Error number 720

Yes this is the amount of times I have been trying to get on line for the past week! Ha - do you think it is possible? Nope not at all. So I have run to a friends house and am quickly updating you as I wouldnt want you to think I have abandoned ship. More like this ship has docked and is now refusing to sail!

Good job I had that relax day last week or else all this could be a little fraught! The error code apparetly means that my modem has decided to not work after having worked perfectly well in the morning, when I tried in the afternoon it was having none of it. Fortunately the very nice folk at the telephone place are sending me another one so we will see if I am capable of reading 'simple' instructions and installing it when it arrives which I very much hope will be tomorrow!

For now I am going to give my friends computer back over to her and say tata for now, I hope you are all ok as I have not been able to check in with you all either - I shall get a flask of tea and sit and catch up just as soon as I am back in business!

Take care for now, til whenever I am back.......
Sarah x

What I did yesterday

Yesterday my friend and I went here:

Which is the same place as here:

We spent a lot of time in here:

And did this:

We did NOT do any of this:

But more of this:

And this was very nice (he wasn't in there when we were!)

And a little of this:

I've never gone out to lunch in my dressing gown before, bit of a practiced art I think to not get your sleeves in the food!

We had the most wonderful relaxing time, a whole 9 hours of un-interrupted bliss.

Still in the relaxed zone now so going to drift off and do something somewhere..............

Take care all

Sarah x

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of you to whom it applies!

These are the un-identified bulbs that appeared in our front garden this year.

Found some stray hyacinths too. I'm really quite proud of these as I have not planted them it is lovely to have some colour in a garden which has really been put upon and neglected in the past 18 months with all our building work going on. You still have to look past the weeds, I like to think of it as a green mulch!

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments about the market yesterday. It was a glorious day with sunshine all day. I did remember my camera!

Managed to snap this when no-one was walking past which wasn't easy - it was pretty busy yesterday. What you can't tell from the photo (it would be very clever if you could) is the smell of bacon! Just accross the road from our little area are a number of farmers market stalls lining the walk to the John Lewis store (really good placing of the market!!) Anyway, the dry cured bacon stall was making bacon sarnies all day from the moment we arrived. How wonderful is that smell? Appologies to any vegetarians out there but my it was good. I did however manage to hold myself back and stuck to my own packed lunch and thermos of tea!

I did make my bunting too as you can see, felt very spring like with it hanging up. Couldn't get the wind to stop blowing so you can see all my muddle under the table! I think I may take too much parafinalia (really not sure on that spelling) with me to market. I am trying to figure out a way to streamline it but I like having the shelves and boxes there, it makes it look more cozy and shoplike.

There were a few men and children about who were looking rather shell shocked and bemused with the whole shopping experience, but they all went away clutching a little bag of gifts.

In answer to Cathy I don't know when Mother's Day changed from Mothering Sunday, just looked in my desk diary and that says 'Mother's Day'. Could it be a gradual change over time as the occasion has become more commercialised?

Time I got back to some work, need to test out some biscuit recipes for the coffee shop, and looking at the photos, I really need to iron my table cloths, now where did I put that iron and the instruction manual?

Take care all

Sarah xx

Off to market

I was just going to take a picture of the vast collection of 'stuff' that I have to load up to take to the market tomorrow but decided against it because it looks like a giant muddle! I am hoping that it will all come together to make a good display once I am at the market but I can never decide how I shall set up until I am there!

If I have too much of a plan as to what I am going to put where then I tend to find that when i get there the gazebo is set up differently and it wont work or I have to plan for rain which means taking shelter at the other side of the gazebo! Fingers crossed it looks like a good day for tomorrow so I can put out my goodies at the front to catch the folks walking by.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone again as it is a few months since we were all together, when we were huddled round cups of tea and munching on chocolates at Christmas! We are going to be in Welwyn Garden City tomorrow, rather hoping that there are plenty of people who need to get their Mother's Day gifts! For those of you who may have forgotton - it is this Sunday, that is the day after tomorrow! Unless you are in Australia then you have a little more time to plan! Not sure about anywhere else in the world, you'll have to check that one!

Well I think I am going to sew some bunting now, will probably end up doing something completely different by the time I return to the other room!

Take care all
Sarah x

It's going to be a strippy!

Just started my next quilting project for our home. I have had this georgeous bundle of fabric for a year or so now, one of those fabric collections that you 'just have to have', well I did anyway!

I do so love these colours and stripes and polka dots too, just too yummy for words - look look look!

I do appreciate that not everyone will be thinking the same as me right now and you can be forgiven for thinking that I am just a little mad, only a little mind you! Will let you know when I have finished this one, I already have a place for it so hopefully it wont take me as long as the last one did!

