Happy ........ ?

What puts the 'Happy' in 'Happy New Year'?  I was watching 'Breakfast', this morning.  The presenter was interviewing someone talking about what makes people happy. What makes you happy?

I thought about it as we went for our morning walk. It was blooming cold last night. Everything was frozen solid this morning and the roadsides covered in rime. Being able to go for a walk makes me happy.

Early morning silence and pausing on the bridge to watch the stream go rolling down makes me happy.

Rime covered grass makes me happy. Love the crunch it makes.

Finding frozen seed heads makes me happy.

A pile of sticks floated down on the last storm. They'll be cut up and put in the log pile tomorrow.
Those also.

Not going A over T on the ice, like my friend Miriam did the other week. This part of the road was just like a skating rink - that definitely made me happy.
Happy New Year

Happy Christmas to You

I met a neighbour/friend the other day - we were in the queue in Barclays Bank and she was telling me that she had just gone A over T outside the market. How embarrassing it was and how much her rrrrs hurt. Neither of us noticed that the cashier was waiting patiently at her desk and the queue was getting ever longer behind us. Then the woman behind her joined in the conversation. It all went on down the line and ....... the cashier was still waiting.

Our darling granddaughter has been staying with us for a few days. This is the Christmas card she brought with her. She went home today, but I would like to share it with you who call by. Have a beautiful, special Christmas with all those you love xx

Sunrise

Bin day today. I was just putting the bin out on that bit of the morning  just between dark and light.

Over on the east, a blood red sky.

Within a few short seconds it gradually got lighter.

And lighter.

When I came back in the house, O/H was watching 'Breakfast' on TV. I said to him, 'I've just seen an amazing sunrise." As soon as I said it, one of the TV presenters said to the other, "We are receiving some amazing pictures our viewers are sending in of the sunrise."
Seems like, we were all looking at the same sky.
I didn't send my pictures in and none of them have been 'photo shopped'.
Did you see it? Hope you did - it was wordless.

Knit one, Drop One

It all started a couple of weeks ago when I went for a browse around the Severn Hospice Shop above the Town Hall in Welshpool. Tucked away in a corner was this basket with oddments of coloured wool. Just had to buy it even if I haven't done any knitting for about thirty years. Needing some knitting needles to go with it, I asked the lady behind the counter if they sold them. Apparently they did, but were unable to display them as they were classed as offensive weapons and she had to call the manager. ( Bureaucracy gone daft - I ask you - Elf an' Safety and all that). Anyway, the manager showed me through to a room at the back of the shop, what an Aladdin's Cave. Piles and piles of stuff that people had donated. He opened a deep drawer on a battered wooden chest. 'There you are,' he smiled, 'Take your pick'.
I chose a handful, paid at the till. Off home and couldn't wait to get started.

So far, I've made :- two hot water bottle covers (starting on a third one in the bluey green colour) and two hats. I offered one of them to my son, but he laughed and said it made him look like Benny off 'Crossroads' D'you remember that Soap way back? The ungrateful little buzzuck. My darling horse mad daughter brought me a bag full of gorgeous coloured wool (which I love) for my birthday. So the next project is to knit her one of those ear warming hats for her to wear while she feeds the ponies. She's off to Bali for her holiday at the beginning of January. It's 30 degrees out there, but it might come in handy for when she comes back.

Horsing About

My darling horsey daughter has just shared this video.
Only another 37 days, 3 hours and 1 minute until Christmas,  G M T

