Garden...

As we are stuck at home on lock down, it's time to get on with some outstanding jobs.  With the weather being so beautiful, one of the first things to get done was to tidy up the patio and give it a jet wash - after the wet and miserable winter, the paving stones were slimy and filthy.

Then we put the new plant stand in place and I potted up some ranunculus & violas that I had bought before the lockdown.  I was very pleased with how it looks - now we just need all those flowers to come out and cheer us up!

 We have been waking up at ridiculously early times this week - stress I think - but on Tuesday it was a good opportunity to watch a pair of dunnocks courting in the curly hazel right outside the living room window.

 I'm assuming it was the male that was doing all the posturing and posing, fluttering his wings like crazy while perched on top of the small tree.

The female seemed to like his efforts, they were hopping and fluttering around each other on the patio.  Perhaps they will nest in the garden?  We already have a pair of bluetits nesting, and possibly a pair of coaltits.  At least with the lockdown the noisy brats next door aren't crashing around quite so much and our garden is a peaceful haven for the birds most of the time.  Thank goodness we have the garden and a few fields behind the house to enjoy in the sunshine when we can.

Teddy Goes To School

Remember a poor little half-made teddy about three months ago? Well, I have finally finished him - I am ashamed to say it only took half an hour to sew up his arms and attach all his limbs, so he's been hanging around all that time for nothing really.  Then I knitted him a little school jumper and made him some grey felt trousers as his bare (bear) bottom didn't look right - I know there are some kids who wander round our school trouserless on occasion, but he doesn't have to be one of them!

He is going to be a small gift for someone who is leaving who I know collects teddies.

Our blackbird babies have hatched - I can hear them cheeping up in the nest.  No chance of getting a better photo though - I don't want to scare off the mother at this late stage.  Now, if we can keep the magpies at bay and make sure Clovis is supervised in the garden when they fledge, they might have a fighting chance of surviving this time.

A Good Day....

Sometimes a day is just packed full of good things, like....

...our first trip of the year to the pick-your-own fruit farm and several pounds of fragrant red strawberries waiting to be turned into jam.  The best ones will be saved just for eating with cream or on pancakes.  As we are being brought some clotted cream from Devon tomorrow (thank you Midge!), I predict a cream tea with scones and fresh jam in the afternoon....mmmmm.....

We also bought fresh gooseberries, new potatoes, carrots and blueberries. Gooseberry crumble for pudding today!

I discovered this a few feet from our patio doors, tucked into the kiwi vine above our pergola.  We watched this nest being built a week ago and it was incredible how quickly the pair of blackbirds achieved it - just under two days.  However, they disappeared for the rest of the week and we thought they had come to their senses.  Today I could hear magpies cackling in the back garden and that usually means they are on the prowl waiting to kill something, so I went out to chase them off and checked above my head...there she was.  I think I might have blinded her as the flash was on for the first picture I took - hope that doesn't scare her off the nest.

I do wonder what goes on in their heads though - a couple of weeks ago their first batch of chicks fledged and I am sad to say my dog managed to kill one of them.  He found it in the geraniums and grabbed it, dropped it immediately when I yelled at him but the poor thing died of fright, much to my horror - right under where the new nest is.  So either blackbirds are incredibly stupid or there is a sub-plot whereby they are rubbing my nose in it and planning their revenge. I've watched 'The Birds' many times, I've seen what they are capable of....

I've been coveting a t-shirt I saw on Threadless a while back that had a pair of flamingoes on the front but was put off buying it by the price and postage.  It took a while for the penny to drop that a) I am an artist, b) I possess Inktense colour blocks that are colourfast on fabric (let's face it, I now have three boxes of the things!) and c) I could buy a plain white t-shirt for the princely sum of £4 on which to paint a flamingo of my own.  So here it is, half done and even if it goes horribly wrong, it can still be worn for slobbing round the house.

Other good things today...getting all the week's washing done and dry before it rained; having a cup of tea outside in the sun with a friend before it rained; managing two dog walks without getting rained on; bacon butties for lunch and having a peaceful afternoon.

Fluffy and Feathery......

After having a success with the first experimental fluffy guinea pig, I have made another one, ginger this time with a white blaze on his forehead and little white feet.  He has the squeaker inside and wool jointed legs and comes with a cosy bed, carrot and food bowl.  This one will be going on Etsy shortly.  I'm liking the fluffy ones, they almost look real!

I'm hopelessly out of practice when it comes to making jewellery at the moment - over the past year or so the knitted commissions have kind of taken over.  So it has taken me a while to finish this necklace, whereas a couple of years ago it would have been finished in an afternoon. 

This consists of a little hand-made black wire nest lined with soft black feathers and ribbons and sprinkled with shiny black beads, containing one speckled egg.  Hanging from beneath the nest on a small chain are a couple of matching black feathers, and the main chain features black faceted glass beads and black star-shaped plastic beads. When worn, the nest kind of rests on one's cleavage!  I am not planning on putting this on Etsy as I have craft fairs coming up, but if you are interested in buying it before then, it will be £15 plus postage - just drop me a line.

A Shady Pair

I finished the above watercolour painting today. It is if a pair of young lions in Namibia, using a reference photograph given to me by a good customer of mine. I love the way their poses mirror each other as they relax in the dappled shade.

As I am too late to enter this in the local exhibition, I am putting it straight onto Etsy for sale. There will be more original paintings in my Etsy shop later in the week - it's a matter of waiting for some sunshine in order to get the best possible photographs.


I'm keeping a watch on the blackbird's nest from a discreet distance. She is still keeping those eggs warm - I'm not too sure how long the incubation period for blackbirds is (must go and check the Book of British Birds) but I am assuming we can expect to wait another couple of weeks before seeing any chicks. All very exciting!

500th Post!!!

I can't believe this is my 500th post - I feel it should be marked in some way, but really can't think of anything! Let's just settle for a virtual toast to 500 more.


The nest I posted a picture of earlier in the month has some residents! While tidying up the bottom of the garden, I had a peek and came face to face with Mrs. Blackbird hunkered down as small as she could make herself. We had a lot of gardening work to do just outside the nest yesterday and I was a bit worried that after us crashing around uprooting a large dead palm tree from it's huge pot and planting it's successor which took us most of the afternoon we might have scared her off. However, she was back there today and whilst she was on a tea break, I snuck down and took a very quick picture of the inside of the nest. Four shiny bespeckled blue eggs - wow! I can't wait to see them hatch and hopefully be able to get some more close-up photographs.



Our garden is quite a little bird sanctuary - it's a bit overgrown with lots of hidey-holes, as well as having the advantage of a large dog on patrol to keep away any cats or magpies. We already have robin chicks in the ivy, about ten feet along from the blackbird's nest, and blue-tits are nesting in eaves of the house just above Stacie's bedroom as they do every year. One year the blue-tit chicks were so tame I was able to get within a couple of feet of them and take photos which I used for a painting. It was amazing - when I wanted to check their colours or plumage while I was working on the painting, all I had to do was step out of the door and stand still by the bird feeder for a few minutes and they'd pose for me as much as I needed.






I've just finished knitting a chick of the woollen Easter kind - this is from an Alan Dart free pattern (check out his website for some incredible knitted toys and their downloadable patterns.) It was a lot more successful than the failed knitted egg, so I think I will dash off a few of these rather than labour over lumpy eggs!