Thrifting At Burscough....

Well I'm so excited to say that it's "that" season again. Time for thrifting at one of the biggest car boot sales in the North West. I love it when it's here, I miss it when it's gone. In fact it makes me feel a whole heap of raging emotions, from bouncing impatiently in my seat when my husband spends far, far too long finding a parking space (I mean people could be buying everything that I've spent so long looking for!!), to the highs of an excellent bargain and the lows of not finding anything at all. It's such a heady mix of antique stalls, old tat and little treasures that other's no longer need, and with ridiculously low priced meat, fruit, veg and plants.

So with the children at the grandparent's for the weekend, in order to give us some belated Anniversary grown-up time, we decided this would be the perfect weekend for our first trip of the year. It really was...I found my very first treasure on my very first stall (fate, I think? A good omen for sure)...a little jug, all tarnished and in need of a polish, for 50p...perfect for syrup at the breakfast table....

I found these baskets, for just 20p each, and to think I've been looking out for similar for such a long time now, for storing all those fiddly bits and pieces from puzzles and games and for the ever growing collection of nature finds that just have to brought home....

Something else we have been searching for and found to be extremely pricey was a punch bowl set...you know? the ones with the little cups hanging around the edge...every Christmas we have wished we had one we could fill with eggnog and every summer to fill with Pimms and fruit punch. We have been looking for one of these for a good 3-4 years now, so imagine our excitement to find two whole punch bowl sets being sold for just £2!! We only have space for one so as yet I have no idea what is to become of the other....

For the garden we found these lovely, pretty delights to fill all those pots and containers whose previous occupants failed to make it through the winter.....

Something else I always look out for is silverware, we manage to lose an unbelievable amount of it here. I have no idea how, or where, but there always comes an evening when there just aren't enough to set the table with. Today I found this beautiful set, on a stall being run by the loveliest man, and after promising him faithfully I would treasure them and polish them and love them, I managed to haggle him down to just £3.25. Beyond worth it!

The last scores (for the house/the grown-ups/ummm...me) were this lovely, summery glass jug for all those hot afternoons when the children just cannot drink enough iced water, or for filling with lemon iced tea, and a glass fruit juicer. For 50p each I certainly couldn't leave them behind....

As the children weren't with us we decided to find them each a little gift for when they returned home. For Zak, our Star Wars geek, we found The Millennium Falcon for just £3. I think he is going to laugh and shout and cry all at the same time when he sees this, he has wanted one for so long now....

For Holly, our avid reader, we found an excellent bargain...a whole, unread set of Enid Blyton books for £3. Still with the price tag of £74.99 on. I think she may just be more than a little excited when she sees these....

For Isabelle, we found a cute bunny snowglobe for her growing collection. She loves them, shakes each one before bed, winds up the musical ones...and at 25p I just knew it had to be hers....

And for Tom, we found this for just £2, and really it's so beautiful and so well crafted that it just speaks for itself....

So I'm on a bit of a bargain high at the moment, planning when we should go next, waiting for the children to return home so I can see their faces at their surprise gifts, digging out the silver polish, finding perfect places for each new treasure and always wondering why on earth anyone ever wanted to give them up in the first place and being so very thankful that they did.

Blackbirds In The Rain.....

We've had a nesting pair of Blackbirds in our Holly tree for as long as we've lived here and after three Springs full of raucous cackling, feathers flying and fighting, the Blackbirds have decided this Spring to relocate their nest away from those egg-thieving Magpies who have been causing them so much upset. You wouldn't believe the noise two Blackbirds and a few Magpies could make whilst arguing...always very early in the morning of course.

The new nest site is in one of our Dog-Rose bushes. This is situated just couple of feet out of our back door and we have a perfect view. Through these last few days of Spring rain I have sat and watched Mrs Blackbird build her nest, regardless of the rain, never resting, grabbing all the bits she can from our garden and placing them all 'just so' before pressing it all down with the weight of her body in a comical wriggle, and in her perseverance and determination I forgive her the ruin of the liner to my lettuce trough which now makes a cosy lining for her new home. In just a few days the nest has gone from something small and scrappy looking to something large and perfectly formed and so very neat. We do believe the time has come for her to fill that beautiful nest with eggs.

can you just make out her shining, beady eye?

