Granny's garden of flowery loveliness part deux

I forgot to mention that I went completely overboard taking photos of my granny's garden when I was in Dorset over the summer.  I thought that if I just sneaked these in, you might not notice or mind too much...(which reminds me of my Blogger-related woes, which I will return to later).

I wanted to bury my nose permanently in this honeysuckle, but it wasn't open properly and there were rather a lot of bees about.

I do love acers *sigh* especially when their leaves change to those amazing pinks and reds and oranges that acers do so well.  They're not quite up there with beeches in my mental 'tree top trumps game', but they're definitely top ten.

And here's a wiggly willow (I'm now going off on a mental tangent imagining the amazing yarn shop I will one day own.  This yarn shop slash haberdashery will be called 'Wiggly Willow' and I will spend all day reading inspirational blogs, stroking balls of yarn and drinking cups of tea from old, mismatched cups.  Gotta have a dream.)

My grandad made this bench from a fallen over tree.  He was a lovely man and I miss him a lot.  One day a few years ago, shortly after my grandad's death, I was in the kitchen and overheard big n talking to someone in the dining room next door.  I walked in and asked him who he was talking to as there was noone else in the room.  He replied that he was telling great-grandad about what he'd done that day as he thought he'd be interested.  I firmly believe that my other grandad (who died the month before I was born) has watched over me as I live my life; and I wonder whether big n has the same thing with this grandad (who died while I was pregnant with middle n).  You never know, do you?

And just because I ended my last installment of granny's garden with a picture of a ladybird's bottom, I'm going to end today with a picture of a lovely furry bee.  Byeeee x

PS - ha - nearly forgot to mention my Blogger issues: my posts don't seem to be updating in other people's blogrolls (or if they do, they take several hours to do it) does anyone have any idea why this might be?  I'm at a complete loss.

That was the week that was

Well hello there, lovely ladies, and how are you all?  I am making a quick bloggy pit-stop in between bouts of frenzied activity of one sort or another.  As I type I am licking jam from my fingers (makes it tricky to type properly when your fingers stick to the key pads, you know) having just spent a very happy hour or so making greengage jam from fruit picked by me and my gang from my gran's garden (the garden of flowery loveliness, you may remember).  Greengages are one of my all-time favourite fruit and I am pleased to report that after our recent picking session, the boys are converted to their sweet loveliness too.  If this jam works out well, I will be writing a post about my efforts (once the jars have cooled sufficiently for me to label them and put little crinkly hats on them ready for their photography session - can't have naked jars on my blog, that simply wouldn't do).  However, if the jam fails to set properly, I will never mention it again in my shame and will have to live in the hope that you will get collective amnesia and forget I ever mentioned it.  Fingers crossed...
Anyhoo, the eagle-eyed among you may have spotted those rather intriguing-looking circles at the top of my post and be wondering what they are all about.  So, with a small drum roll and slight nod of the head, I present you with the first official glimpse of my summer hols blanket.  Dunh duuuuunh:

 

Yeah babeeeeey, I LOVE this blanket.  This is not a blanket to be used as an accessory for pirate-related activities (a la springtime throw).  No sireee, this is MY blanket and it will be treated with due respect, or there will be serious talking-tos going on, and maybe even a bit of sitting on the bottom step.  And I haven't even finished it yet.  Don't let them say they haven't been warned...

So the past week has seen a bit of jam-making, a bit (a lot) of crochet, a bit of this:

Oh god, please don't drop them...

A bit of this:

quite a lot of this:

Oh yes, bun-bun comes in three different shades - no colour discrimination in this house...

And the final, rather thrilling thing, that happened this week was this:

Ooooh, open this one first, mummy

My amazing giveaway presents.  Thank you so, so much Catherine, I love them all and can report that the chocolate was most delicious - a little thank you will be winging its way to you soon. 

Right-ho, must dash, my next bout of frenzied activity involves packing an excessive amount of bunting and a big box of wine for our trip to the Just So Festival on Friday.  Eeeeeekkk!!!! x

Beach and beech

 

I just thought I'd quickly share my last few photos of Dorset with you before I do a proper post about the weekend.  I honestly could have spent the whole time we were away, taking photos - I just love it down there.  (If I knew how to make the word 'love' flash there, I would - that is the extent of my adoration).  And, rather excitingly, the reason I couldn't do this post last night is because Mr Nut was using the computer to complete a job application for a job in....the southwest!  I have everything crossed for him (which is making it rather hard to type...)
So...one of our little outdoorsy activities was to visit a lovely National Trust property near my mum's that we often go to when we are visiting her.  The boys love it because the woods there are perfect for playing Robin Hood, having battles, building dens and having all manner of boy-related fun.
I love it because it's beautiful:

(I've no idea who the woman in the hat is - I hope she doesn't mind being on my blog!)

I wandered around with my mouth open taking pictures and having an internal debate about whether beech trees or oak trees are my favourite (sometimes I remind myself of Homer Simpson), baby nut tottered around looking at twigs and periodically sitting down for a bit of a leaf-scrunch and the boys got on with an important construction project:

It was generally quite idyllic and brilliant really and then, as if it couldn't get any better, we had an ice cream.  Happy days indeed.

