my little friend

This little robin has been keeping me company recently while I've been digging holes in the garden and then he enchants me as the sun goes down with his beautiful song from the sycamore tree.

show of hands

I had the most amazing musical experience at the weekend at the Lowry Theatre in Salford Quays. I lost all sense of space and time, found tears in my eyes and tingles from my scalp, across my shoulders and down my spine. The talent from the band we had gone to see was just incredible. How can three people be so talented to play so many instruments AND have perfect voices too? Not to mention funny as well. So.. show of hands are now officially my favourite band ever!

Thanks to David for the use of this great picture. Show of hands were originally just Steve Knightley and Phil Beer (what a great name!!) but for now they have Miranda Sykes playing with them.

We're off on a folk train tomorrow night... that should be an experience!
Bye for now!

tulips and teacups

Happy monday to you all. Some flowers to brighten your day.

buried treasure

Look what Mr P dug up in the garden!!!



I always hoped we'd find some interesting things when we started transforming the garden. Where we live there used to be parkland to a big house which survived until just before the second world war when the estate was turned into a British army transit base. Later on it was occupied by thousands of American soldiers prior to the D-Day invasion. We have worked out by looking at the old map that our house was built on the site of the old mess hut. I like to think that's why we have found this amazing old milk bottle. It's so old that the phone number has only 4 digits.

I find it hard to explain why I'm so in love with this bottle. Before this I could never see the appeal of archaeological digs, but now I think I understand the excitement of finding something hidden for years, waiting to give up its secrets. It's the mystery of how it ended up there in our garden, who drank the milk it held, who was the last person to touch it before we did, how long had it been buried there, how old is it, where exactly was the dairy??? What I can't understand is how a milk bottle from Timperley has found its way here. It's about half an hour by car. Why would they have been using a dairy so far away? Maybe somebody was visiting and brought it with them? Does anyone have any other ideas? Perhaps that is how it found its way into the ground here... because it was from a different dairy it wasn't rinsed and returned like the others. Well it's a mystery to me but such a lovely one. It's a very chunky bottle with a very wide neck. Perfect for flowers. And it makes me feel all warm inside that we have such a beautiful piece of history belonging to this place sitting on the dining room table.

I would love to hear about any treasures you have found. Wishing you a lovely weekend!

bird and branch pebble pendant

A crafty post is long overdue so here is my latest carved pebble.

I've been making these for a number of months now and I think it is the natural simplicity of them that appeals to me and that I know their entire journey from start to finish. I love to make jewellery and for a while I was getting frustrated that the things I was making weren't as unique to me as they could be and I wanted to make something more original that would have a strong identity. I suppose I got the idea through carving lino prints and rubber stamps. I started to think about how could I use that process in my jewellery making that would allow me to use my drawings and designs to create something unique. I've been refining my technique and I think and hope I get better with each pebble.

Happy Wednesday to you!

yesterday...

I spent the day making little cakes for Mr P but don't tell him! It's his birthday you see. Well they're more like muffins than little cakes really. And there were originally 6 and now there are 4 but, well, I had to try one when they came out of the oven to check they were baked enough (they were), then I had to try another one after I put the melted chocolate on to make sure that they still tasted alright (they did). Oh and did I mention that I licked the spoon and the bowl?! I'm just a big kid really! I feel sick now! Should know better really :-)

The mini cake stand is from a lovely lady on etsy. I love etsy!!

recipe for major muscle ache

Take some scaffolding planks:

and a heap of stinky soil:

then mix in 4 people, 2 wheelbarrows, lots of hard work and add to this:

to make this:

and four very sore backs!!

I'm very pleased! It turned out that we had about 2 tonnes extra topsoil than we needed but the garden has never looked better. It's been completely transformed by it. All the borders look amazing now the weeds have been covered up! Only joking, we pulled them out first, honest. Now I just need to start sowing veg seeds, oh and a massage! Bye for now!

a thousand words

If you have a moment please watch this short film. It's lovely and heart warming.
A Thousand Words from Ted Chung on Vimeo.
(found via swissmiss)

Eeek!

When I looked out of the window I just stared in bewilderment and thought someone must have miscalculated!! Then I had a massive fit of giggles which lasted about 5 minutes. Guess what we'll be doing tomorrow! Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

sometimes i need to tell myself...

It seems to be the hardest part.