Summer Food & Sunshine

We've had lots of lovely warm sunny weather as have many of you no doubt. Yesterday was the first rain we'd had in almost three weeks so it was much needed and gave me a break from watering the garden. It was a bit of a shock to don the rain coat to walk the dog yesterday morning, but Barry relished the rain as much as we did!


With all this warm weather we have been enjoying plenty of salads and BBQs. The novelty of a BBQ has and probably never will wear off for me, I just find them so fun and it's something we both get involved in (I do all the prep, marinating meat etc. while Jack does caveman duties and mans the BBQ).

The man in his natural habitat, providing for others

As well as creating homemade dishes, it has also been nice to get out in the sunshine and visit Millets Farm where you can pick your own fruit and veg. We recently went and picked a punnet of raspberries and a punnet of strawberries and they were delicious. They also have a fantastic Butchers there and do an array of ready-marinated fresh meat for the BBQ, I love their smoky BBQ ribs!

Raspberry picking at Millets Farm Centre

We've had friends over for BBQs and it's been lovely being able to sit in the garden all evening, eat outside, have a cocktail or two. Our friend even made a tasty fruit salad for dessert the other week

I like to make my own kebabs; these were chicken kebabs that I marinated in Nandos sauce! Homemade Nandos is tasty!

Homemade Potato Salad with chives from the garden

We've had lots of colourful salads each day at work

Now as I stare out of the window the rain clouds have just passed us and the sun is trying to break through again just in time for Barry's afternoon walkies. He's been fine in the warm weather, he's got a makeshift paddling pool in the garden that he enjoys splashing in when it's been really hot and we've been delaying his daytime walks to after 9pm when the temperature has been much cooler, as he doesn't seem to understand when he's hot and still runs around like a loon!

Our back garden view last week - Those blue skies! I wonder when they'll cut the wheat, it looks almost ready and they've already harvested all of the Barley in the neighbouring fields

Finally, I have two very happy Mediterranean tortoises who have been enjoying our 'Mediterranean' weather in the UK!

Let's hope the warm weather returns in the coming days and we continue to have a nice summer mix of sunshine, cloud and warm weather! With the odd bit of rain to keep the plants happy and the water butts replenished.

Have a lovely weekend everyone, just in case I don't manage to write another blog post for a couple of days!

Em x

Sunny Weekend & Funny Tortoises

It looks like the sun has returned for July and let's hope we get a lot of nice sunny days now. I've marginally got my hay fever under better control now thanks to steroids, which I'm not thrilled about being on but the GP and I have exhausted every other option so this is a last resort to try and get it under control. It's the worst it's ever been for the last two years :-( Does anyone else suffer with it really badly? I take tablets, eye drops and nasal spray daily, go to bed with a flannel over my face most nights - Jack's even bought a special pollen mesh to fit on the windows! I've suffered for over twenty years and it shows no signs of being outgrown in my immune system. I've tried local honey, all sorts! Failing that I'll need a gas mask and boiler suit!

I have been able to get outside and enjoy the garden in brief spells anyway and both the front and back garden are looking colourful at the moment. The Borage is flowering and the bees seem to spend their time going backwards and forwards between them and the Lavender. We've had some nice walks out with Barry too exploring a few new routes. I found a pretty meadow nearby with a track running all the way around the edge where the public footpath runs through. Barry likes disappearing off in the long grass in search of rabbits. He then comes home totally worn out and hops straight into his favourite chair in the conservatory and has a snooze!

My brother and his girlfriend have gone on holiday for two weeks so we're looking after Jenna's Horsfield Tortoise named Terry. Terry is a Russian tortoise so quite different in his markings to my two Hermanns tortoises (Mediterranean Tortoises), but nonetheless he's just as cute. He's a real character anyway and anyone who thinks tortoises are slow boring pets are very much mistaken! It's not advised to mix different species of tortoises together due to different parasites they may be carrying or if they were to accidently mate, but I thought a quick meet and greet between the 'cousins' as we call them wouldn't hurt as ours are all healthy animals. I also thought it would make for a funny photo of all the cousins together so I sat all three tortoises on the lawn and made Barry lie down next to them. Terry's usually a very shy tortoise and hides away a lot, not like my two that love a tickle under their chin. I quickly took the photo and seconds later Terry tried to bite Barry, making Barry yelp and run away. Terry then proceeded to chase Barry around the lawn (yes, you read that right, a tortoise chasing a dog) before then switching to chasing Squirt (my biggest tortoise) and biting her back leg and refusing to let go. I managed to peel him off and banished him back to the old wire run we used for my two before we built their permanent run, what a little hooligan! Barry (aka Wimp Dog) can add tortoises to his list of everything he's scared of and Squirt and Lola aren't interested in meeting Terry again! I then went inside for all of five minutes, came back out to find Terry missing from his run - he'd managed to pull the chicken wire away from the frame and luckily I found him hiding under the nearby Rosemary plant. I put him back in a safer run and told him to behave and then relayed the story to Jack. Jack's witty response to me was "it's because he's an only child" which had me in stitches and made Jenna and my parents laugh when I called them later that day! What an eventful ten minutes that turned out to be! That's the first and definitely the last time that they all meet each other!

