my happy-go-lucky Saturday

It's not often I have a happy post that is all joy and merriment. So allow me please, the pleasure of basking in it's glory. Also, if you wish to feel jealous at any point, feel free (really, I hardly ever have a GOOD day), I don't mind at all ;)

Saturday was a good day (I have already mentioned this I know but it's so fab to write it), let me take you through it.....

First we saw around our new house! Ahhhh, we had  to wear hard hats but the fashion faux pas was worth it. We have walls and windows and a roof and some wooden struts pretending to be internal walls and pipes of all sizes, oh and a front door and patio doors out back... etc. It's also completely rendered on the outside and by now it should have it's staircase in. Oh joy of joys. The 'gardens' front and back are a little less inspiring and a bit on the teeny tiny side - BUT still big grins all round.

Then we had a trip to good old Maud's cafe (they do the most fantabulous ice cream ever, in the world, ever - though I don't like ice cream at all) for coffee and homemade scones - yummy. The cafe looks out over the Lough and it was heaven sitting there watching people go by and seeing the water sparkle and shimmer in the sun :)

A quick trip to Tesco (not really a highlight) for some BBQ provisions including Dandelion and Burdock fizzy pop (WOW, how come we never tasted this before??), and off to the Lottie.

It was spring clean weekend at the lotties and we managed to get rid of a lot of rubbish. It's amazing what you gather up over the months that have no value at all to anyone; yet there it sits. So that was great. I took photos galore (you can see a couple on my other blog) once the suncream had settled into my skin and let Andy do the stinky rubbish work, 3 barrow loads of it. Then we put a brushwood cover over our porch so as we had a shady place to retire to throughout the day (remember Andy is ginger - the sun is his enemy - like he were a vampire, haha) and had a drink.

The afternoon pasted with lots of weeding and photographing and chatting and playing with Maggie. It was the most lovely of days, the sky so full of big lumps of blue and as far as the eye could see, there was not a dark cloud to be found. I swear plants were visably growing in front of our eyes and (though ulitmately annoying when their babies eat try to eat my food) cabbage whites were fliting all over the place and the birds were singing so hard and beautifully it was as though Mr Lloyd-Webber were there and they might be 'discovered'. I also got to watch the bluebirds feeding their babies on our shed, due to the shadows cast on the ground.

I cleared the pumpkin patch of poppy seedlings (a whole bucket full, oops) and Andrew placed his dad's old stepladder in the middle for the squashes to grow up - should look cute. (He planted them later when I went home). Everything else around the plots was looking much happier, perkier and greener in this lovely heat and anyone who went by was smiling.

We invited Mamma G down for our little BBQ, which was lovely, sausages with red pepper in them and of course the freshest salad ever, straight from the beds. Then I went home to have a lie down, expecting to go to the party down at the plots later....I woke up the next morning instead, haha. Boy I could sleep for the UK in the Olympics ;) So I missed that, but I heard it was good craic and went on until the wee hours.

So there was a lovely day, a truly fab day. I don't get them often but what a blessing when they do visit me! Spread to love xxxx

We're growing a house!

You know you want to see it, don't you?? We got the new morgage sorted out, the valuer will be there possibly today and then we sign the contract with the builder - Eekk, poo your pants time!! But I know, I just know you have been tearing your hair out to see what all the fuss it about well........ here's the artist's impression and here is reality as of last Saturday!!!

Reality isn't quite as pretty but you can't live in a picture!!

We're getting a new house, a new house, a house, we're getting one, a house that is..ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Plus ~  we also put up my bird box creations. I'm so embarassed  by them that I am not showing you a picture. I used a blunt saw, really thick boards with knots in them everywhere and I have double vision = not very good bird houses. But Andrew (sweet as he is) put them up and maybe (if birds are that picky) we'll get a resident, but I'm not holding my breath. 

When is the best time to transplant a Carrie??