Not very big on blowing my own trumpet but I am a bit excited about this - I've just had a meeting with a coffee shop owner who would like my biscuits for the shop! This is a new venture for me, I am all ready for it with registrations and food hygiene etcetera but other than the local farmers markets I have not been pushing my biscuit sales, so for someone to seek me out is such a morale boost and right now I am feeling very positive about things in general.

The sun is shining, I have forgotton to have lunch, all is well but I am rather peckish!

So off to raid the larder now then reading the recipe books over a cuppa!

Take care all

Til tomorrow

Sarah x

Sieve Head

That is my official title for the day.

Sieve Head.

Somehow I have managed to go to market and sell stuff, with relative success I am happy to say, but without the aid of a few items of stock, gadgets to open the juicer, price tags, chalk to write on my board to name a few, not to mention a large portion of my brain. Just trying to count money was a challenge, like the currency had changed overnight and I wasn't quite used to it - it all looked familiar but it didn't really make any sense!

There was a suspicion amongst my fellow stall holders that there was something in the Biggleswadian air this morning as I was not the only one suffering - either side of me there were very generous folk trying to give away too much change but fortunately there were also the very honest customers who pointed this out!

So instead of a picture of my stall at the market, which I have been meaning to take for months now ( I forgot to do that too) I have another picture of the Chickadees lounging in the sun warmed dirt in the garden. Vera was, prior to the photo, almost lying on her back with her little yellow stockinged legs in the air!

Got to go and get more tea!

Take care all

Sarah x

Three Hens A Laying

FIVE GO-OLD RINGS

Ah, not the right words yet again, but that's not important - we have all three hens laying eggs! Vera produced her first of the year today. She has the prettiest eggs to match her pretty feathers, which may explain why she is also the last of the trio to cotton on to most things, like how to get back into the enclosure which has not changed or moved ever since they have lived in it which is over a year now! Bless her - nice and pretty but the lights are not always on, clearly an eco conscious energy saving chook.

Betty and Vera sun bathing

All three of the girls are liking the new sunny weather we have been having for the past few days. They have discovered the south facing fence which has appeared from behind the old shrubs that were cleared last month and they have taken over the patch to create the perfect chook spa dirt bath.

Now we don't have any proper chairs in our front room at present, due to them being on order with a well known company which have now rather inconveniently gone bust and into administration, so we may well not have any for the forseeable future. We don't normally buy anything new, favouring the junk shops and auctions but on this occasion we thought we had found just the perfect thing, that'll learn us! But seems as we have still have to sit somewhere we have quite a good setup going with various cushions and bean bags. Yes we could move a sofa in from the other room but then we wouldn't have anywhere to sit in there! So bit of a temporary measure as we are rather hoping the chairs will still arrive so we don't want to clutter up the room with more than we will need once we have the chairs! Well I was sitting very comfortably on my cushion arrangement last night, but as soon as I had left the room the furry ones took over! I did manage to shoehorn my way back in thus spending the rest of the evening with a dog on my lap and a cat on my head!

Hope you all had a lovely warm and cosy night last night too!

Take care, til tomorrow, Sarah xx

PS the iron in the above picture - nothing to do with me, I have no idea what it is even for!

Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines

They go up tiddley up up, they go down tiddley um down!

Most probably not the correct words as I, to Hubby's ammusement, rarely know the actual words to a song so just make up my own!


Anyway, I just thought you may like to sing the song for the rest of the day seems as I have it fimly planted in my head going round and round and can hear nothing else!

But why? Well it truely is a beautiful day and whilst out on my walk this morning I was treated to the first aerobatic display of the year. We have a number of small airports near us and when it is a good day for flying (like I know what that is, it is just that on a beautiful day I am out there watching them fly!) the little aeroplanes are out there practicing their formation flying and loop the loops.


Today there were 4 planes in formation, no idea what types they were, I need an I Spy Aeroplanes book. Does anyone else remember those I Spy books? I used to have them, I could do with an I Spy Hedgerows and what the plants are, I Spy just the birds that I see and hear out on my walks as the RSPB book is a little too large to carry out across the fields and an I Spy Identify the Crop so I know what the tractors are working on in the fields! Either that or I need to find myself a knowledgeable local birdwatching flying farmer who has an interest in wild native plants!


Well I am still not over the fun of having doors so I'm off to find a pattern for a doorstop so that we can keep the lounge door slightly ajar for the cat. She is unable to open any door just a little to let herself in, she has to fling it wide open as if to announce the fact that she has arrived, which would not be so bad if she then stayed in the room, instead of which she then turns right around and leaves only to come back in 5 minutes later!


Take care all, til tomorrow

Sarah xx

Shut That Door

Haha!