Barry keeping a very wary eye on the tortoises, seconds before Terry tried to taste him!

We had Jack's parents and Grandparents visit yesterday which was lovely. Barry took a shine to Barbara and insisted that she play tug of war with him and his chicken leg toy! We had a nice roast in the pub in the afternoon before they all headed home again. Barbara had very kindly put together a lovely food basket for Jack and I, full of tasty goodies! I love the basket too, very handy for yarn and other crafty bits (Jack's already moaning about the fact that there's craft baskets everywhere in our house!).

Barry and Barbara

Lovely food basket from Jack's Grandparents, Barbara and Brian

We've got a quiet week this week other than work, which will be busy for me as I'm on Jury Service next week. I have to say I'm really looking forward to it and think it will be quite interesting. I've been warned that it's a lot of sitting and waiting but that sounds perfect to me - I might finally be able to catch up on some reading as the books 'to read' pile is growing. I hope I can take some crochet too if it's allowed.

Can't resist sharing this photo of Jack and Barry snoozing on Friday evening, I must have worn them both out on our dog walk earlier that afternoon!

Have a good week everyone!


Em x

Poorly Pup (Again)

Barry has been a very poorly boy again and it's been such a worry. It was only mid-March when he last spent three days at the vets due to sickness and tummy upset and it's now early May and we're back again with a similar thing :-( Sorry if this post is a little graphic to read!

Visiting Barry at the Vets yesterday in an attempt to persuade him to eat

It started on Thursday afternoon with almost constant sickness and for the first time ever Barry refused to eat any food. This is very out of the ordinary for him, especially when he was only being offered plain boiled chicken (because of the sickness) and usually he eats this with glee. He didn't eat anything at all that night and started to look very sorry for himself by the next morning after a night of sickness too. He still wouldn't eat the next morning and when diarrhoea started which was mainly just blood I got very concerned and took him straight to the vets (it was very startling and scary to see). The vet couldn't feel any obstructions and so it was put down to severe gastroenteritis like last time, only this time called Haemorrhagic Gastroenteritis because of the blood. The vet said that fresh blood in stools isn't too worrying compared with 'coffee granules' dark blood which pinpoints problems much higher up in the digestive system but it was advised he stayed in to get him straight onto fluids and medicine to try and get him feeling better. Off he went out the back with the vet and they rang later to say that he was bright, but still some sickness and diarrhoea and therefore they wanted to keep him in overnight to keep him on the drip. I rang a few times the next day and it was the same story, though the sickness had finally stopped. On Sunday morning the vet rang and said he was much brighter but still not eating and therefore they asked us to come in and try and persuade Barry to eat.


Barry was very happy to see us and we managed to persuade him to eat a tiny amount of chicken which at least was something. Saying goodbye to him again was horrible and he howled and cried. They managed to get him to eat a small amount more yesterday afternoon and the vet rang this morning to say that it had successfully stayed down which is good. He isn't interested in eating again this morning but the vet said she's happy for Barry to come home in the hope that he'll start eating at home. So I'm off shortly to go and pick him up and I can't wait to have him home, we've really missed him this weekend.


As to the cause of his tummy troubles, it's very hard to pinpoint it as frustrating as that is. The vet says he obviously has a very sensitive digestive system and she herself has terriers and that they are more susceptible to sensitivities and are also extremely fussy (which I can vouch for with Barry!). Barry is already on a very good food (Arden Grange) and has been on that for 4 months now having changed it from James Wellbeloved a while ago to try and help his sensitivities to an even better hypo-allergenic food. The vets advised we stay on Arden Grange for now to see how he gets on and then we'll have to consider what to try next if not. Deary me, they're such a worry! I'm just glad he's ok and hope he'll be much better soon and not have anymore flare ups for a while, it's horrible seeing him so poorly.


