Things to do when you're grounded

Yep, it's the same here as it is all over UK today. One of the things I haven't been doing is mowing the lawn. I'm in DIY mode, so hope  it lasts until I finish the job in hand (the mode I mean - not the snow). We are expecting  (hoping) that two special guests will be coming to stay over the Easter weekend so I've been (am) decorating the spare bedroom. The first job was clearing the stuff out and vaccying up the revelation of dust accumulation from behind two heavy wardrobes. There's a fire grate on the east wall, long boarded up to conserve  the minuscule bit of heat from the central heating radiator. We took the boarding away:-

The black leaded grate hasn't seen the light of day for a few years. Isn't it fascinating when you find things like this, still intact. It had been bricked up just above the hearth, to stop the logs burning away too quickly.

View when I aimed my camera up the chimney. Every spring the rooks used to build or attempt to build their nests at the top of the chimneys. We had to cover them over with wire mesh to try to stop them. They don't any more - the barn conversions next door saw them off  two or three years ago. Those twigs look as if they've been there a while. We counted  and calculated another eight fire grates (all boarded up) in various rooms around the house. Imagine what it was like for the farm labourers sawing all that firewood by hand  and the maids having to black lead and clean out all those grates to keep the fires glowing.

Among the treasures we found, were a pile of old black and white photographs. We believe this one was the wedding day of our old neighbour who lived here, taken outside our house four generations ago.
Wonder who'll be here after we've gone. Hope it doesn't all fall to pieces.

D-I-Y ing

After what seems like an endless winter of non-achievement, today I finally got round to painting my kitchen, resealed the grotty bit between the worktop and painted the tiles with tile paint. Don't you feel good when you complete a job. Must be Spring or something.

How Green is My Valley - Not Very

Yesterday, I intended to put one of my garden-y posts up. The sun shone for most of the day and I spent the afternoon, weeding and pottering about in the poly tunnel. Not that anything has started to move much yet. To be quite honest, I've hardly been out in the garden at all this year.

It's just on the intersection between winter and spring and most of my garden looks a bit like the picture of the artichoke above, although the green spiky leaves are starting to shoot out from the base.

I planted some broccoli out in October last year and it's looking a bit promising - so might have a mini crop in about a month's time.

Those are the tail end of the leeks - still tender as yet but will have to be used before the end of the month - besides I could do with the ground to  plant lettuce and salad crops. I should do a plan really, but being a bit idle I just take photos and hope for the best.

I sowed some spring cabbage, caulies and Kohl Rabbi last October too.  Planted them out at the end of December. They have survived the frost, snow and the slugs  as yet so maybe another crop there end of April, beginning of May.
Got some carrot seeds in buckets. What you do, is make holes in the bottom of either an old plastic or metal bucket. Fill it compost mixed with a free draining soil (a few pebbles or broken clay bits at the bottom to provide a good soak-away). Sow a pinch of  seed and cover them with a little bit of compost. They're usually susceptible to the carrot fly - little white maggots that bore through the carrots and make them inedible. This way, you can move them on to a bench or somewhere a bit higher where the fly can't reach. I did this last year and it worked quite well.

I took this picture, across the field, last night. This morning it was all thick over with freezing fog. What a game. I had to have a CT scan today with that purple dye they inject into your arm to see where any knobbly bits might or might not be lurking. The radiographer set me up on the machine. You have to lie on a bed with your arms up in the air while you pass through a sort of hoop. A dis-embodied voice gives you instructions - like hold your breath, while the camera flashes and the bed moves through the tunnel. The young man (not may years older than my granddaughter) who set me up was great. He told me that I would start to feel very hot and might even feel as though I was wetting myself (charming).  When it was all over, he said that he'd never actually had a CT scan although he'd operated the machine loads of times and asked me what it was like. I thought for a moment or two and then said, 'Well, it's a bit like sitting on a hot water bottle.' And you couldn't have a better day for it.

All Leeks and no Daffodils

It's been that sort of day here today.
Delores over at Feathered Nest put a brilliant blog up on 'Wondering ......what if' ...'

And all my shallow little mind could come up with was this advert from way back. Remember it?



And that's just for those of us who've still got our own teeth.

 Happy St David's Day, Bach.

To Whom It May Concern

I

Don't know why, but this song, keeps running through my head. Perhaps I do. Last Thursday - Valentine's Day, O/H had another hospital appointment. The good news is - he's doing OK, no, he's doing more than OK - he's doing brilliant. Anyway after we'd seen the Doc, we decided to go into Shrewsbury for a meander in the sunshine. First stop, we called in Wilkinsons, which is up over the Frankwell Foot Bridge and then down into the Riverside Shopping Centre. The first little bit of Spring weather and I'm in 'gardening' and 'painting' mode. Filled up my shopping basket and then wondered how I was going to carry it all back to the car. I asked a nearby  shop assistant if I could borrow one of their trolleys. She was so helpful. She cleared it with her supervisor and then when I'd been through the checkout, she took the trolley and wheeled it all the way to our car for us and then carted the empty cart back. So - to 'Shirley' (name on her badge) Shop Assistant - this is for you.
We don't usually buy each other cards and presents and that sort of thing, but on this day O/H treated me to a pub lunch. The meal and the service were superb, no wonder the place was crowded up to the hilt. But we still managed to find a neat little table. So to all the staff at The Bull Inn, Butchers Row - this is for you too.
I don't know about you - but I really do appreciate good service - WE'LL BE BACK.

Silence Please

Just had a sneak peek at what O/H was watching on his computer. It made me laugh. MAD AS A BOX OF FROGS

Shadow Shot Sunday in the Attic

I rarely go up there. It's freezing in the winter and like an oven in the summer. That's if we get summer.
I took these photos when there was a little glitch of sunshine - just enough to capture shadows on the wall

A corridor leads off from the main stair case into a little room we call 'the priest hole' . It's only about four feet square.

 It's quite strange with a caggle of letters which look as though someone has attempted to leave a cryptic message on the ceiling - or is it just a trail of smoke from a long burned out candle. I don't usually stop there too long to find out.

Linking up with Shadow Shot Sunday 2. Hope you've had a great weekend.