This Summer...

I've watched the landscape change from this...

...to this...

...and now to this.

Enjoyed the annual ritual of picking strawberries...

...and raspberries.

Along with enjoying the fruits of my labours in my own little patch...

...despite the fact that I was mortally wounded! That'll teach me to try and jump kerbs...note to self - try to remember you're **, not 14 ;-)

Had days out to nice places...

...including lunch by the river here (sadly, the service was very sloooooow)

Strolling along the river made us green with envy as usual at the sight of these.

One day, my lovely, one day.

Me, A and a whippet. On a narrowboat. Paradise methinks.

On a walk closer to home we met this gorgeous young chap who left his Mum as soon as he saw us and strolled over, not stopping until his nose was almost touching mine!

He let me put my arms around him and kiss his nose. I could've brought him home. Literally. Every time we made to go he would follow. But he got the message, eventually.

Aren't his ears lovely?

We also welcomed some regular visitors to the garden...

I love photographing Dragonflies. They're so accommodating!

Just a few snaps from my Summer. What have you been up to? Whatever it was, I hope you had a great time.

Enjoying the colour

The garden is starting to feel as if it's winding down into Autumn so I'm trying to enjoy every last bit of colour while I can.
The tomatoes are going bananas (!) and have starting ripening since I took this picture. I've also been busy planting seeds for next year (lupins and sweet williams top left) and collecting seeds from around the garden.
One thing I look forward to in Autumn is the turning of my Virginia Creeper. It was a bit slow to grow in the first few years but now I swear if you stand and look at it for a few seconds you can see it growing! It will soon start to turn the most magnificent shade of red. It's very quickly wending it's way around the side of the house. I think by next year I'll be cutting it back.



I was a bit disappointed in my containers this year but they seem to be going for it now. The long red dangly thing is Love Lies Bleeding. I'm never sure if I like that name or not. Anyway, it's a really easy to grow annual and fills out gaps in the garden and containers as it can get quite big. It also seems very drought tolerant. You can collect literally millions of seeds from each dangly head and grow them for free next year.

The plums are nearly ready but the apples are never at their best until October. I like to freeze lot's of plums and enjoy crumble throughout the Winter.

I always collect lot's of poppy seeds by upending the heads in an old vase and then just shaking them. I then leave the vase laid flat in the shed for a few days for all the bugs to make their escape and scatter the seeds where I want them. I always think dried poppy heads are so beautiful. Very sculptural I suppose.

Something else that's easy to grow and will seed everywhere of it's own volition is Verbena Bonariensis. It's sooo expensive to buy in a pot but easy to get going from seed and then you'll never be without it. Next to Buddleia it's the best plant for attracting butterflies.

These are just a few of my Hollyhock varieties. I do love them. As do the bees. But you do need a lot of room for them. The picture bottom right is of one that set seed on the veg patch and I didn't have the heart to pull it out or the room to move it elsewhere so I let it flower. I'll regret that when I get seedings coming up all over the veg patch next year! Because it's had plenty of room to grow it's absolutely enormous.

There are only a few clematis at their best now and I only have one yellow one left to flower. I've planted a couple of new varieties this year so will look forward to seeing what they produce.

One of my favourite plants is Hemoracallis (or day lily) The one on the left there flowers for weeks and weeks and each bloom last's just one day.

And the sedum is starting to turn pink which is a sure sign of Autumn as is the fact that the wheat in 'my' field has been cut, baled and brought in. Next thing the plough will be out and nothing looks as autumnal as a freshly ploughed field!

There is new stock on the website today. Because I've been so busy today and didn't get around to doing this post when I intended some of the items pictured are already sold but there's lot's more lovely things just like them available over at This Vintage Life.

