Crow Woman

Yesterday as the weather has been so lousy especially for birds and wildlife I took some stale bread down the beach for the crows.

Harry soon cottoned on to what I was doing so tried to get in on the act…..I think he got hold of a slice.

Today I was followed to the beach by 3 crows and as I walked along the prom I could see my shadow being followed by a cloud of crows waiting for me to dish out my bag of bread.
I better prepared today breaking it up in manageable pieces so I gave Harry some so he didn’t take on the crow gang.
I have to say unlike seagulls they are quite respectful and kept their distance.

Breaking News

We are experiencing some extreme weather down here in the South –
After seeing to my patient (more later) I wrapped up and braved the beach. I’m glad I went when I did as it’s now raining and wind with rain is my least favourite weather combination.

Photo: Big sea today
Naturally it was only mad dog walkers down there….

Photo: See how his fur is blowing in the wind...
Anyway back home and back to my nursey duties…. the man of the house fell over at work on Tuesday and went and broke his left ankle….
He is on crutches and has to have his leg raised all of the time.
My 78 year old mother has become our personal paper ‘boy’ – she arrived this morning with a scarf tied round her hat to stop it blowing away!
Because I don’t drive and Nigel can’t everyone has rallied so we getting by but without friends and neighbour I don’t know how we would cope.

November

Baby mother and I paid a visit to the East Beach Café for cappuccino and carrot cake….giggling like a pair of teenagers while outside a crisp sunny November day wowed us.

We were both disappointed by the cake - underwhelmed.

However the sea put on a great show.

Tennant Wanted

I have no idea if a hedgehog will find it an attractive home….
Straw inside to make it cozy, and a little ‘patio’ in front for fun.

Do you think I should name the house?

Start the Week

99p for a faded double sheet….

It has made me giddy with anticipation of what I can do with all that patterned loveliness.

A previous charity shop find - a hand embroidered pillow seems a perfect foil for a crafty project.

Arundel

Late lunch in Arundel with my husband

….a new Italian deli on the way.....

I wonder what colour they will choose?
Popped in to one of the charity shops with some donations and of course found a few treasures to go home with– a lovely lambs wool jumper for Nigel which fits him like a glove and a very plain lampshade (£1) that I plan to customize – if it all goes disastrously wrong I have lost nothing.
I reluctantly left a beautiful Jaeger suit – very retro but I had to be honest when my heart missed a beat on finding it – when would I wear a turquoise wool skirt and jacket? Never that’s when.
Collected Monty Don’s book about his depression from the library – The Jewel Garden, A story of despair and redemption…..very interesting.

Saturday

Harry and I popped to a garage sale this morning – tip: take a dog it’s a great conversational starter and ice breaker.
Anyway I managed to find some great pieces – silicone muffin tray, spring form cake tin, books for Nigel, wire coat hangers (free)…everything seemed to be 50p….
I got home to find Nigel waiting to go to the garage sale! So I returned sans dog avec husband and on the second look found 7 beautiful lettuce green linen napkins ripe for re-using- 50p.

Baked potatoes in the oven, fire roaring away – I am loving autumn.
Having some crafty thoughts involving green linen.

Land Girls

I am very exhausted after a rather lovely day in Brighton.
I thought I was just going here

If you are local to Brighton I highly recommend this current exhibition – some very touching and funny stories about life on the farm during the war.

We also (naturally) ended up visiting and perusing many a nice shop and Cath Kidston.

Fired Earth being very creative with paint.

Jigsaw playing with scale.

Daytime Visitor

Look who we found in the garden this morning –

Duncan Grant our regular hedgehog visitor.
Strictly speaking you shouldn’t really find hedgehogs wandering about during daylight hours but by the way he scoffed the saucer of mealworms I don’t think he is sickening for anything – my own theory is he was looking for somewhere to hibernate near to a really good food source.

Table Manners! He liked his new Zodiac saucer I picked up in Oxfam on Thursday.
In the end he popped under the fence into my neighbours garden where a hedgehog house is waiting for a suitable tenant.

Vintage Finds from Lewes

I’ve decided I have to make the most of my lovely new printer and so today I scanned some vintage finds I bought in Lewes on Thursday.
I have a bit of an obsession with old photographs….I am always on the lookout for something that takes my eye. I get very sentimental especially over animals and err, well everything really.

Sisters - don't you just love their footwear. So sweet but how sad this little photo ended up for sale.

Such a pretty little girl - I guess she must be long gone....

This is one for my cookery book collection....

Shopping List

Carrots

Apples

Salad

Skipping

Sarah Raven’s article in Saturday’s Telegraph about growing winter salad in polystyrene boxes inspired me– I think I liked that she was using polystyrene which let’s face it is hard to love.
“Find a friendly fishmonger, greengrocer or wine merchant and ask them if they have any decent sized – at least 8in deep – wooden or polystyrene boxes or crates.”
I can’t imagine her sniffing around the bins at the back of Iceland but they are throw away items that are perfect for the job.
Returning from this mornings walkies I saw one of the men at the nearby nursing home throwing some polystyrene packaging into their skip….
This isn’t the first time I have found treasure in this skip and whenever I have asked for the odd thing the men always seem interested in what I am going to use the pallet, box, polystyrene for….

The prospective seed tray was straight forward enough but my other use was found to be amusing –

Any guesses?
An art deco hedgehog house!

Another Winner

I have just tried another recipe from the excellent Cakes – regional and traditional by Julie Duff.

Berkeley Buns, a rich concoction of ginger and cherries with a hint of spice – they are really, really good.

My tip when choosing a recipe is to note the flour butter/fat ratio – in this case the butter is 50% of the flour – the same in a Victoria sandwich so I realized they would be rich and would keep better than say a rock cake or raspberry bun. Not that they will last long – Harry and I have already eaten 2.

No 22

Feeling a little under par this morning I thought I would get away not taking the boy out……but he had other ideas and after several hours of giving me the eye I gave in and went out.
Anyway we were walking along when I noticed this freshly painted lamp post.
The colour took my eye – a true clear olive green – and then the numbers appealing to my love of fonts and graphics.

I love how colour inspires and excites even when it comes packaged as a lamp post.