Progress report.....

Six coats of cream paint later........

Just a quick progress report after yesterdays post.

Lovely Hubby is back up his ladder, I did let him down overnight I assure you. Today we are doing all the walls, not too bad a job as we have lots of cupboards and windows in the kitchen.

Both doggies are back from the vets, feeling very sorry for themselves. After an uncomfortable night we have taken the bucket collar off little Rosy as she is a little touchy feely little dog and couldn't cuddle up to anything with it on. As a compromise she is wearing her little t-shirt to take her mind off nibbling at the dressing. (See Jason, I knew it would come in handy!!)

Sophie is feeling quite poorly with her very sore foot. It turns out she has broken her toes long ago in the past and the bone has healed with an extra layer of cartilidge type material and that is aggrevating her arthritis....oooh age ....it comes to us all. Her sore pad has been stitched and is now living in a saline drip bag! She has, however, the perfect doggy grin and a sparkling set of gnashers. This is her favourite 'alone' space under the desk, where she can be close to whoever is on the computer but feels cosy.

Oh well back to work, I have a few Christmas presents to wrap ready to go in the post, then it's back to decorating.

Final kitchen pictures on Monday. Until then have a wonderful weekend and I hope your Christmas preparations are in full swing, enjoy it. Although Kirsties Homemade Christmas programme is a bit twee she has the right idea and a lovely enthusiam for the childlike side of Christmas....lets not lose that!

Sue xx

Transformations, paint and pressies......

It's been a busy week, so sorry for the lack of posts. We have been decorating the kitchen, it's a huge room, full of farmhouse clutter and things that have never quite got to their rightful place since we moved in last year, not to mention all the wellies, coats and waterproofs needed to live on a farm at this time of year.

We have managed to finish the ceiling now and both doors. Starting tomorrow we will be having a final push and hopefully by Monday we will be done. Of course me being me, decided when I was putting up the Christmas decorations that the dark wood mirror did not look right in the living room (it never has) and decided to paint it cream. I am now on for my fourth coat of paint.....still it will look lovely when it's finished, especially when I drape it with ivy and Christmas loveliness.

Today has been spent taking our lovely dogs to the vets, Sophie for exploratory work on a sore paw and a scale and polish (I'm expecting even sparklier big doggy grins) and little Rosy to be spayed. We've decided against a houseful of little Jack Russell puppies, we have enough on our plates at the moment.

A high spot of my week was the arrival of this lovely little parcel...just for me. I ordered a lovely bag from Pam at Hortensia just look at how beautifully wrapped it was.

And inside........this gorgeous bag will be used to carry all my little bits and pieces to the Farmers Markets, it will look quite at home sat amongst all my lavender loveliness. It's beautifully made with a magnetic fastener and a gorgeous floral co-ordinating lining....I love it. Thank you Pam.

Back soon.

Sue xx

Glorious Goodies for Sale at Lavender's Blue...2

If you are wondering what little extras to buy this Christmas take a little trip over to Lavender's Blue... 2 to spy some delightful little extras for you or your loved ones.

I had great fun yesterday trying to photograph some of my little hearts and bears in the dismal light that was Oxfordshire. So excuse the dreary day outside the window and focus on Herman bear gallantly modelling my Christmassy lovelies.

Sue xx

Busy Weekend

Lavender's Blue..... the Christmas Version

On Saturday whilst Lovely Hubby was left wallowing in mud on the farm, feeding and cleaning out the chickens and pigs and then planting the last few trees, I was firmly ensconced in the warmth and dryness of The Merry Bells Village Hall, Wheatley doing what is hopefully the first of many craft Fairs to be held there.

Lovingly sewn organisers, cushions and stitched creations.

Brilliantly organised by Leanne, aided and abetted by her Mum, Anne the event ran like clockwork. With a raffle and a tombola (of which yours truly won a prize on both) and I also won the 'Name the Teddy' and now 'Jamie' lives in the living room being eyed up by a Jack Russell that has recently taken to savaging teddy bears!!

A fantastic selection of childrens books for every age.

Lots of money was raised for the Royal Marines Benevolent Fund a cause close to LH's heart for obvious reasons.

Beautiful jewellery for the party season and beyond.

LH came to visit during the course of the day, no doubt as much tempted by the thought of the homecaked goodies on the next stall as to see his Lovely Wife!!

The yummiest breads, cakes and scones.

A fantastic array of Body Shop testers.

Hand Crafted stationery sets and cards for every occasion.

What the very best dressed Barbie should be wearing this Winter.

Jams, Chutneys and Marmalades made by the fair hands of Jeanette.

