(2nd) Happy Days Project :)

I adore the ease and instant gratification of Instagram - I just have my phone near me all the time away and the camera on it is great and can capture a wee image at any time. Then of course there are the digital filters to play around with = fun :)

Here is the second installation of my series of 100 happy days - really rather varied - click to enlarge.

21-Whitehead's Victorian Train Station;  22-The famous Albert clock in Belfast;  23-Daffodil farm in Scotland;  24-Us at the Glenfiddich Whisky Distillery;  25-Locally brewed pint in the Loch Ness Inn

26- Castle Urquhart;  27- Lovely Glencoe;  28-Spring has arrived in the garden;  29-Simple rice, peas, beans and chilli sauce - yummy;  30- My love bird salt and pepper

31- Maggie enjoying the sunshine and those tulips;  32-Dunluce Castle;  33-Lunch of melon, natural yoghurt and dried fruit outside!  34-My gnomes on the plot :)  35-Back into yoga properly and first mandala coloured in a while

36- Rhubarb and Ginger compote;  37-Sweetcorn coming along nicely;  38-Fabulous abandoned door in Bushmills;  39-My two favourites at Springhill;  40-Maggie kills her nemesis (everyday)

Just love all these reminders of good days, or even just one good moment in a bad day (eg. rice and chilli sauce photo). Still continuing with it... http://instagram.com/chrryblossomtat2

We haven't been at the allotment for a little well now due to weather and Andrew's job (working a whole Saturday at Dunluce!) I have some lovely photos to share of Dunluce and 2 National Trust properties we've visited (we're now members!!) Today is the Giro d'Italia in our area and the whole place is on lock down, haha. So much PINK! xxx

Love and hugs
Carrie xx

(pt3) Three Day Weekend - Thanks St. Patrick :)

And so we come to the last day of the long weekend - the big day itself -

 

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

I started the day off as the ultimate Northern Irish domestic goddess and baked fresh fruit soda farls for myself and my lovely hubby. I had never done it before (I know, shame on me) but I felt I really ought to something vaguely traditional. Nana used to make these and plain ones and wheaten bread etc just automatically; in fact it was hard for her to put anything into ounces for anyone, she did it all by eye :) So I took her 'recipe', plus a couple off the Internet and melded them together to make my own. I'll share it with you tomorrow xx

P.S. Unlike most St Patrick's day food stuffs you find on the net - this isn't green, it hasn't any booze in it and is actually pretty yummy.

Then with full bellies and joy in our hearts we ventured forth, plotwise, not wanting to waste any of this precious bank holiday. We we sure there would be people there today and naturally you never get as much done with all the chat, but, lo and behold, only 2 people at the far side of the field and only a few in the other fields altogether :(

St. Patrick's is the traditional day to plant your potatoes here, so.... Andrew did it the lazy way this year and good on him too, none of this double digging lark etc. Ridges and furrows are the way to go, quick as you can say 'spud' and they are planted.
We have 3 types, left to right ~
* Saxon
* Kestrel
* Pentland Javelin

This is when it really starts to feel like a new year at the plot, this is when we genuinely get excited :) Talk turns to painting the shed again and doing runs to the dump, we get giddy about crop rotations and where our permanent new plants will go. Daydream about that first ice lolly and picnics in the blazing sun...This year we have no ready access to water! Only that which falls on the roof of the community centre (between 4 fields!) and what we can get in our own water butts - I can foresee trouble ahead, but we try not to talk about that.

I was at it again with the old de-shaming of 14b...I may be slightly obsessed by now. I got rid of that damned Carex ornamental grass which had produced over 35 good babies which also needed discarded (there were more than 35 but I gave up counting and just started to go feral and rip them up, kind of like an demented lottie ninja...) aaarrrghhhh

Oh and I found a rose bush :)

Andrew planted our brand new Blackthorn hedge-lings and more Raspberry canes (Glen Ample) where I had ripped out all the dead ones.

Suddenly the rain cam in and we had to rush around gathering everything up - where did that massive cloud come from?? I guess when you have your face in the soil you don't notice the sky as much. So there aren't any good leaving photos from this day :(

But I shall give you one more - Maggie's face when she sniffed my wee dram of whiskey at the end of the day, haha..

That was one brown post! More colour next time :)
Hugs and love

Three day weekend - thanks St Patrick (pt1)

Saturday 15th March -

We visited Mamma G and Maggie got a cuddle and kisses. Those are her daffs too and look at that sky = gardening weather!

