Remember 8 January

I remembered today that I had some pictures, taken with my phone camera, that I hadn't looked at. This was taken on 8 January when we were unable to get the car out but it was a crisp sunny day so we went for a walk to Tesco and sat in Costa Coffee watching people skid and slid around. There was a slow thaw in the sun and the icicles in the shopping centre were amazing.

I just hope none break off while someone was walking underneath.

There were a lot of people around who obviouly had the same idea as us as the car park was empty (mainly becuase you couldn't get to it with a car).

Those were the days!

Visit to the allotment

As the sun was shining we took a trip to the allotment to inspect the snow damage and see what we could harvest.

The main damage was to the brassica cage which had been flattened on one side with thick metal poles bend double with the weight of the snow on the netting roof.

The cabbages, broccoli and sprouts underneath seems to have survived but it will need a lot of work to get the cage into a usable state again.

Very happy ducks now as Nick spent last weekend putting their houses back together. They were obviously unhappy sleeping so close to the door but now that they have a living room and a bed room they can get away to safety. It has made it much easier for me to put them to bed as they don't panic and fly out when I am trying to shut the door.

The next job is to get a proper gate made as it still looks like a building site with the bit of scaffolding net pinned up and broken breeze blocks holding it down. We are hoping for some nice weather over the weekend so that we can get a bit of tidying up done. When I say 'we' I do of course mean Nick with me watching!




The Nuthatch is a constant visitor to the garden and seems to know when I fill the feeders. He is a bit of a bully and pushes the blue tits out of the way when he wants to get his share.








I haven't been near the sewing room for ages but the other night I decided to a bit of clearing up and found a little strip of bits of fabric trimmed off something else so I sewed a back on it, folded in three lengthways and sewed a phone cover for my new phone. It is a tight fit but, when she called to see me yesterday, found that it was a perfect fit for Katy's so she inherited this one and I will have to make myself another about 5mm wider.

An early birthday present

Nick was allowed his birthday present early this year and it arrived only two days after ordering.

I bet you can't guess what it is (and no it isn't a small coffin for a one armed man)














He was allowed to open it when he got home so is now a very happy boy.

The start of something big

Today was Nick's first guitar lesson. He arrived home from the tip one day back in the Summer with a guitar that he had fished out of a skip and anounced that he has always wanted to play. After one class he realised why the guitar had gone in the skip in the first place so we will be off to the music shop at the weekend for an early birthday present.

By this time next week the class should all be able to tune their guitar by themselves and play Yellow Submarine.

Guess what the Christmas entertainment is going to be this year!

What a difference a day makes

Happy ducks today after the rain yesterday. Most of the snow is gone, although where it was piled up against the water butt is still quite a big heap.

As the ground had thawed, Nick made a start on shovelling the soil from what had been the raised bed so hopefully they will have a flatter area and will make more use of it rather than gathering in the corner.

I did leave the door open today and at one point they ventured out into the garden but soon rushed back in to the safety of their pond.

Emily is a very happy duck and spends all day floating around and swimming.

Confirmation

Definately a Long Tailed Tit.

More bird watching

I love the fact that every day we seem to get a new bird in the garden. The Blue Tits are so much fun to watch and look as though they could become quite tame as they still buzz around even if someone is in the garden.








The Greenfinches are still around and have tremendous apetites. You always know when they have been on the feeders but the smount of seed shell on the snow below. I wouldn't like to get my finger caught in their beak.

Talking of snow - we had another four inches yesterday so are back to everywhere covered even though a lot thawed the day before. The temperature is above freezing today so the ducks are happy again as we have been able to break the ice on their pond and top it up. It is a bit like a duck poo flavoured slush puppy at the moment but I am sure a bit of swimming will soon thaw the slush.






When I first saw these birds, I thought they were wagtails but as there was a group of six of them flying around and none of them were wagging their tails, I thought again and thumbed through the bird book. I have now come to the conclusion that they are Long Tailed Tits - which is very exciting as I don't think we have been home to any of them before.

Greenfinch

No sooner had I sat down when the greenfinch was back. He wouldn't come to my side of the feeder but I managed to see him through the hole in the middle.








