Home grown

Apparently carrots are very hard to grow in a small holding, and many allotment holders have tried many times only to fail. I seem to have lucky green fingers despite my inexperience - I have no idea how I am doing it! Maybe its naive of me or the pride of my first crop but my carrots are perfect : )

were pride of place in my now full to bursting vegetable patch. I decided to pull them even though they are still very small, I was worried about the second wave of carrot fly and also the mulch I had mistakenly used last week on the whole veg patch.

So I pull my prized baby carrots: out of 20 I only got one green top and one split carrot, the rest were small and looked knobbly and I grew them from seed, the first edible plants I have ever grown and - in till today - they wonky but they cleaned up wonderfully and tasted perfect : ) I am happy to have pulled them and a bit annoyed at the mulch error, they might have been prize winners; i even got a funny one ; )

I won't be growing root vegetables again, they take too long to grow and take up too much space, and offer little harvest for the investment. After the plants I have tested this year I much prefer peas, beans and fruits that are quick to grow and harvest, which means I can show them to friends and family more often ; )

Marital Bliss

Bit of a diary post again I'm afraid folks, seeing as I can't blog about the political issues that are on my mind at the moment. This weekend Dave and I had some real quality time together, and I thought I'd share it with any one caring to read it.

Often our weekends go one or two ways: rushing around seeing family and friends on a one night trip to our home town in Hampshire, or we get the chance to laze about the house (Me in my PJ's naturally) eating good home cooked food and playing on the XBox and/or watching a movie together. This weekend was different, and I shall tell you why. Saturday morning we went to the builders merchant and bought 3 planks of wood. Once home David measured them up, cut them to size and screwed them all together. Mean while I spent a gruelling hour digging in our "lawn". We washed up for tea happy with our progress : )

Sunday morning Dave disappears at 8am (a non existent time for me on a Sunday) to the tip and comes back with a boot full of hardcore. He unloads and starts smashing up his collection of bricks and paving slabs with a hammer. After finishing with the hard core together we fill up our bed with compost and soil, with the contents of two grow bags on the top as mulch. What follows is 3 hours or more of planting on my part assisted and supervised at times by Dave. The result of a productive weekend spent working together with one another's strengths is now the pride in our home: The vegetable patch.


What more could you ask for in your first year of marriage, than contentment and satisfaction?

Fun things this summer : )

I often spend a lot of time surfing the net. Most of the time it is looking at things I wish I could own, there are so many fun things that you could never warrant worth while buying despite the fact they are practical as well as fun. Well as it is my birthday in August and a few people have asked me what I want so maybe a few of these delightful treats might find there way to me

First up I thought id mention a site that do lovely animals birthday cards with textured paper and bows, perfect for toddlers Panda Birthday Card. If anyone else keeps a diary its important to have a good quality one that wont fall apart halfway through the year and this Black Moroccan Day to a Page Diary is perfect. It has plenty of space each day with out being bulky and is has the reliable and handsome design from Paperblanks.

Stylish and useful pedlers have a lot of nice things including Birds on the Wire Clothes Pegs

Kaboodle is quite famous for its fun and cute gadgets and home wear, I spent a good hour surfing and bookmarking this site last week! The following are a selection of the best (in my view) they have to offer this season. Since from moving to station house I have been in need of a new USB port and this USB tulip hub is spot on : ) I simply love this daisy grass mat it would be a colourful welcome to any home.

I love photography but the past few years have rarely had the chance to print photos of and get them into an album, this neat camera photo album is versatile and useful. I have a lot of costume jewellery and love to mix and match my outfits, I'm not sure this Disney pirate's sword ring would get a daily airing but it sure is awesome.

Any one who has ever received a gift from me will know I like to wrap gifts nicely and often make it a bit special for those I love, so both this Snail Tape Dispenser review at Kaboodle graphic tape review at Kaboodle, graphic tape review at Kaboodle and giraffe kitchen scissors would make it even more fun : D

How cute would these cake roll washcloths look on a long plate in a guest room? early bird alarm clock would be cute too ^_^ I was very sad when my bargin ice cream bowl got smashed at a library in sweden but Ceramic Ice Cream Bowl Favors are pretty damn cool.

On the thread of table wear I also spotted this amazing Silver Honey Bee and these cute Mushroom Salt & Pepper Shakers.

MJ

A comment on youtube "Michael Jackson made perhaps the greatest impact on music and culture unlike any other throughout the world. He broke down racial barriers, transformed the art of the music video, and paved the way for future artists of all genres. Michael had an instantly identifiable voice, eye-popping dance moves, stunning musical versatility and loads of star power. He is the greatest entertainer of the past, present, and the future. Rest in peace Michael! =)"

In fact the same could be said for Elvis, he sang music of the black man: gospel and blues, paved the way for modern music and gave birth to rock and roll. People are comparing MJ to Elvis left right and centre. Both were influential to music and both are tragically missed by fans, so why is Michael such a big deal? Do people feel guilty because they accused him 4 years ago? Or do they simply related to him more as he is closer to our generation than the Beatles and Elvis?



But then why is Maria Carey who has sold more records that MJ and is equally as influential in her genre, not given the same acclaim? And what about iconic singers like Buddy Holly and Frank Sinatra, do think the later will get weeks worth of front pages and news coverage when he eventually passes away? The priorities of our public as a nation worry me.

Annie are you O.K?

I know I bored you all last year with an essay of a post about my bear Annie and her restoration and I just wanted to mention she is now a good hybrid of old smelly Annie and new complete Annie.

After months of bending and twisting her to loosen up the stiff new fabric and breathing her and sleeping with her tucked inside my pillow case (an old trick I used to use when mean grandmother put her in the washing machine!) she finally smells acceptable : ) She is much more flexible but study enough to last many years to come! Someone even suggested passing her on to the next generation when they arrive, but lets not get too carried away eh? lol

Friends for life.

Despite a tragic start I have to say 2006 was a fantastic year. I have no doubt that I and many of my friends dealt with our grief and shock by reminding ourselves we are lucky to be alive, the summer which followed was unforgettable.

At the beginning of the summer Dave signed up and was away for 6 months training, I still lived and home and was only working part time, I was foot loose and fancy free not to mention itching to be busy. We had parties all over the place and they were all full of music, dancing and good times. A whole gang of us went to download music festival which for many of us was our first festival, and boy what a goodun it was. We went out dancing every weekend, stayed out till late and went wild (in a well behaved kind of way lol). As autumn approached I was overflowing with enthusiasm for life and determined to see through the plans that had been made.

3 years later a lot has changed and the same group of friends go to the seaside for the day. Its a celebration and one of my dear friends is engaged to be married, everyone is ecstatic! We had a fantastic day, I bought a picnic, we spent out time chatting and paddling in the sea, Noggs even had a kyte. It was a great day full of fun and friendship and towards to end of the day I started to think where we would all be in another 6 years. Watching my husband play with the dogs, and the love birds cooing together it isn't hard to imagine us together with our own kids in tow.

We are already half way there, of those at the beach there are 2 couples already married, 3 engaged and 2 have bought their own houses. Not to mention pet owners ; ) I hope that in the next few years I still have the joy of company with the same friends I have shared my life with.

Circle 2003 from left Frank, Mark, Alex, Noggs, Little Matt, Me, Abe and Jig. (whos flat we are in, the first to move out.) We are all 17 in this photo.