And the second little outdoorsy activity I've yet to show you, was a trip to the beach (natch).  This was a bit of an impromptu visit and we weren't very well prepared, but it was still lovely.

What picnic is complete without jam sandwiches?

 What is it about boys that makes them need to have rough and tumble (does everyone call it that, or is it just us??) at absolutely any time and in any situation?  Will they every grow out of it?  Will I be sad when they do?

I say we weren't very well prepared, but of course I did have my crochet with me - like I've said before, I have got my priorities! x

Happy Easter!

I love this little arrangement of chicks that big nut had set up on my mum's dining room table.  It makes me think of Saturday Night Fever.  They're actually wearing little flares - you just can't see them because of the angle of the photo.  Also, I love the fact that each chick is standing on the colour square that most closely matches their own colour - now that's a level of coordination that I am very proud of!
Today was another stunner - wall-to-wall sun and lots of outdoorsy fun.

Just look what the Easter bunny brought for baby nut.  Isn't he clever to know that she can't have chocolate?
There was no such chocolate-free nonsense for the two bigger nuts, however:

I was rumbled while taking the photo above.  Here's the scene two seconds later:

Hmmmm - a pretty good haul...

We spent the afternoon at my gran's house.  Her garden really is amazingly lovely and so I, obviously, went completely overboard on the gratuitous flower shots.  I took so many, in fact, that I'm going to have to do a separate post about just that! 

The adults spent the afternoon slumped in chairs in the garden, while the three nut children variously ran around like loons, played football, ate mud and grass, had battles, ate as much chocolate as they could without us noticing, and practised their new-found walking skills (oh yes, baby nut is really no longer a baby - not sure 'toddler nut' has quite the same ring to it though.)  

As we were all starting to crash down from our chocolate-induced sugar highs, we brought out high tea (a bit of a feature of Sunday afternoons at my gran's - and long may it continue):

This was a 'scripture cake', which I made from my new recipe book.  I'm not a religious person at all (nothing against it, it's just not a feature of my life), but this seemed a highly appropriate cake to be eating on Easter Sunday - it was made only with ingredients mentioned in the bible.  And despite having a slightly soggy middle (I'm not the most patient person in the world and couldn't wait to get it out the oven), it was very yum indeed!
Hope you had a lovely, sunny, chocolatey day too x

We love Dorset

This post today comes to you from sunny, sunny Dorset (hurrah!)  Well, we had to come here for Easter because nana (my granny) has the best garden of anyone we know for Easter egg hunts and this is a really, really important consideration when you're under the age of, say, 35.  Plus, when you're (only slightly) over the age of 35, you can get a bit excited about going to Hanson's, which is the amazing haberdashery warehouse I mentioned in my 'springy things' post.  Soooo...Hanson's...well, we've been here 24 hours and already I have made a little pilgrimage.  I had some Easter money from my parents-in-law burning a hole in my pocket, so decided to treat myself to some really gorgeous yarn to make myself a little something.  I managed to persuade Mr Nut that it would be a good idea to spend some quality time with his three children while my mum and I 'quickly' popped out, so I was able to really check out all the yarns and spend a looooong time going 'hmmmmm' and 'huuuuuh' and 'errrrmmm', while stroking yarns and secretly wishing I was very, very rich.  Anyway, I finally managed to make a decision and very pleased with it I am too.  Want to see the yarn? 
Okay, here it is:

Mmmmmmm, sublime by name, sublime by nature.

This is the softest, softest yarn you can imagine - it's 75% extra fine merino, 20% silk and 5% cashmere and I cannot wait to get making!  The colour hasn't come out that well in this photo, in real life it's a sort of cream, a petrol bluey-grey and a greeny-aqua colour.  Yum, yum, yum.  I'm not sure exactly what pattern I'm going to use for this - I think I quite fancy something along the lines of loopy flowers joined together, but I haven't made up my mind yet and I am open to any suggestions anyone may have!

And as if all that yarny excitement wasn't enough, my lovely mum bought me a rather splendid new cook book:

I love everything about this book: the title, the cover, the style in which the recipes are written and also the homemade, slightly economical vibe.  I'm already getting excited about making something to take to my gran's for Easter Sunday lunch (had better make sure we don't all get too carried away with chocolate in the morning.)
I just cannot get over this amazing weather we're having at the moment, it feels like high summer.  It's just brilliant, we've been spending whole days outdoors just soaking it all up and playing with the children.  My mum's garden is always beautiful and is looking especially lovely at the moment, with everything growing at a rate of knots.

 

 

 

 

 

Love, love, love the colour of this beautiful tulip.

It's just possible I might have gone slightly overboard with the flower photos today, but really, you've got to love it haven't you?
Oooh, Mr Nut's just presented me with a piece of cake and a hot chocolate - he really knows the way to my heart!  Better dash.  Hope you're having a lovely, sunny Easter too. x