Now We Are One

This week my blog and I turn one year old.  Well, clearly I am slightly older than one, but as a blogger I am one year old and have loved every single moment spent sharing our adventures with you.  I must say a big thank you to Maya, Vicky, Lynda, Rowan and Claire for your kind comments and warm wishes, they mean a lot and it is a joy to discover I am actually writing to real people and not just figments of my imagination!  I appreciate every word.

The knowledge of my blog turning one brings with it the realisation that it is almost November and therefore Christmas is hurtling down the track towards us.  Eek!  I had forgotten about it with moving house and all.  Time to get back to reality and get organised.  The best kind of kick-start for that is a visit to a garden centre laden with Christmas decorations.  Yay!

I didn't take any pictures of the actual Christmas trees as I thought it is maybe a tad too early for the full on C-thing, and it gives me a good excuse to go back again in December for the purpose!  We found some really pretty mugs that would be gorgeous to use for post winter walk hot chocolate and marshmallows.  What do you think?  They weren't too expensive either, so I may ask Santa for one.

 We must have one of these signs in the garden so that Santa remembers to call at our house.  We have had two over the years but both eventually succumbed to being chewed by the dog or being accidentally trodden on by the postman when covered in snow.

Christmas aside for a little while, I was keen to have a look at the plants.  That is, after all what a garden centre is for.  We have quite a good sized plot attached to our tiny house and most of it has been cultivated over the years.  At first glance it looks like a giant patch of weeds, but among the pink campion there are such things as geraniums, nicotiana, campanulas, aquiligias and violas bravely battling for light and space.  There was a large vegetable garden by the hedge once upon a time and the soil there remains dark and friable.  It would be a silly woman who chose to have her vegetable plot elsewhere!

Having found my garden twine this morning, we can now go about marking out the area and then dig and weed over the winter.  Behind the hedge there is a surprise...Ready?

Yes I know, it is a bit of a mess.  I'm slightly bothered that once we start moving stuff about there will be the scuttling of a thousand tiny feet as rodents of all shapes and sizes will dart from cover to make their escape.  The discovery of a rat trap hanging up in the garage has done nothing to quell those fears.  But back to the garden centre, where rats and mice do not exist, at least not where we can see them anyway.

Next year, instead of weeds, my garden will be full of jewels like this glowing rudbekia.  Love these, but have never grown them.  I am a huge fan of growing from seed as you get far more for your money and you feel a real love and connection with the plants you have nurtured from a tiny dry seed.  The pride and pleasure I get from seeing my garden blooming with flowers, herbs and vegetables that I have grown myself, far outweighs the extra effort and time taken to produce them.  So a delightful hour was spent searching for seed catalogues on-line to whet my appetite.  I ordered four and three came this week.

The trouble is of course, I will probably start off with an order worth about a thousand pounds before I whittle it down to around twenty!  Ah well, we can dream.  If my brain were a pie chart it would be largely taken up with thoughts of Christmas: presents, food, decorations and gardens: flowers, herbs, fruit and veg.  The remaining 2% would consist of boring things like sorting out changes of address, paying bills and ringing people up.

The days are turning colder and the nights are drawing in since we have turned the clocks back.  It is a real pleasure to close the curtains, light the fire and snuggle down with the children and dogs.  This week the wind has blown hard and the rain has hammered down, but apart from a few flooded lanes, we have been safe and warm.  Yesterday though, we discovered the gas bottle connections were leaking.  They had to be turned off and so we have had no hot water, heating or gas stove for the last 24 hours.  Fortunately I found my old electric kettle in a box in the garage, so we have at least been able to drink tea!  We can use the oven too as that is electric, but no fire in the evenings.  Hopefully it won't be too long before it is fixed and we can get cosy again.

The light is fading now and the dogs are looking hopeful, so we had better pull on our wellies and coats and head down the lane for a long walk.  If we don't, we will have two dogs pacing about all evening and driving us mad.

Have a cosy evening and thank you for reading. xxx