National Blog Posting Month

What the heck have I done, I've joined this because VP spoke about it, it seemed like a good idea and now I'm realising that November is nearly over and I am a silly moo cow.

Anyway, now I am meant to post a blogette every day this month (or what's left of it). I'll have to start a little later as we have to get the house ready for a viewer - yipppeeee! Fingers crossed everyone, the estate agent said the couple were 'very keen', ohhhhhhh!!

In the mean time maybe you'd want to check out the NaBloPoMo site, it's got loads of bloggers of all different interests on it. You may find someone you really like.......

P.S. Weather here is terrible, dark, windy and raining very heavy - no way I'll be at the lottie today. Shopping is the name of the game this afternoon, speak to you later, hugs x

Forgotten about :(.....so sad....but thankful too

Today my hubby forgot about me. He was working in Carrickfergus Castle and was supposed to come and get me afterwards and let me hitch along side him up to Belfast. It's a beautiful (though chilly) autumn day and I wanted to take photographs of the Continental Market up for the Festive period in front of our amazing City Hall.

I rang him at 1.30pm, thinking 'oh I hope he finishes soon, I'm hungry and would love to share lunch with him'. He was in work, no not the Castle, work ie. the office, in Belfast. 'Oh my goodness, I totally forgot about you' (or words to those effect). Wow I thought, forgotten about, I shake my head in self pity, my own husband didn't remember to come get me.

So here I am in the middle of the afternoon with my darling sleepy Maggie snoring at my feet writing to you instead. The wind has picked up and I did see a few spots of rain so maybe I'm better off at home, at least that's what I'm telling myself - I've drawn the blinds as the sun is blinding me; perfect photo weather.

Anyhow, it has given me cause to think about Allotments and Blogs and the ever present joy they bring me. I am never lonely being a blogger, there is always a friend out there who has written a post I have yet to read. There are new friends always in the wings waiting to be seen. I thank you all for being there for me, yes, I am sure you often forget about me too, maybe you only visit once in a blue moon but I thank you for that. Being chronically depressed and acutely anxious this is my place of refuge from a world I can't usually face in person alone. Here I feel safe and I love to learn about you, your work and hear your comments.

This is Northern Ireland but I have become very aware that American Thanksgiving is just around the corner - I just want to thank you all for taking the time to read my humble ramblings, for making me feel I am not forgotten, for helping me feel that in some small way I might matter; I could be a little part of your day.

Thank you

(and Andrew, I forgive you xxxxx)

Nesting

This is a little embarrassing but as I have no shame I'm going to share it with you all anyway.
I am nesting. Yes the shed is being turned into a home from home. I have already laid a new floor (vinyl - easy to clean) from offcuts my niece gave me, painted the inside walls the same colour as my bedroom (cosy) and highlighted areas in white (to make it feel brighter). I'm going to make new curtains and get boxes in which to put things in (shoe boxes wrapped up in gift paper). Then I'm bringing in the outdoor storage bench, painting it and putting some old cushions and a cosy blanket on top.

Call me daft but I really need a comforting place to retreat to down there when the weather is too bad, I'm feeling panicky or I just need a wee moment to myself; politics on the plots is really getting me down these past few months - nothing but complaints, it isn't good for me to listen to such negativity all the time! Between us, Andrew and I have made a pact that we aren't going to moan anymore, it gets us nowhere but down. Plus I now excuse myself from all negative conversations down there - the lotties are meant to be my refuge and sanctuary, I have enough mental nastiness in my head already.

I am not the best at coping with winter, I'd definitely have SAD if I didn't have depression already, I need my Vitamin D!!! Though funnily Andrew and I were talking about our Autumn/ Winter veg and how we kind of prefer this time of year, more about that tomorrow maybe.

I leave you with a funny, naughty parsnip - Matron will probably like this. Every man's dream?

ooopps, the above pic is of a white carrot, silly me!

Honest Scrap Award

Last week my new dear friend Flighty was awarded this Honest Scrap Award and in turn he passed it on to all his 'lawn loungers' of which I am super proud to be one of. I love Flighty and his answers were fab so I suggest you dander over there and take a little peek. Oh, and the person who awarded him is also mentioned there and her blog, well, it is tasteful indeed!!

