Tales of Life

We have new kittens

2011-12-04T23:05:00.001Z

Our home was most definately missing something not having resident cats so when these were found abandoned on a busy road I knew they had to come and live with us :) They were poorly with runny eyes and sneezing drippy noses. They have in the last week and a half put on some weight and the eye goop is gone and the noses are clearing up. Not sure of names currently, they are trying on Mab (Mabon approximately when they would have been born) and Luna (craziest one)

Catch up picture of our Samhain pumpkins.

We've also rescued a couple more chickens who needed a new home they are Pumpkin and Ghost

and we just rescued an unused chicken house this weekend, needs a few repairs but will be much better than the current house.

Dinosaur KAL

2011-10-20T10:53:00.000+01:00

On a forum I'm on we are doing this http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring09/PATTsteggie.php as Knit A Long, I am using the softest squidgy BFL and merino and I need to dye it up over the weekend/next week hopefully, http://www.woollywumpkins/ has some wool especially for this KAL or you can use your own. Anyone fancy joining in? (or has anyone I know made it already and have any tips?!)

Catch up in pictures what we did over the summer

2011-09-25T23:28:00.000+01:00

No budget for festivals or fancy holidays but we did manage a couple of days in Dartmouth for a friends handfasting, we had a lovely time.

Kings Troop

Joust at Pendennis

Squash Box @ Minack

Greebo, no longer with us, just vanished. Tam also died yesterday. We now have Elf who passes through here once in a while but no resident cats :(

Full Moon in September

Truck hitched up to ancient mower, they loved it.

One of Petunias piglets

Buzzard mid call, they are supposed to be solitary animals only coming togetehr to breed but we regularly see 2 or 3 together and 3 times this year have seen 6 flying together.

Mammoth granny stripes, big enough to warm a mammoth, ripples have now been started.

Positivity

2011-07-30T20:51:00.000+01:00

"Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behaviors. Keep your behaviors positive because your behaviors become your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny."

By Gandhi

I came across this elsewhere so quickly popping it on here for my benefit but hopefully it will resonate with others.

Spinning!

2011-07-23T16:45:00.000+01:00

So today I had an unexpected chance to go to the Guilds Saturday meet. I never realised they had added a Saturday meet up so have been missing out for months! Obviously I can't do the weekday one as I have the boys and they would be to a room full of spinning wheels what the four horsemen are to the apocolypse. So at long last no children and no other to do list jobs to get in the way as I was no where near any of them. The Babylonglegs Rainbow Falkland that has been languishing on bobbins finally got a ply with some black merino, well one did at least. Not perfect by a long shot but I kind of like the rustic vibe. One of the ladies who runs it went through everything with the Learners corner and gave me some good pointers. Also found out I can hire a drum carder when I become a member but no meetings now til Spetember as they miss August out. I shall just have to get all the fleece washed and ready for an Autumn of carding.
I think this may become a winter scarf.......

Wednesday

2011-07-20T21:52:00.000+01:00

Sunset this evening providing a much needed lift to the spirits.

Lava lamp fun - well it is fun until they start fighting over who still has the most alka seltzers and 'he's got two more than me' whine whine whine. The unfairness of life certainly rears it's head early for the average 5 year old.

Water, food colouring, oil and alka seltzers broken into quarters. Ones stamped on by stroppy 3 year olds also work you'll be pleased to know.
Forest School today as well, Kailen doesn't seem to be that bothered by it and wandered off a few times, teachers not happy about that but really these are home ed children with no concept of sit still and pay attention plus they are boys in the woods. I think he *should* sit and participate but he wants to wander, I did say if he didn't want to go and try and focus on what they were offering we could give the place up to someone else but he was adamant he wanted to go again, we'll see how next week goes I guess.

Granny stripe progress

2011-07-18T23:44:00.000+01:00

Finding it a bit tedious now to be honest but am looking forward to it being completed. The colours are reminding me of rows of shelves in old fashioned sweet shop with all the jars.

It is very toasty on the lap while working on it. At a guess I'd say I've done a 3rd of the length I want to.

2011-07-17T22:38:00.000+01:00

Camborne show was rain on and off but we headed off anyway......there were birds of prey (not flying because of the weather)

Lots of tractors which the boys enjoyed climbing on and pretend driving.

Hand wound fairground rides

Sheep and spinning

BIG tyres

and then in the evening I went to perform with Boekka @ a handfasting in Carn Glaze

Caverns, no pics of me obviously but Swamp Circus were there with fire, we managed to catch the 2nd half of their set and I quickly took a few pics.

Cottage smells of

2011-07-17T22:33:00.001+01:00

Danish oil, yum!

I picked up a slab of 800 year old yew on Saturday to use as a cutting board, beautiful warm wood.

Then we had a visit from someone who keeps horses next to us, a tree had blown down and blocked her entrance to the field and stables could we take the chainsaw up and move it......C would never turn down a chance to play with a chainsaw so off they went and came back with this little lot

A large pile of hawthorn for next years fire. Talking of fire ours is lit this evening....you'd never believe it was the height of summer.

Oops posted on wrong blog!

2011-07-17T22:30:00.000+01:00

So the last posts were posted on the sling meet blog not my personal one.
Why is it when you are in a rush things go wrong!

July's Full Moon

2011-07-16T09:56:00.000+01:00

At last a full moon I can actually see! not a blurry haze or an utterly non visible one as the last few months have been.

In other news I've broken a toe which subsequently means weeding the garden is pretty much impossible and the weeds have taken over big style but we are still getting spuds, beetroot and courgettes a plenty.

Tomatoes are trying to redden, to be honest I thought it would never happen this year.

Things I would like to write upon but for time, how people view/treat dogs, smoking around children, landshare, estate agents and many more irritations! Luckily I have to go out in 2 minutes so you are all spared.

Crochet granny stripes coming along.....

Lots of vests being made for ye olde shoppe

and a gorgeous Craft Fairy gift :)

Trying to upload stock to Wow Thankyou but only got 3 items up so far...
Not enough hours in the week as usual but enjoying the sewing and my new scrummy Grinch fabric is awaiting my scissors.......

Field Kitchen

2011-07-11T13:35:00.000+01:00

I saw a blog this morning, the name escapes me, but she had set up an outdoor kitchen for her children so this morning we had to wait in for UPS and they always want to cook or make potions and I'm not dreadfully keen on mud pies indoors.......an old cobweb covered camping table, an ikea bedside table (we have 4 of these I think lying around lol), few bits from the kitchen, mint, mud, comfrey flowers, grass, washing up bowl from an an old sweet tub ........and we have had a bakers and a cafe this morning. This can stay for a while I think :)

The chickens were very interested in it all and I think ate some things they possibly shouldn't have!

New fabric :) love the smell of new fabric! The Dr Seuss looks fab.

Osaka Hoppediz wrap FS

2011-07-09T08:57:00.000+01:00

Osaka Hoppediz wrap FS. Maxi. 5.3m*72cm. £50.

Greebo turning my wool drying doodah into a cat hammock on a rare sunny day!