Paint job

I hope everybody is enjoying a good week? The weather here is treating us very well at the moment and that means that I have been Getting Things Done. A bit of sunshine seems to make the worst jobs more bearable doesn't it? (I must re-read that sentence when I'm next mopping up dog wee)

Anyhoo...the last few days have seen me planting lot's of seeds in the greenhouse as well as scattering some around the garden. I used to plant my tomatoes and courgettes in a heated propagator in February but even with 'hardening off' in the cold frame a lot of them used to succumb to shock when they had their first taste of the outside world so for a few years now, I've been planting at this time of year...just in a seed tray in the greenhouse and they seem fine. No big shocks to the system for them! I have to belt and braces everything at night though as the teeny tiny bunnies are around and will munch everything in sight and if it's not them, it's mice digging up the seeds just for the heck of it.

There's a path somewhere under all that disturbed soil...

...and here's the culprit. I let her have her fun until the gro-bags go in then I have to 'betty-proof' the door. Well, she has to have somewhere to bathe!

My week didn't get off to a great start as I lost my watch and then the washing machine died. I did two loads of clothes with no problems.... so why did it choose not to work just as I put in the cat-sick soaked dog bed and the doormat full of dog wee? Ooooh, the glamour!

Things got slightly better when A found my watch while cleaning his car (it'd got wedged down the side of the seat...yay!) and I may not have to go to the expense of a new washing machine either as a chap is coming to look at it tomorrow. Actually, it doesn't owe me a penny as it is fifteen years old...fingers crossed it can be put right.

I've decided to give my little Summerhouse a makeover as it's long overdue. I always intended using it for just that purpose; to shelter from a cool breeze or the heat of the summer sun...book in hand, wireless playing away...maybe trying out all that watercolour painting stuff I invested in years ago but never used....ahh, sounds good doesn't it? In reality, of course, it became a depository for all the garden furniture etc.. we didn't have room to store elsewhere!

So I thought - no more! I've ordered a big shed (!) and hopefully that will give me all the storage space I need to enable me to claim my little sanctuary back.

Before I paint the inside I've been using it to finish off a couple of jobs like painting the table with the barley twist legs. My parents were getting rid of it and I knew I could give it a good home. I may put a brighter colour on top...I haven't decided yet.

Look, it's that chicken again...she's my little shadow whenever I'm outside.

Can you see the other table in the background with the metal legs? It's part of a set of garden furniture bought many years ago from the dreaded Swedish place whose name we no longer mention in this house. It involves a very long story that -surprise, surprise - is all about how rubbishy Ikea's customer service skills are. Actually, I've always found them to be non-existent.

The very short version is that we ended up with a natural coloured table and four blue chairs (don't ask) so they've never looked right together even though I gave the table a blue wash to try and make it match. So I decided the time was right for a paint job. What do you do when you need to do a lot of painting, fast? Break out the PBW! You can't go wrong (that's pure brilliant white to people without a painter and decorator for a dad)

Another thing I'm thinking about painting is the cast iron fireplace. I'm ashamed to say how long I've had it; bought it at a car boot sale when I had nowhere to fit it and it's just been in the way ever since. It was always rusty but we had it standing outside for a long time which didn't help. As it's only ever going to be for decoration I wouldn't feel so bad about titivating it whereas normally I would be restoring it...I kinda like the k*******d, rusty look it has though!

So, hopefully I'll get it all finished over Easter and be sitting inside it sipping something nicely chilled by Easter Monday afternoon! Well, it's a plan...maybe you'll join me for the big reveal? It may involve bunting and even union jacks...it's true! Although, if I'm honest I'll probably just get the painting done...you may have to wait for the 'pretty bits'.

I can't even nip to the shed without somebody being on my heels...she knows her food's in there!

Oh and if you happen to be in my neck of the woods and see a little red car whizzing by (I'm always whizzing, tut tut) with this on the side...give me a parp! It's magnetic and it came from here. I think it's pretty snazzy and lets face it, great advertising!

Here's hoping we all enjoy a lovely, sunny happy Easter (and don't eat too many eggs)

The best laid plans..

