Today is a marvellous day, a day to be enjoyed. I have the day off work and I do intend to enjoy watching some footy on the tellybox later on, maybe a potter down the allotment once the gasman has been to service the old boiler*, but first…

The doorbell rang just now and it was the local Jehovah Witnesses (again). Since I’m in a really good mood today, and since they were such nice ladies I did have a chat with them on the doorstep. The older lady, Sheila**, was the embodiment of everyone’s favourite old aunt; that certain perm a shade away from blue-rinse, the floaty flowery skirt and respectable white blouse, even the glasses on a chain round her neck. The younger, Joanne, was very nice too. Late twenties, dark hair pulled back in a respectable pony-tail and also dressed according to the season . Just so you get the picture. Think white picket fences, cucumber sandwiches on the lawn but definitely no Pimms.

Anyway, Sheila was chatting away about how the bible predicts the world will become much nicer and so on, to which I mostly just agreed pleasantly. No more wars, wiping away of tears and things of that nature, generally.
Joanne just kept looking at me in a funny way and smiling oddly, as if she knew something that she knew she shouldn’t know, if you know what I mean.

Sheila donned her specs to quote directly from her booklet. When she did that she took a good long look at me and hurriedly wound things up. No more smiles from Sheila. Joanne kept smiling but now seemed to be stifling a giggle, possibly at the expense of her colleague.

Bemused by all of this I nonetheless wished them well as they did me, and I shut the door and went about my business. It was only when I glanced in the mirror that I realised I’m wearing my favourite T-shirt, the one bearing the legend:

‘I’m not a gynaecologist, but I’ll take a look’

Something tells me they won’t be back for a while.

‹awards kniggyhood to self›

*No, Tammy’s at work today. Don’t be mean you lot or I shall tell of you.
**Not real names, obv.

No, really. As everyone’s favourite Leicestershire based photographer mentioned recently, Facebook has done a lot to erode proper blogging.
So, to hell with the status updates et al. Here’s a proper blog as writteny-witteny by meee-wee.

*ahem*

Er…

Oh yes! We’ve had a kitten!
Not the usual 4 kittens we were hoping for, but one popped out at around 2 am. I know this because I got woken up by banshee wailing as mother cat had a fight with another cat whilst kitten was tucked up inside our new quilt in the spare room.
Mother and kitten are now safely ensconsed in a proper kittening box (courtesy of the splendid Lorrie) and there’s plenty of bitty to go around.
Anyone care to think up a name for this lone kitten? He’s all lonesome, no siblings to snuggle up to but he has 8 nipples all to himself and will soon be a very fat little kitteh.
Pictures later when there’s enough daylight.

Talking of things growing, I’m quite pleased with my gardening abilities this year.
In the back garden there are lots of nice neat rows of Lettuce (who said seed-tape?), some accidental potatoes, Marrow, no peas or Runner Beans (latter very inactive for some reason - the seedlings have just stopped growing) Blueberries from the daily Mirror, Strawberries from Auntie Bubbles and of course the excellent Rhubarb (two big batches of Jam this year!) and not forgetting the donations from Jan and Ned: the Blackcurrent bush is about to flower, three tomato plants (planted and staked) and two globe artichokes.
The front garden is where we put the pretty looking things: the Clematis is going bonkers, the Acer tree isn’t doing anything (oops), the Hydrangea is sprouting again and finally, the piece de resistance (hon he hon he hon) we have the marvellously astoundingly beautiful…

Gavotta Tulips!

Such a striking colour combination. The pictures of course don’t do them justice. Tell you what; there’s no feeling on earth like the one you get when you see something grow that you planted as a seed. Stirring stuff!

And finally (yes, yes alright, “hooray”. You’re not funny, y’know) I’ve been meaning to make this since the day after Stu and Helibops Most Excellent Wedding

That’s how you ride a Penny Farthing, that is.

‹Has better tulips than ALL the neighbours - result!›

Ah, thank goodness for the Sun! After the recent gloom and snow, it was fab to see Sol broadcasting hither and hon across the sky this weekend. It certainly motivated T and I to doing some outdoorsy stuff and I for one am feeling all healthy and wossname. Vigourous. Yes, that’s the right word I think.

We’ve amassed a significant collection of veg seeds over the last couple of years (thanks to a few donations) and would hate to see them go to waste: simply don’t have enough room to plant them all.
Some packs are just outside of their sow-by date but they’ll probably be OK. The usual stuff:

Broccoli
Cabbage
Calabrese
Carrots (several varieties!)
Dwarf Beans
Leaf Beets
Marrow
Onions
Parsnips
Pumpkins
Radishes
Runner Beans
Salad Leaves
Squash
Tomatoes

Don’t fret, we’ve kept back plenty for ourselves! That list is all the spare. Even if I manage to get another allotment plot, I’ll not need them all! If you fancy any of these, don’t go out and buy them; have mine for free. Just bagsy whatever you want in the comments.

Thanks to all the previous digging and topping up with home-made compost, the veg beds only took half hour to dig over today followed by some industrious raking to break up the bigger sods.

I would have had a small controlled bonfire-in-a-can today as well but amazingly one of my neighbours has gone out leaving her bedroom window wide open. Tchoh. How inconsiderate.

And finally, some of you may have noticed the full moon at perigee (nearest the Earth in it’s orbit) the other night, accompanied by Mars… a truly beautiful sight! Here’s my attempt at taking a piccy with my silly old point ‘n’ shoot:

Clicky for bigger.

‹Roll on Spring!›