Just because

2011-07-02T22:25:00.000+01:00

I am always lifted by a beautiful sunset, I wish the cottage was positioned differently so this was in view without the great big workshop in the way, one day this will be the view from my new bedroom and the conservatory, when the extension happens :)

Last night, the sun had gone but it's light changed the sky to soft lilacs and pink.

Tonights sun slowly heading towards the sea

Lentil/carrot dip?

2011-07-01T08:20:00.004+01:00

A plea for help, one of the blogs I read recently (maybe 2 months ago, I have a distorted concept of time living in Cornwall!) posted a recipe for a red lentil/carrot dip I can't for the life of me remember who it was though! If anyone remembers seeing it let me know where it could be! I think it was one of the lovely ladies I know through GP but I'm not 100% sure.

Update:
I found it on a feed that doesn't exist anymore and it was lentil and sundried tomato not carrot!

Mazey Day

2011-06-26T21:33:00.000+01:00

Fleece Washing

2011-06-26T21:30:00.000+01:00

With the promise of a heatwave I thought it would be the perfect weekend to make a start on washing the fleece I've had waiting in the wings for it to be the right time....unknown and a BFL...they were minging!

Is this all ?

2011-06-23T00:05:00.000+01:00

Am I unfulfilled as a mother because I have been educated to believe that mothering is a low level 'job' and if you have any brains you will be off having a career creating money or building/creating/completing some 'thing'.
OR
Am I unfulfilled because as a path it truly is not for me.
Are there any Western cultures that value motherhood? Where girls and boys respect and look forward to becoming parents and helping shape the next generation, to correct the errors our parents made (and no doubt make some of our own) striving to provide children with a better childhood and life than the one experienced.
Does Western culture automatically devalue motherhood in the collective subconcious because of the things it values that do not sit easily alongside mothering being a valuable job?
Too many questions and not room in amongst the cooking, cleaning and washing to find the answers.....

Easy LIke Sunday Morning

2011-06-19T22:47:00.000+01:00

then all hell broke loose trying to get small chidlren into the car at a certain time..........
Anyway it all worked out OK in the end, a Solstice ritual in the rain, yay good old Cornish weather strikes again (what is up with the extended winter?) . Part of the ritual was here http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=39 but we went back afterwards with the boys to have a proper clamber around

Then off to The Bucket of Blood to watch friends in Boekka http://www.boekka.co.uk/

I am going for a practice session to see if I'm up for it !

Squishy Basket

2011-06-18T11:06:00.001+01:00

While it's looking pretty in a basket I thought I'd post up a couple of pictures.
I have done the chain of doom (nice and loose and it made that first row much easier), and the first couple of rows next one is on a colour change hence the colours in a basket to work out if I'm going with random or repeating patterns.
Not finding the acrylic too bad but definately prefer the real thing. Not really my colours but I just went for the easy option and they do have a lovely vintage look about them when crocheted up together. There's another one I want to do and I want to use earthy browns and greens for that one.

Friday

2011-06-18T00:20:00.000+01:00

HOME ED GROUP......has been a day of trains, electric, wind up and narrow guage..........meccano in every colour made up into a wealth of gadgets with turny handles for the boys to play with.
The mine in a shed was quite frankly weird, why would you do that when Cornwall has various real mines you can visit? That aside the volunteers at the museum/collection had buckets of enthusiasm and obviously lived and breathed trains. http://www.moseleymuseum.com/home.html

We then attempted to make Fathers day cards which had varying degrees of success and a number of ripped up cards and an increasingly impatient mother. Daddy won't mind if you have gone 2mm out of the line you meant to, he will appreciate the effort you put in to drawing an amazingly detailed picture blah blah blah was met with whiny, shouting and big dramatic stomps to put the card in the bin. Seriously, I can go so far and then turn into the parent I don't actually aspire to be..... I think going to school was even mentioned in there somewhere....... ooops!

On a lighter note with the rumbling of the 3 boys snoring I started on my swatch of this http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/granny-stripe.html crochet has beaten me every time I've tried to crack it. I make small things, forget how to do it and start all over again. My theory is I do a big thing and I'll never forget again, plus the American and UK terms being different really throws me! Someone was selling off the yarn for this project cheap and it seemed too much of a bargain to refuse. The swatch worked out well (after I realised where I had made a mistake!) now I am just facing a starting chain of 240 stitches and the buggering first row of which not one crochet instruction has described as anything other than a pain in the arse.
Oh well stripy loveliness here we go.

Pond Dipping

2011-06-13T22:55:00.000+01:00

Dragonfly Larvae and Palmate Newt (not my pictures I forgot the camera)

Boys Feet!

2011-06-12T15:10:00.000+01:00

Real boys do wear nail varnish and they panic that it might wash off if they have a bath.

I think we saw a lesser spotted woodpecker today at least we think it's a lesser not a greater. I'm going to go back this week (in the dry) with the zoom lens and figure it out. The weird thing is it was feeding young who were poking out of holes in a wooden electric pole, signs reading 'Danger of Death', 'Danger' were accompanied by a cute fluffy head poking out of the hole asking for food.
There were 2 chicks and they were poking out of different holes?! How on earth does that work!
Our planned Open Farm Sunday visit has gone by the wayside as the weather has been winter like and it was all we could do to get out to take the dog for a walk.

Sugary jammy jammy jam

2011-06-08T07:49:00.000+01:00

I like sugar. Ahh that's better :) I know sometimes it's like saying you like cocaine but I do truly like it, I love the taste it gives cakes and iced pastries and cordial and a discreeet pinch magically adds a little something to a tomato based sauce.

I like savoury (could never live without my cheese) but I also like sweet, not too sweet but I confess I most definately have a 'sweet tooth' and a correspondingly sized backside to go with it.

I've been reading up on sugar free over the last few months but I've tried sugar free cakes, most definately not the same, and now agave has been shoved onto the red list of stuff not to buy I'm floundering over what to use as a substitute? I used some Fruisana (low GI) the other day and it seems it was OK in the jam (with sugar though as it was a last minute thing and didn't have enough).
What of my elderflower cordial? Sugar as well as the sweetness it provides preserves it for me to use deep in the cold days of winter when I need a little help remembering summer will come round again eventually!

So I guess what I am asking is what substitutes work to give the closest likeness to sugar in preserving and sweetness (oh and no artificial sweetners either) OR is it better to stick with sugar but have less of it and less frequently? A matter of willpower?

Volcano time!

2011-06-01T22:51:00.000+01:00

With the recent news stories about an Icelandic volcano erupting again I've been meaning to do this project with the boys.
We built a dinosaur land (on a tray - very important!) and made the volcano in dino land erupt many, many, many times and they squealed with joy every single time.

Arts/crafts tray

Home made green play doh for the volcano covering

Volcano body was an old Whole Earth glass ketchup bottle - nice wide mouth :)

Ferns and bits of twig, trees, cow parsley and dried grass from the field

Old manky play doh to stick the flora in

Wooden dinosaurs and wooden play blocks to act as tree trunks lying on the ground

Close up of Mr T-Rex, Kailen's favourite dinosaur.

but what's that rumbling.........oh no it's going to blow............run dinos run........