The 'Carrius Gaultius' ( common name - Carrie) is a delicate plant and needs much pandering to and a great amount of mollycoddling. She (for this 'plant' is a girl) prefers a sunny climate but in dappled shade, plenty of water and a comfy soil; not to stoney and diffinatlely not clay - she hates wet feet. She doesn't do winter cold snaps well, they often result in a period of grumpiness and rather unattractiveness; a nice blanket goes down a treat at this point. Prone to pests and diseases she is none the less a delightful little (max height 5ft 1.5 inches) plant that can bring joy and darken a gloomy place from time to time if only you can stick out the tough times with her too.

Now, generally this 'plant' fears change and hates being uprooted. It doesn't mind a little holiday and a chance to see another aspect of the 'garden' but generally it is a homebody. So the diffficult question remains - When is the best time to move a Carrie???

***

It's happening on Wednesday folks and this girl is getting a bit stressed as part of her roots are in one place and part in another. And her new home is only for 6 months so she'll be off again to another site just as she is settling in to this first move and getting used to being under someones else's cover and in their space! Oh my. Any suggestions as to how to make this transplanting process run as smoothly as possible would be greatly appreciated.

House plant anyone?

Oh golly gosh (by that read something a little a lot ruder), this time next week we'll have the hire van and be transfering our lives from this house to Mamma G's. Everything must go, including the pots in the garden, some hardwood cuttings, divisions of fav plants and the contents of the shed! Again I say golly (again use your imagination as to what I'm really saying).


So I was thinking, in our new pad we will be living in a loft conversion and thus there is loads of light and there won't be much room or indeed structural stabilty to have much furniture up there. But one thing I do want is a house plant and for this I require help. In the past I've only ever had ivy or spider plants in my house and I hate them!!! Well I love ivy, but outside for goodness sake not as a feature plant in my room. Downstairs, i.e. in Mamma's House - there are lots of christmas cacti which always seem to be in flower, maybe we should buy them a calendar? So dear friends, no ivy, spider plants or cacti; what can you suggest for a girl to have in her new home to add a little greenery and joy??


There are lovely gardens front and back including fruit and veg so I have that covered, this is just for me to admire as I work away. But I feel utterly lost in this domain, maybe I should just have some flowers bought in every now and then and have loads of photos up?? Oh I don't know...


By the way I still feel bloody awful and still haven't been anywhere near my lottie or even the garden outside the door. Stinky weather, one's mood does not help!!!! I need the spring. Off to hide under my blanket again, until next time - HUGS xx

I'm back :)

It has been brought to my attention that I have let my 5 mins of fame go to my head and really, I must get back to work. Thank you Mo for the kick up the bum that I needed, I have blogging to do!

Well, let's talk about the allotments then. Nothing is happening on the plots. The weather has put stop to things on our sweet little slices of Eden and not a thing has been achieved, apart from talking about it!! But to be fair our whole weekend there was taken up with the gutting out of Mamma G's attic room and en suite bathroom, painting it and generally working our (not so little unfortunately) bums off getting it ready for us to move into. This was Andrew's old bedroom and bathroom built as a loft conversion so there are lots of memories there and Mamma had also been using it as storage for the past while, all this equalled much work to be done. But we managed it and everywhere is painted and today the new carpet goes down! This moving house lark is very hard work and we've got to do it twice this year, hahha (manic laughter).

Anyway can't complain, it is going to look lovely and Mamma is great (Maggie adores her Granny) and I'll still be able to blog away as there is broadband at the house - yippeeee!!!!!

So apart from that and a couple of serious nervous breakdowns, I have been busy trying to relax get some sleep. 2 months, two months of about 3 hours a night and yesterday I finally slept all night and all day :)

Now to some important Lottie News; a Extraordinary General Meeting has been called for. Oh dear :(
There was a letter sent out to the assocation members and it contained another letter signed by a number of people who have called for a EGM soon; they are unhappy with the way things are being run (or not run) and feel the committee is split down the middle and thus practically useless. Which in one way is true, the committee isn't split as far as I am aware but they have very limited powers (read none) and thus it can appear that they aren't doing anything. Our council still runs the whole place and our committee is sort of a talking shop.

