parts of the country. At the moment, Ireland, North Wales, Northern England and potentially Scotland are at risk of seeing wind speeds in excess of 80mph between 6pm on Friday and 6am on Saturday 30th. The severe winds will quickly clear away during Saturday leaving a day of sunshine and blustery showers.

yuck.

a sunny bright day

one little rosebud

in the greenhouse there is one lonely fuschia flower
a couple of geranium flowers keeping it company
out in the coldframe, spring bulbs are starting to peek through the crocus, I think they will be yellow.

in amongst other stuff I found this unlabled, obviously some kind of bulb, possibly an iris reticulata? a sure sign of the stones meaning 'something's in here, don't throw this away!' but I have no idea what it is
decorations in my 'girly greenhouse'
and this one I put in today, I did have it on a window in the house for a while.
this bush has come down from May's caravan garden, it can have a temporary home in this sink till I get another idea in my head of what to do with it. there is an unknown in the pot sitting there too, quite sure its not weeds or May wouldn't have earmarked it for removal.
it'll be a nice bright thing for a shady spot, almost totally sure it is an Euonymus japonicus 'ovatus aureus'.

in case I don't post much or visit often over the holiday period-

many blessings and a good new year!!

Dixie

I was visiting my friend Sue today, this is how her cat Dixie was sleeping in front of the fire! He is totally twisted from one side to the other!

When Dixie realised he was having his photo taken he stretched out, long and skinny.

cat cuddles

it must be chilly, cuddled up for warmth, they are not usually this friendly

christmas tree

I just picked up the tree yesterday, forgetting I had thrown away the old lights at the end of last year. Rosie said its more ecological not to waste elecricity on lights anyway! oh well, I'll get a bit more tinsel and make do. there's still more decorations to put up.

goodbye Billy

my gardening friend Billy died yesterday. he always likes things done the right way, which is the way his dad did it. at the end of season his greenhouse was always "rededd oot", meaning a good clean. and he would frown at, but still forgive, my ornaments in my greenhouse, his wife says he called it a "girls greenhouse". a marvellous tall man for putting in the glass. he'll be sorely missed.

1 - 2 - 3 - go

1. Accustom horse to all parts of the harness and let him know what the gig looks and feels like.

2. Attach gig to horse and walk off calmly.

3. All still calm after 20 minutes of walking and turning. End session with a polo mint.

This is Smokey's first ever hitch up to a cart. Not just as easy as 1,2,3 - his owner Rosemary has been long-reining and working with him to get him used to harness and pulling tyres. I think she's done a brilliant job.
Well done Rosemary and Smokey! Whoopee!!

the sun came out

and I went out to play
This is Teddy, she is 22 and is a semi retired ride/drive horse. Her owners have another horse they drive and compete with, he was out in the field so a photo of him another time.
I am going to ride her occasionally to help keep her stiffness level at bay. I haven't ridden for years so my stifness levels may be increased until I get a bit fitter.
nice, safe, sensible horse. I'm sure we'll have a nice time together.

rain rain go away

I am hiding away from the rain, looking through photographs to try and remember what blue sky is.

Met office weather report for today.
"Rain will become heavy this morning, with 30 to 40mm falling generally across Argyll and Bute, Kinross and Stirling, western Highland, and western Perth. Locally 80mm of rain may fall on high ground. The public are advised to take extra care and refer to the latest Scottish Environment Protection Agency 'Live Flood Warning Information', and also refer to 'Traffic Scotland' for further advice on road conditions."

eyes shining

Tansy

Daisy

cats and seats

I have replace two large overbearing and worn out sofas with two of these comfortable chairs. There is a quite obvious cat shaped dimple in the middle of this one but they are refusing to be caught on camera. A chair for each cat you see, I will just have to sit at the table(which I have yet to find) and decorate my dolls houses(this is the plan).
butter will not melt.

potato plans

if you look closely
very closely!
you can just see the tips of some potato plants. the plan(or sketch as we may say) was to plant two buckets for christmas. well, there's not long to go now and I had given up on them coming up altogether.
so maybe not in time for the solstice festivities, but some nice new potatoes sometime would be very welcome.

green with envy

young Angus has lovely eyes of green, lucky boy!
unfortunatley a bit out of focus.

colours in the cold

An early start for me today to meet Fiona and young Angus to do some shopping. The Vango Sale and we were there early, queing in the rain to get in, elbows at the ready to grab some bargains. I got a waterproof jacket and a small rucksack for everyday, which I needed; and a fleece cardigan, socks, gloves, thermal long johns(or janes as they're for me) which I could have lived without but they were bargains see. Marvellous.
Fiona had a look at my blog and seemed to quite like it , although she said I do not 'ramble on' as much as I do in 'real life', and there is no swearing, which does happen in 'real life'.
My apologies if I am a bit different here but I am trying to make sense and not offend anyone.
That's all the explanation you're getting doll, and I hope you'll keep reading!

A quick garden check when I got home today, the light was just starting to fade and I caught a glimpse of colour, this little hellebore at the back of the vegetable beds. photographed from underneath
I thought I'd have a look to see if there was anything else
a holly with pale berries
a primula, this one keeps flowering all year it seems
a monarda
bright little calendula, flowers much smaller than in the summer
and I think this is a sweet william.
It was nice and cheery to find things still flowering.
And as I would say to those who know me 'Marvellous, Sure!!'

dearest friend

Tom, thankyou for calling to say you like my blog diary, very kind.
I had a look through my photo's and this seems to be a fairly flattering one of you?

whats in the pots?

some photographs from spring, these are now amongst the pots in the cold frame with their layer of stones and looking empty, well worth waiting for
iris reticulata 'harmony'
iris reticulata 'pauline'

on Sunday afternoon

the 'storm' did not appear though we did have some very heavy rain over Saturday night. Sunday afternoon was really nice out, not much to be done in the garden due to sodden conditions. I weeded these pots and replaced some gravel over their tops(this is meant to be an indicator to me not to throw it out as it contains 'something'). They will stay in this cold frame over the winter, there are some early crocus and daffodil bulbs, a couple of early iris reticulata and a couple of pots of shrub cuttings. I will cover the top when the weather gets very cold and wet(brr, even colder and even wetter! yuck!)

I covered my wooden bench to protect it from the wet too, although this means you can't sit on it when its nice enough to be outside. The first winter I used this cover with very strong rope and the wind lifted and pulled the bench right across the back part of the garden, like a big sail I suppose. There is now a padlocked chain attatching one leg of the bench to the fence, and the cover is attached with light string so it will break before lifting it. I swept round my brick paths after tidying the pots so everything looks nice and tidy.

waiting on the storm

The sun is shining and all seems calm, just waiting on the terrible forecast weather to hit, hopefully it won't!
I forget what this is, a climbing thing, hiding behind the greenhouse, amazingly with a couple of these gorgeous flowers on it today.
purple brussels sprouts, creating a nice colour if no actuall sprouts!!
the winter sun coming in low this morning and lighting up the leeks
the dew on the brussels sprouts leaves.