k, so, i’ve finally finished all my christmas cards *tick* and i’ve finally finished all of my garden landscapery *tick*.
i’m looking forward to some well deserved and much needed time off, and have got a few nice things lined up in the near future. the first of which is occurring this very weekend in fact. the mister and i are packing up the car and heading off for a few days at my sister‘s gaff derbyshire… (i don’t want to jinx us, but i gotta say i’m hoping for a better start to our trip than the last time we went.)
whilst there we will begin the weekend by enjoying doing a full 2 days worth of …absolutely nothing. unless of course you count trips to the pub. and i don’t.
after the last few stupidly busy weeks, it sounds pretty blissful to me!
then to top it off with an extra dollop of awesome, on sunday we will be having a delightful picnic (indoor of course) with none other than the amazing missus oddsox herself AND the fantabulous missus caroline rose of caroline rose art fame (AND we are working on forcing the ubercool siansburys into joining us (although so far she remains elusive, the cunning minx.) )
i reckon with the 4 (or 5!) of us all in the same room together it’ll be a chaotic and heady mix of extreme awesome and severe mental… and i have to say: i cannot wait! :D
anyone who knows me, knows that despite having the best of intentions (ahem), i’m pretty much always behind when it comes to… well… everything.
so it’s nothing short of some kind of christmas miracle that i am 100% prepared for the (dreaded) festive season this year!
obviously, i haven’t finished my christmas gift shopping already or anything mental like that! i mean, that’s what december the 24th is for, right?
what i’m talking about is christmas cards… my own, to be specific!
i actually managed to get my designs all finished; drawn up, scanned in, coloured in, printed out, photographed, and listed for sale!
and so this year we have… a big fat robin (of course)
…and his buddy the plump partridge. complete with pear tree.
there’s also this jolly little yeti, getting into the festive spirit of things:
and this rather surly little fellow, the lovely (bi)polar bear:
rar!
as he was quite popular last year, i also have my little happy robin design for sale again, along with matching happy robin gift tags.
there are also reindeer, polar bear and yeti gift tags available, too.
…and that’s it! christmas! sorted! in october!! whoo-hoo! :D
so, further to my last post, autumn is most definitely here.
this week has been properly chilly, and pretty damp, and there are big piles of soggy leaves everywhere.
today however, the sun was shining brightly for the first time all week, and the temperatures have been pretty mild. the crazy weather has got my plants all confused…
i have august-flowering anemones blooming beautifully:
…one lonely little marigold has popped it’s head up and begun to flower:
…the summer fruiting strawberries are getting huge, and beginning to ripen:
…the cucumbers are still flowering and growing… a little only the curly side, maybe, but still – not bad for mid-october:
and my golden cherry tomatoes are growing great guns!
…in fact i just picked nearly a whole collander’s worth.
the bramley and russet apples are also producing more fruit than i can hope to get through - although we’re doing our best to consume as much apple pie and apple crumble as humanly possible. (tough job but somebody’s got to do it and all that.)
so, the garden is still pretty bountiful! it’s done very well this year, all things considered.
the sweetcorn, though…
well. we don’t talk about the sweetcorn.