…… hi ho, it’s off to veg we sow. Ok, that was a bit crap. But today, weather gods willing, is all about the seeds. And moar compost.
4 mahoosive bags of compost later, we have a lovely finished veggie/herb bed.
And someone got himself a new phone. There was a bit of waiting……
And then the shiney arrived.
And I saw a woman with the wierdest painted on eyebrows. But I didn’t get a picture of that.
Posted in General Ramblings
Tagged Family, Gardening, General Ramblings, Herbs, Technology
…… to my other half! He’s had brekkie in bed, a birthday banner and balloons. We’re up now and getting ready to do something with the remains of the day.
Update: lunch in town (Thai noodle bar type thing), and I’ve just cooked dinner. I’m quite pleased with the outcome. I’m a bit of a shite cook. We have just demolished the nicest chicken (marinaded in lime juice, lime blossom honey, soy sauce and grated ginger). with green beans, new potatoes and red cabbage (cooked with apple in balsamic vinegar and fennel seeds). MMMMMM. Delicious. Next – raspberry pavlova in lieu of a birthday cake.
…… comes courtesy of his auntie. It is my mission to ensure that Jake is provided with a variety of dressing-up clothes. All children should have a decent dress-up box to play with.
We had a huge box at my gran’s house which was full of fab stuff from her next-door neighbour’s attic. All Elsie’s kids were much older than us, so we got all the stuff they’d had plus stuff that had been added to it.
I remember a full circle 50′s style skirt that came down to my ankles, and swirled out amazingly when you spun round.
I also remember a proper slinky evening dress – 50′s style, black with big red/pin roses on it. There was a bow on the sweetheart neckline and it all looked very exotic to my eyes. It never fitted me. When I was small enough to actually fit in it I had no curves and it trailed on the floor behind me and when I did have the curves and boobs I was too fat to get the bloody zip done up. It all seemed very glamorous.
Add a handbag, a fake sweetie cigarette in an amber cigarette holder, borrow one of Gran’s handbags (always an organiser one with far too many compartments that you lost everything in), her fox-fur stole and shuffle about in a pair of her evening/dancing high heels. And borrowed some face powder, orangey/red lippie and the mascara that comes in a block with a wee brush. Maybe some clip-on earrings, or those really old fashioned ones that screwed on your ears. Preferably dangly.
I felt like Jayne Mansfield or Grace Kelly in one of those 1950′s film annuals. If only I’d had a big full frock like Deborah Kerr in the dance sequence in The King and I. I could have danced with Yul Brynner.
What will Jake’s memories be? Anyone else have dressing-up box memories?
Posted in General Ramblings
Tagged Dressing-Up, Family, General Ramblings, Grace Kelly, Jayne Mansfield, Random, Yul Brynner
……um, gosh:
1974: Born in March, living in Langbank.
1975: Moved to Greenock.
1976: The Joyous One is born.
1977: No idea – who can remember being three?
1978: Big hairy caterpillars on Jura.
1979: Take a dead blue tit in for the nature table: Miss Armstrong was not impressed, but I am glad I am not in Miss Grant’s class because she was a scarey lady.
1980: I think Mum is embarrassed by Brian’s arrival as the baby Moses basket is located in a corner behind one of the living room chairs: I later discover this is probably to stop the dog knocking it over.
1981: No idea – a blank.
1982 : Also a blank.
1983: Blank – did I have a 3-year period of amnesia?!
1984: Kitten-heeled shoes 
1985: TV!!!!!!
1986: Finish primary school – head for Greenock Academy.
1987: I get straight A-grades in my report card for everything apart from maths – I’m crap at maths.
1988: Arran, sausage sizzles and sea kayaking.
1989: Lots and lots of studying: seemed so important at the time.
1990: Pompeii, Herculaneum and pizza in Sorrento.
1991: Run amok in the Art Department and do nothing else but painting and classics for the whole academic year.
1992: Move to England.
1993: Went out for stamps, came back with tattoo.
1994: Fail Agricultural Biology, spend birthday on the White Horse at Uffington with Rob.
1995: Get pissed on by Apodemus sylvaticus and Clethrionomys glareolus a lot.
1996: Graduate and spend the summer identifying and surveying butterflies – the difference between small skipper and Essex skippers is the colour of the underside of their antennae.