We used up lots of white vinegar, red food dye and bicarb :) It was so funny watching their faces in utter delight EVERY time it went, they are going to do it all again the morning to show Daddy how to do it.
It looks a little less scenic now though as we left it outside and came in to get snacks and the chickens got up on the table and trashed it! Knocked trees over, ate the play doh and subsequently left red footprints everywhere!

Horrid smell

2011-05-31T23:38:00.000+01:00

of elderflower cordial brewing, how can something that smells so eeew taste so delicious!

I'm also having problems commenting on other blogs? Blogger repeatedly asks me to sign in despite name/passwords being OK, anyone have any ideas?

Bank Holiday Mondays in Cornwall.........

2011-05-30T15:05:00.000+01:00

are 9 times out of 10 like this!

View from the kitchen window this morning, you can normally see St Agnes head from there. Granted it's cleared up a bit this afternoon but every BH has been like this for ages! Oh well back to work.

Lovely blog link

2011-05-29T21:33:00.000+01:00

http://www.minieco.co.uk/minieco-tutorials/

Garden news

2011-05-28T21:57:00.000+01:00

A while ago I listed an emormous number of jobs that needed doing, the list is getting smaller and here is greenhouse no2 :)

Spuds are growing well as are the weeds!

The boys have found a piece of wasteland that trials bikes use so they go and ride on it with their bikes pretending they have trials bikes. It's been really windy here and the other day they found a perfect nest that had blown down from a tree, we think it's blackbird as there are tiny fragments of blue shell in the bottom.

Catch up

2011-05-28T20:08:00.002+01:00

We went to Eden for the Shaun the Sheep event and they had great fun pretending to be sheep, wellie throwing and cabbage kicking!

Edan thoughtfully considering the plight of the wellies being thrown at the farmers head.....maybe!

OK we're done just take the picture and get on with it.

I did the unthinkable and made a Barbie dress for a friends birthday gift! Fiddly fiddly things!

Busted with a liberated Hot X Bun!

The first asparagus of the season, never eaten it much before but loved it in dippy eggs and in risotto.

Boys and bluebells in the local woods

Our Beltane Beech Goddess

Aprils Full Moon is a little purplefied

Some lovely squishy fibre to spin and try some nuno felting with.

Small boy happiest in water preferably painted.

Other not so small boy happiest on a horse or riding his bike. We thought the pony was a bit on the fat side.........................

turns out she was carrying a mule, he is so very cute.

Playground shirt (pattern free on Ravelry) for K, knitted in a cotton yarn.

I have ben lovely and busy enjoying sewing scrumptious clothes, almost ready to take the leap and leave the other job.

EDIT - then there's the tale of the car, leaking fuel as much as we were burning, very grateful no one tossed a cigarette butt under the car as apparently we would have gone BANG! then the MOT took ages now at last we have it back with an MOT (but 2 tyres that need replacing asap). Oh how I missed the car, round here as soon as you are without one you are pretty much a social pariah, we couldn't get to swimming, home ed groups, couldn't go and see anyone (the boys requested we walk to St Agnes and the swimming pool lol) , the usual small stuff suddenly becomes big!

Wow long time no blog!

2011-05-28T18:00:00.000+01:00

I have moved more to my new laptop and my blog page is saved on the other computer, been so busy with work, meh will be back later to do a little update

Mutant centipede?

2011-03-27T22:43:00.001+01:00

Kailen found a double headed centipede today, not sure how usual this is!

While one head and half the legs were scurry one way the other wanted to go in the opposite direction. It was very weird to watch the power struggle.

Falmouth Art Gallery

2011-03-27T22:26:00.000+01:00

One of the home ed groups this week was a gallery visit, I can't find links to all the pictures I liked but here are a couple

http://fag.looksystems.net/Collection/2008.23

Oxana Mazur -

http://fag.looksystems.net/Collection/2010.18.3
Ian Stern

The boys loved Mark Websters underwater pictures http://fag.looksystems.net/Collection/2008.46.20

'Super' Moon

2011-03-20T21:58:00.000Z

This months full moon photo was a little bit of a disaster, if I had taken the camera out the night before I would have a stunning photograph on a perfectly crisp clear night but maybe the chaos of the moon is reflected in the distortion of the image.

Gruffalo story basket

2011-03-04T20:38:00.000Z

Thought I'd post this while I remembered, I was reading a blog here http://phoebedot.blogspot.com/ and commented about our Gruffalo story basket and found the photo so here we go....

We had owl, fox and the gruffalo I just had to make a snake and a mouse from felt, we used our little logs for a logpile house, a felt tree for the owl, part of the rainbow stacker as the entrance to fox's underground house, a felt pond and more logs for the lake and rocks.

The gruffalo is beyond popular here and this adds a little more to it. I had good intentions of doing a different one every week but have to say the wicker basket has been appropriated for something else and we haven't done it for a few weeks. I must retreive it!

Eden

2011-03-03T23:57:00.000Z

Project this time, we went last week, the boys were a little scared at first of the T-Rex but curiosity beat fear hands down.

They also enjoyed the skating rink.

Edan 3rd birthday

2011-03-03T23:45:00.000Z

A few pictures from his 3rd birthday today

A carefully photoshopped card to show him driving a tractor and hay baler, he was very pleased!

After the cake he decided he'd lick the ganache off the beaters !

I'm quite sad he's growing up and he is moving ever further away from being my baby but he is an endearing soul with a wicked sense of humour.

Today

2011-02-22T00:27:00.000Z

was a bimbly day, dog walking in the rain (with the kitten as well), 6 yes 6 loads of washing, (do girls get this muddy?!) , Edan decided he'd get up for a rare carry while I hoovered, I miss carrying him. We finally managed to get a few pictures of our snowdrops. Some work for me in the afternoon and tonight.

Busy working

2011-02-22T00:05:00.000Z

Some Coin Purses for the SMS in April (not quite sure how I am being so organised for this!)

T-shirt, comforter and MMT, just a few of the new in stock items up on the shop.

Full Moon comes round again

2011-02-18T23:55:00.000Z

I took this yesterday as I knew it would be cloudy tonight ;)

I'm going to try and get a photo every full moon this year.

Ahoy there me hearties

2011-02-16T21:26:00.000Z

Spent a fabulous afternoon with friends we haven't seen for a long time. We also went for a play at being pirates on the boat, a beautiful oak sailing boat that is 103 years old and made in Denmark. I was a little bit petrified of Edan goiong overboard (the boy is strangely drawn to water) so spent most of the time with my heart in my mouth but he stayed on board. Kailen helped get a sail down, there was a swing rigged up to the boom (apparently it's fabulous to go on when the boom is flung out so one minute you are 30 feet up in the air then in the water as the ship goes down, yeah right, I believe you, just don't mention it to Edan!) Hammocks slung for rocking and playing in and a rope with knots in tied to some other piece of wood (I'm not very up on ship terminology!) so they could climb. sailing it to the Scillys in the summer. Then much joy was had driving a battery operated car made from scrap and 'junk', one mans rubbish is most definately 5 small boys treasure.

