Jigsaw Puzzles

 

As mentioned in a previous post my first love is reading. 

 

But every now and then I get the urge to do a jigsaw, I find it really relaxing and love doing the edges, luckily Lovely Hubby loves to do the middles so between us we are perfect jigsaw aficionados. 

The words 'Jack Sprat' springs to mind.....

The last 1000 piece puzzle we started took us over a year to almost complete, and then Jason came and re-did it all in a couple of hours .... the shame!!

This one is a lot smaller a mere 250 pieces and I did it all by myself in a hour ..... whoo hoo, now to move onto my 500 piece puzzle.  We have a good reuse for these puzzles which I will tell you all about one day in the future  ;-)

Sue xx

Not Playing Ball

 

I did a post with Suky the other day and then one with Ginger, so I felt guilty for missing out Rosy.  Yesterday I tried to get some pictures of her ..... she was not playing ball at all.

 

I tried to get this shot of her blurry tail, it was wagging so fast, but the camera simply didn't pick it up.

 

She peeped round to see if I was still trying ....

 

... turned briefly round.

 

... but would not meet my gaze.

 

She knew exactly what I wanted and I could feel the merriment coming from her :-)

 

"You can't make me look at you Mum !! "

 

Although she couldn't resist a peek out of the corner of her eye before turning her back on me again.

 

Oh well Rosy ... you had your chance at fame.

 

Sue xx

Gorgeous Puss

 

Sitting on the patio in the sunshine between jobs is the best perk of this job, that the minute we sit down we get company is even more wonderful.

 

 

Sometimes they don't even want food, they just want to be with us.

 

Happy animals = Happy us.

 

Sue xx

Words

 

Words .... they are all over our house.

 

I was washing the pots last night and started noticing just how many we have accumulated.

 

Some tell us where we are ....

 

... some are instructions that need to be followed ... if you don't 'Kiss the Cook' you won't get any tea ;-)

 

Some tell us to chill out (on the side of the fridge .... haha).

 

Some are teeny tiny and don't get noticed often.

 

Others are very important statements of fact!!

 

Some are there to keep us on the right path.

 

And some simply sum up the cat's attitude problem perfectly!!

 

There are lists of things to remember .....

 



.... and things not to forget.   

 

Do you ever walk into a room and forget why you went in there, well you're safe in our bathroom then .... unless you simply wanted to use the toilet and you end up climbing in the bath  ;-)

 

I've always loved words, from being a small child and reading in bed by torchlight, reading all the road signs on any journey in my uncles car. I devoured Enid Blyton books and read them over and over, I knew 'What Katy Did'  .... and what she did next!  I read fairy stories, fables and classics, I loved, loved, loved Robinson Crusoe and then in my teens moved on to horror stories, lying in bed wondering if Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Raven' would get me.  Having a conversation with my son the other week we were talking about this and he was so knowledgeable I was briefly impressed ... turned out it featured in an episode of 'The Simpsons' oh well at least he knew of it.    I discovered Dylan Thomas and moved onto poetry, both reading and writing and lost myself in a new world.

 

I still read constantly and love the written word so much.  My only O level was in English Language and one of my first jobs entailed typing and proof reading.  I guess that's why I Blog. I get to put words on 'paper', read them back myself and read other peoples words commenting on mine.

 

 

And of course there's the small matter of the collections of books dotted around the house, of which this is only one.

 

And talking of books, I have a lovely little giveaway for all my Followers in a couple of days ... so watch this space :-)

 

Sue xx

All by myself .......

 

All by myself, don't want to be .... all by myself ....

 

...... oh ... there you are!!

 

Any chance of a biscuit?

 

Suky xx

It's gonna take a while ......

After one day of banging, digging and sawing we had the beginnings of the plan on the soil instead of just scribbled on the back of an envelope.

 



 

Retaining boards and the first two beds done.

 

The view from the top before I started digging on day two.  While I still had the strength to hold the camera!!

 

 

First barrow load in, it looks pathetically small, I just kept reminding myself that even a bucket fills up one drop at a time left under a dripping tap.

 

 

While I was filling the smallest bed (Dad's Bed), Lovely Hubby was already springing into action building more beds.

 

 

After an hour or so I scarpered back to the house to fetch some liquid refreshments ... and came back to find him posing with his hammer :-)

 

Sides being lined up with posts.

 

By the end of the weekend this is what we have.

Dad's bed one third filled, to get this far took eleven wheelbarrow fulls before I gave up the ghost and went in to make sandwiches and cake ... I know pathetic, I have no stamina!!  To give you an idea of scale this smallest bed is two metres in each direction.

 



 

 Hopefully I'll be doing a couple of barrow fulls a day this week to fill it a bit more if I can summon up the energy and enthusiasm.

 

Suky is slightly baffled by the change to the hillside but is enjoying picking her way over the boards every time we go out.

 

We have chosen to use good quality treated wooden boards and strong corner posts well hammered in, as we want this to last.  All the tops and cut edges will be treated with creosote on a regular basis and hopefully once this job is done we will not have to repeat it.  For us this is a permanent thing, and the priority is to take things slowly and steadily and do it right.  Obviously we have had the opportunity through renting our last two properties to trial this all before in different ways and this is the way that we have decided works the best for us.

 

 

And finally ...... the Winner of Rear of the Year ......

 

 

.... goes to Lovely Hubby :-)

 

Sue xx

 

 

Digging on the Hillside

 

Sorry it's been so long since the last post. 

 

I'm not on a 'blogging break' like so many are doing at the moment ..... well if I am it's not the sort of break I would like very often and not my idea of a 'break' at all.  We've been busy transforming our hillside into a maze of raised beds.  This picture was taken on Friday when things had just gotten underway, as you can see Suky is once again in a supervisory role.

 

It's heavy going, especially for Lovely Hubby to takes the strain of most of our heavy work.  I've been filling in the central bed this morning.  It's called Dad's Bed and will be the haven of loveliness in the middle of all the vegetables.  We have a lovely weeping style tree that will be in the bed and some of the plants that were in the original 'Dad's Bed' back in our last place in Reading.

 

I must go now Lovely Hubby is due for another cup of tea to wash down the slice of homemade cake I've just made for him, my particular one man army most definitely marches on it's stomach.

 

Sue xx