There are rules to this meme:

1 ~ Brag about the award - well, I am truly honoured to have received it and feel I am joining in with a happy crowd of wondrous bloggers around the world. To feel myself worthy of this is hard, (maybe I got in there by mistake!) but I take it and run with it - you aren't getting it back! Look at it, who wouldn't want that tin sign on there blog I ask you!? It is gloriousness incarnate.

2 ~ Give the name and link back to the blog of the blogger who gave it to you.

Click here to visit Flighty's Plot You'll like it.

3 ~ Choose a minimum of 7 blogs you find brilliant in content or design. (Only 7??!)

4 ~ Show their names and links and leave a comment telling them they too have won the award.

5 ~ List at least 10 honest things about yourself.

****

Humm, first off it says you can break the rules if you dare, Flighty broke them but I'm a bit scared. What will happen if you break them? Flighty hasn't written a bloggette since this, has he been kidnapped? Do you get your Internet connection cut off for being bad? I'm worried, so I shall play along oh mighty award gods.

Blogs I love? Well they're written down the side and I have about 3 more still to add. I find new ones all the time. Oh you know what, it says a minimum of 7 so I choose everyone on my list, I can't hurt any feelings and I do love them, they're all brill. Some have even received this award already.

So ten honest things about me:

1 I dye my hair - yes I've been greying since I was 18 and I don't like it!

2 I got my Swine Flu Jab today and it didn't hurt a bit. Brave girl that I am. The next few days are meant to worse though, eek!

3 I celebrated Halloween this year for the 1st time and I liked it! Apart from the concussion bit...

4 The four button on my laptop is very temperamental and you really have to whack it.

5 I do not like champagne, it seems to close my throat up and I can't swallow. The 'Champagne 'at my wedding was.... White Grape Shloer! Andrew still hasn't forgiven me for that.

6 My 1st dog was a Beddlington terrier called Scrap, honestly, he was Kennel club registered as that when we got him!My 2nd was a Cairn/Yorkie mix called Charlie and now we have the best dog/bitch in the world!.....Maggie the Mini Schnauzer!!!!

7 I love books, couldn't cope without them. Find Holocaust survival stories to be inspiring and they give me strength, I have many books on that subject. Though my favourite book is 'Rebecca' by Daphne De Maurier. At the minute I'm reading 'Catch 22' - fab.

8 I adore hand made things. Artisans' shops are wonderful places, potters, jewellers etc. Such talent. Oxfam is great for stuff like that too and it's Fairtrade.

9 I bought my Christmas Cards 2 weeks ago and almost starting writing them today, not because I love Christmas-time but the opposite, I can't wait for it to be over. Such hype!!

10 Like Flighty, I never wear a watch, wear glasses and haven't any tonsils (or adenoids).

11 (One for luck) I've never had a tooth out and I'm terrified of the dentists so I dread the day!

CVNI are at it again!!!

The utterly fabulous people of A1 are in the final of the 'People's Millions' competition! Golly give that group a contest and they go for it in a big way. Remember they've already won the Green Heros Award this year! The mind boggles. Personally I have the kitchen and all those dishes awaiting me and I really can't say I'll be champ at the end of the afternoon!

So what is the 'People's Millions' then, I hear you ask. Well..... Auntie Carrie is here to tell you all, via the lovely Maria, who explained it all to her earlier today.

'The People's Millions is a competition between community projects were projects go head to head to try to win a £50, 000 lottery award. It's run in partnership with The Big Lottery Fund and UTV [Ulster Television].' The Conservation Volunteers in Eden Allotment Gardens have a project called 'Growing Communities in Carrickfergus' with the aims of teaching and encouraging fruit and veg growing in the community with a demonstration garden and an on-site horticultural training room. This would increase particiapants' knowledge of healthy eating, horticultural and environmental skills, reducing stress and improving mental health (Ecotherapy Rocks!!) all within a comfortable friendly community setting.