Today, as I sipped my morning tea and watched, she sat in that nest, as still as could be....maybe laying the first egg of her clutch?...while Mr Blackbird hopped about in the nearby tree, his loud, ear splitting trill replaced by a beautiful song, directed no doubt at his love. He was wooing her and it was lovely to see so close up. And what a wonderful thought to think these birds have been a pair for years and yet every Spring, as the weather turns warmer and the flowers begin to add their colours to the garden, he still sings his courtship to her, still displays his ongoing affection with his hopping and prancing, taking nothing for granted.

Yarn Along....

I'm joining in with another Yarn Along over on Small Things in my excitement at being so close to the end of Isabelle's cardigan. Oh just that last sleeve, just a couple of days more. Does anyone else get that excited feeling at this stage in their knitting? That extra burst of energy and enthusiasm that gets a WIP off the needles? I love the end, having started with nothing more than an endless piece of yarn and ending with something pretty, and warm and wearable...and oh, the dressing of the children in said item for the first time...putting together the perfect outfit to match...it really is the reason why I love knitting so much.

Reading lately has been a mixed batch but is all about birds (surprising? I think not!). My staple bedtime reading material has been Deep Country: Five Years In The Welsh Hills by Neil Ansell. It's not all I was hoping it would be, this man's story of living in solitude for five whole years in a ramshackle cottage, growing his own food and finding himself without the distractions of social life. I was hoping for more detail on his daily routine, the basics and necessities, his feelings and thoughts, and instead I found it is almost wholly a written account of the birds (and occasional wildlife) he encounters. He documents his sightings on his daily walks, nest finding, watching, behaviour....but that's not to say I'm not enjoying it, I am. It's interesting and a little fascinating and brilliant for lovers of birds, I just would have liked a little more. Five solitary years living a self sustaining life in the heart of some of the most beautiful and wild countryside in the UK needs a little more.

                                          

I've also been spending time each day perusing this book.....

....chickens as well as quail?? We shall see....

And with all this talk of quail and chickens going on around here I'm finding chicken owners popping up in the most surprising of places and was gifted these by a lovely, chicken-owning teacher at school....

Settling In And Garden Work....

So after such a rushed and gushing last post about our new feathered family members I thought I'd come back with a gentler paced post about how those little chicks are settling in...and also maybe a bit about the things we picked up for planting that kind of got swept to the side in all that wonderful excitement over our chicks' arrival.

Well settling in has been interesting to say the least. The chicks are very skittish at sudden movements or noises, particularly if the movement is over the top of the brooder...and so much time has been spent teaching the children how to move and speak quietly and slowly around the chicks so as not to startle them...and this has been a tough lesson for them to learn...but they're finally getting there. I surprisingly found it was the youngest amongst them who instinctively "got" how to behave near the brooder while the older two really did struggle and forget a lot. But it's been a lesson they've persevered with as they had an instant love and adoration for these little silver chicks of ours and have spent hours just watching their funny antics and discovering their quirky little personalities. Yes, these chicks may be one of the most exciting things to happen around here.

The brooder itself was a bit of a hodge-podge and needed some work to make it...well...workable. I used a long plastic storage tub and over the top the wire base from the outside coop. But well every time I tried to lift this wire top to change water, feed etc they all tried jumping out through the gaps...and quail are such very good jumpers. We looked into solutions and thought of little else but what we could use from things we already had to make a more useable brooder set up. And goodness, I've been spending every spare minute Googling and refreshing my memory on everything quail related just to make sure I'm doing all I can for this little egg factory of mine.

I've also been spending time while the children have been away from the brooder sitting quietly with my hand inside in an attempt to tame them and familiarise them with "hovering human hands" and I've had some curious, gentle pecks and have managed to run my fingers over their feathers without any concern from the chicks. Not bad for early days I think. We will be picking up the delightful treat of mealworms to hand feed to the quail which should also help in this taming business.