Enjoying reading The Idle Parent and a Spring Equinox book I ordered finally arrived and it looks really good Spring Equinox

A customer requested a wee coin purse in the same design as my project bags so a sample was made up, testing feedback is good so I will be making a batch to put in the shop, they fit cash and cards in and also a small mobile phone.

Blustery Days and a Busy Week

2011-02-13T20:00:00.000Z

A beautiful robin posed for his picture in the woods

Clusters of eggs exposed by a low tide

The far end of the beach on a very blustery day.

These were all photos from the week before , this week we have had a fantastic home ed group meet up, a visit from the ever popular Nana, a stall @ the local NCT sale and today more things started to get crossed off the enormous 'Outside To Do List' The side hedge Fuschias have been cut down (maybe one day wwe will trade them for a hedge of Wild Rose, Jasmine and Honeysuckle!) .

A lovely box arrived from Tamar Organics last week so spuds have been set out to chit and the first seeds have been planted today, 3 types of tomatos, spinach, hyssop, sweet peppers, hot peppers, lettuce, I think I'll be in there every day checking to see which seedlings breaks through first I'm so relieved Spring is finally coming. Veg beds were planned over a lovely cup of chai and rhubarb crowns were given a dose of some pelleted chicken manure only for us to discover that our chickens quite fancied the look of it and ate it!

All the fences have come off the main beds so I need to replace them with something to stall the chooks and the rabbits. The small bed to the side of the house does have fencing but they are always in there scratching about, need to come up with a solution to stop them getting in there and eating all the strawberries that will be in there this year. And talking of fruit I've snipped off all the raspberry canes to see what happens, they were here when we moved so I think by now they should be put out of their misery but lets see what happens this year after the chop, the blackbirds always get the fruit first thing in the morning so it's never really for us unless one of the boys spots a fruit that the birds didn't see.

The second composter has finally been sited and I've started it off with greenhouse clearings that I'd been hanging onto for just that purpose plus the veg peelings from today and a good handful of half rotted stuff from the other bin and lots and lots of wriggly worms. I quite like the idea of a wormery but that's for another year I think.

Not had a chance to do any spinning as I've been so busy sewing for the shop.

Imbolc

2011-02-01T23:36:00.000Z

Had a day waiting in for deliveries today, 2 turned up but the tracking for the DHL one says apparently they attempted delivery and even left a magic invisible card that only special pixies can see, idiots, why lie, really really frustrates me, blah, a curse on DHL.
In better news we had Imbolc stories and made some candles today. Also dug out the snowdrop child from our seasons table box that we made last year. Ours are finally showing their heads, we normally see the hedge ones in our lane in mid December!

Greenhouse 80% finished, seeds ordered, lunar planting calender ordered. Edan is already requesting tomatoes from said greenhouse, the fact we are yet to plant seeds is utterly irrelevant!

More gardening

2011-01-29T23:59:00.000Z

So the massive list of ‘outdoor’ things to do was slid across the table with a caveat of ‘this is not a full and final list ….’ C read through it and his eyes got wider and wider.

‘2nd greenhouse up by April’

‘Dig out septic tank run off asap’

‘Clear BOTH veg beds in full ’(we’ve only used parts of them for the last couple of years so they are fairly weed infested)

He grew quieter as the enormity of the 30 odd task(s) dawned on him, but I think we have made a good start in just a week.

I’ve ~~butchered~~ pruned the big corner fuchsia.

The hedge that the kitchen window looks over has been ~~butchered~~ pruned right down so we can see all the way over to the sea.

Green house washing is almost complete, the gutters are cleaned.

I’m sure there are a couple of other jobs done as well but they would be small enough not to be remembered.

And today Carl and S did the first clear up of the first veg plot, the whole thing. Could not believe it, they worked all afternoon and just as twilight started to hurry towards darkness they finished. The children and mums enjoyed each other’s company all day. Perfect.

Lunar organics calendar is on the way and I shall order seeds tomorrow. Hopefully it will be dry for next week so the momentum can build not get washed away in the rain.

Reply to comments?

2011-01-22T00:16:00.001Z

Is there a simple way to reply to comments? If there is I can't find it so I'm not being rude I just can't 'talk' directly to you! I'm sure I've seen replies on other blogs maybe this is the wrong platform ?
Claire - no telescope but I do have a Canon 450D and that was taken with a simple 70-300mm zoom lens and then I zoomed in and cropped on photoshop (no other photoshop adjustments :) ) plus I had borrowed a tripod from a friend which means the camera shake from pressing the button which will easily blur something as far away as the moon was eliminated.
You can use a telescope and a point and shoot camera to get some great night sky shots, I'm now waiting for the moon wane a bit with a clear sky so i can get some star shots :)

and thanks to all for the concern over my somewhat cryptic post about the moon affecting me, I'm OK just struggling a bit with the immense amount of stuff I put on myself plus having a wibble over whether home ed is right for everyone. I'm not very good at living in the present moment, a skill I very much admire in my children!

Green shoots of coriander sprouting last April

Spring may just be on her way

2011-01-21T21:13:00.000Z

We've had a spell of miserable wet weather but the last few days have seen the cold return along with the sun which I'm glad about, the rain can be refreshing in summer but on cold dark days just seems to intensify the feeling that summer is too far away.
As the days inch their way to becoming longer we've been spending more time outside looking and planning, so many things that need doing for the year ahead.
Tamar Organics catalogue has been poured over and a list made. I've washed down about 75% of the greenhouse glass and cleared out some incredibly spongy moss from the gutters. Only trouble is now I can see inside it properly I can see the old tomato plant I didn't get round to pulling up at the end of last year!
Pots need potting on, seed trays need a wash, ivy needs ripping out, pretty as it is it is somewhat taking over a corner of the greenhouse.
Rhubarb is starting to poke through but our massive snowdrop plant in the hedge is yet to flower, it's ususally out mid December!
Hedges need cutting, barbed wire on the stock fencing can come down, trees need mulching.
Oh and the veg plots desperately need weeding but the soil is so wet from the rain I don't really want to go trampling all over it.
There's a second greenhouse to put up hopefully before the end of April......also like to make a mini polytunnel in one of the veg beds, oh and lots of babies to take off the strawberry plants.
I also need to get some advice about the fruit trees, see if I can actually get fruit from them this year.
I'm exhausted just thinking about the list, I shall however get it all written down to motivate us to crack on with what we can. I am so looking forward to eating fresh tomatoes and digging up spuds for dinner though, nothing like it.

If anyone wants to camp here in the summer in exchange for a bit of weeding and chopping knotweed let me know lol

Strawberry flowers from last April.

Full Moon at sunrise

2011-01-20T22:26:00.000Z

Thanks to Edan and his early waking I got to photograph the mon as the sun came up.

Full Moon

2011-01-19T21:41:00.000Z

Tonights full moon pulling me towards something unknown. I am way out of balance, fragmented and being stretched to breaking point.

