Category: summer

crafts & knitting · garden stuff · summer · wildlife

June days

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)52 Comments

There’s been a fair bit of wet and stormy weather around lately but that’s been good news for the garden where everything now has that early summer vibrancy and is growing vigorously. In some cases a little to vigorously as my little veg patch is getting swamped by the herb edging. This year I’m growing beetroot, broccoli, kale, french beans, peas, courgettes and lettuce and I’m looking forward to a green feast in another month or so.

Happily we’ve had a taste of summer too with a few days that have been warm and sunny enough to sit outside. There’s something so very calming and relaxing about an afternoon outside with something nice to eat and drink, a little knitting and a good book (Knitlandia by Clara Parkes is a great read if you are a knitter, though my copy has already lost it’s pretty dust-jacket to Toby’s paper tearing obsession). Hopefully there are more sun-filled summer days to come.

My knitting has been very influenced by the colours of a summer garden too. I was so thrilled when I managed to buy this wonderful skein from Maya at The Wool Barn. Her yarns are exquisitely hand dyed so it’s not surprising that they sell out so very quickly. This colour-way is called Rose Garden and I’m knitting a crescent shawl from it, Helen Stewart’s Spindrift Shawl. I’m almost finished now and just need to choose between pink and green for the edge, as I fancy a contrasting border.

There have been some happy days working on this in the summer sunshine and it’s been lovely to escape some of the stresses of exam time (Amy’s GCSE’s have spanned most of the last month) with a little gentle and undemanding knitting. We’re all looking forward to next Tuesday when Amy has her last exam. She will be so relieved and it will be nice to have a more relaxed atmosphere here. It’s been a bit exhausting trying to keep Toby quiet in his middle-of-the-night-awake periods but essential in order to make sure that Amy has had the sleep she needs to do well in her exams.

Sorry that I’ve not been around much recently, I’ve not felt like I’ve had much of interest to say or to share. Life has been full of ordinary family stuff with it’s ups and downs and we live day to day, which is the best way to approach life with Toby, but so often the day seems to whizz by without much getting done. I do try to take photos when something interesting presents itself (like this wonderfully tender swan family encountered on a walk a few weeks back), but I seem to have lost my blog voice a little. Hopefully I’m just a little hoarse rather than completely voice-less and I’ll be back soon with more words. ‘Til then thanks for visiting x

general stuff · summer

late summer snippets

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)40 Comments

Our last few weeks of the summer break have been busy and lazy in equal measures. There’s been plenty of laying about in PJs days and days full of action and activity…

A trip to Forty Hall with Amy and her boyfriend. A wonderful 1620’s built, Jacobean mansion house with amazing plaster-work ceilings and beautiful parkland where we wandered, watched wildlife and picnicked.

A walk around Aldworth in Berkshire with Gran and Granddad, watching the buzzards and red kites, listening to the skylarks and finishing in style at the pub.

And the highlight for Toby was a little hot-tubbing in a gorgeous garden with a beautiful family friend. Thanks to Julia, Josie and Kitty for the lovely afternoon x

We’re now settling into comfortable term-time routines though it might be a week or so until I’m back to full blogging strength – I’m convalescing at the moment after a rather nasty encounter with staphylococcus which somehow found it’s way into the tiniest of cuts on my finger and from there proceeded to party up my whole arm via my lymphatic system. Happily a hefty course of antibiotics seem to be getting the message across that staph is not welcome here and my finger is starting to resemble a finger again rather than an alarming purple sausage. The most frightening thing was the speed with which the red line spread up my arm so please, if you have a little cut which looks like nothing but you then feel a bit unwell with a swollen armpit a few days later, get yourself to the doctor quickly and get it checked out! And chicken keepers – always wear gloves when you clean the food and drink containers, even if you are in a hurry!

Anyway, I hope to be back soon to celebrate my little blogging anniversary, til then keep well xxx

 

general stuff · summer · wildlife

snippets from the last week

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)40 Comments

  • Gathering up the fallen plums from our tree to make jam and enjoying eating it on toast for breakfast.
  • Crocheting little supports for the squash which are getting heavy now.
  • Waving to the Dakota plane which flew directly over our house on it’s way to the VJ day commemorations in central London and thinking about everything faced by a generation we’ve come to view as the bravest and most selfless in our history.
  • Re-homing hydrangea heads bent by the heavy rain.
  • Rainy days wet enough to make a frog frolic and balmy August afternoons perfect for basking butterflies.

Summer is passing quickly and we’re trying to make the most of the long days. Hope the days are enjoyable with you too.