Anyway, I'm well aware my excitement and enthusiasm for these little birds may "take over" the next few posts so I'll try my very best to share with you the other things that are going on around here too. Gardening is starting in earnest this weekend. We have so much to do and are so behind on our usual planting schedule due to the terrible spring weather we have had and so flowers need spots in the borders, seeds need to be sown, grass and bushes need trimming, compost needs digging in....oh the list goes on. The purple broccoli, planted last year, is almost ready to be harvested...and we have in fact already eaten some of the leaves sauteed with garlic and mushrooms....so delicious. Into the ground this year we'll be planting carrots, courgettes and peas...the garlic patch will stay, tomatoes will go into their grow sacks and my silverskin onions to make this year's Christmas pickles will be going into troughs. The rhubarb needs splitting, cherry and apple trees are in blossom, the gooseberry bush is full of unfurling leaves but only half of our strawberry plants survived the winter and so runners will need harvesting in late summer to replenish our crop for next year. Such a busy, busy time and I'm just hoping and hoping with all my might we get enough dry weather to accomplish all we need to do.....

Our trip to the garden centre was mainly to look at fruit bushes as we wanted to add blueberries and raspberries to our crops and had even carefully placed them in the trolley, along with some chard and pak choi and lupin seeds...but well they were abandoned in favour of the quail and their needs....so it looks like a little more saving is in order before these are added to our garden.

And how about you? Have you managed to get anything planted or any seeds sown yet this year? how do you choose exactly what you'd like to grow?

5 New Members At Homemade House....

Oh today was such a surprisingly good day!!! What started out as a boring, old day for shopping turned into something warm, and sunshiney and so surprisingly wonderful in so many ways. A trip to a new store for our shopping meant lots of savings, a breakfast date with my husband, just the two of us. And later...a wander around our local garden centre which is set in the grounds of a big old house, just a short walk from where we live. The plants are all planted, grown and cared for by people with mental disabilities who live on site and are unbelievably low priced as well as hardy, and we came away with the beginnings of this year's plantings.

Afterwards we decided to visit a larger, commercial garden centre and have a dawdle in the sunshine looking at fruit bushes. We took Tom into the pet area to look at the fish and rabbits and, sitting there, almost in a golden glow, was a huge tank with nine tiny quail chicks. Now I'm sure you all know I've been wanting quail for a long time now and we've been saving and planning for a while but didn't yet have the amount we felt we needed for this venture. So I said a sad farewell to those lovely chicks and ventured back outside....where we found a guinea pig coop and run, an ex-display model, on sale, that would be pretty perfect for quail with a few handmade modifications. I frantically took pictures and sent them to my friend Vera to ask if it was suitable...and it was!!

I had quite a long, lovely conversation with the man who worked there and it ended up that not only did he give us the feed and sawdust for free but also knocked another (very) substantial sum off the coop and gave us one of the quail for free too. If fate exists then surely this is an example of it, I'm sure. I discussed in depth my fears over too many males (quail need to be kept 1 male to every 5-6 females) and how I'd love to hatch my own but the fear of what I would do with surplus males was putting me off...and he told me he would buy them from me, or he would exchange for items we may need, like feed, bedding etc. He also gave me the details of a local breeder who would be willing to do the same. I was completely bowled over.

Four of the quail had been reserved and paid for so that left five...I was planning on four but I just couldn't leave that poor little quail there all on it's own and so we are now the proud owners of five silver button quail. We are all so very excited, this is an adventure we've discussed over and over in detail as a family, something we've been longing for, and now it has happened and under such good circumstances. I do believe days like this make everything worthwhile. My only wish is that I could have brought these two, funny girls home with me too....

Vera (mentioned above) has recently hatched her own quail chicks and has had ducklings hatching all day today. She is a fountain of knowledge on all subjects regarding poultry, gardening, permaculture, knitting...you name it she knows it. Her website and blog can be found here. and her live streaming of eggs hatching and chicks/ducklings can be found here.

Letting Go, A Mud Kitchen & etc.....

