The green post

I was really excited the other day when this delivery arrived from CAT in Wales.

'What on earth is it?' you ask...


It's my new compost bins!!! Hurray!!

I bet no one has ever been sooo excited by compost bins before! I am over the moon because for ages I have been sending all the garden waste off for recycling by the council and putting the kitchen peelings and whatnot in the bin, but now I can make it all into lovely compost for the garden instead!

They were sooo easy to put together too. They just slotted together... no hammering of nails or messing around with screwdrivers. Just the feeling of satisfaction you get when you've made something!!

Who knew a compost bin could look so beautiful!! :-)

So we immediately started filling it. Delia's Kitchen Garden book recommends putting small woody branches at the bottom to keep it aerated, then a layer of brown waste...

Then a layer of green waste... never before have I been so eager to mow the lawn!

We're building it up in layers like a big cake. :-) We've also added chopped, soaked straw, horse manure and herbaceous prunings. I had a peek this morning and there were already some compost creatures roaming around in there.

As this is the green post I thought I'd share a few other acquisitions that are greening up our home. I know they look like little planets but they're Eco Balls to replace the washing powder. They work by ionising the water which cleans your clothes without any nasty chemicals. They work too! Not only that it says that they last for up to 1000 washes! I'd just like to mention that I am in no way connected to this company... I'm just really pleased with my little planets!

Same goes for our kettle. It's called an Eco Kettle. You put your water in, press a button and end up boiling just the right amount of water. It's great! A fast boiler too. Saves so much time, water and energy. According to the website on average people boil twice the amount of water they need to and with a 3w kettle this amounts to wasting the energy of about 50 light bulbs!

I'm certainly no angel but when things need replacing I think it's worth thinking about the environment. I'm looking forward to choosing new appliances for the kitchen when we change it. Especially the fridge freezer. I think I'm right in thinking that they are the most energy guzzling out of all the appliances? Ours is off the ark so it will be satisfying to replace it.

P.s. Somebody has been asking about our dancing classes... I will have to spill the beans in a separate post. Hopefully I can get hold of some photos!

Sweetness and Light

Don't you think these biscuits are cute? I know they are aimed at children so I must be a big kid! I was completely sold on the packaging. It's based on the poem by Edward Lear - The Owl and the Pussycat. If anybody knows who the illustrator is I would love to know.

Speaking of owls there is an enchanting 10 minute BBC film here about a family of Little Owls living in an orchard in Herefordshire. Ever since I first saw it months ago I have been hunting for a real Little Owl but so far they have all eluded me.


Sweet pancakes of love!!

And finally a little bit of magic through the Royal Mail. Thanks Astrid (middle name Amelie)!! You're a star. You really cheered me up the other day with your surprise package of giraffes, mini teapot and this little fella who has been endowed with special powers to stop me from being locked out. Thank you x

A very eventful day...

So I was found out! Thanks for the birthday greetings!

I was very surprised that anyone worked out when it was. :-)

Here I am at P's mum's house cutting the first birthday cake anyone has given me in a long time. Heehee! Not the best photo of me ever taken... I think I look a bit deranged with that grin and a knife in my hand!

Having a birthday cake was so nice! It made me feel really special. A big thank you to P's mum who was already really busy with her son's wedding on the same day.

P also made me some fairy cakes which was a really lovely and very tasty surprise!

I have to slip a few photos in of the wedding. This is the groom about 10 mins before the ceremony. He looks remarkably calm don't you think?!

And the happy couple after signing the register.

After all the photos had been taken we headed on to Ruthin Castle Hotel where there were some very moving speeches and one very risque one by the best man which made a few of the older guests wince a bit. It was fun watching people's faces ;-)

Later on P entertained everyone with his very 'expressive' dancing. I only had 1 person come up to me to ask how I put up with him. It's usually much more!

Now you know why we're taking dancing lessons!! ;-)

Raindrops - Lino Print

Spot the difference:

I forgot to make the number a mirror image! Doh!! So I completely removed it from the lino. It's too late now but I think I prefer the original print. :-( That's what you get for working until 4 in the morning!
Oh well, at least I have the proof to keep. I think I will put it in the bathroom in a white frame. It is just the right colour.