In other news (no sickness or other messy stuff!), my parents arrived yesterday to spend a few days with us. Dad has got stuck straight into the tiling here at our house, with Jack's help. Jack and I madly spent Friday evening clearing the conservatory and ripping up the old laminate wood flooring as well as moving items off of the kitchen worktops ready for Dad to tile the conservatory floor and the kitchen walls. My parents are staying with us until tomorrow so hopefully the tiling will get finished, there may just be some grouting for Jack and I to do. I certainly can't wait to see the finished look in both rooms. I cooked a barbeque yesterday with Jack's help and it was very tasty. I made a tasty salad too and we of course had to have corn on the cob on the BBQ as that's my favourite.

Quickly took a photo last night; Dad & Jack have made a good start on our new kitchen tiles!

It was lovely spending the day in the garden with Mum while the boys were busy tiling. The tortoises have spent all weekend in their run and are very happy in their outdoor home. We just missed having Barry running around too.

We had to share our strawberries with the tortoises yesterday! They're very dusty in this photo as they've been busy digging into the little 'cave' I made them in their run

I hope you all had a lovely weekend and enjoyed the hot sunny weather; I can't wait to get my boy home, spend the afternoon with him snuggled up on my lap while I read your blog posts!


Have a great week all!


Em x

Lovely Bank Holiday Weekend With Family

Morning all, I hope you've enjoyed a lovely bank holiday weekend where I think the weather was pretty good considering it was a bank holiday and they can be a total wash-out.

Beautiful sunshine on Overstrand Beach, Norfolk

We loaded up the car on Friday afternoon and set off to North Norfolk to spend the weekend with my parents, brother and his partner. Usually the car journey from home to Overstrand is around four hours, but it took us well over five hours due to the volume of bank holiday traffic on the roads. I think Jack (who was driving) was rather frustrated with the constant crawling towards the end, but we did eventually reach Cromer where we picked up fish and chips for everyone from Mary Jane's (best fish and chip shop ever!) and took it back to Mum and Dad's where we ate it alongside champagne (we're not posh people, I think Mum and Dad were just very pleased to have their 'babies' home so it called for a celebration!). My brother Simon and his partner Jenna had arrived prior to us so it was lovely to catch up with them too and hear all their good news about the house they're in the process of buying. They are first time buyers so all the stress and excitement is new to them, but so far the buying process seems to be going smoothly.


We spent Friday evening having a good catch up and then we helped my parents with various jobs on Saturday to help them get ready for the garden party they had planned for Sunday. The weather on Saturday and Sunday was amazing and we can't believe how lucky we were! We all had pink faces by the end of Saturday where we'd caught the sun and it was so nice to feel warmth instead of an icy breeze. My parent's garden is so pretty at the moment; full of bluebells, tulips, blossoms, Camellias and Rhododendrons too. Jenna and I took Barry for a walk on the beach in the afternoon and it was beautiful down there and great to see lots of people enjoying the beach and sunshine. We spent Saturday evening having competitions with the Shuffleboard. I'm not sure if any of you will have heard of it, but we're all rather addicted to it now and it's great fun to play! It's a wooden table game where you push wooden discs down it and the aim is to get them through the different holes at the end of the board. I'm not too good at it but then I'm not very good at many games (I'm a sore loser!)

Sunbathing Barry - his fur is growing back slowly but surely

Shuffleboard in the sunshine

Beautiful colours in Mum and Dad's garden

The weather on Sunday was even better than Saturday and it made the party extra special for my parents. They had invited a big group of friends to come for a bbq for the afternoon and I think they all had a great time. I helped Mum with the food and we put on quite a spread. Mum's lovely friends Annie and Jenny made amazing desserts too which went down very well along with Dad's home brewed beer. Their close friend Hugh even played a few songs on his guitar including one he used to sing to me when I was very little called "The baby went down the plug'ole", look it up, very funny (lyrics here, but there are different versions and no-one is sure of who wrote it originally)! I'm glad that Mum and Dad had such a nice time with their friends and that the weather was kind to us all too. Barry was such a good boy around all the people at the party and he was very popular.

It clouded over and got a bit chilly as 6pm approached

Jack and I got up nice and early on Monday morning to take Barry for a final walk along the beach. It was low tide so you can get around the ends of the groynes rather than having to climb over them nearer the back of the beach. A fairly deep pool is always left at the end of the groyne though and Barry completely mis-judged this and ended up disappearing right under the water much to his surprise! Luckily he loves water and is a good swimmer and shook himself off before setting off again down the beach at 100mph! We then said our goodbyes to my parents, Simon and Jenna and endured another 5+ hour journey home (this time I gave Jack a rest and I drove). We eventually made it home all very weary. Sadly Jack had to go into work for a few hours so I just snoozed on the sofa in between putting on a few washes. We have a very tired pooch after all the playing, beach exploring and attention this weekend and Barry looked mighty pleased last night when we said good night and went to bed, I think Barry was asleep before we even reached the top of the stairs!