...never work out do they? I thought I would be sharing with you some lovely pictures of Stamford and Uppingham which we visited on Monday but...it wasn't to be. It was A's birthday on Sunday but we decided to have a day out on Monday instead when it would be a bit quieter. We've visited before and particularly like Uppingham (in Rutland) as it's chock full of antique and junk shops. We had a lovely lunch there too so were looking forward to a return visit. Unfortunately, this place doesn't open for lunch on Mondays! Having particular dietary needs, as t'were, meant we were at a loss for somewhere else to eat so jumped in the car and hot-footed it back to Stamford, the Belgravia of the north... Ha Ha!! We must have walked around that place three times and could find nowhere to get a decent meal. Fancy boutiques? Yep. Poncey interiors shops? You got 'em. But a nice restaurant? Nope. We ended up gobbling down a (overpriced) panini and salad in a very average coffee shop. We were on the clock you see...Jack was with us but we had to be back for 4pm to put Betty away and it's a good 90 minute drive. Wait. It gets better. I found a foreign body in my salad....it was cellophane or some such thing. Now, I don't know if this has ever happened to you but why is it that when I complain about something in a restaurant they want to explain the why's and wherefore's to me? I don't care! It's not my problem! I'm not interested! Just deduct it from the bill! I had to listen to a long explanation about where it can have originated, which ended with the manageress fetching the bag of salad (yes, bagged salad) that she had purchased from Morrisons that very morning and opened in my honour! I should've known really when I saw the menu residing in a maroon leatherette folder and little pouches of salad cream and ketchup in a pot on the table. All in all, not a birthday outing to remember. We popped out later that night and had a very nice italian meal so all was not lost but still, it wasn't the day we planned. Needless to say, I didn't take one photo. I thought you might like to see my rainbow though. I was glued to the window anyway as there was a very dramatic stormy sky gathering when...it just appeared. I know what I wish was at the end of it and it's not a leprechaun sat on his crock of gold. That's what my (Irish) mother used to tell me when I was little! Anyway, it's been a while since I shared some thrifty finds with you although this is because I haven't actually bought much for myself....well, Christmas is coming isn't it? Says she that recently bought a piece of furniture that she didn't really need and hasn't really got room for. And that's without mentioning the cost...well, I don't sell on ebay for fun y'know!!

So, what do you think? I know at least one person who'll think it's tantamount to firewood. You can paint and distress furniture until you're blue in the face (and I've been doing that for a very long time) but it will never look as great as the real thing. And it is as tatty as it looks. In fact, it's worse! But, I LOVE IT. I really do have a very accommodating husband. It is, at present, in the dining room but may find a home somewhere else. I just wish I had one for every room in the house. By the way, please avert your eyes from the hideousness that is the carpet. I can't be rid of it while we have Jack as (bless him) he can't get up so well off a hard floor. So, unfortunately, I'm stuck with it.

I couldn't find these pics last night, I'd stuck them in some obscure folder on the computer...anyway, the pink curtains are from the same dealer I bought the chest from and it's just one of those rooms that when you walk in , you want to bring everything home. Everything! They're french and huge and I was so taken with the little bit of lace at the bottom. The smaller rosy ones I'll probably sell. I have no windows that size (although that never stopped me before...)
Oh, and I forgot to say, the french ones were £9.00!

I can never say no to Vern! Especially not a teeny one. (sorry, that's Vernon Ward for the uninitiated. You can't call yourself a vintage lover and not have a few Verns in your collection)

It's dangerous having to go to auctions in my line of work. Usually, I'm quite good - it's fairs and car boot sales where I buy for myself but the last auction I went to had a collection of enamel advertising signs. I was actually after a lovely blue 'Rinso' one but it went for too much so I bid on this one instead. I thought it fitting as Johnson was my maiden name. It's in too good a condition for outside but being so large we had trouble finding a home for it. It's ended up in the utility room where I can see it every time I come in the back door. And speaking of enamel, I got this collection of buckets, baths and galvanised pot's from various sources over the summer.

I've put winter pansies in some for a bit of colour through the dreary months ahead and narcissi bulbs in others for something to look forward to in the Spring.

Have a good week and Happy Bonfire Night to one and all!