Baby birdie......x

In all this drizzle and mist, there is something that both the bumblebee's love and me too! You see it all started this morning when biggest bumblebee and I visited our favourite local shop Delilah Petal ....this is NOT a shop for the un-girly. You must be a Cath Kidston fan, enjoy pink, glitter, ditsy floral prints, and dinky china. Thankfully we like all of the above......

The trip was meant to be for stocking up my present shelf ( you never know when a bumblebee is invited to a party, or I always forget someone's birthday... sorry if that's been you B.T.W.....it happens to everyone eventually )

The cutest little cardboard birdy caught our eyes, and was swiftly taken home....I know, I know, it's meant for children, but it does look so sweet in the dining room, mid flight, on it's candy cane coloured cord....

Lets face it, it was never going to make it to the shelf was it?

So happy birdie Thursday to you.........hope it makes you smile too.......x

Pen lovin......x

This weekend we were feeling like we needed a little bit of air and freedom.........Pilsdon Pen was the answer...

It's a very high hill...man made or natural I know not...but it's an old fort....with a panoramic view of Somerset, Devon and Dorset.

Walking legs on..........we climbed...and climbed....and climbed......

You can even see the sea.....( think it must be Charmouth?! )...was great to blow the cobwebs out, feel re-energised and new.

With birds tweeting, horses neighing in the distance.....farms busying, and bees and butterflies fluttering....what seemed to be a baron windy hill top with a view, is actually.....buzzing with wildlife, if you just sit still long enough...it's constant.....but can you imagine in the winter time, how cold a place like this gets? And what it would have been like all those many years ago for those looking out across country, watching for invaders  preparing for an onslaught or confrontation??!!

It was also one of those days where the clouds seem to change shape and colour flying through the sky, being carried by the wind.

         

I always find is quite tricky when choosing pictures for this type of post........so I am sorry if there are far too many, but I wanted you to see what we got up to, and what a lovely place it is.....

Do you often pop on your walking boots, backpack on, and head for the open fields?

B.T.W...........a quick shop in waitrose this week saw me gasp at £5 for a few sunflower heads .....these on our table? From the garden, the sunflowers are positioned infront of the chicken coop, not only to add a little shade for them, but I thought the poop would do them good! And so it has! These were just some of the extra sproutings off the main flower! Dead cheap, ever so thrifty and blinkin gorgeous...........

Chocolate cake, made by the bumblebee's at the weekend..............fancy a chin wag and a slice?!

xxx

Friday post......x

Ahhhh the holidays so far have been great. This week we have picnic-ing most days, in Somerset parks with friends and sandwiches...

Let me tell you...there has been bickering too.......we are not perfect, BUT on the whole I LOVE the bumblebee's at home...being able to play and have days out.......school is great too, but I sometimes feel they get the best bits of our children, while we are left with the grumpy hungry versions at the end of the day!!

This morning we are at home......just being. You need those days don't you?

A few weeks ago, the postman delivered a variety of gorgeous catalogues,.....including the lovely Cath....so my fav's this season?...Easy....!!....

 Bird tin brooches rock........these are on my must have list...sooooo pwetty...want,want,want....

Bad picture I know, but gumboot socks, that are 1. GREEN! and 2......Floral....amazing.

This Rob Ryan print, which I can oogle and ahhh but I'm afraid will never afford, I adore soo so so much. I'm a romantic what can I say! And I love red, and I love hearts and birds...ok?!

Really I need to stop tapping these keys and get on with this....

The worlds longest patchwork project ever.......is it driving me bonkers? Actually no, It's a good excuse to sit down with a cup of tea and watch rubbish daytime telly, or perhaps The Notebook, or Harry Potter!!!

Parting words today are...... Peace and love man.... seriously, after all the happenings in the cities this week, we all need a bit of peace and love for ourselves and sent to those in the midst of it all..........xxxxxx

Seasons and Lavender Biscuits.....x

One of the lovely things about living in the country........feeling part of each season. As the farmers do their thing, you always feel part of it........I love that. 

So quite honestly, the only thing for it.......to sit down with a cup of tea and a homemade biscuit. ( Poor farmer doing all the work! ) 

This recipe is the best biscuit one I have come across,  I have tweaked it to suit my munching family....so make it a mission this week to make some.......I find they don't stay around long enough to even be put in the biscuit tin!

Lavender Biscuits

You will need......

200g Self raising flour.

100g caster sugar.

100g Butter.

1 Egg lightly beaten.

Some stalks and flowers of lavender.....( leaves roughly chopped, flowers pulled apart...this is a taste thing.....but too much over powers the biscuits...you have been warned! )

Heat the oven 190/gas mark 5.