We've got a busy week ahead of us in terms of jobs to do around the house; I emptied the loft of nearly all of its contents the other weekend in order to sort through everything, throw things, bag things up for charity shops and sell other things on EBay. I've kept it all in the guest bedroom and slowly been sorting through it but now my parents are coming to stay with us this weekend I had better get a move on and finish sorting it. We've laid more loft boards in the loft so you can now walk around more easily up there and as I'm slightly obsessed with being organised, I don't want anything to just be thrown back up there and instead want to know what is in each box. My parents are coming to stay this weekend for a few days as my Dad is kindly tiling our kitchen splash back area and also tiling the conservatory floor. So he'll have plenty to do but have Jack's help too. The weather looks good this week so I'll be able to move my plants out of the conservatory too, more space again!


Finally, just a photo of my two very happy tortoises on waking up this morning to find a whole windowsill box full of home grown lettuce for them to devour! I've tried to leave it growing as long as possible and had better get some more planted ready - I'd quite like to enjoy some too, but it is a lovely treat for Squirt and Lola!

Have a good week everyone!


Em x

Hen Do Spa Weekend, Bit Of Gardening And SNOW?!

I had a lovely weekend on my wonderful best friend's Hen Do; we went to Whittlebury Hall in Northamptonshire (near Silverstone). As Jess had been here before and said it was lovely it was decided a while back that we'd go here and she was right. It's a lovely hotel and spa and I enjoyed the relaxation and giggles with my bestie. The food was wonderful too - a bonus because I adore food (just in case you didn't already know!). I hope Jess had a good time anyway; only 5 weeks until the wedding now!

I had a dessert for once! I had paid for it after all and it was delicious!

I said goodbye to Jess and the other girls on Sunday morning after we had checked out and made the short journey home. A very excitable Barry was waiting for me, crying like mad when he saw me. He enjoyed his boys weekend with Jack but was pleased his Mummy had returned. I took him for a nice walk around Sunday lunchtime and then spent the afternoon in the garden with the dog and the tortoises.

I had a good tidy in the garden; edged the lawn where it is overgrowing into the borders and path, looks much tidier now. I gave my herbs a spruce up and planted a new Mint; I went with a Moroccan mint as it smells lovely, but I did almost come away with a Strawberry Mint - amazing smell! The Montana Clematis is covered in flower buds so will look beautiful in another couple of week's time I should think. I'm also pleased to see everything has already grown somewhat in my wildflower/Alpine bed. It's already serving its purpose of attracting the bees and I saw a butterfly yesterday too. Just a few more plants to go in and it will hopefully be a nice busy and colourful flower bed. I think the bulbs that have come up are Alliums but I can't honestly remember what I planted last year!

Finally, it's Tuesday afternoon as I write this post and we've had snow showers on and off all afternoon. What's happening with the weather?! Does it not know it's May next week and we're meant to be having a garden party at my parents with family and friends this Sunday. I hope it warms up a little anyway, I've got so many plants waiting to go outside that I almost did put outside on Sunday only to have a harsh frost last night. I had to scrape the car this morning before work! I know I've moaned already about hay fever but I would rather the temperatures were in double figures!


I'm very excited for our dinner tonight; I put a beef brisket joint into the slow cooker this morning before work. I made a spice mixture of cayenne pepper, black peppercorns, mustard seeds, cumin and paprika, all grinded down in my pestle and mortar. This was then mixed with brown sugar and rubbed all over the meat before I added it to the slow cooker with some beef stock. When I got home from work a short while ago the house smelled delicious and sweetly spicy. I'm going to have a go at making a homemade barbecue sauce and then I'll mix this with the beef once I've shredded it. We're then having it in tortilla wraps with salad and coleslaw, yum! I'll let you know how it goes anyway and try and take some photos if I haven't already devoured it all.


Have a good week everyone!


Em x

Enjoying The Sunshine

It was glorious weather yesterday; I was so pleased to finish work and then spent all afternoon in the garden with Barry and the tortoises. Barry had a vets appointment (you gasp but for once he's absolutely fine!), just for his annual jabs now that he's all better. The vet said that Barry looks the picture of health, very fit and muscly with all the walking and activities we do.