Its a super idea they've put forward and it's going to be on TV, eek! Wednesday 6pm on UTV on the 25th November, so you have to watch, maybe our whole lottie garden will be on tv, who knows!!! Anyway, the really important thing is the fact that this is a competition and in order for anything to come to fruition the project needs our help. This is done by simply voting for our A1 mates on the big night by phone.

I'll remind you all closer to the time and then on the day too, it's 8 days away!

GBBD in November

My selection of happy faces for November. Sadly the Lobelia, Calendula and Geum plants are all gone today :( But on an up beat note, I saw my first Daffs poking through and my Cyclamen are fab, I just forgot to photograph them.

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day is hosted by the lovely May Dreams Gardens.

Weeds - real and imaginary

The tap root of some metaphorical dandelion is firmly lodged in my brain. You know what it's like to get those damn blighters out of the soil, well every time I think I've got some of that out of my mind, I discover there was (naturally) a bit left behind. This means the whole plant is just going to come back, right? Well I'm, sitting here with the biggest tap root ever entwined in my brain matter and I think I may just go insane. I don't think I can ever beat this no matter how many tablets (weedkillers, to carry the theme) I shove in my mouth and no matter how much positive thinking I do. Who ever thought a weed away?? Unless you're a master Jedi I don't think you have and I wouldn't believe you if you said you had.

I spent the weekend at the lottie weeding. I like that, I like the fact that you can see where you've been and the joy of getting the bugger out and letting your veggies have more room and nutrients. I hate weeds. Okay, they're just plants in the wrong place but that's exactly the point, they're in the wrong place damn them. I especially hate dandelions, they are brutes to remove, but this weekend I had got in there early and managed to completely remove every last bit of nearly every last one. Can you believe pre-alloment, these were one of my favourites wild flowers! I loved blowing, or let's be honest, kicking the seed heads off the stem, now I wouldn't dare.

Weeding is like a mediation for me. I switch off and just lose myself in the clearing away of unwanted things. I adore a full bucket of compostable green waste and I love the cleared soil, so dark and contrasting against my vegetables. Now someone just tell me how to get rid of the one in my head!

Addicted

It's raining again and although it's only 3pm, it's getting dark; this whole change of seasons lark is getting me down. So I have a confession (apart from the fact that I just ate 2 Tunnocks Tea Cakes in a row, one in a very unlady like fashion indeed!) that I need to get off my chest. I Carrie Gault am addicted to Farmville.

I guess you would possibly have to live in a cave in the middle of nowhere on the moon with your fingers in your ears, not to have at least heard about Facebook. Its that social networking site where you can talk to friends you haven't seen in a while, never seen, or can't be bothered to go and see. Photos are shared and people from your primary school years suddenly reappear and you try and pretend like no time has passed at all. It is an odd, yet wonderful place in the world of the web and I love it. I also love one of the games you can play there with your allotmenteering friends, this is Farmville.

Yes, a merry place where no matter the time of day or season you can grow fruit and vegetables until your little heart is content; the sun is always shining. None of the animals or trees die on this magical farm, no bugs or diseases attack your crops, it is truly glorious. Plus you don't get cold or dirty and you make cart loads of money (it isn't real, I know) to boot. The crops grow in 2 hours - 3 days depending on what you 'plant' and weeds are nowhere to be seen. In these crappy rainy dark days we are having it is a blessing to me, a bit like virtual Ecotherapy. And I have a load of friends doing it with me, we have a giggle, no politics or committee meetings, just rewards and gifts galore.

You now feel sorry for me don't you, you think I've finally cracked. Shaking your head and sighing you move on to the next blog and try not to think about me - its too painful... but later you shall think, 'uummmm virtual allotmenteering, well it is pitch dark outside after all...... Farmville was it?....'

Lovely large leeks

My head is a good bit better, still a little fuzzy but okay. Thank you so much for all the kind comments; oh, Allotments can be dangerous!

So I have wanted to tell you about our leeks for a while now, I'm really rather proud of them you see. They have their own dedicated bed this year in 14b and have been going so well there. We plant ours in modules and then transfer them out into the bed, when they're settled in there we cover the lower stem with cut offs of drain pipe we found dumped in a river (waste not, want not). This gives them a great size to grow to and they get blanched whilst they're at it. Andrew told me it was in a recent gardening magazine that Pringle crisp tubes are good for this too. You'd have to eat a little more than your fair share to get enough for the whole bed of seedlings, but they do say 'once you pop, you can't stop'.

