UK TRIP 2019 - HARLOW CARR.

Celebrating 70!!!

In late August last year we spent the day at RHS's most northerly garden of Harlow Carr, to celebrate my 70th.  I'd actually planned something else, but it didn't happen, so as we'd gone out to HC earlier in our trip & not been able to get a parking space due to school holidays, we made our way back on this day & I got my garden fix.  Following are a lot of photos of a great day.

Beds brimming with flowers.

Couldn't resist this fellow in the Owl display.

A corner of the Alpine House.  I think that is what it is called.

Glasshouse envy.

Did this "little" piggy go to market?

A long vista.

Pink cyclamen beneath the trees.

White cyclamen among the leaves.

Are you vicious?

I just love this higgledy-piggledy wood.

The sunken garden was captivating.

Creativeness in a pot.

These nasturtiums were the most amazing colours, some of which I just couldn't get a photo of.

More beauty.

A great day topped off by these lovely presents I was given by family.

This t-shirt, front above & back below was given to me by my niece & nephew after we told them about a funny happening at a shop in Keswick.  Keith bought me the White Rose Pendant.

OK, that was a birthday to remember & I'm not having a say on the current situation we find ourselves in today, but will post occasionally about our trip last year and what we are getting up to on the home front with crafting, gardening & amusing ourselves in isolation.  Best go as I can really smell my loaf of bread baking, so must nearly be ready.
PLEASE stay safe all, take care & giant huggles from down under.
PS:  Thanks to all my wonderful blogging pals, I really need you now.
Susan.
 

MARCH PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT 2020.

Linking with Kate at I live, I love I craft, I am me,  for the hunt for photos to go with her list of words.

I'm finding life very "strange" at the moment & will just plunge straight in for the hunt.  Knowing I probably will not get many lookers & not being able to concentrate, I 'm not sure I should be blogging at all.  I'm absolutely scared out of my wits, that this is how we will be living for the rest of my time on this earth.  Ugh..............  Thanks Kate for doing this word hunt. 

Keith had a birthday earlier this month & 4 of the photos are from our outing to celebrate.  No-one else was around as we were in the middle of the forest of the Strzelecki Ranges to our south.  We saw one car on Grand Ridge Road, until we neared the coast at Foster, tuned around & headed home, via a different route.  The scenery was delightful.  Oh, & we took a picnic lunch with us & a thermos.

1.  BIRTHDAY.

              This is where we ate our picnic lunch overlooking the hills of South Gippsland.

2.  JAZZY.

Along the side of the road, we noticed this rock.  We did a quick back-up, took a photo, all the time wondering who might have done this & why in the middle of nowhere.

3.  FLAG.

Before entering the forest proper, we traveled through farming country as you could see from where we ate our lunch.  Much to my surprise we came across this flag fluttering among the pine trees at the entrance to a farm.  Had to stop & take a snap, as it was just what I wanted for the hunt.  I was one lucky girl that day.

4.  THREE.

There was a reason we pulled over where we did for lunch.  The width of the grass verge would accommodate our car nicely away from the road, the view was to die for & I noticed these horses.
Yes, "three", just what I needed for another word from the hunt.  What a day & lucky I carry my words with me in my camera bag. 

5.  CUSHION.

I've shown these before.  I made them especially for my lovely stepdaughter in UK for her birthday in December & posted them over 4 months ago.  THEY HAVE NEVER ARRIVED................................

6.  MY OWN CHOICE.

OK, just a bit of nonsense for the last one.  Does this shadow remind anyone of an animal?  I took the photo one afternoon this week as the sun appeared for a few minutes.  You can see the wood on the rock behind, which is drying for, uh....something?

Well this about it for me & I've really struggled writing this with the world in turmoil.  Am I doing the right thing?  I've registered for our groceries on-line, to be delivered so we don't have to be close to others & only go out if absolutely necessary.  We will continue to take a walk around our neighbourhood every couple of days & yesterday we only saw  one or two people & kept our distance.  We musn't even travel anywhere more than 2kms unless it is vitally important.
PLEASE stay safe all, take care & the biggest virtual hugs I can give too.

TRYING TO BE NORMAL!!!!!