Then we went and got a few bits and bobs, such as these new flowers for 14b (and much more than this photo shows) and a new kettle for the shed - hurrah!! Hot drinks are back :) Now we can warm ourselves up after facing the N. Irish winds - bbbrrr.

* I strongly believe in buying flowers and even some vegetable seeds in these discount shops. Not everything has to come from a great nursery or a named supplier. We regularly get things for next to nothing and they turn out to be just as good. If you aren't looking for a certain type - I say go cheap and you may be very surprised. For example our spuds last year came from a nursery and some from a pound shop, different types but both extremely abundant when harvest time came.

Look how happy Maggie is and how shiny our new wee kettle is :) The sky was blue but there's usually a nip in the air, hence the jumper and need for tea. Earl Gray for Andrew and Three Mint tea for me...you are always welcome by the way and sometimes we even do coffee, plus you'll always find a biscuit or two :)

Okay, ready to go. These are the weekend's 'Before' photos. The 24a one will not shock anyone but I have until now, resisted showing you the unbearable shame of 14b. Maybe I should explain? Blush! Last year we decided were going to give up this plot and just sort of forgot about it, thinking we shouldn't waste anymore time there. The plots around it are so terribly neglected that the weeds from them had invaded ours and simply - we were miserable. But, during the winter we had ideas flowing and not enough room in one half plot to accommodate them, so.... It's an ugly duckling ready to bloom :)

Andrew kept going on 24a, getting rid of the last of the chard and mooli which had gone over and mulching everywhere liberally with horse manure. There were a great deal of times that I could have sworn that he was just standing there, doing nought, but I am assured in my heart that he was planning, always planning ;) Haha. 

Though it is true.... Had there been anyone else down there they may have thought he was a slave driver, but there wasn't, not a one in our field and the others looked empty too, to be frank. Kind of makes you mad...

Yes! I tackled and sort of conquered/ made a dent in 14b; got rid of the dead raspberry canes and I honestly don't know how many massive thistles and dandelion plants, not to mention the grass that had conquered the beds. Is there much better than getting the whole root of a weed out in one swift movement? :)

I did enough work to get really excited about and even lament home time; though I was exhausted and sleeping standing up. It's been a long time since I felt that strongly about the place and how we (Nature and I) were nurturing one another. I felt such love for my plots, my wee pieces (literally) of Eden.

The Allotment Gardens as a whole are a damnable shame and to my eyes, a failure. Poor infrastructure, lack of commitment, still poor access and a real need for strong leadership and rule reinforcement! I could rant for days but I shan't, instead here are the 'After' photos for Day 1 - I believe Maggie was quite happy with our progress :)

Hugs and love
LOADS more to come :)
Your

Carrie x

Under the weather

Maggie and I are really feeling low, its terribly sad, I know. You want to make us cakes and biscuits and send chocolates? Or that is very kind, thank you :)

Yesterday we were both firmly ensconced on our own sofas, wrapped up in blankies and simply looking at each other and then out the rain splattered windows then sighing..

Forgive us, we aren't going through the terrible heart wrenching floods on TV, we aren't snowed in and really its not been that bad but the rain has been heavy and continuous. The sky all grey and darkness at 11.30am yesterday! I know I feel like the storm has got inside me :(

Today Maggie is brighter but my brain is still addled, I can't get warm, the bad cold is back and ohh I feel so confuddled. Thank goodness for coffee and a friend and a brighter sky or I think I would still be in bed; I look like and feel like poo but that just because it's a bad mental health day.

Desperately I look through gardening magazines, books and cookery websites. I so want a classic trug made of wood which Maggie and I will go and fill with our own cut flowers to celebrate the colour and joy of summer (if it ever comes). Oh simple dreams as we vegetate in this weather and mental fug..... Anyone know where a girl can get one of those trugs without taking out a second mortgage!??

The pictures of Maggie above are from a new little venture we decided to try - we have started an Instagram account. I downloaded it when I got my newest phone but never used it until someone at the Culloden started to take photos of their friends for their account and I thought - 'oohh I can do that too'. The first photo on my account is that dessert from that night :) The rest, well it's all Maggie so far! It'll be fun I think when we are at the plot together to take little photos and videos and we are reaching a whole new audience of dog lovers and outdoorsy types :)

Click here if you would like to follow Maggie in her adventures - photos everyday. You can't have enough Maggie in your life!
(Don't fear I will make a super cute little button for the right hand bar later)




Hugs and love