Rub the flour, sugar, and butter together until like breadcrumbs.

Add the chopped lavender leaves and mix.

Add enough egg to bring it all together as a stiff dough.

Flour your hands and shaper the dough into a tube 5 cms in diameter. Cut into 2cms thick slices and place in a baking tray.

Sprinkle some lavender flowers on the top of each biscuit...

Bake for 10-15minutes until golden........( enjoy the smell wafting....)

Perfect for friends coming round, play dates, or grown up chit chats!

This recipe is similar to the jammy biscuits I make...which just involves making a crater in the middle of the biscuits and adding a teaspoon of good jam.

Happy eating my friends.....xx

My cupboard....x

As I forgot to take my camera to the children's craft morning we helped a friend with today ( was lovely though, they made cross stitched initials and patterns....[ my area ], sea scape canvas's, macrame people, and coloured card hanging owls...I know I should have taken the camera, BUT I WILL take it next time at the next session in a few weeks promise! )......

I thought you might like to see where I write Florence and Rose.....it's rather Harry Potter styleeee...

It's nearly two years since we moved into the cottage. And this was a small. damp, smelly cupboard, housing many a wood wormy shelf, and home to some splendid spiders and woodlice too...

We made the best of what we had, and on a tight budget we kept the few shelves that were not falling apart, de-wormed them and glossed, papered the walls, which in some parts were showing the old horse hair in the plaster!

At one point in time, this cupboard would have been under the stairs, but renovations done years ago to the house, moved the staircase to the back of the house, which then left two useful cupboards....( one at the front  hall which is a shoe/coat cupboard, and this bigger one).......

Cheap wallpaper in a sale, off cuts of carpet, Mr.Q 's old Beano and Dandy books, and lots of treasure has made it exactly how I wanted it...I knew the moment we viewed this house what I wanted this space to be......

On a grand day we call it the office, but usually it's just the computer cupboard...........and quite often I can find a bumblebee snuggled up in here with a favourite toy, watching a D.V.D...............................................................................................................

Happy Friday xxxx

Hustle, bustle patchwork.....x

Tuesday saw a bit of a road trip, it was little bumblebee's actual birthday, and......off we zoomed to London. Both bumblebee's like a bit of hustle and bustle, busy busyness. I am sure, once they are of age, they will indeed fly the nest, and end up in a city somewhere. But lets now wish away the years...back to London......

Can I please have a little piece of this? I 'll even just settle for a room in your house if you live here.....please make contact, a room on this road ...I'll swap you for...ummm.....say cakes made each week, and perhaps a patchwork cushion or...ummmm.......some vintage treasure??? No?!........how rude...

On the subject of patchworks.....my tortoise pace blanket is, coming along at urmmm tortoise pace....hand sewing is a lengthy process no doubt, but extremely enjoyable. And only a few late night mistakes have been made so far....a novice, that's me. I think the trouble will come once I need to start adding wadding and backing.....you see I am making it to fit a double bed comfortably ( this means a little bit of dangling either side..the cottage is tre cold in the winter, and I like to feel no drafts...or giraffe's as the bumblebee's would say )...

It's nice to have a big project on the go that I can keep getting back to.........I am giving myself until winter ( yup vague I know...that's deliberate! )...............xxx 

She'll always be my baby bumblebee........x

My baby bumblebee is 5 tomorrow. She is feeling rather grown up and excited, I am feeling rather strange about it all. I am excited for her, to be a whole year older ( it was such a big thing wasn't it at that age, to be even a year older...) but I feel my Tilly, my little girl has grown up so fast, and I don't quite know how it happened so quickly......

She had a very girly party on Sunday, with all her school pals, they danced to Abba and Olly Murs, and ate sweets and ice creams, and watched big bumblebee perform a puppet show for them all.....

Another mummy said to me..." you should do children's parties "....my reply?......................" NO!!!!! I enjoy all the planning, but oh NO! My children's party's are quite enough!"..........I thought the cute little princess carriages were brill, the girls all loved them, most took them home with them, and it fits just the right amount of food in, AND recycle-able...... fab.....Party pieces........nuff said.

The donut cake you must do. Absolutely effortless, and I even saw girls munching theirs on the way out as they couldn't wait till they got home.....( hooo hum, maybe those carriages don't hold enough food! ).......

So there we go....I will never host another 5th birthday party in my life....ever? How does that feel...ummmm weird, but I suppose in a god way, we are nearer the cinema and a pizza stage? Ooooh or midnight snacks and sleepovers......a glass half empty or half full??!!!!!

We are off on a little 5th Birthday adventure tomorrow.......it's a surprise for the girls......can't wait!..xxxx