My children are all tucked up in their beds, my husband is out picking up last minute essentials...it's the eve of my eldest's first school residential. His suitcase is packed and ready, his excitement is high and my mixed emotions of being thrilled for him, worry and anxiety are well hidden. He's going to have such an amazing time and will experience so many activities that will stick in that memory of his for a whole long lifetime. I know it will give him a sense of independence, a feeling of camaraderie with his friends at something special shared, it will give him confidence in trying new things, things he has never even imagined. As I wave him and his friends off in the morning I'll walk home and remember all these things that are so good and will ignore the little ache inside from knowing this is yet another step of his away from me and towards the big, wide world...and I'll let him go and wait patiently for his return, to hear the tales he has to tell me from this adventure of his.

On a lighter note we received a newsletter from Isabelle's class at school....they are installing a mud kitchen....ohhh this makes me happy, this reaches out to my inner child and gives it a huge big nudge. It's also something I was looking at doing in our own garden. We have a spot down the side of our ramshackle shed that's overshadowed by a huge, old cherry tree and nothing much grows here as the ground is so wet and mossy and the sun's rays barely reach...and well  Tom needs somewhere to dig that isn't my vegetable or flower borders...and every child needs to make mud pies right?? Those big, gloopy messes filled with grass and leaves and twigs and unidentifiable things!!!

I also had plans to create a bug hotel with the kids this summer...but well, we may have to re-think that and put it off for another year as Tom has suddenly become completely, hysterically frightened of any type of bug, spider, fly, bee etc. to the point where he screams and shakes and has us all flying to him in fear, certain that something horrendous has happened. This came about just over a week ago when Holly and Isabelle found a dragonfly and decided to capture it in a jewellery box, but instead it flew off in a panic....right towards Tom....landing on him as both girls started shouting at Tom, telling him it was on him, with much shrieking, so that poor Tom didn't know what to do and sobbed and sobbed until he was saved by dad...and well he's not quite been the same since, my poor boy.

Craft-wise I've been busy working on a number of things recently. I finished an embroidery for a swap with the lovely Lisa from The Best Mummy I Can Be and in return I received a beautiful cross stitch, an alphabet sampler, something I've wanted for many years now. She's such a talented lady is Lisa.....

After running out of yarn for the last stripe of Holly's jumper (yes, really!! There was much grumbling on my part) I decided while I wait for a trip to the yarn store I'd cast on a cardigan for Isabelle. The pattern is Belle & Beau and can be found here. I am completely loving knitting this so far, I love the colours, I love the thick, soft, cream coloured aran I'm using and I love the style...but mostly I think I love that I'm finally knitting something fresh and new...even if I do feel a little guilty at not having finished my last project yet....

To compensate I did have an idea to use the pieces of Holly's jumper to trace a paper pattern and am currently sewing up a cotton, fabric version as part of her summer wardrobe. It seems to be working out extremely well...although this is my "itchy", "overly sensitive" girl and French seams around the armholes have proven pretty tricky!! I'm hoping it fits...it should do....it has to...but we shall see.

I also spent the last 4 days of the Easter holidays doing absolutely nothing except sewing up cats and bears from the Tilda book Sew Pretty Homestyle. Cats, with dresses and bows and knitted shawls, for my girls. Bears, with shorts and braces and knitted scarves, for my boys. They're not completely finished. Isabelle's cat needs a shawl. Both Zak and Tom's bears need a few adjustments, some decorative buttons and their scarves to be finished...but oh my do we love them. They even have moveable button joints...which may be my favourite thing about them....as well as their (soon to be finished) hand knits. The clothing of both cats and bears are scraps from each of the children's baby/toddler clothes, which I think makes them just a little more special. They're certainly not perfect but oh my goodness they are very much loved already and have been given the most delightful names by each of the children. Zak has named his bear Isaac, Holly's cat has been named Rose, Isabelle's has been called Evangeline (a mouthful I know but it's from one of her favourite movies, Nanny McPhee), and Tom has named his bear Samuel...although occasionally he is known as Oscar too.....

And what about all of you?? What have you all been busying yourselves with lately, I'd love to hear. Wishing you all lots of sunshine and Spring growth after all that snow in what we here now refer to as the neverending winter....