Jeep Spade

A few years ago, when we had a stall at Chirk Car Boot, O/H used to leave me manning the stall, while he went for a 'mosey' around everyone else's. This one day he came back with a  half rusty spade. It had quite a short stale and was about 3 feet in length, the T bar  and the stale had worn white in places where the green  paint had flaked away. He propped it against our stall table and off he went. Not long after a dear white haired old man, in checked flat cap and trailing rain coat stopped by for a chat - people often did. He spotted the spade. He leant heavily on his walking stick and his eyes twinkled as he instantly recognised it.
'That's a Jeep spade.'
He picked it up and turned it over in his hands.
'We used to use them when I was out in Burma.'
With that he made pretend movements as he showed me how the soldiers used to dig trenches and make 'dugouts' for their night's shelter. His stories were wonderful. The next time he came by he told me that he was going into a care home for a fortnight.'I'll come and see you in a couple of weeks,' he said.
I never saw him again.
Another wonderful old war veteran is Mr Jones. He lives in the neighbouring property to my sister-in-law. He's in his nineties now. My sister-in-law and her family often call in to see if he's OK and to give him a hand. He was also stationed in Burma during the war and loves to recount some of his memories.  This one particular night he recalls -
'I'd made a dugout with my Jeep spade and bedded down for the night. As it got toward morning, I felt something pressing  on my stomach, heavy like. It was starting to get half light. I opened my eyes and as I looked down, there was  a cobra's head inches away from my face. It had wrapped it's great huge body twice round me. Well I can tell you- scared the living daylights out of me, but I never flinched. I thought to myself, if I lie quiet when reveille goes and I'm not there, somebody will come looking. Sure enough ......

 
Where's Private Jones? They searched and there's me laid out like a statue. Fast as they could to they brought in one of the native boys. Quick as a flash he snapped his hand around the cobra's head and bent it backards.' Mr Jones let out a deep sigh of relief. ' If that cobra had have wrapped himself round me one more time, I would have been a dead 'un for sure.'

The campaign to oust Japanese occupation out of Burma was the longest and bloodiest of the whole of World War 11 lasting from 1941 until 1945

Sunday 9th November is Remembrance Sunday

Horses

I don't usually post two blog posts up so close together, but my horse mad daughter has just shared this on facebook



Thank you for dropping by and leaving yesterday's comments. I googled what 'sfs' means - the best answer was 'Shout for Shout' - apparently it's if you press the 'like' button on somebody's site then ten to one, they'll press the like button on yours. So there you go. Have a good week. Molly

Thank you Amy (2)

My special friend Amy has nominated me for a 'lovely bloggers award'.. Amy, thank you and I loved reading seven things about you as well. Amy's Blog  And not only, but also our best blogging  buddy has started the ball rolling with seven lovely things we didn't know about Cro either... tada...Cro's seven  I'm a bit like Cro and I don't usually do 'Blog Awardy things' either but this is a special one  for Amy -
Seven things about me  - (not that lovely mind)
1. Going to start with Cro's no7 - he says every morning he wakes up happy. Every morning I'm happy to wake up.

2. I have never eaten hummus in my life. Didn't even know what it was and I had to look it up on Google - Hummus - it does actually look very healthy eating - so well done Amy. I cook our main meal mid day and it's usually chicken and vegetables, sausage stir frys or some sort of fish.

3. I love learning new things - did my first grocery internet shop last week and was so pleased. I hate supermarket shopping - crowded alleys, bumping trolleys, crass music which does your head in, looking for stuff I can't find and coming home without it, long queues at the till, humping bags into the car, humping them out again, tripping over ravenous cats, trying to feed ravenous husband and having to pack it all away. No, this was definitely, definitely a lot more civilised. Just put another order in for tomorrow.

4.

Chip basket/ garden sieve

Loo roll centres/ seed incubaters

I am really into recycling. I needed a new chip basket and discovered that my old one made a brilliant sieve for sieving soil for my seeds. I save every cardboard toilet roll holder. Make cuts at one end about 2" deep, bend the ends over. Hold them under the tap to dampen them and then dry them out. Fantastic for growing bean or sweet pea seeds in. In the Spring, all you have to do is to plant them, carton and all.

5. My family mean everything to me. I love it when they just drop in on me unexpectedly. I like to think that I'm loyal to my friends. The worse thing that can happen in my book is to betray someone or to be betrayed. I hate anything false.

6. Red is my favourite colour

7. I saw the abbreviations SFS on something and didn't know what they stood for - I do now. Do You?

Like Cro, I'm not passing this challenge on to anybody, but would love you to join in the fun if you want to.