Looking ahead

2011-01-04T22:58:00.002Z

Got talking about going camping this year and HES FES was mentioned, I would like to go but just looked it up and it’s 380 miles away. we had trouble entertaining the children for the journey to Beautiful Days last year! The AA route planner says 6 ½ hours ish, eeek not sure how we could manage that!
Beautiful Days I’d like to go again this year…… despite having distinct memories of my mini meltdown and stating I was never ever EVER going to a festival with my ‘delightful’ children ever again lol
Also The Artemis Gathering http://www.witchfest.net/artemis_gathering.htm could be interesting.
Not going to do Holifair this year unless the weather is good on the Sunday when we could just pop over for the day maybe.
Would also love to go to the Mercian Gathering (280 miles) but not many tickets left and no dogs allowed, I think I’d really like to go to this one on my own as well.
Maybe something non organised on Dartmoor or North Cornwall plus I'd like to go over to the Med to see friends (and for the warmth early/late summer but we'd have to get 3 new passports which would be £180!

Moot musings

2011-01-03T20:51:00.004Z

I miss my old moot, it had faults but it was alive, vibrant and people wanted to discuss things. Admittedly it took some organising but there were lots of people who wanted to participate

Down here there is one about half an hour ish away and while I get to as many of the open rituals as I can I rarely make the actual moot so no relationship is built up with that group of people beyond the superficial, a shame as some lovely people there.

The one nearer to me is just not 'me', I don't really gel with anyone there and as I get to go out so infrequently I don't stand much chance of developing friendships with the couple of people I did get on with the last time I got out there.

The online pagan community doesn't seem to have the life in it it used to either, the last time I flew by it was full of 'does anyone have a spell for money/love/whatever' and more experienced pagans being quite superior trying to get one over on each other/newbies.

I miss my old moot, good friends some sparky conversations and support.

Not really sure how to move forward with this.

Stargazing

2011-01-02T18:33:00.001Z

There's a tv prog on at some point but there are various real events you can participate in.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/features/stargazing/#south_west

We've got one close to us at Mabe but no babysitter, enjoy :)

Lots of walks on the beach and in the woods

2011-01-01T16:54:00.003Z

Woods today and beach ones from 30th and 31st.

2010 in twelve pictures

2010-12-31T21:00:00.012Z

January February - Edan supervising digging March (way too many lovely pictures to choose from there were lots of beach visits and birthdays and beautiful magnolias!)
April
May (the first strawberry of the year nearly got this slot)
June July - a little bumble bee colony took up residence in our hedge! August was the month of festivals and here is the stroppy teenager pose being perfected by a 4 year old, a sign of things to come?! September brought an injured paw and large vets bills meaning no new cooker! October - Two of our cats died and despite saying I would not get a kitten they seemed to appear from all directions and this little one came to live with us. November saw Kailen's 5th birthday

December - lots of sledging fun

t-rex

2010-12-16T22:29:00.004Z

We had one of the home ed groups xmas parties today, I did face painting, K originally had a pretty uninspiring request for a pirate, on the way home he decides he wants to be a t-rex so I re did it and I did one that uses the mouth as the dinos mouth not perfect but OK for a first attempt, I have a feeling it will be requested again.
We then had to clean it all off to go to swimming lessons :)

Festively pimped gnome house!

2010-12-14T21:46:00.004Z

Last night instead of doing the 500 things on my official to do list I decided to make a Yule tree and garland for the gnome house!

Kailen was delighted this morning when he noticed them, then this afternoon he made another garland and I made some glittery snowflakes for the roof :)

After I'd taken the photos I noticed the 2 gnomes sat at the kitchen table with the acorn cup, not quite sure what they had in there that was so strong to make them fall off their chairs lol

I think this goes some way to making up for the fact that we don't bring our Yule tree in until next weekend. He's seen friends houses decked out and is feeling most left out!

Spent Sunday afternoon at the wildlife trust doing a workshop on willow wreaths, they look so lovely no photo on the camera yet though.

My word it's been a long time

2010-12-11T21:06:00.004Z

2 cats died and little kitten came to us, he's cute as a button until he turns into psycho cat.

My time is always being eaten up by things so a quick round up of photos. PLus when ever i think of something I'd like to write a wordy post on I never seem able to get to the PC and the moment goes, maybe I should jot it down on pen and paper and develop it from there!

Photo catch up

2010-09-09T23:27:00.002+01:00

Edan has discovered he can do roly polys and does them everywhere.

New shoes! Gorgeous soft soled Livie and Luca shoes (from www.happylittlesoles.com)

He insisted on wearing them to bed
Some of the chicks getting comfy on the windowsill to watch me typing on the keyboard??!

Apparently there were blackberries in the jug before he got back to the house....

Pics for Gp post

2010-09-09T23:15:00.003+01:00

An amazing giveaway

2010-09-05T20:51:00.003+01:00

over at Rhythm of the Home. and their Autumn edition of the magazine is out now

http://rhythmofthehome.com/
An inspirational site.

A busy day

2010-09-04T22:55:00.002+01:00

Working/sewing/working/sewing.
I've got a stall at Apple Day at Kehelland in October plus there's the Winter Mama Spectacular over on Mama Packs, lots of goodies for Samhain/Halloween/Yule/Christmas gifting :)

Project bags, crayon rolls, present bags, Samhain/Halloween bunting!, tops, dresses, skirts, t-shirts......... all being snipped and sewn over the next few weeks. Any requests let me know :)

Beautiful Days

2010-09-03T22:44:00.005+01:00

was fabulous, Sunday night was torrential and Monday morning was drizzly as we were packing up. Newton Faulkner was good as were NMA of course, Hobo Jones and Seth Lakeman was fab. The firework display at the end was spectacular!

Few pics here, lots more on FB.

Unfortunately we came back to a sickly cat who ended up being put to sleep and then another cat died a couple of days ago, just found her dead in the garage, very odd.

Planning has begun for the home ed group re-starting, hopefully we've thought of lots of good things for them to do.

MP KAL Coquille turned out OK in the end (after running out of wool and an emergency ISO on Ravelry!)

Soft Stars need re-homing!!

2010-09-03T22:37:00.003+01:00

Edans winter boots are too small so need a new home :(
These were $77 (approx £50) from SS and are black leather with black suede/sheepskin upper. Can be worn up or down.
Soft Star size 7 regular. (they have a size guide to print out on website)
Hardly worn.
£30 inc postage to UK

Sunset and sweet peas

2010-08-11T23:04:00.004+01:00

Dragon in the clouds

Sunset from last night and a bunch of sweet peas I picked while out there with the camera. They smell divine.

Boys first festival!

2010-08-11T22:45:00.005+01:00

We've spent the last weekend at a local festival. I had a stall and the boys ran free for a weekend!

It was a bit of a shock discovering that a festival with children was not quite the same as festivals pre children !

Also quite shocked at the number of people smoking whilst wearing their children! I can't quite comprehend how people can think it's OK to inflict their smoke on their children.

Because of where we camped the noise was awful, hopefully the next one will be quieter as we will be in the family field where hopefully a stag do will not be camping right next to us and the main stage will be a few fields away!

