Saturday 4 March 2017

Skills courses and Frogspawn anyone?


Hello  All!!
Well! A whole month since I posted! So many reasons I won't bore you with, suffice to say I'm back to the blog and will try to be more frequent from now on. I realise that I use this blog as a sort of diary and when I  don't keep it up to date I have nothing to refer to when trying to remember something. (gets more difficult with age)
I have some new followers but am struggling to work out who, so will say Welcome and hopefully name you in my next post.
So far the winter has been really mild. The winter door curtains have hardly been used and we have seen the bees flying several times. I'm pleased to say that we have seen live bees from every hive so far.
When my friend J. from Cornwall came to stay a couple of weeks ago we cleared out the pond that is in the orchard/chicken run (while the chickens were ensconced in the barn. It looks awful and bare with absolutely no sign of life. Several people i know have frogspawn, but not us. I do hope we haven't messed with it too much and killed the frogs. Anybody else waiting for frogspawn?
I have invested in "The Complete Tightwad Gazette" by Amy Dacyczyn. Oh my goodness, she makes me look like a spendthrift! You have to convert it from American to English as with Carla Emery but there are some good ideas and you are never too old to learn.
My Eldest granddaughter and I organised a basketmaking course at the village hall  for a few friends last saturday. We had such fun and each of us made a basket. We are now off to cut some fresh willow from the paddock and hope to make baskets for fruit and vegetable gathering this summer. My old baskets (which I always use) have finally broken and it will be good to replace them for free. EGD thinks she might make some small low sided ones to put the preserves in that she makes and gives as presents each Christmas. Great idea.
The success of the "course/get together" has inspired us to host a few more, so we have invited a friend to teach us felt-making and I have been asked to do a make-do-and-mend day and thought we could also do a "things to make with and old tea shirt "day. Goodness knows when we will find time!
Talking of make-do-and-mend, has anyone been on the site of that name on facebook?(with attached blog) It's a great site with ideas from all over, with a big emphasis on the environment and repurposing. It is good to see so many young people on the site. Us old fogeys can't keep going for ever and the need to consume less is now critical.
Earlier this year I was quite unwell and had another period of nauseusness. I found my usual sweet drinks weren't helping so cut out the sugar (I usually take two heaped spoonfuls in each cup!) Once I felt well again I decided to stop taking sugar in my tea altogether, reckoning that as I drink approx. 10 mugs of tea a day I was consuming over half a pound of sugar daily, which is pure junk really.  Six weeks on and I still hate this sugarless tea! I really can't get used to it and found giving up smoking easier!, but will persevere as I am determined not to revert.
While not exactly bringing us up to date at least I've broken my duck and got back to blogging. So I'll sign off and wish you all ...
love from Gill


16 comments:

  1. Welcome back. Good luck with cutting out the sugar.
    J x

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    1. Thanks Joy. it's proving far more difficult than I imagined!

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  2. We have masses of Toadspawn on our pool cover. It's the same every year; I have to fish it all out (and the Toads).

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    1. I saw a toad yesterday, just the one, hope there are more soon. I saw the picture on your blog, could do with a few of those.

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  3. Replies
    1. I think I would sink back to sugar. I think I need to re-educate my palate to drink non-sweet drinks! Mind you I DO have plenty of honey ;)

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  4. great to see you back in action again! I'd love to learn basket making, what a fantastic skill to have. Are your chickens allowed out yet or is the UK still on lockdown?

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    1. Thanks Tricky. I did basket making many years ago when I worked in an Occupational Therapy Department. That was with nylon and willow is SO different to work with. I have lots of willow of different colours, planted years ago and I am going to try Wisteria for weaving too as we have lots of prunings of 12 - 20 foot. I'm told some people use vines. Chickens are now allowed out, though I am keeping them until nest weekend as we are doing some mending to the old Chicken house.

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  5. Lovely to hear from you again, I wish I could attend your basket making day, haven't made anything for ages but hope to grow some willow at some stage. Yes I follow 'make do and mend' lots of good ideas.

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    1. Thanks.
      When you are ready to plant willow I will willingly send you some whips to plant. You only need a foot length to start you off and they grow like one-oh!

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  6. Welcome back :) love your catch ups even if you don't think they are :)

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    1. Thanks Tracy. I'm really enjoying your posts too.x

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  7. Lovely to see you back posting. I too have bought the Tightwad gazette this week, i got it from Amazon for about £13.50 AND £2.80 P&P, i have so far only read a few pages but it does look like there will be some great money saving tips in there for me. take care jane

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    1. Thanks. I paid £18.00 but with free postage, so about the same as you. It's a big read isn't it? I'm about a third of the way through. I decided to read it like a book, rather than skip things I thought I might not be interested in.

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  8. The T.G is one of those books that I would pack in a bag if I was only allowed one bag full of books. Mainly because it is so big and easy to find something new when dipped into.

    We have a wide ditch/narrow pond opposite the cottage but it has moor-hens so probably no frogspawn.

    Good to read your catch up and thank you for popping into my blog.

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