Adiós Gonzalo

It's been a strange sort of day today - one minute blazing sunshine, howling gales,  an ominous black sky and stampeding rain the next. I was so glad that I'd invested a tenner's worth into Rhino tape from Coed-y and hunkered the poly tunnels down as much as I could the other day. Amazingly enough they are still holding together (only just) and my plants have survived (so far). But we've been lucky - not so good  in West Sussex and all along the west coast, right across up to Cumbria,

Brompton Stocks and Antirrhinums.

At the end of August, I collected up quite a few  seeds from around the garden. I sowed them in margarine tubs, pricked them out into seed trays and they  are coming on quite well. Will over winter them and plant them out in the spring, (she says). Our son and his partner are planning to get married in July/August next year so I've offered  to grow  flowers  for the pending 'do'.  J said that she would like to do her own flowers, so I told her that she can have the pick of as many as she wants. (If she wants them). I love weddings.

This was one little patch, earlier on in the year - a bit of a mish mash of all sorts.

My friend brought me two baby holly hock plants last spring. They were gorgeous and have produced loads of seeds. I've planted a sea of little seedlings from them. Hope they survive the winter. Looking quite good up to now.

Aquilegia and Pinks

Another scrambly border. This pic was taken in early summer. I spent yesterday cutting everything back and rooting out all the weeds, I've taken some cuttings of the one in the front so I hope they 'take'.

Canterbury Bells, lupins and a little oak sapling I found growing in the middle of them.

Holly hocks,  lupins, primulas  and  stocks

Still got a few runner beans hanging on. Hope there's enough to make a meal tomorrow.

Musselburg Leeks

Carrots

Beetroot

Marrows

The wind seems to have died down at last so here's to tomorrow. Have a good week
Molly

A Pile of Bricks

I feel a bit bereft today. Well, to tell the truth, O/H as well. The house in the picture belonged to a much loved neighbour of ours. Our house is the one in the distance below. We often used to walk up the single track up the hill to visit him. O/H had known him all his life and he'd lived in that house for as long as I can remember as well. We used to take our grand daughter for a walk up there when she was little. He always had a tin of sweets on the sideboard and the kettle on the stove.

He was well into his nineties when he died a couple or so years ago.

Old Jack  loved all his animals and had three cats and a sheep dog which he adored.
The house was subsequently put up for sale and sold to a successful local business man. When we looked across up the hill today, the house had gone. All that was left was a JCB digger grinding away and a pile of bricks.

Wearing Purple

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple
 by Jenny Joseph

Me at the Steam Rally

When we went to the Steam Rally on the last Bank Holiday, it tipped down with rain on the Monday. So much so that I bought a hat off the hat stall. I've always fancied wearing a red hat and had a bit of a laugh with the stall holder about the saying that goes with it.  Growing old? Yep. I've arrived and loving every minute.

Aberystwyth Re-visited

At the beginning of the year, all along the south and west coasts Britain was battered by storms. Seems such a long time ago now. Hard to imagine that only nine months ago, it was all like this.
Aberystwyth on the South Wales coastline was one of the many little towns and hamlets to feel the brunt ....



We live inland about 60 miles away. Last Monday we went out on a day trip. It's funny, when it's winter you can't imagine the summer and in the summer time, winter seems a million light years away.



The sun was shining, but most the holiday makers had packed up and gone home. The children, back in school. The uni and college students not yet back. The boats in the harbour, hunkered down and not a fisherman in sight. The walkway through the castle ruins all but deserted. The last remnants of the wild little pink thrift growing in clumps by the castle wall. Rock pools with fronds of trailing red and green algae and limpets. The sea endlessly swishing as the tide idly ebbed and flowed. You could breathe in the pungent smell of  seaweed trapped on the shore. Just a few of us and the seagulls and I loved it.

Shrewsbury Steam Rally 2014

We went to the annual Shrewsbury Steam Rally at Onslow Park on August Bank Holiday Weekend.

Loved watching the 'Tractor Pull' on the working field.

And a man cutting morning sticks using a 1923 Massey Harris stationery engine.