I was also introduced to the traditional way of growing them when we visited Glenarm Castle Gardens. The young seedlings are lifted here and put into a comparatively wide and deep hole, they grow to fill the hole and of course being in the ground, they get blanched in that way. Each to their own.

We've been eating ours for a good month now and of course it has just been getting better and better. Look at this beast, I couldn't believe it. Now they are all like that. I can't eat onions but I can cope with leek so this is super duper rewarding, they are very strong so 1 leek would do 2 dinners. Last week when Andrew was chopping one up in the kitchen I was crying in the living room - that's how strong they are! We have only ever grown 'Musselborough' leeks and I reckon that is the way it will stay. They did get some leaf rust this year but it's only at the top and doesn't effect the white bit, so I can't find fault in this variety at all.

Here's 2 more in amongst the autumn harvest of last Saturday. They're still in the fridge with everything else - a huge vat of soup is going to be made ~ yummy!! Perfect for these colder nights. Plus Andrew is off on Friday and has it planned that we are allotmenteering our socks off so some hearty soup will be needed!!

It being the 1st Wednesday of the month Andrew and all the other committee members are off having their meeting. Wish them well please, I don't think I could cope with that job - never going to please everyone.

Pumpkin carving and concussion

Halloween, what a day. Pity I can't remember the second half of it.

We did some errands in the morning and headed to the lottie at what we thought was 2pm but later released it was 1pm (Andrew was wearing a watch for a change and hadn't put it back the hour from last week!). We had been to Tesco* and got a pumpkin and a few packets of crisps and drinks etc and were ready for a Halloween/Autumn clear up day.

Andrew did the clear up bit, I on the other hand was too super excited to have my very first pumpkin to carve. When we were growing up all us N. Irish kids had to carve turnips for Halloween (HARD work) and not that enjoyable actually, no wonder I only did it a few times. You see, back then it was mighty difficult to get hold of a pumpkin here, this year we were surrounded by them. There is no way on this Earth that I would EVER carve (and waste) a pumpkin of this size had we grown it ourselves, but we didn't so I went at it with a swiss army knife and a lot of glee.

Half an hour later and pumpkin innards galore and this was the result - a pumpkin so scared of Halloween that it had puked all over the place. I was very proud.

It was raining off and on quite heavy and was cold but there was going to be a lottie gathering to celebrate the year and bbq's were lit (with blowtorches, haha, the weather was just not co-operating) so we wanted to hang around. Really, we couldn't be bothered digging and weeding etc so instead we gathered up a load of produce and had ourselves a Harvest bench celebration. Look at that bounty!! I'll talk more about what's there during the week and just how proud of our leeks I am.

Wendy (my best friend) came down to visit for the first time. Which was great.

'Really!' you say, 'the very first time?!'.

'Yes', I say, 'she is a super busy girl and rarely gets time to visit lotties'.

'That is sad', you say.

'I know.... ', I say (shakes head in pity).

We sat round the wood stove and had a good chat then went over to get a hot dog and listen to a bit of a sing-song at the BBQ area. It was fab, really fab. There was a great wee atmosphere even though few people had braved the weather, the sausages were cooked wonderfully (thank you Billy Dick) and the guitar was played perfectly by Ricky, even if he didn't know any of the words. Hahaha, we all just da da dee deee daa dee-ed our way along!

'The beast' - massive version of our wood stove - note full moon too!!!

Back at the shed it was time to gather up our harvest and poke around with our own stove; such heat - lovely. Fireworks began in the town and echoed around the lough and that was the end of the fun for Maggie, she hid in the shed, a pitiful sight poor thing, she really couldn't hide in a corner enough; it was time to go home. On the walk up to the car I got this great photo of Wendy and shortly after slipped and fell on some muck that's been churned up and re-seeded with grass. I've fallen here twice before, the soil has a lot of clay in it and it is very slidey. Well this time I supposedly hit the ground 'with a fair whack' according to Andrew and Wendy (I prefer to think it hit me, I'm the innocent party here!) and knocked myself out. Boy, the rest of the night is something of a mystery and yesterday my back was so painful I could barely walk. Still feeling concussed today and therefore confused and very tired but I'm fine. Great memories for Wendy on her first visit!