I got to do a lovely yoga workshop and have found a class which starts after bedtime so I should be able to start going regularly again.

There was a good childrens area and the boys seemed to enjoy it when they weren't being tired and grumpy through lack of sleep.

Can't wait for the next one, we may need to buy a roof rack though.

It only took half an hour to drive home but they were both spark out when we arrived.

Lammas

2010-08-01T20:11:00.005+01:00

Lammas maze at Sennen beach

A lovely day if a little damp!

The chicks are growing fast and will soon need to be re-housed!

This is them this morning, they seem to have adopted the table, we have to put them away when we eat outside or they are worse than the dog at looking for treats.

and another picture of them running where they look like mini dinosaurs.

They are adorable and I am not looking forward to having to get rid of the cockerels, hopefully they will get re-homed.

They try and follow me everywhere even trying to get in the car.

We have been busy!

2010-07-25T20:06:00.006+01:00

Scrummy Babylonglegs wool for the Knitty KAL

Beautiful Days tickets have landed!
Carl finally has an archy doodah! Covered here while he attacks the knotweed for the millionth time this year but he has been playing with bows and arrows lots.

We have a bee colony in our hedge, fascinating white tailed bumble bees I could watch them buzz about all day!

Our new tent :) (The other one a Vango Diablo is up for sale if anyone is interested)

Radio Flyer wagon for fun and festivals! The boys LOVE this.

Poppy

Thousands of beautiful purple jelly fish washed up on the beach.

Toad hiding in the play straw bales.

We went to see a lovely beekeeper with one of the home ed groups, we had to tie the clothes on in some very strange ways so the little ones could get up close to the bees!

Loving the sea.

We got married at Solstice. Hopefully next year we will have a handfasting and big party.

Balancing in the woods :)

Chicks at 4 weeks old, mama got taken by the fox along with Autumn and a chick but we still have 6 chicks left and they are getting big, must take pictures of them soon.

Amazing

2010-05-30T21:36:00.003+01:00

K's current thing is mazes, needs lots of dead ends, roundabouts and a clear entry and exit point. Bridgesa and tunnels are a bonus!

Day 5, look at those cute white fluffy bums!

This one has developed his/her own pair of trousers :)

Teeny tiny feathers appearing

I cleaned out the coop today and there is an escape artist in their midst, although he/she had a little panic when they realised they weren't that close to mama anymore.

2 days old

2010-05-28T21:04:00.003+01:00

The 7 eggs that were left all hatched successfully, they are so very cute.

Postcard Swap

2010-05-25T22:10:00.002+01:00

Being involved in the swap seemed like the perfect time to get a big map of the world to put up on the wall and put up the postcards where they came from.

The map is enormous and the only place I can fit it is in the hallway.

So far we've had a card from Australia, 2 from the Marshall Islands and one from our friends who live 2 miles up the road in our nearest town, it took 2 weeks and 5 days to arrive lol

Should anyone we know be going abroad I think I'll ask them for a postcard to add to the map.

So far it has facilitated discussions on time zones, distance, where penguins live and flags.

Catching up again

2010-05-25T21:53:00.002+01:00

We had the most amazing clouds this morning Some kind of daisy flower picked (read stolen!) for me by Edan

Our first strawberry of the year, it was so juicy and delicious even shared between 3 of us!

The eggs are starting to hatch! No1 died but there is definately 1 live one seen today and I rummaged out 4 sets of shells from under her belly. As the magpies are stealing eggs at the moment I was worried they'd get the chicks so the neighbours have kindly lent us a broody coop (we burnt ours because of a red mite infestation a few years back)

Looking through the camera there are some other pics I've forgotten to download so things may go out of sequence!

May

2010-05-20T21:32:00.005+01:00

Maypole dancing! We had a fabulous time for May Day this year. On the Saturday we did lots of maypole dancing and eating of cake! On the Sunday it was the Beltane ritual for the moot which was held at a beautiful location but I was so busy (roped in to lead the spiral dance!) my camera languished in the bag unfortunately. There was drumming and dancing and Penglaz made a flying visit. The blubells are carpeting Tehidy woods at the moment, it's beautiful and they provide ample opportunity for some hide and seek games.

The latest obsession for the boys are a box of metal matchbox/similar cars that my mum retrieved from her attic that used to belong to my brother. Quite a few are broken, wheels missing/doors off etc but they LOVE them! They love getting a plank of wood and making ramps to run them down, the latest creation is in the field made from old bales of hay from the archery target and some rough old peices of wood that were packing from the new printer at C's work I'm sure there's a length of drainage pipe running off it somewhere as well. This provided hours of play but the little boy (4) who is the nephew of the horsey people in the next door field came over said 'where are the toys? What can we play with?! 'There's nothing to do here, haven't you got any proper toys we can play with' He didn't stay long!

I'm decorating up a couple of big wooden boxes that we had from C's new printer at work, one will have carrots and short crop lettuce in the other I'm not sure yet.

May

2010-05-11T00:01:00.005+01:00

From this..... to this

May Day dancing

Beautiful bluebells in the woods this afternoon

Playing peek a boo behind a leaf

Postcard Swap

2010-05-01T21:23:00.001+01:00

Yay our addresses have come through for the postcard swap. Couple in the US, a UK, an Australia one and the Marshall Islands :) lots of project potential there.

Our current house guest

2010-04-29T22:20:00.003+01:00

well he is chased out of our house but allowed in the girls house!

I'd called them to get a picture of him and these two came running after him, i think they'll miss him when he goes....if he goes!

Currently it's quieter having him here than at the neighbours, they have their chickens in their front garden which is in front of our bedroom, I need to have the window open at night so I get woken by crowing every morning at hell o'clock. Our chickens are down the side of our cottage and so far I have no recollection of hearing him, maybe we should keep him so I get a less disturbed sleep!I'm collecting the eggs so they don't get damaged but will start leaving them in a few days in the hope Beep (the all black one above) goes broody which she does regularly so fingers crossed she does with eggs. I might get some fake ones to get her started.

I wonder how long it takes for eggs to become fertilised after being with the cockerel. If an egg takes approx 24 hours to make then I'm guessing 24 hours?!

A visiting cockerel

2010-04-26T22:41:00.003+01:00

Next doors cockerel popped over this afternoon as he had a rare afternoon of freedom, obviously our girls have been taunting him with their beautiful fluffy bums and he was round here asap. When I called the girls in for the night he went in as well so Ive said he can stay for a couple of days and we'll see if we can get some fertilised eggs from the girls over the next few days. Beep goes broody at the drop of a hat and I'm sure she'd be a fabulous mum. I'm quite looking forward to having baby chicks again despite having talked us out of doing exactly this a month or so ago. You can't argue with mother nature or a randy cockerel it would seem. Will try and get a photo of him tomorrow.

Courgettes.

Seedlings are racing on and we are in the process of acquiring another greenhouse which is fantastic as I can use it as a mini polytunnel and get more tomatoes/cucumbers and peppers in this year.

