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Yesterday was dull and wet, but Spring was springing up all over the lane as I did my run.
Furry buds were everywhere.
Dandylions herd their sunny faces up in the rain.
Lambs gambolled, but obviously not for this photographer! Quick Mum, feed me and hide me from the nasty lady.
The gorse bushes are bursting into colourful life.
And l left the best till last. Delicate and pretty and just so beautiful. So much yellow sunshine on a dull, wet day.
Karon x
The two troublemakers at rest.
Yesterday dawned bright, sunny and windy. Decided to strip the beds and get some washing done. First load from my room is fine, all washed in a trice and hanging on the line. Ah the joy of fresh laundry blowing in the breeze...........
Stripped Idgy's bed and loaded the machine. A while later l go to empty the washing machine. I see red. Literally. There is red sticky stuff everywhere. It is almost glowing and jewel-like, actually it would be rather pretty if it weren't on my washing.
Drag all washing out, it is everywhere. Those nice white sheets are now pink splattered and with spotty red sticky bits. And then l find it, inside a duvet cover. An open packet of wine gums.
Listen carefully, here comes the science part.
Wine gums + hot water + tossing about in washing machine = melted wine gums and their charming colour all over everything. They will not disolve completely, they will keep about 30% of their body mass and cling manfully on to your washing, meanwhile oozing mixed colour everywhere.
Throw trantrum over washing incident and am assured by Idgy that the wine gums were last viewed in the livingroom. The culprit is found, he is even armed with one of the bloody wine gums under Idgy's bed - Harry.
Abandon the washing and decide to go to Tesco in Irvine for food and hopefully a new dvd to watch. Idgy and l head off. Phone rings twice furing the 20 minute journey and Idgy tries gamely to get it out of my pocket. It gets wedged under the passenger seat.
Arrive at Tesco and try to sort out the missed call bit on the phone without the aid of my glasses. Just loading my trolly when the phone goes again. I'm ready, l have it in my hand, it scares the life out of me by ringing and l drop it smartly into the frozen food selection.
Retrieve phone. It is Colette on the line. 'Your house alarm is ringing merrily, been down and all looks fine but you had better get back smartish before the police come'. Words do not fail me here, l swear loudly and rush round stuffing anything l can into the trolly. Find daughter knee deep in Primeval stuff in kids dept. Mad rush out of store and less than calm drive home.
Ah there they are, the best of Strathclyde boys in blue filling my yard. Have horrible feeling l know exactly what has happened to set off the alarm. However l do the right thing and usher the constabulary into the house to check it all. All is calm and quiet within, okay it is a mess, and yes maybe the mud room does look a tad incriminating with sheets piled everywhere all with red goo and splats all over them. Had something happened they politely inquired, no said l, but it was about to.
House is fine so we move on to HQ to find out what has casued the trouble. My heart is sinking as we cross the garden, l just know what we will find. Ah yes, there he is, sprawled accross my chair enjoying the sunshine, completely oblivious to the fact that he has caused so much hassle - Berti bad cat.
Apologise to the police and offer coffee as compensation. Reload washing machine, unpack shopping and discover l have bought 6 packets of biscuits and no washing stuff.
Give up, pour a glass of wine and start eating the biscuits.
Karon x
Bet you thought l had gone a.w.o.l. yesterday, oh no, dear reader, my normal blogging time of 7.30am found me scampering about outside in the pjs picking daffodils for Idgy's daffodil ceilidh at school.
Yes you read right, a daffodil ceilidh - not your normal Friday in the village school. No, the school was raising funds for the Marie Curie cancer charity by holding this little ceilidh for two classes in the afternoon. The children had been learning country dances (including a bit of quite spectacular line dancing) for weeks, the gym hall was decorated with their lovely daffodil paintings, and we, the parents were invited along.
Now for the sad bit, we adults weren't just asked along to raise funds and fill the gym hall, oh no, we were to take part - in every dance! Oh joy, this took me right back to my school days and the tyranical Miss Gibb bellowing at me to 'keep in line, watch were you're going, pay attention', in one swift move l was ten again and hopelessly gallumphing round my own gym hall and always having to dance 'man' as l was tall.
But this was fun! everyone let themselves go and entered into the sheer spirit of Spring. Yes there was much springing and bounding around. Definately used up a few calories.
Then it was tea and cakes in the dining hall and a daffodil each to take home.
A lovely day.
Have a nice weekend.
Karon x
I have calmed down a little today. Yesterday l was just so over-excited about the web like launch, don't think my feet touched the ground all day.
I'm still working on the newsletter and hope to get that out later today. It is certainly not a 'get things done in the garden' day here, cold, wet and windy, think l will be blown backwards when l run in a moment. Did l tell you that l have joined the techno age and am now running with music! Yes headphones problem solved by having a little walkman radio strapped to my arm. Ok l look like l have some sort of blood pressure cuff attached to me, but what the hell, l can laugh along to Terry Wogan and his fabulous Janet and John stories, and it makes the run more bearable.
On that note l shall pull on my trainers and go.
By the way, THANKS so much for all your lovely good wishes yesterday, so much appreciated.
Karon x
My web site www.dreamacres.co.uk is up and open. All those months of work are finished. The concept of the new theme, designs, prototypes, trials, site ideas, everything, it has all come to THIS!
I have to say a huge thanks to Lisa of CSS Web Design for all her hard work. For the fact that she got my dream, could see through all my ramblings and put it together as it was in my mind. She has been patient beyond belief and put up with my techno fears and incompetence with a calmness unknown to the likes of me.