* may be evil ~ still to be confirmed

Happy Halloween!

Boo!

Little manly Neeps

A headless chicken, that's what I am at the minute, a feckin' hen without a head running in circles about to collapse and go bye bye. I'm having yet ANOTHER f-ing panic attack and it is killing me. I've taken a sedative but I am quite maniacal and have vacuumed the whole house in the past 10 mins and tided up and got washed myself. I am going to have a break down, I'm serious, I've been having loads for weeks and there ain't nothing any of my Dr's can do but tell me to stay calm and take sedatives if I need them. I FEEL LIKE I'M GOING MAD. I'm not afraid to say that, I am not ashamed to be ill, just desperately, totally overcome with sadness and frustration. And panick.

So, as you can turn to another wonderful blog or tut at my self pity, or get annoyed that this girl is talking about herself like this again; I can write here without worrying about upsetting anyone and without hearing the disappointment in your voice, seeing the confusion on your face, hearing your questions that I don't have answers for.

I want to talk about normal stuff and I have photos I'd like to share. It's about Turnips and Leeks, wonderful grow our own produce to boast about.

I need to take a deep breath...

Right, 'Purple Top Milan', quite possibly the prettiest, peppery-est, easy to grow turnip I know. (I don't know many, this is the one we grew last year as well as this year again; my knowledge is thus limited.) Oh it is one of those veggies that just wants to grow, they push each other out of the way just to prove some point about how 'I want to grow more than you do, get out of my way, I mean it, I'll grow round you sucker!, this bed ain't big enough for the both of us'. Thus:

Well, they were all ready, the ones that you pull out, obviously leave a little room so the ones left behind sprint on - this bed has done us proud. (I see them as feisty Italian men, with too much testestrone, just a thought.) However, too big and they aren't as tasty so it was time to harvest the lot. We didn't need them right away so, after watching Gardeners' World we decided to store some in sand. Now luckily Mamma G happened to have some sand, (so thank you to her) and we had a gorgeous wine box = turnips topped and tailed, wiped with a cloth and allowed to go to bed. Thusly:

It was pouring out of the heavens by this time - hence the soaking wet sand but it'll be fine. They're stored in the dry safety of the shed and should hopefully last us a wee while.

Embracing the Autumn

A new background to help me deal with the fact that, yes, it is the Autumn, the trees are going to sleep and it is dark and miserable. I think I need to move south of the Equator for these next few months - summer is over; I'm a big girl I have to face it. Autumn is here.

This conker feel from a tree recently and almost killed me (evil nut). Very beautiful but so violent - why?

Feeling sorry for myself

I haven't blogged in days, I haven't read many friend's blogs in days; I haven't been one bit interested. I'm going through (and as I think about it, I must be doing better if I'm writing today) a really rough patch again. Panic attacks and severe depression are eating away at me like a cancer. I feel heavy and confused in my head, my back and shoulders ache from the stress, my blood pressure is all over the place and I can't eat. Even my arms and legs feel heavy and my fingers are not typing the way they should. Who ever invented the delete button should have been made monarch of the world. I just wish there was a delete button in the real world.

Sorry to moan, I'm just feeling so awful. Photos of our 4 hour blitz at the lottie have been uploaded as I write and there are a couple of stories to tell. My words just won't form either in my head or straight from the finger tips like usual.

Instead I leave you for today with a befittingly sad photo. This poor sunflower had been blown over and the stem torn by the storms of last week. I cut the flower head off and went to take some pictures, it began to rain and then I noticed the damn slug there, just waiting to finish her off. It just encapsulates how I feel today, down, down and down, the world conspiring against me. It's dark in this place and the ropes lowered down by my few dear friends aren't long enough for me to reach.

