Magic moments

We had a very sneaky little 50 min attack on the plot again recently, whilst the sun was shining and the sky was blue. Naturally it was all about the weeding again but it was great and as it's dark, pouring and cold today, I am super glad we went.

Nice day for a potter :)

Andrew raked all the weeds off last seasons sweetcorn and squash bed and I tackled the blueberry bed, which was much harder. His bed was all little surface weeds whereas mine was (and still half is) full of tougher weeds, grrr. It may not look like much but a trug load was removed from here of almost-in-flower dandelions (and their roots) and a lawn worth of grass! I also had to tackle a few massive slugs - it defies reason how some of the blighters get just so huge.

Messy blueberry bed

BUT this morning was even more exciting - it's hard to believe, I know. We got our delivery of seeds - beautiful little bags of hope, wonder and food stuffs to eat. Hurrah! It took the sellers a bit longer to get them to us and they apologised and sent some extra packets as we've been on tender hooks. But now the imagination can run wild and I can get one of my extra special plans drawn up - I know how you love them, haha.

Toby inspects the seed order - all is correct

Quote from this blog 3rd March 2015
"So what can one do when one is so very impatiently waiting for the bloody weather to get it's act together? One plans, schemes and makes colourful drawings of what is going to happen once someone changes the sky and injects me with dangerously nuclear grade caffeine."

Nothing changes eh?

out of focus I know but I was so excited to see the garlic poking through I couldn't steady myself

Love and hugs
Carrie
xx

The cat is out of the bag

The sun is out, by Zeus, the sun is out! 

I was just outside with Toby and we both just seemed instantly happier; *disclaimer - we were both asleep 30 mins ago and I awoke rather glum and still feeling defeated. BUT the back of the house gets the sun and all the song birds and it's almost like heaven out there. So here I am writing at the dining table (that never happens), surrounded by bits of vacuum cleaner and rubber gloves etc supposed to be doing housework - but stuff that!

I have no news from the weekend - it was a minefield of mental health disasters and I stepped on every one. BUT today I received a 'Buddy Box' in the post - Andrew keeps surprising me with them - and it was full of things so pertinent to what we are up to next month that I have decided to spill the beans.

We are walking The Hadrian's Wall Path, all 84 miles of it!

It's going to be a huge challenge and I am trepidatious at moment alright, but we are doing it, one step at a time. It's all been arranged for months now and as the days draw closer we are building up our walking, mid-week and hopefully every weekend from now on.

Andrew knows the route, every twist and bend, every pub to stop at along the way, the large Roman sites and even the emergency exits if I can't take it any more. He has even sorted out my wardrobe for me and has the days planned so there is plenty of time for resting and letting the old brain take it all in, and the double vision settle a little.

We are doing this for ourselves, it's our Summer holiday but I would also just like to put it out there that I would like very much to raise some money for The Blurt Foundation along the way. In time I will have a 'go fund me' page and if you have a spare quid (dollar, euro etc) it would be phenomenal if you could help me out. 

Blurt is not associated with any religion, government body or charity - it's just an awesome social media movement that aims to help everyone learn and understand about depression and other mental health issues in a friendly and empathetic way. It has helped us so much this past year and especially me. It empowers me to practice self care, to not be so damn ashamed all the time and to speak my truth.

Oh I have so much to share with you about the path, our plans, our kit etc. There will be a lot of beautiful hiking days to blog about before then though and I guess I need to focus on that first!

Love and hugs

Carrie

P.S. We have our seed compost at the ready and shall be getting started soon - eeek!

The wind blows cold

March then. So it arrived with a bang, a larger than life HELLO and not a terribly friendly one. Sadly, as with many people, hopes and plans have recently been dashed by the freezing weather and snow/rain.  (Honestly, though it hasn't been bad in Carrickfergus and I am very aware of just how lucky we've been.)

The famous Dickens quote has sadly yet to ring true. But it will....

As we didn't get hiking or over to the plot this past weekend we made plans about them instead (and watched films under a cosy blanket). The best thing to come out of it all was our seed order was made online and now we both feel a little giddy, waiting for them to arrive.

I've done my usual 'Things we plan to grow' page now so you can see the varieties here :)

I'm dreaming about 100% germination, no nasty bugs or diseases, of skipping home with oodles of lovely organic food to eat and oddly, of a new shed - oh how I would love a spanking new minimalist shed.

Love and hugs
Carrie xx

P.S. I am still feeling rather vulnerable and exposed after my last post. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read it and thank you so much to those of you who left comments here and on my Facebook page xxx