The Roses are blooming

Its the end of May and the roses are finally coming into bloom, even in my garden! I just love roses and spotted the very first one flowering earlier in the week, hidden amongst the foliage. It must have been the really hot weather we had at the weekend that woke them up.

Today there were a lot lot more and these pink 'old fashioned' roses are my favourite. Not only do they look beautiful but they smell beautiful as well.

There's a lot more to come too

I always thought that the darker the rose the less fragrance they had, but not this red one, it has a really strong scent.

The patio roses are flowering too.

There are still more to come that haven't flowered yet and one of them is my climbing rose, but at least its in bud. Unfortunately I can't seem to control the greenfly on it this year and not wanting to use chemicals that harm bees, it bicarb and soap suds again I think.

Woodland walk

We took Bertie out for her first run in the woods today, as I wanted to catch the bluebells before they all went over. I think we only made it just in time as they were looking slightly on the ragged side, but from a little  distance still beautiful.

We even took a basket in case the Elderflowers were ready, but we were a little too early yet and will have to go again next week - oh dear another afternoon in the woods what a chore.  Mind you saying that I am actually going back to work on Monday for a few weeks, ahh they miss me, can't do without me, but not too sure I miss them quite as much, but hey ho bills to pay.

 Anyway elderflower champagne is on the agenda, together with some wild strawberry and elderflower jam, providing they all ripen at the same time, which now looks pretty promising.

Did you know that sticky weed (goose grass or cleaver, however you know it) actually sticks to dogs too? I didn't until today.

Arthur had a great time introducing Bertie to the joys of puddles and streams as well, but at least she is small enough for a shower in the bath.  Whereas poor old Arthur is a bit neurotic about certain things and one of his things is not walking up any steps of any description, so its the hose in the garden for him, good job its warm today. 

Handbags and glad-rags

I've sold three items today, not through my Folksy shop, but hey a sale is a sale.

One tote bag and two Daisy headbands.

I've got a couple more bags to put on Folksy tomorrow, one of which is a sari silk handbag that has actually been finished for quite some time and I don't know what has stopped me from listing it. Probably the fact that I haven't sold anything and also I keep wondering whether to keep it for myself, as I won't be making another one! Have you ever knitted with the recycled sari silk? Its really hard work, it twists on itself and working with double strands was a nightmare, I spent more time untwisting than actually knitting. Oh well we'll see what happens, after six months listing I get to keep it anyway and I do like it.

Can you help?

We've entered a competition for a small business start up through Barclays Bank. Oh that's nice you may think, but actually I am after some support and help.

The closing date for entries was yesterday and by the beginning of June the judges will pick three ideas, from three regions, to go through to voting with a chance to win backing for a starting up a new business and obviously we are hoping that ours will be one of the three picked for the South.

Unfortunately the public only get to vote on a snapshot of the idea, the bank hold all the other information. So a bit more background...

Last summer we started a trial for a lunch business called Beans and Greens, which I piloted through work. Very well it went too, but doing the two jobs was too much for me and now I have left the office environment it is time to start the business full time. 

Beans and Greens is a lunch business with a difference, not soggy sandwiches, but fresh whole food salads, which include home made rolls, sprouted pulses and home made dressings. We also tried to make the menu more unusual and exciting than the standard salads offered in the shops. Japanese chickpea salad, Indonesian gado gado salad, home made falafel and cous cous terrine are just a few of the lunches provided.

Our aim is to be 'green' in more than one sense of the word, from our packaging to organic produce where possible, sourced from small local producers. 

So what do I want from everybody?

Here's the link for the site with the Beans and Green entry and I would be most grateful if anybody and everybody could take a look, vote and leave lovely comments to boost our chances of getting through. But bear in mind that if we are one of the lucky three picked, I'll be onto you again.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and hopefully help if you can. Oh and I promise I will only do this once more on my blog if we do get through.

Wild clover

I went into town today to deliver my weekly egg order and pick up some new wool from the market. Unusually for me I decided to walk home. Now I know that sounds like I'm really being good, but actually its only about 15 minutes and brings me onto my point for today.

Walking under the underpass I noticed some purple flowers growing in the bank and looking at them closer realised they were clover flowers.

So I looked further as I was walking and found lots of wild geraniums, although I should have picked a better specimen 

And of course forget me knots, amongst lots other flowers not picked

Now there's nothing at all special about this except I that haven't noticed these flowers for years, probably not really since I was a little girl making daisy chains - do children even do that any more?

So I've been having a think as to why that is and I think the main reasons are:

We go everywhere in cars and so how could we notice wild flowers from the car window as we whizz past.

There's no time to wonder at what is around us, everybody is too busy to take time out to stop and look - time to just see.

We want neatly kept lawns and verges (obviously not me, you've seen my garden), which leave no room for the wild flowers to grow and in turn attract the insects that keep everything going. I spent three years eradicating forget-me-knots from my garden, treating them like a weed and regretting it this year, hoping they would come back. Some have and I'll not be digging them out again. At the time I just had this thing about only wanting pink, white and purple in the garden, now I just want colour and flowers of all sorts of descriptions. Maybe I'm changing, maybe not being part of the rat race for a little while has changed my perception slightly, or maybe I just have that little bit of extra time to notice.

So now I hope I will stop and look around me, go for more walks and see what there is to find.

A new member of the family

We've got an unexpected new member of the family, but she is oh so sweet.

So without further a-due let me introduce you to Bertie, our new baby miniature schnauzer. Quite scruffy it's true, even after a bath, but very adorable.

Meeting Arthur and it was love at first sight

£5.00, I wish

Where the sheepskin rug and Bertie separate isn't too obvious and poor Arthur has now lost all his sleeping spots, including his bed.

Time for a bath I think

Better, but I don't think she will ever make it onto the front cover of vogue.

My new work area

I picked up my new work table today, you know the one I was getting for nothing and didn't know what it would look like. Well it looks great, lots of space now and room to be tidier.

Here it is, already in place and with drawers.

And room too for my coffee mat, bought for me whilst still in the office.

I couldn't agree more.

A colourful sky day

I've been looking through some older photographs today, to get some inspiration to finally start my felting with merino tops. I didn't realise how many pictures I have of the sky in its many different shades of reds, yellows, greys & blues. Mostly sunsets, but other photographs of the light hitting buildings, which can be beautiful too. 

So I've decided to have a sky day.