While I was trying to get a picture of him a friend joined in a very politely sat on a branch. This one is no where near as distinctive in its colouring but I am still pretty sure it is a greenfinch.

The nuthatch was back but isn't king like the blue tits and great tits and doesn't stay still and pose.

While I was trying to get a picture of the nuthatch and greenfinch landed on the feeder so I will be watching out for him again later.









We had another inch of snow overnight. Angel has found that the only way to cross the garden is by hopping from one footprint to another.

Frozen Britain

This striking image, from the BBC website was taken by Nasa's Terra satellite on 7 January 2010 shows the UK covered in snow.

Forecasters have warned that the freezing conditions could last at least another week.

Last night temperatures dropped to -22C in the Scottish Highlands, -11 in Basingstoke.

How are these pictures connected

Long legged Tiger in the snow ......





















Tiger's mum making an angel in the snow ......













Short legged Angel in the snow

Bird watching

I know I keep going on about the new camera but it has brought a new dimension to bird watching above and beyond using my binoculars. Apart from the fact that it looks less dodgy to the house at the other side of the lane who must have wondered why I was always standing at the window looking into their kitchen.

Anyway, this is what I had the pleasure of seeing today. We had a nuthatch coming to the bird feeders but I haven't seen it for a few days so more pictures to follow when it returns.

Sewing again

I have tried my best to do some tidying up this week but everytime I go upstairs I find myself sitting down in the sewing room. I used the fabric that arrived from America and decided that I should leave it in squares to show it off. Unfortunately there were only 8 sets so I rooted through my remnant box and found a piece the same blue with brown flowers that filled the gap.




I finally got this one finished.









This was a load of spare squares and strips that I just through together randomly. Is is single bed size so if I even get the bed in the sewing room cleared of scraps it will be ideal for that room which is decorated in pastal shades of mint green and duck egg blue with hints of yellow.









I went to make a cup of tea and returned to find that a bored cat had found a cunning way to amuse herself.

Winter outside, Spring in the kitchen

It might be deep winter outside but it is Spring in the kitchen as the first of the Hyacinths has opened. It has a beautiful scent which fills the whole room.

I was sure that I had all white bulbs unless this one mutated when in store. It is a lovely purple.

Path to the ducks

I had to get out to the ducks with a kettlefull of water this morning as their pond was a solid block of ice and their drinking water came out in one lump. I filled it from the watering can but within the hour it was frozen again so a full kettle makes one cup of decaf and a warming layer on top of the ice.

Nick had compressed the snow but with the deep freeze overnight it was like an ice rink. Going down was OK but getting back up was a challenge. I hadn't realise that it was even a slope.









Luckily we got some extra straw last week so the ducks have a layer of straw on top of their snow to keep their feet and bottoms warm. I am a bit worried about the snow on the branch that overhangs their meeting corner as we have lovely blue skies and sunshine today and it looks like it could fall on their heads any minute. I need to find a very long stick to knock it down when they are out of the way.

More snow

We hadn't completely got rid of the snow from before Christmas when more fell. The BBC seem to have moved into Basingstoke as we are one of the hardest hit areas again. This was the view from my sewing room window on Tuesday evening before the worst of it fell and before anyone walked or drove on it.












It kept on snowing during the night so was a lovely sight yesterday morning. it kept on snowing all morning but eased off during the afternoon.

I am so please that I filled all the bird feeders last week as it wasn't easy to get out to the shed.

Even more pleasing is that we have the ducks at home as the only way we could have got to the allotment was on foot and as the snow is about 18" deep and it is about 4 miles, Nick would have been going it alone.









As Nick was unable to get to work, I had company and braved outside, so with three hats, two scarves, a coat, two pairs of socks and two pairs of gloves (I worked out I was wearing 22 items of clothing) we decided to got for a walk.

We were not the first so the snow was reasonably compacted on the path. I am not sure if it was because I was wearing a wardrobe worth of clothes or just that there was a fault with the street light but I felt that we should wait quietly to see if Mr Tumnus appeared! No sign of lions thought.

