genialgemsandothergabblings

Well I am no fortune teller as only yesterday I was saying that all the snow would miss us again as it usually does and look at this lot! It started around 5pm and then snowed heavily for the rest of the evening. This morning ,unlike last year ,everybody was out clearing their drives and digging out cars, putting salt down so as not to be at mercy to the slippery conditions that followed the snow last year. I have to say it looked  lovely and in 25 years of living here I think I have only seen one fall of snow that was as deep. Tom the bravest of ours cats came up for his food as usual the others waited for their servants' to take it down to the cosy greenhouse for them. We did venture out in the car just to get some shopping as it could be worse tomorrow if it freezes as expected overnight!

At Martin Mere they have recreated a dwelling that would have been in the area in Saxon Times when the whole place was covered by vast meres for much of the year. It was interesting to see the way in which people made their homes and with the fire lit  you could have almost have believed you had stumbled back in time!  The Pinkfeet geese have returned again in their hundreds to the safety of the mere and hearing them all take to the skies is something that never fails to enthrall us. At the moment there  are only 800 Whooper swans in, but all the time more are arriving with their young families having covered vast distances. Whooper Swan family glad to be here! Swan Flight over Mere The Unmistakeable face of a Whooper swan. Halloween at our house Halloween night was a great success, the scary bits and bobs seemed to attract a lot of interest and we spent a busy few hours handing out sweets and cakes. My little friend Lucy, her Mum and Dad and Granny Pat came over a...

The Scary trio I have made for a certain little miss! Ollie taking to the drink! Lets play! My Wigan cat friend! Phew that was close! They say that when it's windy cats go a little bit crazy and around here this week I would have to agree. Ollie has been charging about ,dashing back and forth and generally acting silly and the other cats have been hunting out a nest of little mice and  much to their annoyance, I just managed to rescue one  from Tom and then Bebe. Infact it was probably the same mouse! Tomorrow I am hoping to get a Halloween visit from a certain little friend who is dressing up and coming to show me her costume, so I have made some little knitted toys especially for the event and have gone a bit silly and bought some other 'things to make the house look a bit spoooooooooooooooky! On the wildlife front I had a little squirrel in the garden eating from the bird tray but a couple of days later we unfortunately found him dead on the lawn and also a coll...

Well there was a really good ending to' The Snowy Saga' as his owners were finally found and on monday Peter and I made the journey back with him to his home in Penwortham . As soon as he was out of his carrier he found his way to a favourite spot underneath the table and started purring as loudly as can be.... Home at last! So the summer adventure for Snowy was at an end and here life gets back to normal with old Bebe happy to see the back of the' great white beast' that took over his domain. Fowey Our holiday is already feeling like a distant memory but we had such a good time visiting a lot of wonderful places, The Lost Gardens of Heligan being just one.It amazes me that even though you think you have seen all there is to see in a much  visited place you can always find more! Heligan The end of  The Lizard Bridge House Farm ,Wray Tressillick on the Lizard I have been enjoying watching Autumn Watch again and here in our garden there is a distinct feel of Autumn wit...

Just had to share the newest variety of tomato that I have had a go at growing this year. It's called Nosy parker and I think you can see why! The wind and rain that is coming in over the next few days will probably put paid to the lovely tall Sunflowers  and other summer ones that have still been flowering .I  will have to go and plant up some bulbs in the greenhouse and keep out of the worst of it. We went out o the boat again on sunday, concious now that the mellow days that make it such a pleasure are dwindling away . Only up as far as Myerscough but  after a walk  to the college Plant Centre we rewarded ourselves with tea and carrot cake and I spent time browsing at the wonderful plants they have on show. The small Tortoiseshell  butterfly was on the Sedum as were many others. Bebe is not impressed that the interloper is still with us. He[Snowy] is a lovely cat and is feeling much better and has on the whole been good around the others. Amazingly Oll...

+ At last we made use of the lovely pinic hamper that I  bought with my Birthday money way back in  February. Gawthorpe Hall near Burnley was our destination  having  briefly called there once before we  promised to return one day and explore this very old Lancashire Manor House. We toured the house and saw the beautiful Kay Shuttleworth Embroidery collection which really is stunning if you are at all interested in textiles.  The house itself was built around 1600 but the Shuttleworth family had been in the area for 200 years before that. I have to say that having a picnic with a' proper 'picnic basket adds a new and much more enjoyable dimension to the whole experience and now all I would like is a really old open top car to take me to more picnics in real style!

With the lovely sun putting in an appearance this past week it spurred me on to have a go at making a herbal wreath as I have quite a good collection growing about the garden. It looked and smelt really lovely as I was making it and after a couple of days left in the shed it had started to dry off nicely,as had the gorgeous faded hydrangea heads I had already picked. These will  look lovely in an old vase when the days are getting darker and cooler and summer seems a million miles away. At last I have Sunflowers and the bees and other insects are busy making the most of them in these late summer days. When they have finished flowering I will cut them off with a portion of stem and hang them around the garden for the birds to feed on through the Autumn. On Bank Holiday Monday we had  a really great day out  with Mark and Emma on the boat up to Garstang where we stopped at the canal side pub for a lazy lunch  before heading back. Everyone was happy and relaxed a...

I have found out where the cat that Peter has called 'Snowy' has been living, in a shed in next doors garden.  I think he may have been there a good couple of months as I now remember disturbing a cat in June when I was watering the plants when the neighbour was away. He has now taken to turning up when its meal time with the others and he has even taken a cat treat from my hand, although still very nervous. It doesn't take them long though to 'catch on does it? We had a nice weekend and how lovely again to enjoy some sunshine. We headed off to a new garden centre that I had found out about near Bury. It was lovely and  they have a bistro there and of course we had our lunch.! After which we went into Bury itself and that was a revelation ,I had not expected the lovely modern clean town that we found, packed full of new shops. It really beats most places near  here face down! Yesterday on the canal we spent a quiet couple of hours having  a coffee a...

This is the question  that has kept us busy this week. We noticed the cat a few days ago sneaking into the garden to clear anything left on' our lots plates'. He was so nervous and would not go for the food until  I retreated .  He ate like he had not seen a meal for a long long time! Then he missed a day andI  thought he had gone but since then he appears every teatime ,eats and then goes off through the hedge. If he keeps coming and gets a little less nervous we will try and arrange a trap and see if we can get him to a vet for a tag check and a look over, at the moment his long coat is a state. I am trying to keep Ollie from seeing him too much , the others seem just to stare at the interloper! Found a little time to do a bit more scrap booking using some of the lovely papers from Crafty hearts . I am so sad that that lovely little shop will be closing but I wish everyone there well in the future. Bebe as you can see in the top photo is just as soppy as e...