LITTLE POT

I'm often attracted to things nautical, ship's wheels, anchors, compasses, sailing ships etc. I always stop to look at seascapes in art shops and galleries. There's no reason for this, no family history that I am aware of, no involvment with the sea whatso ever. A pleasure trip from Bridlington Harbour once made me seasick and that is my only experience of being on the sea. So why I like these things is a mystery.
My attraction to them though, may explain why, today, I couldn't bring myself to leave this little pot sitting on a charity shop shelf. Even though I have vowed, "No more stuff", it just had to come home with me.

Child at Heart

I saw this children's craft caddie and it made me smile.

Then I saw that it was reduced in price to £2.50. I decided that it had to come home with me.

This is what I found inside.

Glue, silver and gold glitter glue, craft straws, craft lolly sticks.

Beads, sequins, jewels and thread.

Foam shapes, feathers, glitter, pipe cleaners and eyes.

Lots of pom poms.

Who is this little treasure chest for?

MEEEEEE!!!

Flying Thingumajig?

It flew into my kitchen and I have no idea what it was.

It just came to say "Hello" and "Look how beautiful I am".

Then it flew away again.

.

Grrr.

Can't upload pictures, will have to try later. Grrr. Grrrr.

CRAFT FAIR PURCHASE

Perfect!

NO ICE-CREAM :-(

Well, I picked 12oz of gooseberries and left the rest to ripen for another day.

 Look who came into the kitchen with them.

Is this the first of the sawfly caterpillars?
There was also this pretty little spider.

I put the spider back on the gooseberry bush, but not the caterpillar, I think he went as food for the birds, but I didn't wait to see. Guilty conscience.
The result of my labours:-

With custard, but if I'd had some ice cream that would be my prefered accompaniment to fruit crumble.

TO PICK OR NOT TO PICK?

Every year I say to myself, "Next year I'll keep a garden diary". I never do. That's why I can't remember when I usually harvest these.

My mind tells me that I usually pick them the last week in June or first week in July. I'm sure that they usually look greener than this when harvested, but that may be because the saw fly hasn't denuded the bush of all it's leaves as usually happens and so they look yellower against the green foliage. I quite fancy a gooseberry crumble, but are they ready yet?

Sunshine 2

I succumbed and enjoyed -  Pinot Grigio.

Well, I couldn't ignore such excellent advice from 'Heron's View'. See comment on previous post.

Sunshine

When the sun shines I always get the urge to sit in the garden with a glass of wine. I wonder why that is?
Oh well! I'd better go clean the bathroom before it becomes toxic, the wine will have to wait for another day.

No, I don't do a lot of baking!

She says, "Where are my sultanas?"

I wonder what the supermarket thinks I do with all the sultanas and currants I buy every week.
At least five pairs of resident blackbirds and a few itinerant ones, two pairs of robins and a couple of starlings  enjoy my sultanas. For all my efforts the blackbirds don't seem to have had a successful brood yet, although the robins and starlings have faired better, they have brought youngsters along for a feed. I hope this lovely rain which we are enoying today helps to bring more worms to the surface for the blackbirds to eat. Oh no! now I feel bad, poor worms, I've wished them onto someone's menu.

The Root of the Problem.

Last week a  waterfall down the side of the garage created a paddling pool in the garden.
Blocked drain!  'Old grump' to the rescue.
An exploratory drain rod went down the drain pipe and hit a solid mass. Drain pipe had to be removed, but to no avail,  the blockage was in the drain.

It was well and truely blocked.

No amount of coaxing would remove the blockage, so an excavation had to be undertaken all the way to the soak away.

The drain had to be removed and that's when we found the 'root of the problem'.

The 'drain monster'.

NEW FAMILY

Do you remember the BunnyFluffs, Willow and Mortimer. Well sadly they have both left us now.

Dizzy Daughter has found her house very quiet, sad and empty without them and so we now have two new family members.

Meet Flo,

And Mo,

It was very difficult to get a picture of Mo, because she wouldn't stay still for a second,she is twelve weeks old. Flo is ten weeks old and was easier to photograph because she managed to stay still for a whole minute.

They are rather partial to broccoli, but strangely, haven't taken to carrot yet.

All this broccoli munching can soon make a baby bunny very sleepy.

I think you'll be seeing a lot more of  Flo and Mo.