I spent the afternoon pottering around the garden; the tortoises were sunbathing in their run and chomping on dandelions, there was a big bumblebee busy at work around my lavender plants in the garden and Barry was hunting spiders. I busied myself with planting a few more plants in the wildflower bed, admired the little blackcurrants appearing on my blackcurrant plant and I also re-potted some seedlings.

Squirt & Lola enjoying the April sunshine

I also bought two bargain bunches of Irises in Tesco for £1 each. They're some of my favourite flowers and being purple I suppose it's quite easy to guess that (I do love purple). They're opening quickly anyway and providing nice colour on the dining table.

One thing I have really noticed since the weekend is the return of hay fever :-( My eyes have been very itchy, I've been sneezing nonstop too. I'm just about managing to keep it under control with tissues, nasal spray, eye drops and tablets - I just need a gas mask and I'm complete! I really hope it isn't as bad as last year, it really got me down last year because it was the worst it had ever been and I've suffered for over 20 years. When will I outgrow it?!?! I'm back at the doctors next week anyway to see what other treatments I can try.

Regardless of hay fever, I try not to let it stop me getting outdoors (after all it does has something to do trying to build up an immunity) and gardening is one of my forms of relaxing so it's important I continue when I can. I love seeing colour appear in the garden regardless of hayfever and I've got a lot of seeds on the go.

My favourite plants/flowers;

Gerbera - such happy giant daisy faces

Iris

Mesembryanthemum - hope I got that right!

Dogwood - I love the red stems and contrasting green leaves

Lavender - for the bees

Buddleia - for the butterflies

Saxifrage - A new addition to my garden this year and I love the little flowers

Sage - my favourite herb

What are your favourite plants/flowers?

Em x



Easter Weekend

Morning all, I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend with family and friends, ate lots of chocolate and hopefully none were too affected by storm Katie! We had gales and torrential rain all of Saturday daytime and night time and woke up to find the two new fence panels we'd bought had been thrown half way around the garden (they've not been fitted yet and were leaning against the conservatory) Thankfully they are still in one piece and my plants had managed to avoid being squashed.

I did Roast leg of English Lamb on Friday, cooked with rosemary and garlic and some white wine too. It made the tastiest gravy!

Friday however was a beautiful day and we spent most of it outdoors with Jack's parents who had arrived on Thursday evening. Sarah did some gardening for me while I was cooking us a tasty roast Lamb dinner. Jack and Richard managed to lay electrics to the shed and we now have plug sockets and a working light in there which is great. I've also now got a plug socket in the conservatory so we've moved the tortoise's table into there as they will soon be spending the daytime outside and just coming in to sleep at night for the warmer months of the year (before hibernating in the winter). We now have a big space in the dining area of our living/dining room so our small dining table now looks tiny. I hope to get a bigger dining table soon, but it all costs money and we can't do it all at once. We keep an eye out in the local community project centre where you can take old furniture as we've picked up a few bargains from there in the past.

The Torts enjoyed their first proper day outside of this year in their run, lovely sunshine!

Jack's parents headed home on Saturday morning, so Jack and I braved a trip to Wickes in the pouring rain to get a few bits we needed while there was 15% off. They had 15% on top of the deals they already had in place so we then came home and ordered tiles that we'd seen in store that we liked. We've got some big square 'taupe' ceramic floor tiles to do the conservatory floor and we have finally chosen the tiles we want for the splash-back area of the kitchen and have gone with some lovely subway tiles in 'pistachio green'.

Jack had to work on Sunday and Monday so I was on my own and wanted to make the most of the time off of work to get back into the swing of decorating as there's still so much to do in the house. As we now have the kitchen tiles arriving this week and my Dad coming to do the tiling in a few weeks' time, I was conscious that I needed to get on with painting the kitchen in anticipation of the tiling. The kitchen was probably the grubbiest room when we first moved in and the walls were full of huge holes where things had been moved around over the years. We were very lucky that the kitchen was nice and modern though so it's saved us a lot of money in terms of needing to replace it and all the kitchen needed was a thorough clean and spruce up. I spent the last two days scrubbing, filling holes, sanding and then painting! I had to shut Barry in his crate while doing the decorating because he loves his Mummy so much that he wouldn't leave me alone and kept coming into the kitchen to have a scratch and send his hairs flying into the wet paint!! He loves his crate though and by shutting him in he realises he can see me but that he can finally have a snooze.

Clearing, Moving, Cleaning, Filling, Sanding, Painting, Glossing and putting back together again! This is the start...

... And the finished look. We went with 'soft stone' on the walls and then we're being bold and going with a 'pistachio green' tiled splash-back area. I can't wait to get a new oven too - this one is over 12 years old and on its last legs (no working grill, oven can be hit and miss too!), but it's served us well since moving in.

