Show us Your Roosters!

I hope everyone will forgive me. I'm very late with my post. I meant to post when I got home from work but I was called away to babysit so couldn't do any blogging!! Poor excuse I know. Here, finally are my roosters! I have the grand total of two.

This is my Emma Bridgewater chicken! No, I don't keep any money under here, just lots of receipts!

This little rooster usually sits on the doorstep but as a treat I brought him in to protect him against the elements.

Thank you to Barb over at Bella Vista for letting me take part at such a late stage and for hosting .

Roses

I went for a little trip to the garden centre with mother at the weekend. This place in Hadnall, Shropshire, specialises in roses and they have so many that you really are spoilt for choice. There is a lovely house in the grounds and you can sit outside for a cuppa if you want, so it is almost like a day out in itself.

I wanted to try and find a rambling rose that will 'ramble' all over the fence in my front garden.

Fortunately all the roses are divided into groups so finding the type you want is fairly easy.

I could have bought several roses but I went for a red rambler called 'Rambling Rosie' and it is a repeat flowerer so should look good all summer.

Finally, I couldn't go without showing you this gorgeous creature. I snapped him in my garden on the echinacea and he/she was very obliging and sat there for a while so that I could get some good shots!

Over the past week...

I decided to paint the kitchen. We only have a 'temporary' kitchen at the moment because of the renovations to the house. The problem is that the kitchen has been this way for the last three years and I am sick of looking at the horrible orange paint and cement on the walls so I decided they had to go.

It may be a lot of work for nothing but I think it was worth it and the white walls looks to much brighter and cleaner.

A few buys and finds...

I bought these little cabinet cups on ebay and...

I found these vintage tea plates in a shed at my mother's house and...

these are new. I splashed out on some Cath Kidston tea plates.

It was my father's 70th Birthday last week and we had a little celebration. Here he is getting a helping had to open his presents.

Rufus helping to blow out the candles!

Award Time!

I received this award from Michela a few weeks ago. I am afraid I am only just getting around to listing my current obsessions and passing it on! Better late than never I always say!



My current obsessions are:



Ebay: I can't stay away from this site. I spend far to much time on it!

Gardening: I would rather be in my garden than anywhere else unless its raining of course!

Shopping: If I go out to the shops and come back with nothing, I'm extremely disappointed!

Chocolate: I have to have this every day.

University Challenge: I can't miss this show and if I can answer more that three questions correctly then I think I've done well.




I would like to pass this award on to:



Carol For being my first follower and for being such a brilliant finder of so many vintage goodies!

Rebecca For her very pretty blog and for her fantastic creativity.

Aimee For the success of her business and being such an inspiration.

Kate One of my most recent followers who has a good eye for all things vintage.

Congratulations to you all.

A Day In Wales

Yesterday my family and I took a trip into Wales. We drove to the town of Llanberis where we caught the train to the summit of Snowdon. Snowdon is the highest mountain in Wales and the little trains have been going to the summit since 1896.

This is our train arriving into Llanberis station.

The journey to the summit takes about an hour. The views on the way up were spectacular and we were very lucky with the weather and the fact the it was clear enough to see a long way into the distance.

After getting off the train there is just a little bit of climbing to do before you reach the actual summit. Katherine, Rufus and Mark nearly at the top!

My father Ken, me and Andy at the top of Snowdon.

My mother, Annette and Rufus at the summit. The people in the background are climbing up to the summit Ordnance Survey point.

People who have walked up taking a breather. It is possible to walk up and back down Snowdon in a day.

The building in the background is the new cafe at the summit of Snowdon. It has been designed to blend in with the side of the mountain.

We stayed at the summit for half and hour and after arriving back down, had lunch and then had a look around Llanberis town and saw Dolbadarn castle.

We also walked to Vivian Quarry. This is a disused slate quarry, last worked in 1958. Vivien Quarry is part of the huge Dinorwic Quarry, the second largest in the world until it closed in 1969.

When you come out of the mine tunnel you reach this pool. The water is very clear and very blue because, apparently, slate produces no sediment. The pool is very popular with divers.

Blue water in Vivian Quarry.

Later that day it was on to Llangollen where we had arranged to meet more family. These are the ruins of Dinas Bran Castle overlooking the town.

Finally, a well deserved drink and meal at the Mill pub in Llangollen.

At The Pub

I started my week off in style last night....well kind of! My brothers, sister in law, nephew and I went to the Boat House Inn in Shrewsbury. Shrewsbury is the nearest big market town to where I live and last night was a good night to visit as it is the RHS Flower Show at the moment and they always celebrate the end of the day with a big firework display. It is the 122nd flower show so it’s been going a long time! This pub is one of the best free views you can get of the display so of course, it gets packed but has a really good atmosphere. The pub has a big garden that runs along the river where you can sit out and enjoy the views across the Severn and this is where everyone stands to watch the fireworks.

The Boat House Inn
Andy, Mark and Katherine on the ale!

The fireworks are obviously intentended for the paying public at the flower show but you get a really good view of them at the Boat House Inn and the pub takes full advantage of this by putting on a hog roast to get the punters in!

Back to my garden again. The sweet peas are nearly finished now and I will miss them. I have picked a couple of bunches every week to put in the house and they smell gorgeous. I’m told that picking them makes them produce more flowers so hopefully, I will have a few more bunches to come.

Red Currants Harvest

I'm home from work now and I have a whole week off to enjoy...hooray! I have so many things I want to do but I'm sure I wont be able to cram them all in. One thing I thought I would do is make something with the red currants I picked last week.

I bought this red currant bush for the garden this year. I would ideally like lots of soft fruit in the garden but we just don’t have the space plus that fact that I would rather have flowers than vegetables! I didn’t expect the currant to do as well as it has with it being its first year. Anyway, it has given quite a good crop considering it still such a small plant. If anyone knows any good recipes using red currants, they would be much appreciated.

That's all for now. Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Doors and Flowers

This week the new doors were fitted to the rooms in the extension. They definitely look more like rooms now that they have the plaster board on the walls and the doors fitted and I can picture more easily what to do regarding their interior design! The doors have been painted in a heritage colour by Farrow and Ball called Old White. I prefer this to stark bright white as it gives them a more aged look and will match in with the original old doors on the other bedrooms.

On the landing the walls have been filled in with plaster board between the beams so are now ready for plastering. The door on this room is one of the originals but it has been covered in horrible brown varnish so will have to be stripped and painted again.

This is my Indiana lily and it is currently looking and smelling lovely. It never ceases to amaze me at how well it does each year. It is still in the tiny pot I planted the bulbs in three years ago and gets left outside and neglected all year round.

The echinops are coming into flower now and the bees love them.

I do find it difficult to photograph things close up and not get my shadow in the shot!