Lovely personalised boxes and door plaques.

After last weeks wind and rain at the outdoor Henley Farmers Market the warmth of the hall was much appreciated and this is definitely the direction I will be going in in future. Apart from anything else my stock does not take kindly to getting wet!!

When I get home it was to a lovely surprise, LH had bought our Christmas tree on his way home. So Sunday saw us fishing the decorations out of the cupboards ready for later and then, after seeing to the animals it was time to start decorating the kitchen, no small task as it is a very large room and full of all the clutter waiting to be dispersed around the house. We got stuck in and by three oclock, when we had a business meeting and had to abandon work, we had got half the ceiling painted and the back door and one window frame done.

Now we just have two more larger windows to do, one more door and the stair spindles and banister, oh yes and the rest of the ceiling and the walls and then we have to put up some cupboards and shelves. Should keep us busy for a while then eh!!

It is nice to see the house improving a bit after a summer of outdoor work, hopefully by the end of the Winter the interior will be all complete and we can get stuck into more growing outside.

Sue xx

By Special Request

Thank you to my lovely brother, Graham, for the most appropriate card for our anniversary. Could anyone else beat my brothers wacky sense of humour....I think not.

Card photographed by special request of my Mum!!

Jessie , Joan, our Mums, Lovely Hubby....Alan, Me and Syd, my Dad.

Thanks to everyone who has sent us lovely anniversary cards, and good wishes.

A very special thank you to all the guests that came to our wedding and all acted as witnesses to the best decision we ever made.

(And no....they aren't dressed in their gladrags....they didn't know they were going to a wedding until twenty minutes beforehand!!)

Alan.....

....I love You

Happy Anniversary Babe.

Sue xx

A Misty Morning

This morning is so different from yesterday. Today we have woken to a world shrouded in mist.

It rose from the puddle quickly......

...and then slowly the polytunnel appeared.

Looking out from the patio towards the fields the mist sits heavily...

and around the Near Pond the rushes suddenly appear skeletal and damp.

Around Far Pond the bare branches of the trees reach over the water...

and the barn rises majestically in the background.

Through the gateway to the fields I walk with the dogs and the Brown Girls are in the distance...

.... they rush to greet us, as though they hadn't seen us for ages (in fact they were fed just fifteen minutes earlier).

We walk through the fields, looking towards the motorway the field is starting to clear.

Mist clings around the edge of our orchard where the pigs are......

...swooshing away as the sun gets brighter.

We turn and head back for home, the sun is now shining brightly, daring the mist to stay and the barn glows in the warmth of the morning.

A glimpse of our world today.....enjoy yours.

Sue xx

December...............woohoo...it's here!!

Setting off down the drive to our farm for the first time last year.

December never used to be a brilliant month for me, cold, damp, windy, muddy, frosty, crowds of people clogging the supermarkets and shops, no money to buy the things I really wanted to buy for the people I loved.

I left my first husband just after Christmas in 2002 after 24 years of marriage. The realisation that he had changed into a man I didn't know was heart-breaking. I spent two years building a life for me and my younger son (he was 15 at the time). He went on to Sixth Form and University and made me SO proud. He was there during two years of transition, we had fun together and we both turned our lives around. 

At the end of this period I met and fell head over heels in love with my darling LH, we moved in together at Christmas a year later and we got engaged at Christmas the next year and then married on 4th December two years ago.

Last year for the very first time we drove onto this farm for a viewing just before Christmas and we spent the whole of Christmas organising our move and camping at one house or the other. So now I see December as a glorious end to each year, always with the promise of a fresh year to follow with more adventures and more to learn about our lives and each other.

My son is away again at University doing a Masters Degree (proud Mum once again) and will be home for a couple of weeks at Christmas, we have family birthdays to look forward to, but first we have an anniversary to celebrate. And yes, I brave the shops now, listen to the cheesy, lovely Christmas songs blaring away on the speakers, patiently wait with my basket of shopping while the people in front with their three trolleys of mostly unnecessary food argue and bicker over who they have not got presents for yet and their children wail and screech over what they want and what their friends have.

But now I do it patiently for the best Christmas present I ever got will be with me always, and his love makes December the best month of the year, truly OUR month, closely followed by January, February, March, April....oh you get the picture!!

Wishing each and every one of my lovely readers a wonderful December, enjoy the build up to Christmas, but remember always the ones you love and put them first, not the size of your turkey or the amount of food you can fit in your supermarket trolley!!

Oh and in February next year we will be getting our very own turkeys to grow slowly and happily here on our farm for next Christmas.

Normal farming chit chat will resume tomorrow.

Sue xx