It's back to normal today; a quiet-ish day at work before the next month end arrives and outside of work I've got more decorating jobs to do; I want to make a start on freshening up the two hall cupboards. One sits next to the kitchen and we think we might turn this into a pantry (I do have a lot of kitchen appliances and cookware after all), so it just needs some holes and blemishes filling and sanding, a lick of paint and then shelving putting up. We also then have a much larger cupboard which we hope to turn into a downstairs toilet. We're just waiting to save up a few more pennies before we get builders and plumbers out to work out the feasibility of it all. It could mean digging up floors and a lot of mess so we will see. That cupboard I intend to paint for the meantime so it's tidy. At the moment we just use it to store our bikes, shoes and coats so it really is a very big cupboard and would be perfect to be a WC/Cloakroom.

A quiet week is planned here and then Jack goes on his annual rugby tour with his rugby team. They're off to Edinburgh this year; lots of beer and not as much rugby is involved I think! My brother's girlfriend Jenna is coming to stay for a girly weekend, so that will be nice.

Hope you all have a lovely week!

Em x

Tortoises

Lola enjoying some pumpkin

 

Just a little hello from the tortoises who yawn and ask when they're allowed to go to bed for the winter! Squirt hasn't slowed down much and is always busy patrolling their run looking for a way to escape (a favourite tortoise pastime), while Lola sits watching her. Lola's day goes like this; emerge first thing in the morning when the heat lamp comes on, bask under it for about half an hour (while fighting for the best spot with Squirt), have a few mouthfuls of breakfast and then plod off back to bed for the rest of the day! Lazy thing! She's trying to tell me that she wants to hibernate but I keep telling her that she's got a few more weeks to wait yet if this mild November weather is anything to go by.

 

Sleepy torts this time of year

 

They've been in their outside run at every opportunity possible (when the sun shines and it's mild) and have been devouring weeds. I've been giving them lots of extra treats such as romaine lettuce and pak choi to help maintain their weight before hibernation. Both have hibernated before but Lola's first and only attempt only lasted a week before her weight dropped too much (they shouldn't lose more than 10% of their body weight throughout the whole wind-down and hibernation process). Squirt is much more successful but has a couple of years on Lola so she seems to know what to do (so is a greedy pig the rest of the year in an attempt to stock up for winter!). I find hibernation very scary and worry a lot about them but it's a natural process they'd do in the wild so I'm keen to make sure we attempt it each year and they're always much better for it the following Spring, so maybe it's proof that it's good for them. There's lots of helpful articles online and the breeder I got my two from is always happy to answer my questions.

 

Dreaming of summer...

 

I'll try and give you a tortoise update a little more regularly moving forward.

 

Good bye, night night from Squirt & Lola as they head off to bed for the winter x

 

Typically British (rainy) Bank Holiday Weekend!

I've had a lovely last hour or so reading through everyone's bank holiday weekend blogs. Sounds like only a few were lucky enough to get some sunshine, most of us got the horrible grey skies and miserable rain. Oh well, that's England for you and since when do we let the rain stop us from having a good time! I've loved reading through everyone's recent posts and looking at their lovely photos :-) This is my tenth blog already, this blogging malarkey is quite addictive!

The sun did appear for most of Saturday

I started the weekend with a nice walk on Friday evening towards the Ridgeway - it means more hills but I had my comfy wellies on and Barry bouncing along in front which meant I couldn't go too slow. He's certainly come on leaps and bounds (literally!) since his fractured leg fiasco and it's great to see the muscle definition returning to his bad leg - it still looks a lot smaller in comparison with his other hind leg but that's also because the fur is still growing back.

Jack also came home with beautiful flowers for me on Friday :-)

 

My best friend arrived late Friday night after a tiring journey from where she lives in Suffolk. I don't think the roads were particularly kind to her because of the bank holiday traffic and she was glad to arrive before midnight! It was her first visit to our new house so it was nice to show her around our home and the lovely village we live in. We also made sure to celebrate her recent news on becoming a qualified Veterinary Nurse, well done Jess!

We were up a decent time on Saturday morning to make the most of the weather - we were told by the weatherman that Saturday was the only decent day and they were right. We had glorious sunshine all Saturday morning and ventured to nearby Millets Farm Centre near Abingdon, Oxford (http://www.milletsfarmcentre.com/). I am so excited that I've discovered this place as it's fantastic. They have a large farm shop which sells their own produce or produce sourced from the local area. They also have a garden centre, falconry, maize maze and the most exciting part; pick your own! I can remember visiting the local farm to pick strawberries when I was very young but sadly this seemed to almost die out a while back, so it's lovely to find a local farm which does let you pick your own and they had a variety of things to choose from. Jess had already brought me a sack full of goodies from her and her fiancé's allotment (marrow, squash, runner beans and beetroot), so I picked my own sweetcorn cobs, Victoria plums and raspberries.