I do hope this goes smoothly and the meeting is a time were people can have their thoughts and concerns listened to without it descending into a row. I fear we sometimes forget how lucky we are to have allotments in the first place and I also fear that making too much of a noise will make the council think twice - I can't lose my plots ~ I'll lose the plot !!!(pun intended even though embarassingly bad).

So there we are, all updated, now I'm off for a wee decaff and a homemade gingerbread star - yum. I leave you with a seaside photo to calm the mind....

I've done a terrible thing

I have fallen for a house, no I know it's not as bad as cheating on my hubby or hiding chocolate biscuits. I haven't lied, stolen or killed anyone but I feel so terrible and wrong. Yes, I love a house and we're going to see it again tomorrow night.

I've been playing about with the estate agents brochure and changing things, all your darn blogs have me full of ideas for the quite large back garden and I think I may go mad. If I explode (as I think I may - we haven't sold our house yet and the Hubby has loads more houses he wants to see) and if I do this is my last will and testament (or at the very least, what I can think of now to put in one).

I, Carrie, of Grow Our Own, being of sound mind (hahahaa, maniacal laugh) here by leave everything to my Husband and dog (Maggie aka 'the Magster'). My body is to be cremated and put in the compost or round the roses I don't know what's best for human remains.
My lottie and all within in should stay in the name of my Husband and should be a place of happiness and fun for all. My blog shall end with a heartfelt post by my nearest and dearest with a slide show and rousing music. Jaffa Cakes must be eaten all day everyday for a month after my demise and Shiraz and/or Merlot drunk by the bucket load.
Here endth the last will and testament of Carrie.

Yes, I may explode; moving house is a scary, wonderfully exciting experience, I just don't know if I'm cut out for it. I've picked the one I want and now I am going to drink my 2nd glass of wine to ease the pain of what could be unrequited love.

N.B. to Andrew ~ please take a photo of said exploded body, could be very artistic. Get Colin to exhibit it under the Vent Collective please.

The estate agent

We're waiting for the estate agent to arrive to give the house a good looking over and tell us if it's sellable! To tell the truth I'm a little nervous, who knows how much we will get for it?, what sort of mortage will the bank give us? oh it's a mine field out there. One good thing is that we got rid of all the wine bottles that were sitting about from the different birthday parties and our holidays and Andrew used them very creatively in the lottie. We always miss the recycling day - we aren't addicted to wine really......wine.....ummmmmmmmmmm

Oh, sorry. Here is Andrew's art piece, beautiful, recycled and functional. We just have the other side of the path to do now, darn it, I guess that means more wine then. All for art's sake.

Please also notice our new path between the 'grave' and the raspberry bed. Very proud of that.

Have you noticed that it's hard to keep a clean and tidy house when you're an Allotmenteer? We seem to have bags and dirty work shoes and magazines and seeds etc everywhere. At least this 'agent' isn't coming to look at the house in early spring. We also have a full on nursery going in every window sill and a potting up bench in the dining room. Or would that add value to the house in these eco times?

So, the prospect of a new house and garden looms on the horizon. I'm trying to be very cool and collected about it but what if the market stays in this rut and we're here FOREVER. On the other hand - yippee!! a whole new house to paint and decorate and a new garden to start and make wonderful with all the new knowledge we have. I have some ideas, god only knows, Andrew probably has hundreds of possible gardens in his head.

Well, while we wait, let's pretend there is some muzak in the background as I tell you about some of the fab work I've been doing at the Lotties.

When we got home I told you it was a terrible sight, I didn't show you a photo then but I will now. This is the before...

Now I have ripped out all the sweet peas, runner beans, climbing french beans and dwarf french beans and loads of dead leaves from the brassicas. Andrew cut the grass and made his bottle wall. Having that first bed empty is a little sad as it yells "autumn!" at me, but at the same time we did buy loads of daffodils and tulip bulbs at the weekend so hope and bright colours are just around that dark wintery corner.

Here she is.......