Seasons And Colours Are Changing.

Autumn is in full swing now, and I love it! The colours around the house and garden are changing. The creeper on the front is this fab red.

Then the tree I always wrongly call a wonky Willow but is actually a Hazel is looking great and I can't WAIT to bring some of this in as part of the house festive decorations. Eeeek!

And talking of decorations the big, varigated holly bush is looking fab so there will be plenty for cupboard top and table centre displays. 

Can you tell I'm getting excited? 

I've already printed off my Christmas planning sheets - see here.!!! and created another decoration for the house.

On Sunday morning it was a little chilly so we lit the woodburner in the living room whilst we had out first brew of the day before getting on with a few jobs. Have to admit that this view, which is from my regular spot, will be even more wonderful soon as the tree will be placed for Christmas where the small table is in the far corner. I am getting excited which I normally hold back on until after Halloween but this year JUST can't seem to do it! 

Anyhow the weather for the last couple of days have been bright, dry and cool which I absolutely love but today is damp and we have a wet weather warning here for tomorrow and Saturday. The Rayburn is already lit, of course, but I may light the woodburner for when the boys come home; we are going nowhere this evening plus they break up for half term today so perfect night for a cosy time by the fire.

Cracking on. In the week I shunned the ironing board and headed out to the garden. I'd already cleared this bed, no. 3, so set about preparing it by filling it with a mixture of chicken poo/bedding, bought compost, some of my own made black stuff along with some I'd taken from planters to use as a mulch. This bed is now ready to plant with garlic and onions. (Please ignore the weeds surrounding this area!)

This is the bed behind the poly house. I've done the same preparing this one but it will be covered over soon ready for Spring.

I'd put two planters behind the lettuce sink which last year had tulips growing in outside The Snug. If you look REALLY, REALLY closely you can JUST see new shoots growing through! 

Talking of bulbs I did more preparation by clearing the planter outside the Studio. I  planted a selection there including some given to me by my lovely gardening next-door-but- ones.

I'm quite pleased how it turned out but obvs can't wait until we see the colours coming through!

Sorry if you saw this on my Twitter feed but for those who didn't....

#SMEGFEST ALERT!!!

Jon found on Facebook a Smeg fridge freezer that looked a bargain, to say the least!

It was priced at £62, apparently needed work as the thermostat wasn't working, the top cover was missing and one of the doors didn't close properly. It arrived home with Jon, confident as ever that everything could be fixed. After about an hour working on it, sitting over night then switched on for 12 hours or so... ta da!!

The blue lights, which apparently help to keep the fruit and veg fresh, flash on and off when you leave the door open for too long!

I absolutely LOVE it.

I've been suffering with swollen glands and a cough etc. for about a week and I still don't feel my best. I started my new Welsh class last Thursday, da iawn a mi, but I'm not sure I'm going to go today; piggin' shame as only week 2 and it's half term next week... I'll see.

The odd Airbnb booking is still coming in with three last weekend and one this weekend so the chalet will be ready for them shortly.

Well that is my little catch up.

By for now.

Lou.xx

Stuff, memories, bad parent?

Hi.

This is a really quickly thrown together post as I am just listening to something on Radio 4 about being organised, or not.

It made me think about other things.

The other day we were trying to remember where the photos were from our trip to Lapland in 2012. I can't find them. I thought they were on a memory stick but no. They used to be on my eldest's laptop but we bought him a new one.

Jon said it didn't matter because we have the memories and I loved that he said that.

I read, and have written here before I think, about, a book called Stuffocation.

In a nutshell it talks about spending time on experiences and not stuff. That we just have too much stuff and it leads to minimalism and ultimately me selling my wedding dress because on that occasion I did of course have photos of the day, and I know it was one of the best days of my entire life.

I am really a very organised person but I still have some things lying around that should be dealt with. These are generally items to do with my children. I no longer keep every school book they ever wrote in, just the yearly reports we get. But I still have their first, favourite toys, baby grows they came home from hospital in, their blankies from when they were young, stuff like that. I also have a box for each of them which contain the red books from the doctor, baby teeth and hair in envelopes and lots of other things.

Would I be a bad parent if I didn't keep SOME of these things, especially when my eldest is now 13 and taller than me and my youngest is quite easily able to take care of a school playground bully?

I guess this isn't to do with organisation but the stuff thing. 

How do other people feel about the things they carry with them? 

Do you think the wrench would be just too much and the guilt just too heavy if you threw out the first finger painting your children ever did?

Bye for now.
Lou.xx

Where Has The Time Gone?

Hello? Remember me?

It has been just over a month since my last confession  blog post.

It has been one heck of a summer. My last post celebrated our 4 year anniversary of moving here to wonderful Wales but I didn't really chat about anything else so prepare for a ramble!

I have to say I'm enjoying a little hiatus regarding the Airbnb listings. The whole of July and August were mad months but by the middle of September things started to calm down. This does mean we can plan some maintenance, especially for the first chalet. We've had this listed since September 2016 and intend to give it a lick of paint, put in blinds to replace the curtains plus a new shower tray.

We've had family and friends visit recently, including a friend from London who I only saw last month for the 2nd time in 14 years, the day of her wedding, so it has been fab to catch up with her again, and her husband.

Next month we're so excited about welcoming Tracy of Our Smallholding Adventure, along with her family, to our little homestead for the weekend. After being What's App buddies for about two years we're stoked about actually meeting each other! We'll have a great time as Jon's cousin plus fella are coming, too, so we are in a for a riot of a time with any luck! 

Elsewhere in and around the house the log burner has been lit in the living room a couple of times when the afternoons have been a little chilly; the boys adore coming home to warmed slippers, hot chocolate and cake in front of it!



But the Rayburn is now being lit every day!

This means no immersion heater as it is now heating our water, the few radiators we have in use along with us enjoying using it to cook again. Can't wait to bake bread in it again as I always prefer it to the gas range for that and cakes.

Outside really has been quite neglected due to being busy with the Airbnb listings. (As I type this the rain is in biblical mode so even if I wanted to get outside today I don't think it would happen.) 

I will admit that harvests of some things could have been better if I'd had the energy to spend more time in my little patch of paradise, but there is always next year. I didn't do too bad with maincrop spuds, cucumbers (just picked the last one yesterday) onions, dwarf beans and lettuce. On the bright side they are things we eat a lot of so....

This year is the first time I've bothered to plant/grow more flowers and I was quite pleased with some of them, like these.

This was taken just over a week ago; things look a bit bare but I still love the view and feel very lucky that it belongs to us.

I've emptied most beds apart from some rogue celery, carrots and literally a couple of parsnips. I'll start mulching and covering them once we get a good amount of dry weather? When I look at a photo like this I see just how much growing space I have. I hope a trip out for the day in November will assist me further in making the most of it. I am very much looking forward to going to hear Charles Dowding talk about an hour away from us and very pleased to be going along with my morning coffee chum, Karen from @smallblacksheep on Twitter. We met on a couple of Green Rocket courses run by Kim of @BadlyBehavedOne and she lives just 30 minutes from me!

Talking of courses, I'm very excited as I've signed up for Welsh classes, again, at my youngest's school. It means I go once a week and will bring him home with me as they finish at the same time as the school day. I might meet some of the parents as I don't go to school very often with the bus taking him from right outside our front door!

Right, ramble over. Just listened to pop master but didn't score. I think I've peaked for a bit as got 36 one day last week.

Bye for now, 

Lou.xx