 

Picking raspberries

 

We had a great time picking our own produce in the sunshine and the prices were very decent too (which makes it all the better at the end of the day). The plums are very ripe and tasty and I can't eat them quick enough so I may have a go at making a plum jam. I've also seen on my BBC Good Food calendar that next month's recipe is for a plum crumble cake so perhaps I'll give that a go. I have frozen the majority of the raspberries too. We had the sweetcorn cobs last night and they were delicious.

 

My 'pick your own' haul

 

I will definitely be frequenting Millets Farm Centre in the future, it was just so lovely to wander around and pick what you needed before heading off to pay. I'm sure many of you (smallholders, allotment holders etc.) get even more satisfaction when your hard work has also gone into the growing of the fruit and veg and I too hope to have this joy next year when I hope to grow my own veg and fruit, but in the meantime I like this alternative and it certainly beats the dreaded supermarket shop sometimes! The farm has a pick your own potatoes event in a few weeks' time which I may try and go along to, as I've only got a few potatoes growing in the garden and I don't think they're going to amount to very much. I may even be a big kid next time and try the Maize Maze if I can persuade Jack to join me!

 

I had a lovely weekend with my best friend anyway; we only see each other every few months so it was nice to spend a whole weekend together to giggle and catch up, and Jess gets married next year so there was plenty to chat about. I do miss my old friends back in Cambridgeshire and it's hard sometimes being away from everyone you know. Luckily Jack and I do enjoy each other's company and we're the best of friends too, though I know how much he likes time with the 'lads' the same as I need time with the girls. We took Jess for a lovely meal in our local pub, the Crown and Horns (http://crownandhorns.com/) and I had a lovely homemade pie and chips, yum. We also went out for Sunday roast in Newbury so in terms of eating... yes we've done a lot of that this weekend! I did however kick this morning off with a healthy home-blended juice of banana, raspberries and blackberries so I'll hopefully start this week as I mean to go on. Jess headed home on Sunday afternoon so Jack decided to finish the tortoise run in between the rain showers. He has managed to get it done and I'm so grateful as it looks great. I need to paint it (if the weather will let me!) and get designing and building the inside of the run, so I hope to have photos for you all soon.

 

Because of the persistent wet weather yesterday, there wasn't a lot I could do outdoors. I popped into Newbury for a few bits but then spent the rest of the day on the sofa determined to learn how to crochet. I say determined, because on many occasion I have attempted and only succeeded in throwing the hook and wool back in the bag in anger!

 

For the most part, this is how I feel when crocheting!

 

However, for some reason I actually seemed to understand it this time, hurrah! I spent all afternoon practising double crochet, half treble, treble and such like and they're starting to sink in. I'm afraid my pictures are very un-exciting and un-inspiring as all I kept doing was practising, but practice makes perfect and let's hope I have something substantial to show you next time. I'm just very pleased anyway as I love knitting and I find that easy and I've been so frustrated that I couldn't crochet. I'm trying to read and understand crochet patterns now and though I seem to understand what they're asking I must be going wrong in more than one place because mine just don't look like their example pictures :-( Try and try again I suppose... I'd love to make a patchwork blanket so I'm hoping to successfully crochet some squares soon, but at the moment I'm struggling (all tips welcome, pretty please).

 

Nothing exciting, just practice

 

Jack has also requested I crochet matching Christmas jumpers for him and the dog and I did tell him to get stuffed for at least another three years - that's if I can even master a square by then, let alone a jumper! Perhaps I should stick to sewing and knitting...

 

The dog found crochet very boring

 

Finally, I did manage to have two trips out to the garden centre this weekend which was nice; I definitely think summer has left us now and autumn is arriving so it was nice to get some ideas of adding some colour in the garden for these approaching colder months. I'd also like to get some bulbs planted in the front and back gardens too at some point. I've bought a huge lavender plant to put in the tortoise's new run, it's not poisonous to them and they don't tend to eat it anyway, preferring to use it as a good hiding place so it will add some nice colour to the run and hopefully survive the winter if it establishes in the ground soon. I got a Hebe with purple flowers for their run too. The Lobelia in the pot by our front door has also almost finished flowering now so I'm going to replace them with a large Chrysanthemum plant I got which is covered in little purple flowers and as long as I keep removing the dead flowers they'll keep flowering for quite some time, at least a little colour out the front of our house, especially as the Buddleia has almost finished flowering and other than a few weeds in the big bed there's no other colour. You can't tell that purple is my favourite colour can you?! We'd like to plant a miniature apple tree out the front as it's quite a sunny position and I think it would like it there. My question to all my lovely new blog friends is when would be the best time to plant said apple tree? Should we wait until next year now?

