Last Monday in July

It was a wild and windy  yesterday, so I just did a short walk in the afternoon

The blackberries are starting to ripen.  I tried this one, and it was okay, but a little bit sour.

A black bug of some sort.

The tide was in and the waves were crashing against the shore.

Total walked: 2.3 miles

I made myself another face mask.  The only shop I am likely to go in is our local shop/post office, but I thought I'd make an extra mask so I have a couple of spare ones to put in the wash.  This has a space between layers to add a filter insert.

Otherwise it has been a fairly quite day.  No gardening as just a bit too miserable for me to venture out.  Not really raining, just dull and windy with dampness in the air.

4 mm of rain (3.5 of which was overnight)

Thankful Thursday

Thankful for the vegetables growing in my garden.  My first tomato and onion with dinner tonight, as well as the regular beans, chard, courgette and potatoes.

Thankful for my ability to sew and the flowers in my garden.

The second little top (that went missing yesterday) made for 'Mary' using my friend's pattern.  

This time the cap sleeve blouse.

Wednesday - Another Busy Day.

A lovely sunny day today.

I spent most of it in the front garden as I was waiting for the freezer delivery.

Butterflies on the climber.

As I had to be at the front of the house today I thought I would work on something I had been planning to do for quite some time now.  Three years ago I sanded down an old set of drawers, and was really pleased with the result it can be seen here: Furniture Restoration.

This little old bedside cabinet has seen better days.

The top is sanded.

I had to put paint/varnish stripper on the sides and front.  It looks a bit rough at the moment, but it will hopefully look good when I finish it.  It is currently still a work in progress.

Laundry ready for the freezer.  It was due between 1 and 5pm and arrived promptly at 1pm which was good.

In situ.

I want to get some shelves to go over the washing machine eventually.

This enabled me to go for a walk mid afternoon which was good.

The little church was open so I went in for a look around.  It has a lovely stained glass window.

There is a lovely view from the church garden.

I discovered the village pump.

While I was on my walk I spotted a set of drawers with a 'FREE' sign on them.  So I walked home and collected the car to go and pick it up.

It is quite sturdy, the drawers slide well and it will do us a turn.  I might be able to unpack some boxes!

A short walk today: 2.4 miles.

I also did some sewing this morning in between coats of paint stripper.

I was asked to try out a pattern a friend had drafted.

The short sleeve top fits well.  

I took the little rag doll outside for a couple of photos.

Sunday.

Not quite a day of rest but a gentle day in some ways.  I completed some jobs done that needed to be got on with and also had time to just sit quietly as well.  

I put the flattened boxes that have been in my hallway for far too long up in the loft - I had been procrastinating for goodness knows why!  Which meant I could then give it a good vacuum, I got the old photos of my great grandparents out and put them on the Singer Treadle machine and also hung a couple of pictures on the wall.  This hallway will eventually be repainted as the colour is not something I am particularly fond off and it doesn't go with any of our pictures for a start. I've just put the pictures up where the previous owners had removed hooks and painted over with a slightly different colour paint as it was pretty ugly so I wanted to hide it.   I broke another drill bit in the process - this is the second drill bit from a brand new box of Bosch drills, so not impressed with them.  These pictures probably won't stay there long term but just until I repaint the hallway and plan out what to put up there.  I also put up another couple of pictures in our lounge.  

The after picture...

Ha ha, the before!  Obviously I hadn't been using this door to go in and out of the house which was just as well.  

Much better when it is clear and spacious.

Looking in the opposite direction.

One of our set of the wedding photos we had done with our son and daughter in law up on the wall.  As mentioned I broke the drill bit, so couldn't put the rest up as the other drill bits are too big to make the holes.

I put up the Takehe painting that a friend (and one of my Dad's 'neighbours' ) painted that I bought while in NZ a couple of years ago.  Still need to put my Fantail picture up.

I picked some flowers from the garden.  They smell wonderful!

These are the flowers - on the bank that I can see as I look outside my kitchen window.

I spent some time weeding the four raised vegetable beds in the back garden, and have a couple of beetroot to cook, plus some peas and raspberries which I will have this evening.  The ground is so very dry.

A cauliflower starting to form!

Yellow courgettes.

A very dark rich coloured poppy.

This illustrates how little rain we have had.  The pathetic amount we had yesterday morning did nothing.

The grass is all but dead.

I cooked the beetroot and had a bit with dinner tonight.  I also had some chard.  The peas I had raw, as I think they are so much nicer than when cooked and I picked a few extra raspberries to add to these and added them to a little chocolate pudding I made for dessert.  

I went for a lovely walk this afternoon.  It was pretty windy but relatively warm which was good.

I sat down on the beach for a while watching and listening to the waves.

They were actually quite loud.

You don't often see seaweed washed up on this beach...so I had to photograph this piece.

Such a lovely afternoon, despite the wind.

The waves crashing against the rocks.

A pretty good Sunday, jobs done, letters written ready to be posted and one of my little doll dress and cardigan sets packaged up ready to be posted.