The rain tipped down all day long on Bank Holiday Monday, but it was still a great weekend. (PS did you notice 'The Mini' all lined up to strut it's stuff)
(PPS - the header picture is of the lake beyond the working field - you can just about see it through a gap in the hedge)
Have a good week
Molly

Redeemed By Love

A good friend of ours called by today. O/H has been having a bit of a time of it  health-wise and our friend brought us two complementary tickets for the Onslow Park Vintage Rally on August Bank Holiday Weekend. I think as well, that he brought his pride and joy to show us. It's taken him three years of solid hard work to restore it from 'hedgerow condition' to this. A 1963 Morris Mini. I love the Mini.Used to have one in the 1970's. It's surprising how much room is inside. I once bought an armchair from a furniture auction and after a lot of fiddling and jiggling managed to load it up in the back of my Mini and cart it home in style.

He has tried to keep all the original fittings.

The engine is immaculate and he's even got the original tool set that came with it.

I love old things that are restored. The story of my life really, I suppose.

We Walk In A Shadow

100 years ago on August 4th 1914 ...... well we all know the rest ....

I found this book, left lying in the cobwebbed dust in the attic when we moved in 37 years ago.
It's a little 'Active Service' Testament 1916

In the front of the book is a hand written message  from Lord Roberts to his troops. It's dated 25th May 1914 -
'I ask you to put your trust in God. He will watch over you and strengthen you.
You will find in this little Book guidance when you are in health, comfort when
 you are in sickness, and strength when you are in adversity'
'Roberts'

There was a name and address at the back of the book -
'Chas. Wm. Ling
18, Egerton Road, 
South Norwood,
London
It was dated 13/8/16

They said that it was the war to end all wars ...... but the pain goes on.

Linking up to http://shadowshotsunday2.blogspot.co.uk/

Shadow Shot Sunday 2

Taking Five

'I'll tell you how the sun rose, a ribbon at a time' ~ Emily Dickinson

And linking up with Shadow Shot Sunday 2 after all this long while.

'Do You Read Me .........Over'

We had our 'Parish News' magazine the other day. Right in the middle of it was a two page  questionnaire with questions like ' Do you subscribe to 'Parish News', then you had to tick the appropriate box of either 'Always,' 'Sometimes' or 'Never.'  There was a two page list of bits of news, letters, articles, puzzles etc. which you had to tick accordingly. I used to submit the odd article a long time ago. Thankfully there was no mention of that. Wouldn't I have been gutted if they'd all ticked the 'never' box. I got to thinking about blogging and why we do it. Have you ever clicked on 'Next Blog' on the address bar at the top to see who's 'living next door'. There's a load who never have a comment between them and I feel quite sad about that. It's a lot of effort with no feedback. I never quite worked out how our blogging community came about, but I love reading your blog posts and what you've been up to, so thanks for that and for your company as well.
The other thing in my quiet little life is digging the weeds so here's my week -

We've had a couple of meals off our runner beans

Pulled some of the beetroot today too. We had bacon, beans and beetroot for dinner. Yum.

Cucumbers are ready. They taste good (no bitterness). The leaves are starting to show a bit of grey mould which is a pain, but nice while they last.

Tomatoes are fruiting. The early 'Shirleys' are starting to ripen so should be ready soon.

 I dug up one of the parsnips to see what they're like - quite pleased with that one. Love them roasted.

This is a self setter marrow. The seeds just popped through where the old marrow plants had died last year. I transferred them to another part of the seed bed and 'Voila!' or something like that.

The cobs on the sweetcorn are starting to fill out. Should be ready next month. I love sweetcorn with lashings of butter. I've got one of those little microwave dishes where you can cook two in about eight minutes.

That rose is called 'Red Windsor'. I bought it from 'Woolies' when they were in business so it's been growing quite a long time.

 Lilies are out. A bit disappointed because they don't seem to have the fragrance I was hoping. But love them anyway.

This is my mish-mash of a flower garden. It rained heavy today and the delphiniums have toppled over. They grew again from last year. A real bonus - the slugs usually polish them off.

Crocosmia, 'Lucifer' out in the side border. It's flowered early this year. The whole seasons seem to be moving on fast forward. It feels like early Autumn already.
Hope you're having a good life too.