Still enjoying the weather

2010-04-20T22:49:00.003+01:00

Field is shorn and with 10 feet to go the blade cut through some bodged wire holding the cutting deck up lol so the boys see if they can fix it with string and gaffa tape. The seat is now pretty much entirely gaffa tape. The tyres aren't long for this world and you start it with a special key called a screwdriver which sends sparks out everywhere lol There's a competition in the local paper to win a swish grass cutter, I have duly collected the tokens in desperation and am sending grasscutter vibes to the universe!

Deep Sea Fishes has come for a holiday and I love it.

Seeds are going crazy and once I've deleted some stuff on the card I will take some pictures.

Loving the sun

2010-04-18T23:13:00.004+01:00

Seedlings coming along nicely, greenhouse up in the 70's today!

I put the sweet peas out yesterday and there was a FROST this morning! They seem to have survived but I gave them a little duvet of grass cuttings incase we have more frost over the next couple of weeks, not sure if it'll work but they looked cosier.

I've been paying attention to the sunsets waiting for something spectacular but so far just the 'usual' beautiful ones, this is this evenings view from the field

and the moon... I never tire of the moon.

Home Ed group is ticking along.
Looking forward to Beltane.

Glorious days

2010-04-11T22:27:00.004+01:00

Spinning
My first load of 2 ply wool. It is awful and wonderful at the same time. The black is merino that I had real trouble getting used to and the purple (it's not as burgandy ish as it looks) I think is Corridale.

The weather here has been fabulous and much has been done. The difference a few days of warmth and sunshine can make is amazing
Thje boys have been outside and exhausted by the end of the day.
The ride on lawn mower is fixed and the field has receeived it's first cut for 2 years! It looks so much bigger shorn. The tree/willow planting has made mowing a bit awkward but it just means we use the strimmer more.
This boy melts my heart.

Cherry tomato seedling. My seedlings aren't quite this big so I bought one to get a head start as I so look forward to getting tomatos out of the greenhouse instead of the shops.

This evenings sunset.

I pulled up a few wild garlic plants from a friends and planted them last year and this year they are doing relaly well. Looking forward to foccacia bread with the leaves in the top. Saw the recipe somewhere must look it out.

More heart melting moments. He is finally tall enough to ride the balance bike.

Finally put together :)

2010-04-03T22:58:00.003+01:00

I think she needs a name.

It took ages and now I wish I'd waxed it instead of using Danish oil. Typical! I'll look into waxing over it in the future I guess. So far I've only had a chance have a quick play, love the double treadle, everything is so much more balanced in the body and it all flows. I am spinning too fast though and have too much twist. I guess it'll take some time to get used to. Can't wait to do some 3 ply.

We went up to Men-an-Tol on friday for a ritual of passing dolls through the holed stone. We were late (as usual - why can't they all just get ready in time, too much faffing!) as we arrived we saw the group walking up the hill and an almighty dark cloud swept in off the sea and emptied itself on us so we sat in the car for 5 minutes waiting for it to pass. By the time we got up there there was no one to be seen, I think they went on up to Nine Maidens but the boys had been puddle jumping and were soaked. We can never go anywhere without them gettting soaked. I had changes of clothes in the car but then they whine about being cold on the way to get clothes. Also the wellies were full of water and too wet for them to put on again so there went having a decent walk up on the moors and lunch out somewhere. Drives me nuts. I stomped off with the dog in a grump.

Birthday catch up

2010-04-02T00:01:00.002+01:00

So 39 came and went earlier in the week

and my joint mothers day /birthday present that I was dreading turned out to be a .....

she is on her 3rd coat of Danish oil tonight so I should get her built over the weekend! Just waiting for the machine oil to arrive and the bank holiday is going to get in the way! I guess I can put it together without oil and squeeze some in later?

Birthday unicorn and cake. I had to order the number '9' and a couple of other bits and just couldn't resist adding the unicorn :)

A day in the woods

2010-04-01T23:50:00.003+01:00

Unfortunately no photos from today as I didn't take the camera.
Home Ed group met up at some local woods 'managed' by the sustainable trust. We had a fire, cooked spuds, baked apples, veggie hot daugs and bread on a stick oh and popcorn! The children had a fantastic time making fairy houses, rescuing worms, climbing fallen tree trunks and just generally being in the woods. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

picture update

2010-03-28T21:00:00.001+01:00

Might add words later!

Breathtaking

2010-03-21T21:17:00.002Z

I am just so in love with magnolias, I don't know what it is about them but my heart skips a beat when I see them in flower.

The perect spring bud emerging inot a destiny of exquisite fragile beauty Still lots of trees barely in bud.

Ritual altar. We had a marvellous ritual and egg hunt :) There were some bemused members of the public who stopped and stared a while but all good apart from one old lady who just happened to be walking past as 35 people were shouting in big voices ' depart depart depart' lol

Sleepy bumbly

Happy Ostara

2010-03-20T23:18:00.004Z

We had some lovley surprises in the post yesterday :)
2 parcels with gifts for our season table. After the previous disappointments I can truly say you 2 lovely ladies made K a very happy boy (and a happy mama as well!) A clever eggshell candle and a beautiful blossom fairy. A crocheted egg, a shell and a lovely crystal that k couldn't stop petting! A delicately painted card with snowdrops on.

A plant pot with some sunflower seeds and a gorgeous knitted daffodil collar for the pot! I will have the best dressed seedlings in Cornwall!

Off here tomorrow for a moot ritual. I am so looking forward to it and it is supposed to be a sunny day, I can fall in love with the magnolia again. I must find one that will survive our location.

Aggressive play

2010-03-14T22:11:00.005Z

My post earlier got cut short by our delightful internet connection.

Some pictures of HE group on Thursday, we helped build some living willow structures, then on Friday we had more willow for making nests.

The willow on Thursday and Friday threw up some issues I'd known were going to arrive but had been avoiding quite well. On Thursday some of the older children made themselves and others bow and arrows. We avoid 'aggressive' toys, no swords no guns etc but there he was running around loving playing with bows and arrows, we got them to practice at a bale of straw rather than each other but I was still uncomfortable with it.

The Friday willow experience involved lots of boys running around with big sticks :( They need to run off all that energy and sticks are good fun but again it makes me feel uncomfortable. Don't want to make him sit in the corner not allowed to play with the others, in fact I can't think of anyway I could enforce that without a huge understandable emotional outburst. This parenting lark is hard!

You know you are with the right person when he walks into the kitchen as you are balancing against a cupboard having arranged cabbage leaves to photograph (thus delaying dinner) because the water droplets are just so and he doesn't bat an eyelid lol

In the end I didn't get the picture I had seen in my head but this one will do to illustrate!

Root days

2010-03-14T16:13:00.002Z

There have been more root days and I managed to grab some time to get onions and main crop spuds in. So far the trees are untouched by the rabbits but I still haven't got the rest of the willow in, I'm guessing it'll be OK out of the ground for a bit longer.

Spring Fete

2010-03-11T23:36:00.001Z

on Saturday at Gweek Village hall 10 am. I've got a stall and am contributing to the cake stall :)

Busy Bees

2010-03-07T23:06:00.003Z

Saw our first enormous bumble bee last week, the size of my thumb. It's so cold now I hope he makes it.