 

It's my birthday tomorrow and I'll be stuck at work all day, which is rather depressing. I used to always make sure I had my birthday off just so it didn't become any other working day, even if I still didn't actually do anything but we have a busy month end at work and I work in finance so that combination means no such luck for having my birthday off. Oh well, Jack is taking me out for dinner so I look forward to that :-) 

 

Happy four-day week everyone!

 

Em x

Introductions: Squirt & Lola

I just wanted to give you a little introduction into the other two creatures in my life; Squirt and Lola, our charismatic Hermanns Tortoises!

Enjoying one of their favourite treats, strawberries

 

 

I love tortoises and find them such fascinating prehistoric-looking creatures. Anyone who thinks they're boring 'go-slow' sleepy animals are mistaken! Tortoises are totally independent from the moment they hatch from their egg and from day one they are funny little characters. They're inquisitive, not quite as scared as they make out and are notorious escape artists.

 

A quick little fact-file for you on my two:

 

Squirt

Species: Testudo Hermanni Boetgeri (Hermanns Tortoise, the most popular and common pet tortoise species in the UK)

Gender: 90% sure Squirt is a female, though we do still call her 'him' most of the time!

Age: 6 years old

Fave Pastime: climbing, eating whatever she can find in the garden

Fave Food: Pak Choi, Dandelion leaves

 

Lola

Species: Testudo Hermanni Boetgeri

Gender: Female (we think!)

Age: 4 years old

Fave Pastime: digging holes in lawns while hunting for clover

Fave Food: Clover, strawberries

 

 

When hatched, Hermanns Tortoises are the size of a 50 pence piece!

 

After much research I decided to get a tortoise and chose Hermanns Tortoises as I thought their shells were beautiful colours and they had quirky personalities. I was lucky to find a lovely breeder locally; she had two separate Hermanns breeding pairs, Totty & Too and Twiggy & Tommy. I got Squirt when she was 10 months old and her parents are Totty & Too. Squirt was a mere 7.5cm in length when I brought him home and he's grown well since I've had him. Tortoises are prone to pyramiding (where their shells grow unevenly and look very bumpy) if they don't have the right diet and other factors. I think I've done a good job with my two and they both seem to be very healthy tortoises.

 

Squirt aged 10 months

 

Squirt aged 2 years

 

Tortoises are more than happy alone, but after keeping in touch with the breeder and hearing that Twiggy had laid eggs, I was keen to get a friend for Squirt. Not only that but Lola is totally unrelated to Squirt so if it turned out I had one of each sex then I could breed them. It looks like I've got two females but I'm thinking of getting an adult male once my two reach breeding size so I can breed them. We actually watched Lola hatching from the egg which was fascinating. We brought her home at two weeks and I was petrified that Squirt would squash her as she was so tiny but they were totally inseparable and Squirt was so careful with Lola. Quite often I'd lose Lola as she'd bury herself in the soil, but I always knew where she was as Squirt was usually asleep in the same place but would only manage to half-bury herself. They follow each other everywhere now, eat together, and sleep side by side.

 

Lola was a Birthday present from Jack, here she is at two weeks old

 

Meeting her new best friend, Squirt

 

Sharing a slice of tasty apple - I'm busy watching I don't lose a finger!

 

Squirt has successfully managed to hibernate twice, but we've had to over-winter her the past two winters because it just wasn't possible to hibernate her while we lived in our rented flat. They're now back outside much more now that we have our own house and garden and we're currently in the process of building them a permanent outdoor run so they can live out year-round and hibernate as normal each winter (though they'll be transferred to boxes and hibernated in the shed where rodents can't get to them during hibernation). This year will be Lola's first hibernation and hopefully she'll be successful. Let's not talk about winter just yet though, brrr!

 

 

Squirt and Lola have been brilliant photographic subjects; I've managed to get a few good action shots of them (best before the sunshine has warmed them up because then they're off!). I can't tell if they like being the subjects of my photos or not but I don't really give them a lot of choice! They're pleased that Barry now has to do his fair share of modelling duties too so they can spend more time devouring weeds in the garden or escaping when I'm not watching them!