1997: I win a village pub Christmas Eve fancy dress competition: I am not in fancy dress – this is how I normally dress.
1998: New Zealand & Australia – sea snakes and shark feeds off North Horn.
1999: GHP – I am overwhelmed by trees, polytunnels and an amazing team to work with.
2000: LARP. That is all.
2001: Trees and seeds, lots of them.
2002: Buckingham Palace – the Queen is very small.
2003: The cows break down the fence and ravage the vegetable garden; one gooseberry and some onions are saved.
2004: Left conservation for mental health advocacy.
2005: Mental health advocacy work is both challenging and occasionally hilarious.
2006: New Zealand and Joy’s wedding.
2007: Egypt, lack of sharks, lots of lionfish and blue-spotted stingrays.
2008: Lots of camping.
2009: New Zealand, road trip, whales, albatrosses, and dolphins of the land.
2010: Hard work.
2011: not finished yet, but doing ok so far.
Posted in General Ramblings, New Zealand
Tagged Camping, Diving, Family, Gardening, General Ramblings, Health, LRP, Mental Health, NZ, Random, Tattoo, Travel, Trees, Work
…… I am crap at blogging regularly. What’s been happening? Not a lot – very busy with work, especially with this sort of thing. Excellent blogging there. Had a lovely weekend camping in Winster last weekend with friends; the sun shone, Bakewell Farmers’ Market was excellent (especially the cheesecake stall!). Spent yesterday afternoon wandering around a potential site for a LRP event – hot, sunny, beautiful woodland. Getting ready for an event next weekend. Just been doing some weeding in the garden in the sun then a Skype chat with Mum. We’re getting the new fence put in soon, so I will (hopefully) have a decent looking garden for the tail end of summer. Hoorah!
…… in a whirlwind of food shopping, suitable present shopping, driving 100′s of miles, eating too much nice food, drinking far too much nice booze and spending time with family. We drove to Scotland in record time on Christmas Eve and contrary to all expectations, got there before midnight. Had a lovely few days with family and drove back yesterday. Santa was good and brought me a new laptop, and with some money from Gran, I bought some new boots in the sales today. Brian and Karin made all their Xmas presents, so got handmade soap, handmade fudge and other sweeties and handmade cherry liqueur. Which was very very drinkable.
Image0013, originally uploaded by Fairy Basslet.
…… is hopefully planned for this weekend. It seems to have been a summer or LRP events and weddings and birthdays and camping. All good fun, but the house lookes like a shit tip and there’s camping gear all over the place. Never mind, in 2 and a half weeks, we’ll be at The Gathering and after that I can pack the tents and gubbins in the lockup.
Joy’s got her birthday box – took about 10 days to get to NZ, so not bad there. Hopefully she’ll be enjoying stinky stuff from Lush .
Work is busy. That is all.
Jake in bee hat, originally uploaded by Fairy Basslet.
……what a fine hat your aunty bought you.
Bubbles, originally uploaded by Fairy Basslet.
In the process of having a massive clear out, I found a battery powered bubble blower that Rob gave me for Christmas several years ago. Not the easiest thing to photograph, but I had a go.
I’ve sorted out the great stash of fabric and wool that I’ve accumulated, and it’s now all neatly stored in plastic crates in the spare room. I also sorted out all my craft materials into a new storage container. Whilst I was blitzing the spare room, Rob was clearing out the shed. We’ve discovered that a buddleia bush has grown out of the side of the shed that’s on Tim and Jo’s side of the fence. The root system has done a lot of damage to the brickwork and roof on one side of the shed, so we’re getting a quote from a local builder to see if it can be sorted. Tim and Rob spent ages discussing the structural remedies, including looking at potentially demolishing the whole thing and replacing it with a wooden shed. I hope Ashleigh can save the shed with some nifty brick and tile work. I like our brick build shed. We tipped loads of glyphosate on the bugger to kill it and stop it doing any further damage. Whilst the blokes were discussing sheds and other manly things, Jo and I nattered about holidays and losing weight. How girly.
Now we’re vegging in front of the telly, watching Ray Mears getting all manly in Namibia tracking leopards. Go Ray! He’s great on TV – bushcraft and wildlife all in one, presented in an intelligent way.
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