I am overflowing with excitement and joy, just hope people like the site and my new goodies. Do have a look and let me know what you think.
Karon x
The other day l found myself 'Tagged' by Consuming The Harvest, my task, to come up with Alphabet Snippets. Not quite as simple as it would seem at first glance. Anyway never one to shirk a challenge, here goes....
A is for Aromatics, my business in herbs.
B is for Bears, teddy bears really. I used to make miniature bears and now l find myself buying old bears and reviving the poor old things. And Berti cat.
C is for Chamomile, calming and sweet. It makes great tea.
D is for Dog, we are still looking for one to add to our family.
E is for Eggs, chickens coming soon!
F is for Fresh herbs all through the summer, can't wait to get cooking!
G is for Greenhouse, bit of a disaster when that blew down.
H is for Harry and Hank.
I is for Idgy of course, my bestest friend ever.
J is for Johnny Depp, one has to have a dream.
K is for Me l guess.
L is for Lemon Balm, my favourite herb and the scent of summer for me.
M is for Mint, Mice and Moles - the enemy!
N is for Needles and threads, the tools of my trade.
O is for Oregano, the taste of Greece.
P is for Pansies, my favourite flowers in the garden.
Q is for Queen, good music there.
R is for Rosemary, the herb and my friend.
S is for Sewing of course.
T is for Thyme and time. One l use and the other l tend to waste.
U is for Unkind, always try not to be this.
V is for Vintage, the best!
W is for Wine, what better way to end the day.
X is for Xremely good, Xtra special and no longer XL.
Y is for You, for having the patience to read this far.
Z is for Zebra of course!!
Wow, made me think a bit there! Anyway l am meant to pass on the batton to three other bloggers to to the same. So here you are, step up to the mark
Bertie Meadows
Margarets Ramblings
Cupcakes at home
Nice way to start the day.
Karon x
It was a busy weekend. We hit the garden centre. So many gorgeous pretty flowers.
And you just have to treat yourself to something really indulgent and yummy in the cafe.
Didn't stay like that for long.....
After some major calorie intake it was back to the business of buying plants, well buying pansies actually. I adore pansies, to me they are the ultimate Happy Flower with cheerfull faces held up to the sun.
Also had to get new gloves and snips (lost my snips last week in my weeding frenzy. Hate to think where they ended up. Went for pink this time, why not have pretty pink hands and snips instead of standard green. I am now 'in the pink'.
Back home to the garden.
Finally finished all the weeding and de-minting and moved on to the mega mulching.
Wrestle with a new mini greenhouse kit. Must house the pansies etc till threat of frost subsides (could be in there till July knowing this area!). As with anything like this l found myself floundering on the floor of HQ with a pile of long rods and a pile of short rods and plastic bits that just didn't want to join things together. Did think that the joints were,'t in the box, toyed with idea of having to drive back to garden centre. Then realised that the plastic bits were not just supports, they were the joints as well. Then spent ages lunging at the thing to get the joints to click into place. This would have been much easier if my partner in crime/general assistant etc was around to help - oh no, she had abandoned me to the joys of a Garfield film on TV - you really cannot get the staff these days................
On Mothers Day l got breakfast in bed cooked beautifully by Idgy, she has redeemed herself after abandoning me yesterday. Then we were off to do some thrifting.
I got this fabulous square teapot. Originally came from a cruise ship in the 1920s. I love teapots and tea cups, bit of an addict here really. Cannot resist adding to my little collection. This little pot just had my name on it................
Now this fabulous old coffee grinder (now a spice grinder in HQ for cloves etc - and it works!!) was a freeby, a case of 'you can have that old mincer Karon, it's a no-goer', well it's not a mincer and l'm thrilled with it. It now has a place on the wall in HQ and a new job.
So that was my weekend. Got things done, got new things. Happy with the weekend.
Karon x
I just found these old pix of HQ when it was first built and painted up four years ago. What a difference. So neat and tidy and just a little bit prissy l feel now. It looks so sparce to me now. The cosy seating area is long gone, replaced with stock cupboards and floorspace rather than chairs.
Ah those were the days when l had nice little rugs out in HQ, computer stuff, printer and paperwork. Oh no, l have commandeered a corner of the diningroom for that stuff nowadays. HQ is strictly my creating zone nowadays.
Another overly tidy area with no work bench jsut a tiny table and an overweight scruff working the sewing machine. Thank goodness for running, at least l don't look like that now. Neither does HQ come to think of it. We have both definately improved over the past few years.
Hope you are all enjoying as fabulous weather as we've been having up here in Ayrshire. It has been fabulous. I continue to weed and do battle with Mr Mint. Hope to throw down mulch this weekend and other such exciting things.
Ever onwards.................
Karon x
With the move to HQ l am finding bits and pieces l didn't know l had. Fabric l don't really need that is just lovely and should be used. I thought l would put together a few bundles of fabric to sell and let someone else enjoy making something pretty from these authentic vintage pieces.
This first batch is all in pinks/reds. Top left scetchy flower 1m80cm x 660cm, Pink check (2 pieces) 420cm x 960cm , reds leaves and flowers (2 pieces) 590cm x 480cm and 1m120cm x 500cm, hot pink floral 760cm x 860cm This whole bundle for £35. This is a LOT less than it cost me.
German 1930s blue floral, 2 pieces 1m 300 x 1m 600cm and 390cm x 1m 270cm
£15
These fabrics are just too lovely to leave unused. Please remember they are vintage and can have some little marks etc on them. Perfect for crafters. Anyone interested just zap me an email.
Enjoy today
Karon x.