Oh dear, all this turmoil is doing my head in.  My concentration has hit an all time low & the depressing news does not help in any way & even our kids are laying down the law to us.  Yes, we are being as good as we can, by staying away from most things, except the teenist bit of shopping if we have to. 
I'll try & be up beat with this post.  Some photos of what has happened here over the last few weeks, before it began to look like we'll all be in lockdown of next week, so we've heard.

ON THE HOME FRONT.

My new chest of drawers in place.  These next few photos aren't the best, as we've had very cloudy weather just lately & the light just isn't right, no matter how hard I try.

They replaced that stack of boxes & the clear plastic drawer set, which was painful to open.  I'm definitely not the tidiest of people with my quilting/crafting.

We also moved my photo collage & put up the little timber rack I bought ages ago.

                                                          I've being going "potty" too.

Playing around with pots which have been hibernating in a big plastic tub.  What's a girl to do, when staying home is a must.

A DAY OR TWO OUT BEFORE THE CRACKDOWN.
Some weeks ago, it rained quite heavily over night.  We headed out the next day to look for some more old knobs for my chest & on the way got held up in some rather deep water over the road.

                                      Swish, swish through this after about a 20 minute delay.

 No knobs, but I did come home with these.  I hope to put some begonias in wooden tub, the frame is going to be put to a wacky idea & the cute print goes with some other pieces I have by this artist, that my mother bought back in the 50's & eventually came to me.

This stamp was in a box full of them & I happened to pick this one up, just to check what on earth they were.  It turned out the young man who owned Old Modern, had been offered the contents from the old Melbourne Print Works & had printer's drawers & all manner of "stuff" from when they closed down.  I'd asked him about the stamps & how much this particular one was & he wanted to know why this particular one.  My Dad worked for this company while I was growing up & didn't leave them till after I was married.  He actually then gave it to me.  How wonderful was that?

One more bit of nonsense.  I receive emails from quilt pattern companies if I've used them to purchase long-arm quilting patterns. When they release new patterns they send them through for you to browse & maybe purchase!    I got the one below this morning & it did make me laugh.  Hope I'm not breaking any law by showing it.............

                                                                 Who'd have thought?
OK, enough from me & I hope everyone is hanging in there.  We are trying hard not to feel too down & go along with staying close to home & pottering about with our hobbies, garden & general housework.
Take care all, stay safe & huge huggles.
Susan.

5 on FRIDAY - GRATITUDE late as ever!

Yes, this was supposed to be done over the weekend, but time slipped away.
Seeing the world has gone crazy, it's been hard to think about our "gratitude's", but here are some small things that have made me smile just lately.

Enjoying some house plants & finding I've missed not having them around the house for quite some time.

Watching the bees & insects gathering pollen/nectar & knowing they are helping pollinate ornamental & vegetable gardens along with our orchards.

Having a very clever husband who has built me this chest of drawers, which I am in the process of decorating.  In this we have some scraps from other projects, pallett timber for the top, part of an old wardrobe that belonged to our youngest granddaughter, and a second-hand TV cabinet (costing all of $12).  I've bought some old handles as well as a few new ones.  I'll show it again once finished.

Tomatoes in our small veg plot.  This year I didn't plant out as much as might normally, due to our very strange weather, but the two tomato plants I put in are doing well now, as is our rather abundant silver beet.  As I said to a friend who is worried about running out of food, at least I'll be able to eat tomatoes, spinach & blueberries from the freezer.😊

And onto my fifth gratitude.  I've plenty of scraps hoarded to make into some little quilts to give away closer to winter (not the best time to be travelling too far at the moment), to help  out in our fire ravaged areas.  Just a little something more personal, than money, which is not necessarily reaching everyone.  These two still need quilting.

I know that I've missed the linkup for this but you can pop across to Kate's blog & see the other links.
I hope to catch up with a couple of other posts already planned during the week as we can't venture out very much/far until this crisis has passed. 
Take extra care everyone & lots of huggles from down under.
Susan.

UK 2019 Lotherton Hall.

Here I am trying to do some catching up on our trip from last year.  My blogging friend Jo did a post of Lotherton recently & that has spurred me on to make an effort & hopefully I'll get the long overdue posts done over the next 2 months!!!!
As we wandered the gardens I took quite a few snaps of bits that caught my eye, so here goes.............

I can't help myself when it comes to unusual trees & have to take a pic.

Topiary is such a creative way to tackle the shaping of shrubs & trees.
It never fails to impress me.