Our trees finally arrived, oak, ash, 'thorn and rowan, plus I chopped down a boot full of willow from a friends garden that was in need of a trim. got half of it in so far.

All seedlings are increasing in size every day, the tingly energy coming out of them is amazing.

Edan's birthday treat was a visit to the local owl sanctuary and while it was a lovely sunny day there was a bitterly cold wind.

Charm the buzzard who thinks he's human.

Fluffy (yes that is his name!) the barn owl.

I got to fly a barn owl and he landed on the boys as well which they were initially a little scared of but loved it when that split second of fear realised there was nothing to be afraid of.

They also have a brilliant play area.

Chatting to one of the handlers it would seem our nocturnal visitor is probably a tawny owl, going to look into putting up a box somewhere.

Spring is really coming !

2010-03-04T23:20:00.003Z

We planted various seeds last week and already have lettuce, Thyme, Chives and something else that escapes me, Basil is still to pop up. The garlic I planted late is also tentatively poking new shoots out of the earth.

First Earlies planted today, trying really hard to stick to the lunar calender when we can and today was a root day, the Orlas had chitted nicely so they went in the tyres, first time trying tyres. they are well weathered so hopefully OK for spuds.

Yesterday we went over to a friends and cut down lots of willow and replanted it in the field, fingers crossed the rabbits don't spot it and it gets a hold.

Checking email earlier and was pleased to see a 'your trees are on the way' email :) I thought they'd forgotten about us but they must just be really busy. Oak, ash and 'thorn are on the way to plant down the side of the field and in the circle.

Edans' birthday was lovely, we are off to the owl sanctuary at the weekend.

Home Ed group is going well but it is hard having to do it every week, would be nice to share the responsibilty with someone, we have nana her at the moment and it would be lovely to spend tomorrow with her as well instead of having to go off. Hmmm.

HE article

2010-03-01T00:09:00.000Z

Interesting reading.
http://northshropshe.wordpress.com/2010/02/28/the-bbc-gagged-me/

Make a doll for haitian orphans

2010-02-06T22:10:00.001Z

http://dollydonations.blogspot.com/

Lovely dolls all being made for Haitian orphans
tutorial here.... http://dollydonations.blogspot.com/2010/01/dolly-donations-rag-dolly-tutorial-free.html

Cornwall Sling Meet chosen :)

2010-02-01T14:16:00.001Z

to take part in the Sakura Bloom fundraiser :)
http://cornwallslingmeet.blogspot.com/2010/02/sakura-bloom.html

How I wish I'd written this

2010-01-29T20:34:00.001Z

Leading on from the GMTV disaster......
http://one-of-those-women.blogspot.com/2010/01/urgent-appeal-for-coca-cola-for.html

Beach fishies

2010-01-28T23:39:00.003Z

Dog and smalls in dire need of a blast of fresh air and a walk this afternoon, went down to the beach it started to rain just as we turned out of the lane so we sang rain rain go away all the way and lo and behold it stopped, although it was lurking out to sea awaiting our departure from the beach.

A couple of marroned fishies swimming in the sand, they lay on the sand and rolled around for ages it was minus freezing and the wind was bitter but they just don't seem bothered by it, me I was dreaming of a cup of tea in the warm and hoping to snap the perfect wave. I t was not to be, every spectacular one happened just as I was looking towards or back from the boys. It was almost high tide and while we had the beach to ourselves the tides round here are funny and you can loose 30' of beach in one wave.

Not the biggest wave but I like the pic.

Do we do enough?

2010-01-27T23:27:00.004Z

Sometimes I worry that I'll fail at providing a good enough HE for the boys. Today I thought I'd keep a note of what we did......

Watched someone I 'know' from a forum/blogland on breakfast TV which led to the question but mama how can real life people be IN the TV? This led to how TV's work.

We've read maybe 10 books, Kailen's 'read' (memorized) Edan's favourite book to him.

Listened to some story CD's.

Done some maths counting hairbands (we bought a huge bag yesterday) grouping them into colours and adding different sets together.

Made lunch together.

Discussed local govermnment rubbish/recycling collection and parking tickets and what a fine is.

Went to the bank to pay in a cheque, he found the comfiest chair and promptly sat in it and said mama come get me when you're done lol Bought some elastic for sewing and a new button to add to his collection, he tried to scam me for the £8 change!

Play doh session.

Made two birthday cards lots of glueing drawing and writing.

Played with the lovely triangular blocks puzzle building triangles out of triangles.

Walked the dog and played some weird role play fantasy game, it wasn't The Faraway Tree which is the usual choice but I can't remember what it was, bad mama!

He also squeezed in 45 minutes of play with his friend next door.

(plus the tedious housework end of things too boring to go into!)

I guess we do do a lot some days and others we just muddle through.

The elastic is for these :) soon to be added as a stock item to the shop, lots cut out waiting for Sunday when I can sew again.

Wanted Season Swap Partner

2010-01-20T00:00:00.002Z

We have participated in and organised the Season Table Swap on the GP forum but unfortunately we keep being let down and nothing turns up, this is the 3rd time and I don't believe the fault lies with RM ;) I've decided not to particiapte in the next forum swap this time round because of this.
Is anyone interested in doing a swap that will definately send something to put a smile on my 4 year olds face ?! He loves helping me make the gifts and the ritual of parcelling them up and taking them to the PO then when nothing arrives for his table he is heartbroken.
Anyway if you want a swap partner let me know :)

Wind Wands

2010-01-19T21:50:00.004Z

K came home today with a wind wand, brilliant I thought how lovely, perfect for windy Cornwall.

Ahh perfect thought child 2 I will pretend I am admiring siblings handiwork and seize myself a weapon. I had to stop the car and get it off them before it either caused GBH or took a window out.

When we got home more fighting ensued so we made another one, not sure if it was a wise idea as then there were 2 'weapons' but there was 5 minutes of gentle playing with them.

Not very 'green'

2010-01-19T20:11:00.002Z

I saw this

given a good review in a blog I read and thought ahh perfect for going up on the wall alongside the lunar planting doodah. Found it in stock at an Eco Store.....

it arrived in a non degradable poly bag and wrapped in loads of plastic! Crazy.

If anyone knows where I can get purple degradable poly bags let me know!

Finished quilt

2010-01-12T22:57:00.004Z

Well maybe not totally finished, I think I may hand applique his name and birth date on the back as I have some of the celtic fabric left over.
The bit i enjoyed most was hand sewing the back of the edging, I think I may try to do one entirely by hand.....the machined bits seem a bit souless.
My mitred corners are awful but I followed the instructions precisely so not sure what happened there.

Owls

2010-01-08T23:05:00.002Z

I've seen one flying over the field since we moved here.
For the last few months Edan has been obsessed with owls and since then I've heard one calling out quite a few times.
Today we followed rabbit prints and fox prints, not sure if there was a grisly end or not!
There are photos from the last few days but our snow is not quite as impressive as some I've seen, I'll try get them off the card over the weekend.