Yes we can!

Both of them!

Brilliant!


Off to go and sit in rooms with doors on now..........


Take care all x

London Legs

We had a wonderful day out yesterday at the Country Living Spring Fair. It would have been so easy to have spent a fortune on bits and pieces for our home. Being as we don't have that fortune, we just absorbed as much as we could with our eyes! On returning home and seeing the fine layer of dust that has settled from the door and mantle shelf fitting I am quite glad not to have gone and bought myself a load more dusting obstacles! I don't mind dusting, its just that things get in the way, same with the hoovering, or suction cleaning as it should correctly be known as!

I don't think I could work in London everyday, for some reason my legs just don't feel like they belong to me after a day in the capital city! Now I can walk and I can stand out on markets as long as you like but there is nothing like the feeling of having been in London for the day!

Do puddles have a magnetic force? Well it wouldn't be so much magnetic as dogetic. George will dodge nearly all the puddles on a walk until one which just has such a gravitational pull on him he has to get straight in it. It will be the bath for him tonight, he is no longer tri coloured but a dingy mix of all three blended into one! So it will be one sweet smelling fluffy canine and two soggy humans sat infront of the fire drying later!

Going to make more signs now, got an order for Archie and Mabel's and want to get a few more ready for next weeks markets.

Take care all, til tomorrow

Sarah x

Fantom Flingy Stick

We were treated to a beautiful sunset last night, the picture just doesn't do it justice.

And then awoke to a very frosty morning.

I managed to lose the ball countless times today, so much so that by the time we had gone around the cow field the sun had thawed out most of the frost! I blame the new ball in the flingy stick, it wasn't me!

Take care all for today,

Sarah x

Square pegs in round holes

He so nearly made it!

Nearly made it to the end of one day working with tools without causing himself harm or requiring urgent medical treatment (aka a plaster!).

The blue cloth you can see is not an aid to the job in hand, well actually it is - it is aiding the prevention of blood on the mantleshelf and it is in his hand!

The Hubby is a wonderful man and I am not laughing at him, I am loving him as I keep telling him (which means I am laughing but trying not to) and right now I am loving him very very much!

But plasters and injuries aside, the new mantleshelf looks fab and it is all ready for its stain and finishing.

Doors are nearly there too, we most definately have a Friday afternoon house, infact I think it may even have been a bank holiday weekend - really really wonky door frames!

Its all just too much for George.

Big big thanks to Hubby and Brother in law, they have been working very hard to get these doors on and the rooms finished, I really appreciate it and them. I'll bake them as many biscuits as they need to get the jobs done!

Off out with George now the rain has let up a little, take care all, Sarah x

Doors and chainsaws

Right, so I don't nag and I don't talk that much! Honest!

Sure Hubby would tell it differently but he is far too busy playing with his man toys, and he can't hear me now either!

Hopefully we will have a couple of doors and maybe a mantle shelf by the end of the day, all thanks to my lovely Brother-in-law. Doors that are on the right way around too - for some reason the doors in this house all seem to be hung from the wrong side of the frame. Ok so they are right for the light switches but they all open into the middle of the rooms instead of against a wall so it limits you as to where you can put your furniture, most odd but then we do think this house was built on a friday afternoon!

Look what I got from the supermarket - Missy in a bag! Her green credentials aren't very good - she only likes the plastic ones.

Take care all, til tomorrow x

Sheriffs and washing lines

What a glorious morning it is today. Pretty windy but even that isn't too cold. Makes me wish I had a washing line again, I'd go and find a load of washing to do just to get it out to dry! You see I keep losing the washing line, not through carelessness (I am forgetful but not that bad!) but due to us changing where we are putting things in the garden! First it was the hen house that we built and now we have planted apple trees in the way! Note to oneself - next garden job will be to sink another hole for the clothes line!

Found these daffodils out on my walk this morning, just like the snowdrops the other day these seem to have magically appeared along the side of the path through the woods.

There are a few branches of the trees that blown down through the woodland walk so I expect the path will move over the next few weeks back to where it was last year, which is the same reason it moved in the first place!

The new fence is coming along nicely, not finished yet so no clues as to what may be going to reside in the paddock yet. I've never seen such shiney new barbed wire though!

I met the High Sheriff of Bedford (not Nottingham as I was busy telling Hubby when I first got home! due to lack of food and tiredness you see!) yesterday, he seems a jolly nice gentleman. Do you think there would be a Low Sheriff? Maybe you have to work your way up from Low to Middle and then on to High? Maybe I should do a little research.......

Well I am off to go and get food again today - I'm not cooking it this time - we're off to Hubby's folks for lunch and I know that will be a feast!