Mingling with the hoi poloi

Yesterday Andrew and I had lunch with the Mayor in the Town Hall. Sounds very fancy and really is was very nice. We weren't alone though (we aren't that important), instead we were part of a large group of winners and runners up in the Carrickfergus in Bloom competition. Oh, the photos in the papers and the acolade of winning Best Kept Alloment of the year 2009 wasn't enough, no, we also had a gorgeous lunch, a certificate, a gift bag, Lottie book and our fabulous vouchers for the local nursery. Then again, there were another few photos taken for the papers; our 15 mins of fame is over.

It had been a very long time since I had been in the main hall of the Town Hall. I used to do solo singing when I was wee there, for the Music Festival. I always came 4th every year ( 5th once) - which is great but I never once got a prize or a certificate. Wick. I remember one year I was the 149th (last) person to sing, everyone was so bored and it ended up with most of the audience singing the bloody song with me! Can't blame them, sitting listening to that may kids sing the same song that many times I would go insane now.

So, to me the Hall was tiny, not the huge venue it was when I was 6-11yrs old. There were people from all over the brough and the whole age range too. We had a lovely elderly couple at our table who came second in the' Container Gardens' section and the winner of the 'Childrens' Painting Competition', Gemma, and her parents.

We had a very tasty lunch and red wine (yummy) and a short speech by the Ulster Co-ordinator of Ulster in Bloom, Ken. He spoke about how he was visiting his doctor recently and she asked wheater he was still in the post, telling him that gardening wasn't just good for you physcially but mentally too. I nearly jumped out of my seat I was so happy. Had to go over to him and have a wee chat. I've said it before.....Ecotherapy Rocks!!

It was fun, we have to try really hard to at least be runners up next year and get to go back. Oh and Stephen if you're reading this.... I didn't get a name badge and my name isn't on the certificate!! Shame.

For all the winners, runners up and a chance to see Gemma's fab painting check here.

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 Duality of Autumn

It has been bloody pouring all day, the wind is up, the house has had to have the heating on, I'm wrapped in my comfort blanket and Maggie has so far refused to go out and pee (she hates bad weather). I'm going to grab her when she least expects it and throw her out! It's also dark and thus headachey, can you tell I'm not exactly chuffed with the day we're having?

Autumn. It's the season when everything dies (bit dramatic there I know, my Cyclamen are gorgeous, parsnips fat and still growing) and there is rain and muck and greyness and dark mornings and running to the car from the front door yet still getting wet; don't even mention frizzy hair! It's the season were I just want to pack up my kit and go hide out somewhere. Maybe I could be a writer or painter (photography isn't great in weather like this) and just immerse myself in my 'work' for a few months with a huge 'DO NOT DISTURB' sign on my door. My pieces would be dark, brooding and full of depth, hidden meanings and wisdom beyond my years. I would eat only chocolate biscuits and drink copious amount of (decaff) coffee, peppermint tea and the reddest of wines.

But no. I sit here in the full knowledge that I have to go out soon and face the weather-y music. We're house hunting and time waits for no wo/man at this hour. The lottie needs tended to this weekend even if it is blowing a gale and raining so hard I can't see out my glasses. Then of course there will be the usual chit chat about Christmas being just around the corner and NO I bloody well don't have my shopping done, for goodness sake.

~~~

Deep breath.

~~~

Then there is another side of Autumn that I LOVE!! The colours is an obvious thing, the leaves (dry leaves) on the ground just waiting, wanting to be kicked. The boxes of bulbs arriving on the door step, the hard work digging manure into the beds (mainly to keep you from freezing, or crying, or both), the earlier nights and cuddles on the sofa and the blue sky, that amazing azure blue that you only get on a crisp bright Autumn day with the whitest of clouds floating by.

It's also the time when you get to buy jumpers and cardigans and heavier coats and people can't see that little (or maybe not so little) belly you have and swore you'd walk off but didn't.

There's Tree Week and the possibility of sitting with friends around a wood stove outside and playing with sparklers (I like to write my name with them), maybe even apple dunking and the big fireworks displays that are put on. The scary drives into the countryside or the organised trips to old graveyards, hospitals, prisons at the witching hour! Ohhhh.