Tesco was open with a skeleton staff but no other shops other than Costa Coffee so we felt obliged to stop and have a cup of hot chocolate. It was lovely. We got a seat in the window and watched slipping and sliding going on outside.








It was a bit of deja vue walking back as that Russian chap was back again but it turned out to be Nick. He decided that it would be good to show how deep the snow was so stepped off the path not realising that it was about the top of his wellies. Silly boy!










We walked back pas the infant school and there was a family who were building a family of snow people in the field. It was difficult to see where they had taken the snow from as it hadn't taken much rolling to get them this big and more was falling.

First visit to the allotment

We went to the allotment for the first time since the snow fall and found that the fruit cage had not fared too well. Thankfully the netting hadn't torn but the weight of snow bent the metal struts holding up the roof. Thankfully they are soft enought to bend back up but we will need to do some strengthening in the spring. In the meantime we will leave them as they are as more snow is forcast for later this week.











The main reason for our visit is that we had three tubs full of composting to take but I did do a bit of harvesting while we were there. I got some carrots, parsnips, tunips and artichokes to make a vegetable stew and a lovely cabbage which we at last night.












As it is too cold today for me to go outside for very long, I have spent quite a bit of time sitting in front of the fire watching the birds on the feeders. The great zoom on the camera means that I could keep a close eye on them.

For those of you who have an allotment, this is not our friend as they eat anything that is not covered. In the garden they are a joy as they forage around on the ground eating everything that the smaller birds drop. This means that the seed that drop don't sprout and you find that you have a lovely flower bed fully of sunflowers, millet and niger.








I also did a bit of sewing, not at the machine this time but hand sewing. I have decided that I will do an embroidered patch in each quilt with the date so they will be future family heirlooms.

Between dosing and stoking the fire I also managed to read a whole chapter of my book which is a good sign as I have been reading it since September and am now on page 60. My aim is to finish it by Easter. I have therefore started a list of books I read in 2010. I have listed The Underground Man which I am reading now and in anticipation of finishing it the one I have lined up next.

120 foot tall duck

I took the opportunity of the sun shining to experiment with the new camera. I say the sun was shining but the temperature never got about freezing all day so it was a sunny day not a warm and sunny day.

Anyway, with my coat, two hats, two scarves and a pair of gloves, I tried out the super zoom which is aparently 60x zoom.

I tried to get some close up shots of the ducks without disturbing them but going to full zoom.

I took this picutre of Daisy and worked out that, on the basis that she is about two foot tall, this is showing what a 120 foot tall duck would look like.




As Emily is quite a bit taller than Daisy, we had better watch out for low flying aircraft!

By the look on her face she is trying to work out a rather complicated mathematical equation.
















I also managed to capture this cheeky blackbird and the winter sun give it a lovely warm glow.

After all the snow and rain we have had in the last couple of weeks - roll on Spring.

A not so innocent chicken

This might look like an innocent chicken but don't be fooled.







I was in the garden this afternoon, as the sun was shining, filling the bird feeders. I went to get some more out of the trees and when I came back 'somebody' had hopped onto the table to get the bits that I had dropped and knocked over one of the feeders so that her sister could feed on the ground below.

They had about half an hour in total in the garden and they explored everywhere and ate everything that looked tasty. Meanwhile the ducks stayed inside venturing as far as the gate but no further.

I can now officially say - Chickens are the nosiest creatures that I have every met!

The miniature mother

We paid a trip to see Nick's mum to exchange Christmas presents and catch up on her news. She had us both in stitches when she produced this lovely hand knitted cardigan which she had accidently put in the washing machine. The ribbed cuffs have stayed the right size but the cardigan is now suitable for someone with an 18" chest.

I immediately saw potential so have given it a home where it will be turned into a hot water bottle cover and any other items I can think of.

Watch this space.

A present to myself

A few weeks ago I treated myself to some pre-cut squares of fabric and they arrived in the post yesterday. I am delighted with them, they are designed by Joel Dewberry from the collection 'Chestnuts Ironwork'.

I have had a few bad days this weeks so no sewing but I am looking forward to next week when I hope to be back in the sewing room for my mandatory minimum of an hour a day - finished product to follow.