garden stuff

KABOOM!

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)68 Comments

That there is the sound of the metaphorical bomb that has gone off in our garden this last week.

I love our little garden. It's not big but it is a little haven of outdoor peace where I like to sit in the summer with my knitting; watch the children play, swing and bounce; have campouts; eat al fresco; tend my veggies and just enjoy this corner of the earth that smiles on me.

When we first put in our raised beds and started a vegetable garden in 2009 it used to look like this…

 

Veg garden

 

Gardenveg

 

There was lots of lush, green growth

 

Garden6

 

Gardenjune

a pretty herb wall

 

Herbwall

a swing and climbing frame for the children

Amyswing

 (from 2007 when Amy was a lot shorter than me and Toby refused to wear trousers!)

 

and a little shed where I liked to do my planting and pottering

Shed2

 

Today it looks a bit different. A bit like a bomb went off, hence the KABOOM!

 

Garden2

The climbing frame and swings have gone because they are really no longer safe for Toby now he is so big and swings so high. The raised beds are being moved and the shed is being dismantled and recycled.

Lots of big changes and lots of hard work for H but hopefully it will be worth it because thanks to the generous donations and fundraising of family and friends who have raised a lot of money for us we will be putting in a garden respite room. This will give Amy a space for doing homework or seeing friends out of earshot of Toby's meltdowns; a quiet, almost outdoor space for Toby to come on rainy days; a place for H or I to take it in turns to have a night off from Toby duty and just a little place to escape from intense situations for a short time.

We've also got Toby a lovely new swing seat that gently sways instead of heartstopping mega swinging! I'm so looking forward to it all being done and hoping that it will make the big difference to family life that we think it might. But for now there is a lot of digging and hard work ahead and I'm so grateful that H is great with things like this.

By the way thanks so much for all of the comments on the previous post. I've really enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts on being a homebody, or not being one as the case may be.

Oh and if anyone sees Spring please could they send it in this direction as H needs some warm dry weather to get the concrete to set!

Have a good week where you are and thanks for dropping in x

 

general stuff

Sociability

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)76 Comments

My friend Hazel calls me a hermit and it's not an undeserved or unkind label because most of the time I am! I do spend most of my time at home and in truth I am perfectly happy pottering around doing a little cooking or gardening and of course a lot of knitting. Before having the children I had a busy work and social life in London but since they came along I have become a homebody.

 

Basket2

 

It's not that I'm unsociable but more that I often feel a bit tongue tied or lost for words in social situations these days. I don't do a whole lot with my time other than look after the children and knit, so I don't often feel that I have much to contribute to cosmopolitan conversation. I also frequently feel a bit worn out and my brain definitely doesn't work as fast as it used to – it's not uncommon for me to think of something to add to a conversation around 10 minutes after everyone else has moved on to a new topic!

Over the last week however I have been uncharacteristically sociable. It started on Saturday with a wonderful meet up of blogging friends: Ali  Alice  Emma  Kristina  Monica  Nancy  Penny  Sue  Tessa  Tracy  Val

There was a great deal of laughter, chatter, good food and handmade present exchanging.

 

Basket3

 

I came away with this superb basket (made by the fair and skilled hands of Val at Dottycookie), these divine handmade socks (so beautifully and expertly made by Kristina), and also a full tummy, a big smile and warm heart.

 

Socks

 

On Tuesday I had my second workshop teaching session and like the first workshop I was amazed at how friendly, willing and wonderful everyone who came along was. The work was fiddly (we were mattress seaming and stitching egg cosy bunnies) but everyone was really cheerful and chatty and I had a great time, hopefully everyone else did too. Thanks to Elaine, Esther, Iolanda, Jane, Sue and Peggy for coming along.

Then on Wednesday I went to visit a community garden run for adults with special needs by a group of wonderfully dedicated and caring volunteers. Hopefully somewhere like this will feature in Toby's future and it was heartwarming to see how sensitive and dedicated all of the volunteers were. It also gives me hope that Toby will still be occupied and having fun after he finishes school.

All in all it's been a busy social whirl compared to my typical week and hopefully I held my own in conversation. I am happy though to be spending today quietly alone with my knitting and am thinking that a little of both is a good thing.

What about you, are you a happy homebody or a companionable conversationalist?

crafts & knitting

catching up

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)64 Comments

It was the half term school break here last week, so I had a week away from the computer and instead spent all of my time keeping Toby busy or driving Amy around the county. Overall it was a good week with lots of walks in the woods, a few visits to the park and plenty of bubble baths and tickle play. We even had a burst of sunshine at the beginning of the week that did me the power of good and the plum tree responded too with more blossoming. Now though we’re back to cold, grey dull days and both the plum tree and I feel on hold again. I hope spring makes a proper appearance soon, I feel rather winter weary.

It always takes me a few days to begin adjusting to changes in routine so I’m not yet into my term-time mode but spending yesterday knitting did help enormously!

 

Legs

I have a big batch of animals that I’m working on and hopefully in the
next week I’ll be putting the finishing touches to them in time for
Easter (I’ll send emails out to the mailing list once they’re all
ready).

 

Foreaster

Along with knitting this week, there is a big backlog of emails waiting for me to answer and I have no
idea what is going on with all of my favourite blogs but I look forward
to catching up with everyone’s news soon.

I’m also looking forward to reading all about the Red Nose Day Dolls project which is being mentioned in several magazines (including Handmade Living, issue 22, April 2013). There are loads of new things that have been finished for the dolls in the last week and you can read all about some of them on the Red Nose Day Dolls blog, including my post about the things that I’ve made for them.

Well, that’s all of the news from my end for now, apart from the good news that on our wood walks last week Toby took to wearing one less hood and a lot more smiles.

 

Tobysmile