Take care all, Sarah xx

Kill or cure dieting

Baking and chocolate, biscuits, cookies, sugar and butter, trays and trays of lovely goodies and I think I have found the perfect way to diet! Now this may sound odd but after doing so much baking, the last thing I feel like doing is eating any of the biscuits! Not a problem for chief taster Hubby, all the more for him (after we have been to market of course!) I did still feel the need to try a new bag of crisps with my lunch but give me time, I'll figure out how to make them next week and that will stop me eating those too!

The sun this morning is glorious. I noticed it shining through the tree (I think it is a Forsythia, query spelling, but really can't remember, its not one we planted!) lighting up the leaves as if from the inside and had to go and fetch the camera. With frozen fingers and noisy chickens I managed to get a couple of pictures for you.

My it is cold! Spring has sprung and we are plunged back into a reminder that winter doesn't want to be letting go just yet. It does make for beautiful viewing though.

Back to the kitchen for one last bake off and then onto the sewing machine to finish off the oaty wash bags, I may tell you about them later if I remember!

Take care all

Sarah x

Spring!

Smelt like spring this morning out with George across the fields, can't describe in words exactly what I mean, but if you smelt it you would know too. This is the Buttercup Field, very aptly named once the buttercups are in bloom! Will take a picture when they are in flower later in the year. The black and white streak in the middle is George fetching his ball!

Well I finished my first bag, I am really pleased with it, not bad for leftover fabric is it! My tub of off cuts was getting rather large so I thought I had better learn some new things to do with them.

I'm currently very busy baking for this weekends events, have got a local produce and Fair Trade show in Biggleswade where I shall be selling my biscuits and baked goodies and a spring fair in Hitchin where I shall have all the usual Land Cuckoo handmade gifts, details are on the Land Cuckoo website. I am splitting myself if two for a bit but I did want to support both events, thank goodness for parents and Hubby, they are all helping out this weekend!

So once again I am leaving you to go and sort out food, only this time it is not for me to eat but for others to hopefully buy!

Take care all, til tomorrow

Sarah x

Pooh Sticks

OK so not a great topic of conversation really and I don't want to run the risk of sounding like a grumpy old woman so I wont trouble you with my thoughts whilst out walking this morning on the above mentioned subject! By the way I am talking of the Forestry Commission approved method of disposing of your dogs doings rather than the game invented by a slightly overweight bear who rather likes honey!

So a new fence is being put up today around a paddock that looks like it has been planted with grass. Will wait and see what appears there, maybe the sheep from the cow field? Although probably not as the cow field is only next door.

Looks like both George and I need to go shopping. He is running out of tennis balls and we can't find any of the solid rubber ones he likes, tennis balls just get worn out too quickly. Meanwhile I just keep my fingers crossed that we don't get too wet as my boots have two holes in each foot!

George took his first dip of the year in the stream this morning. He hasn't jumped in there since last year when, after a heavy rainfall he got rather a shock upon finding it was up to ears deep! At least the tennis balls float, there are 3 blue rubber balls buried in the mud at the bottom here as he doesn't understand that they sink if you let go of them which means you may have to put your nose under the water to retrieve them. You see retriver is not in his job description so no need to do that job!

And now for once I am not off on the hunt for food at the end of the blog! I am off to work, well maybe just a cuppa..........

Take care all

Sarah x

Cycling makes you hungry

Went for another cycle around the world this morning, well it was definately Wales at one point I recognised the road markings! What am I talking about you are probably wondering -there is an excercise class at the gym in which you use those static excercise bikes and follow a route which is shown on the big screen. Some of it is computer simulated (I wish the burn in my legs was too) but other routes are taken from a camera which has been straped to a real cyclist and it is effectively what they see whilst they are cycling. Why don't I get out on a real bike then? Because following the courier cyclists through the London and New York streets is brilliant, peddling towards trucks and people and up the wrong way on the road and you wouldn't catch me doing that for real in a million years! Plus there is no danger of me falling off or hitting the kerb!

Then I had a lovely day with Maggie, lots of sewing and plenty of inspiration. Got a new project on the go now - a red, white and blue bag. Well it is not in the least bit like a bag yet but the plan is by the end of Thursday it will be well on its way.

Maggie has been very busy getting ready for the next quilting show at Chilford on the 13th - 15th March and she has some delightful fabrics and packages of goodies. These are some of her parcels of loveliness above and below.

The Sunflower Fabrics website has more of these and also some absolutely georgeous fabrics. Maggie is a genius at producing wonderful collections. The next one I am after will probably be this one called Brighton, just give me an ice cream, I am at the seaside!

OK thats all from me for today, got to go and see if there is anything to eat. Am thinking that is how I end my blog a lot of the time, I can always eat!

Take care all

Sarah x