Last weekend was great. We went to see James at the Manchester Arena. To say they were good would be an injustice. Ah, those songs take me back to my school days. The atmosphere was electric. Can anybody dance like Tim Booth? It's the only concert I've been to where everyone has been standing and singing along, even right at the top where you feel like you could fall out of the stand it's so steep. Wish I had some photos to show you. Instead you will have to make do with flowers from my garden.

There's a bit of a pink theme going on at the moment.

I love the bleeding heart plant. My mum bought it for me last year. :-)

Good things since my last post...

I opened the post yesterday to find this fantastic messenger bag I'd bought from etsy seller thisgalissewcrazy. My old bag I got when I was in Prague is looking a bit worse for wear and I'd been looking for a bag with a pretty pattern. I love the flea market fancy prints but haven't seen them anywhere in the UK. So I'm really pleased with this. Really well made too.

We ate some of the purple sprouting broccoli I've been growing. It was sooo sweet. Really delicious just simply steamed. This has encouraged us to try some more edibles in the garden.

So I'm growing some cherry tomatoes for the first time. They're called Sungold and are supposed to be really sweet. They're racing to the top of the birch twigs I've pushed into their pots to support them. I've read that if you grow marigolds alongside them (photo below) that they're more productive and less prone to attack by aphids. So I'm giving that a go.

I have wild fantasies of a vegetable plot mixed in with flowers, herbs and fruit trees. So far I have plotted it on the computer and there are now canes pushed into the grass where the raised borders will go.

In other news...

I had a brilliant incident of serendipity happen to me. I've been going on to P about starting dancing lessons again. When our local newsletter came there was a big advert for a new dance club that was starting. Such a coincidence that it turned out to be our old teacher. So I filled in the form, signed the cheque and ran over to the clubhouse to enroll (so excited!). A few days later when we were standing in the middle of the crowd waiting for the first lesson to begin there was a general feeling of apprehension in the air. Then the worst thing happened... I was asked to go into the middle several times to help demonstrate different moves! I hate being centre of attention when I'm not prepared for it. Still I don't care if it means I'm dancing again!! Yay!!

It didn't help that I'd just got back from a crazy hen party weekend in Blackpool. I'd only had 4 hours sleep! What a fantastic time we had! I haven't been to Blackpool since my art foundation course when our lecturer took us to take photos of the seedier parts of town. I left my camera behind this time. I think the best thing about Blackpool is definitely the people. Everyone is friendly and people just start a conversation with you as if they'd known you all their lives! We went to Funny Girls, the famous drag queen cabaret club. My god, have they got legs to die for! Kicking them above their heads! Our hen got to have her photo taken with the very glam compere. She looked so tiny stood next to her.

Teacup love No.2 and some birthday cakes

It was such a lovely day here yesterday. The sun was so hot it felt like a summer's day so I sat out on the balcony to carve the lino, listening to the sounds of people doing their gardening, dogs barking, birds singing, a radio playing somewhere in the distance. It was very relaxing. Later we sat out and had a glass of wine and watched the sun go down. Very romantic!

I'm really pleased with how the new print has come out. I tried it in more of a raspberry colour than the other teacup by adding a bit of white to the ink. So I think I will print both blocks in the same colour to make a set which I may add to with another one when I find a new teacup.

By the way, I want to thank everyone for their comments and imput into the design of the first teacup. The majority thought that the original was better so I have decided to leave it alone and print it as it is. You've all been very helpful. Thank you!

P's birthday was also a good day and featured lots of walking, wildlife, a picnic and a meal out. I made some cakes for him using directions from a book by Peggy Porschen but changed the design slightly. They reminded me of something which I couldn't quite put my finger on. Then sally_jane on Flickr said she loved the 'big top' ones and hit the nail on the head!

An artist's date a la Julia Cameron

I decided to take a trip down to our local antiques centre to find another tea cup to draw from for my next lino print. It was very satisfying wandering through the different units looking at all the great treasures. There was a fantastic, old, white birdcage which I almost bought. I just couldn't think where I would put it because it was on the large side and then I heard these three little owls calling out to me and I just couldn't resist. I have been desperately trying to find a real little owl for months but that's another story.

Eventually I found this gorgeous tea cup, saucer and plate. Another Royal Albert set (like my mum's) but a different pattern. I was so pleased to find it and fell in love straight away. I have already started cutting my lino block but have had to put it on hold while I make birthday cakes and the like for my sweetie heart.

I thought I would leave you with these wood anemones (I think) which I found at Anderton Nature Park. Have a great Easter weekend everybody!