Ah, wisteria covering the wall, which must smell heavenly in Spring & bergenias dancing at it's feet.

And this as we strolled through the gardens.

Not as many photos as I thought I had, but lucky me was allowed to take this photo inside the house, as I'd been talking to one of the volunteers about the beautiful music instruments.

Two of my favourites.

Outside once again & into the old stables (I think) and what did we see, but carriages of all shapes & sizes.

I found trying to take photos of all the different carriages difficult due to space restrictions, but these two photos show a few of what was in there.
We had a picnic lunch on some lawn, then went for a stroll further along the estate road & found these.

Deer under the trees.

Just a quick post in amongst all our commitments this week, but I will be back on Friday (after my dental visit for 2 fillings😓) to join with Kate for our 5 on Friday Gratitude post.  Must put some more trip posts together along with what mischief we've been getting up to of late.
At least we have a few fine & warm days before another cold front blows in from the south-west.
This rather strange weather has been playing havoc with me, as I have 2 chillblains on my toes & one on a finger.  Shouldn't have any till at least the end of May, but with our cooler than average days, they think it's time already.
OK, I'm calling time on this.
Take care all & huggles from Susan.

FEBRUARY PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT...2020

Linking up for the second hunt of 2020 with Kate from I live, I love, I craft, I am me.
Our list of words for this month, weren't necessarily tough, but the weather has not been conducive for getting out much, even with it being summer.  Had to do quite a bit of searching through the archives & photo bombing inside.😖  I've also come up with a few doubles & a little bottom heavy(lol), you'll see what I mean as you scroll down!!
So here goes.....

1.  HEART/S.

Can you see the heart shapes indented into this rock?  I took the photo at Smith's Beach on Phillip Island some years ago.  I often wonder how rocks get to look as they do with etchings or bands of beautiful colour.  Our world is so fascinating!😖
2.  REPAIR.

I thought of many things for this word & then DH got involved & suggested repairs to our lovely MM which has happened many times over the years since we got her in 1991.  In August 2015, it was decided her timber tray back needed replacing & I happened to take a few photos of the progress.  Looking through the folder of photos, DH spotted this one & said, ooh, that one is good.
After the next photo, you'll know why I underlined a certain word.😊
3.  TAIL.

Left was the obvious one I chose to start with.
I took this photo at Melbourne Zoo a few years ago when we went with DD, Master L & Missy Moo.  I was looking at the peacock, camera in hand & he suddenly opened his tail & stood looking at me as though waiting for me to take his photo.  I obliged.






Next as I was looking at other photos, I realised that so many people are fascinated by our local wildlife, that I'd pop on this one too, to feature the size & strength of a kangaroo's tail.  Er!!  That underlined word has just made another appearance in this photo & I wasn't going to use it, but DH thought the coincidence was funny & everyone may get a good laugh.  Certainly need to smile with so much in amongst all the bad news this year seems to be inflicting on this huge rotating orb.


4.  KEY.

Me being silly once again.  I thought of so many for this one & failed to get out to find a few I'd thought of.  Hence a photo was needed of something & as the last few days have been quite dark, dreary & wet, I needed to put my thinking cap on.  Here we have piano keys, a timber key rack & an old style key on a big ring made at Sovereign Hill (based on a gold mining town) in Ballarat.  And why the monkey?  Monkey ends with "key"....ha ha!  This one with it's rather flat tail, was eldest son
A's, when he was little & he chewed that tail.
5.  KNOT.

I had this one in mind for heart, but when I couldn't find my old Macrame Knot plant hanger, I changed my mind and chose my Colonial Knot embroidery of a heart.  Again I took this photo yesterday & the light just didn't do anything justice.
6.  MY OWN CHOICE.
Can I have 2 again?

                                              A dream space for a sewing studio.......yes?
This garden room is at Harlow Carr, the RHS garden in Harrogate, North Yorkshire where they hold talk, lectures etc. and I think it is gorgeous.  Or you could be viewing this from it's windows...........

                                                        Aren't you ever so cute Mr. Caterpillar?
Also photographed at Harlow Carr last year in August.  I really must catch up on some posts about our trip, as I've lots of lovely photos.
OK, that's my lot of being a bit wacky this time.  Hopefully there will be lots of giggles.
Thanks Kate for supplying the words & now I'm off to link up.
Take care all & huggles.
Susan.