Yep, Autumn = duality of emotions. Right now though I'm firmly in the 'right Maggie, you are going out to pee' mood, which will be followed by the 'do I want to sign my life away and buy this person's house' mood - eeek! That last one is scarier than any horror movie, BIG decisions - I'd rather do some weeding, in the rain.

Eeek!

I'm running on empty. My battery cable for the laptop decided to give up the ghost and depart from this mortal world (damn it!). So I've got a full battery at the moment thanks to my lovely Mamma G sharing her cable with me, thank goodness we have the same computer.

Anyway, it will be less likely that I'll be able to sit here like usual and waffle away until I get a replacement; praise be for Amazon. As long as the Postal strike doesn't ruin my life I'll be blogging again in no time. For now, hugs! and may all your harvestings be delicious x

Matron has corrupted me, guv!

I don't even like gin. Let that be known to begin with, secondly if Matron's bad influence had not been at work on us, this would not have happened, I lay the guilt of a drunken gin-soaked Christmas entirely at her feet.

Andrew got stuck in the mud last week whilst on a visit for work. Luckily he wasn't alone and his colleagues in the other car were able to go and get a tow rope and eventually pull our wee car out of the quagmire. Being a resourceful man, Andrew spent the anguish of 20 or so mins waiting for them to come back from buying the rope by picking Sloes.

We made sloe gin, it smelt terrible but I am assured that 1, my nose and palate are 'weird' and don't recognise the joy that is gin and 2 it will get fruity away.

The recipe is pretty easy to remember, 'it's basically half and half again'. The amount of gin (around 1litre), then half that (around 450g) of pricked and washed Sloes, then half that (around 225g) of caster sugar. Just the 3 ingredients. Then you have to make sure you give it a darn good shaking every month for about 2 months. The thing is that we didn't have a big bottle so we had to use the gin one = 1 litre will not fit back in again once there are lots of sloes in there.

So we had some left over and the devil on my shoulder came up with an idea, Raspberries and Blackberries are berries and why can't we put them into gin too? An alternative, a fresh approach to fancying up cheap Tesco* own brand liquor. We did the process again, unfortunately we didn't have a clear glass bottle for this batch and it's such a pretty colour too, ah well, wait til Christmas.

Like the total eejit that I am I didn't/couldn't take any photos to go with this blog as my camera's battery was/is dead. But if you look at Matron's posts on the subject Monday 5th October and the update on Wednesday 7th October you'll get the picture (literally).

*could be evil; yet to be confirmed...

I'll have a vat of that please!

Okay, shame on me for not writing much these days; I have been sick :(

Yep, mentally not good at all, not even a wee bit but on top of that an upset tummy ~ is there anything worse when the raspberries are ripe and you can't bear to eat just one!!? All I could cope with was a single berry-ette from a Raspberry. I have been puking all over the show (even in the hedgerow of the lottie, so watch out guys, I blush).

There have been a couple of up sides to this period of dicky tum. I got to sit on Sunday by the wood stove with my blanket and just watch Andrew working hard. It is lovely to watch others run around like mad and just sit there calmly. Mint tea was the order of the day, we did have lots but the pot broke with the force of all the roots and I hacked it in half and potted up two. I thought it was 'proper' to cut plants back when you did this so there are about 3 tiny mint leaves now, but hey it doesn't taste so good on the way up again anyway!

Then there is the little bit more attention you receive and the extra hugs, always nice.

And lastly there is SOUP. Oh, if only everyone could have a Hubby like mine. Well you can't have Andrew, he's mine alone and don't even think about stealing him, though I know you want to. Andrew is a whizz in the kitchen and the lottie produce does not get harvested in vain (most of the time, blush again) when he is on top cooking form. So the healing soup he made at the weekend was Wonderful! I didn't take a photo because ironically it looked like sick, ha..

Andrew's 'Lottie Root Soup' contained:

Garlic

Leek

Celeriac

Parsnip

Potato

Carrot

and bought in Chicken Stock

It was all cubed, simmered and mooshed ~ yum.

I ate it all and it stayed down, hoorah. I think I would like to bathe in that soup, so good and thick and gooey and yum. Can't wait for more and more and more.