Snowdrops and roses

Hello Everyone. Long time no hear, but I am back!
Work is over for a little while and I am due in on the 1st March, so a bit of time to do some blogging. :0)

Jase's sister and fiance came down from Scotland for the weekend, to finalise wedding plans. We have sorted out the favours I am making for the wedding. Button hearts with lilac raffia (to match a colour in the kilt) for the girls and small whiskey bottles for the guys. I am now trying to source 800 small white buttons to make the hearts *rolls eyes*

This is the kind of thing I will be making -




I have emailed a guy on ebay and he is looking into it for me. Fingers crossed I get them soon, so I can start work. Each one takes about 30 minutes to make and she needs 40. Many a night will be spent threading wire I think!

The garden is coming out for spring!

I took a couple of pictures of the snowdrops that are popping up everywhere.



There is even signs of life on the rambling rose over the archway. A couple of buds on the fruit bushes too. Hope it will be a warm summer this year.

Not much news really. The girls are fine, scratching around their corner of the garden as usual. Pru is still moulting but has finally taken some 'me' time and stopped laying for a while. Winifred and Elsbeth are laying every now and then, but Cornelia and Agnes are laying daily. Laverne is still acting like a prison warder and putting the new girls in their place. They are generally getting on ok though. We even got 4 eggs yesterday!!

Agnes and Cornelia have finally discovered the ready made dust bath in the corner of their garden! Up until lately, they have been rolling about in the aubiose in their run, flinging it everywhere!! Hopefully, they will keep their 'room' tidier from now on. Time will tell.




I can't wait for it to warm up a bit. We are going through the oil at a rate of knots, even though we try and have the heating on as little as possible. The fire in the lounge is lit every night to keep us warm, but during the day it is a tad chilly. I refuse to put the heating on when it is just me at home.

I am itching to get things planted, but don't want to end up with leggy seedlings all over the house. Will wait a while and concentrate on the more urgent jobs, like weeding the garden and turning the compost bins that I have been putting off for ages. A couple of my raised beds need some repair work and I might give them all a coat of green water based stain to brighten the place up a bit.

I still haven't drawn up my planting plan for this year. It is so difficult deciding where to put things and trying to tie it all in with Companion planting. Some things just end up dotted around the place, but I quite like the random, wild look of that. The flower border is starting to grow. No sign of the crocuses I planted (mice had them all I think), but the tulips and daffs are coming up well. I must start off a few new plants for that border, to keep it producing new flowers for most of the summer. *Makes mental note*

Jase is on his way back from Vienna now, so better dash. Cornelia is announcing another egg has been laid and they could do with a clean out. I have to wait until they are off the nest boxes or else I get a filthy look!

Bye for now.....

C x x

Anyone got a snow plough?

Good evening everyone! Sorry I haven't been around much this month! The snow hit and caused chaos at work (and home) and haven't been here to update you all.

Lets start at the very beginning (..the very best place to start)*wink* On Sunday I went to work for a Paris and back, the aircraft had a technical fault when we got there and the flight home was cancelled. I had to spend the night in Paris, with no spare pants!! On Monday morning the snow hit Britain and everything went up the creek without a paddle. Britain is not known for coping with any adverse weather, even though there was plenty of warning. The sheer volume was amazing. I received a couple of photo messages from Jase and couldn't believe how bad it was!

I do love the snow and always seem to miss it. The snow was going nowhere in a hurry. The heaviest snow fall in 18 years according to the BBC.

I was stuck in Paris for 4 days, so had to go and buy some clothes/underwear and toiletries. I didn't want to, as it breaks my 'nothing new' rule, but this was an exceptional circumstance!!

When we finally arrived back in the UK on Wednesday, the motorways and A roads were fine and I headed down the A303 for home. Everywhere looked stunning. Miles of fields covered in powdery snow. Enchanting! Took me a couple of attempts to get Mortimer the Mini up the drive, but we got there eventually!! So glad I managed to get home on Wednesday, as it was our 5th anniversary!!

I raced in, put my wellies on and grabbed my camera. Here are a few of my pictures -


Our front garden






The driveway




The veggie garden






I decided to take a walk along the lane and up the hill, to take a picture of the village. A breath taking view (and breath taking effort, trudging up the hill in a foot of snow)!!











I thought that Cornelia laid her first egg the other day, but it turns out Elsbeth was sneaking into the blue eglu to lay her eggs. The only reason I know, is that Agnes and Cornelia were locked in the blue eglu and run yesterday and today, as Jase and I were at work. I came home to 7 eggs. Winifred, Prudence and Elsbeth has produced 4 between them in the orange eglu, with 1 from Agnes and 2 Chestnut brown eggs from Cornelia!!


Really rich, dark brown eggs.







Next to Pru's paler egg for comparison




The weather forecast is bad for tonight. Heavy snow expected, so I will not be going to Milan tomorrow if I can't get down the drive. Not worth risking my neck! Only two more days at work and then a few days off.

Sat here in front of the roaring fire, listening to the wind outside. This month's copy of Country Living was delivered today, so will sit and read that this evening. No TV or other distractions. Me, the fire and a good read. Heaven.

Will speak to you all soon. Wrap up warm and stay safe.

C x x