Lonely boys

I have two lonely boys here, looking for love, young and handsome, they are just waiting for the right girl to come along... They sit around in the garden all day and regularly at about lunchtime, they call out rather sadly..... 'Whooo Who....' They are our teenage tawny owls and they need girl friends! In the evenings they are out on the town, well the common actually, casing the joint, looking for a date, but not much luck yet it seems. A few nights ago I heard a rather saucy 'Weeeek' from lady owl, out in the evening, checking out the boys, but I haven't heard her since. Maybe they were too shy to ask, looked a bit bashful, who knows? But they were back the next day with a lunchtime hoot, so still single I suspect!

In the late autumn garden I am counting. Husband has been growing Turkish Hat squash. With no care or attention he has seven and three which don't look the same..... I have been growing Butternut squash. With every care, feeding, watering and a daily chat. I have three very small ones.... Humphh!!! The  courgettes appear to have gone into overdrive but my biggest triumph are the sunflowers. The seeds were sent in June with a request for Granny to plant them. It was very late to start, but here they are, six fine sunflowers, providing a late autumn treat for honey bees and bumbles in the vegetable garden. We all raise our faces to the sun and enjoy the beautiful weather here!

It isn't over yet

It has been a glorious summer here. We are still enjoying the garden, coffee outside, the late flowers and a  sudden burst of energy from the roses. I am determined to catch every moment before it is sock and woolly jumper time. So I am passing on to you a little piece of pure summer. This lemon cake recipe I read about on Lucy's blog  attic24.typepad.com and it is delicious. Close your eyes and sit in the sun with a frothy coffee and you will be back in July......

Lucy's Lemon Cake
125gm Margarine
175gm castor sugar
Grated rind of 2 lemons plus the juice saved for later
2 beaten eggs
175gm self  raising flour
a little milk
50gm granulated sugar

Whizz the margarine, sugar (175gm), lemon rind until fluffy. Beat in the eggs. Fold in the flour and 2 tablespoons of milk. Tip into a greased 2 lb loaf tin. I use a paper case here for loaf tins. Bake at 180 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Heat the lemon juice and 50gm sugar in the microwave for 2 minutes or until the sugar is dissolved. When the cake is cooked, take from the oven and stab the top all over with a long kebab stick then spoon over the lemon juice mixture. Let it cool in the tin and absorb all the lemony liquid.

This is delicious with plain yogurt, ice cream, as a pudding, or with hot coffee and fruit. I hope you enjoy this sunshine cake. Oh and the mug is my favourite and comes from Alford pottery on the Lincolnshire coast........ Thank you Lucy for giving us this lovely recipe.

The Lincolnshire County Show

Here in rural Lincolnshire our annual County Show is a big event. Held at our show ground, it attracts lots of visitors each year. The competitions are watched avidly as stockmen display their prize animals with great pride. The Lincoln Longwool sheep have their curls treated with hair spray to keep everything in place. Pigs are scrubbed to a pink gloss and cattle are brushed and combed to look so smart. Horses have their manes and tails plaited and beribboned for the party effect and everyone enjoys themselves enormously. Janet and I sampled the local ice cream extensively, well, it's got to be done by someone.....  Geraldine and her students showed their upholstery skills in the Rural Crafts tent and nobody seemed to mind when it rained a bit. At the end of a long day, exhibitors were tired but happy. We had all met friends, some old, some new. Some of  us were hungry too, chance for a quick snack before it was time to go home. Thank goodness for mum who was close at hand........ 

Visit Lincoln

Lincoln is a lovely place to visit, we have the wonderful cathedral and castle in the up hill part of the city and down Steep Hill are lots more shops and cafes. Elizabeth has opened her cafe shop and crafting sessions business in Guildhall St, called Rock and Paper and Scissors There are lots of great gifts for all ages, in contemporary style and colours. Whilst you drink the excellent coffee from vintage china, sit on the comfy sofa and read the craft magazines. You can do a few rows of knitting for the knit-a-long then leave the needles for the next visitor to carry on and you will find crafting sessions on all sorts of things. I love the crocheted bunting in the window. I didn't try the cakes but on a day when I need comfort, I will be back...

Blossom basket and quilt

This cold and wet spring seems to have done wonderful things to our apple trees. We have never had such lovely blossom and intense colours in the flowers before. After New Year I made a resolution to have 'Sort It Sundays' in the sewing room. Its an effort to reduce the pile of unfinished projects and Mending.... the later at the bottom of the pile and likely to stay there too! So far I have managed to finish something most weekends, but one quilt took longer. But just in time, before the blossom falls, here is my Tah Dah moment, a finished quilt in apple blossom colours, ready for the swing seat when it is warm enough to sit outside... The basket I bought because I have always wanted one....we can eat lentils for the rest of the month..... It came from Maggie at The African Fabric Shop, fair trade and made in Bolgatanga from elephant grass. It was so hard to choose, they are all so beautiful and come in other sizes. Using it makes me so happy!
You can see them here:     http://www.africanfabricshop.co.uk

Going steady

My lovely friend Jo often says as she is leaving ''Go Steady'', it is what her mum used to say to her and has an echo of driving home in the evening, maybe after a party and possible in a horse driven buggy.... Husband's granny sometimes described a young man as ''Not safe in taxis'' , certainly not a 'steady' boyfriend..... Recently I have been knitting daughter a new woolly hat for use in Norway. I came across this wonderful pattern, just right for riding on the back of motor bikes or sledges pulled by husky dogs and it reminded me of Jo's mum. So if you need a reliable woolly hat of going out in style, this is the one for you....and the girl looks so happy too!

Blessings

Blessings in our garden are things which happen by themselves. Every year I attempt to grow vegetables, last year I had courgettes by the ton,  six runner beans, all eaten with great appreciation.... Also three strawberries, gone in a minute, but the sweetpeas and nasturtiums were a riot, pretty but not very edible. But every year starts with great hope. At the moment, the vegetable plot has been dressed with manure, compost and awaits the plants in the greenhouse. In the other parts of the garden, daffodils and fritilaries are so gorgeous and this year is marvelous for cowslips.  So I was delighted to find two blessings.... well three to four really, three with wings, as peacock butterflies arrived from Italy on Saturday and one little primrose, self seeded on the steps.... all by themselves, with no help from me!

 This a spring coloured quilt  I have made for Joss with all the things she loves about her garden. Her frog kite flies over the apple tree, her teddies picnic in the garden and a little owl perches on a branch.