We've been out on the boat quite a lot so far this year, multiple trips to Yarmouth and
Newtown Creek, up towards Beaulieu, Keyhaven, Alum Bay, just out sailing and a 12
hour anticlockwise circumnavigation of the Shingles Bank returning via
the Needles and Hurst Spit. We've overnighted at Yarmouth and Newtown.
Now
we are planning a trip to Poole Harbour, but the tides are wrong for
that this week, so we may go to Beaulieu River, then back to Newtown to
an overnight mooring, and back to Lymington, with the tide, on Friday.
Tuesday 4 August 2015
August - post NF Show and time for sailing :)
Well, the New Forest Show is over for another year.
We had grown all the vegetables in troughs constructed from pallets and crates, had fruit in pots and containers, a terracotta planter and lots of smaller pots of herbs, plus lots of pretty flowers which are useful as companion plants for the vegetables and to attract pollinators for the beans and peas, etc. We started sowing in March and went through nightmares with really hot weather and drought, deterring pests and protecting everything.
I borrowed a plum tree from MacPennys nursery and a rusty chicken from Jenny. Trehane nursery sent a beaut' blueberry bush and William forged a garden fork. Sue Moss helped me crochet a robin for the fork handle. I made a sign for the watering can, "It would have been a wonderful place to hide, if it hadn't been so full of water", as well as lots of info on companion planting and other pest "remedies". We cooked some of the vegetables and made salads, chocolate brownies and carrot cakes and Charlie made marzipan "carrots". I was very proud of my beetroot, kohl rabi and particularly Florence fennel, but all to no avail... Result - a 'Silver-Gilt' - sadly not another 'Gold'.
However, there were major problems in setting up and a huge panic to get it all done in time, but they judged it very early before we got there on the morning the show opened and we hadn't added all the finishing touches - partly because of deer on site and also the risk of attracting rats with the picnic food, which was all cooked fresh the evening before. The valuable/ borrowed items were also in the Art Tent until we were allowed on site on Tuesday morning.
I guess "Silver-Gilt" isn't too bad. Already planning for next year.
Now for some time afloat...
We had grown all the vegetables in troughs constructed from pallets and crates, had fruit in pots and containers, a terracotta planter and lots of smaller pots of herbs, plus lots of pretty flowers which are useful as companion plants for the vegetables and to attract pollinators for the beans and peas, etc. We started sowing in March and went through nightmares with really hot weather and drought, deterring pests and protecting everything.
I borrowed a plum tree from MacPennys nursery and a rusty chicken from Jenny. Trehane nursery sent a beaut' blueberry bush and William forged a garden fork. Sue Moss helped me crochet a robin for the fork handle. I made a sign for the watering can, "It would have been a wonderful place to hide, if it hadn't been so full of water", as well as lots of info on companion planting and other pest "remedies". We cooked some of the vegetables and made salads, chocolate brownies and carrot cakes and Charlie made marzipan "carrots". I was very proud of my beetroot, kohl rabi and particularly Florence fennel, but all to no avail... Result - a 'Silver-Gilt' - sadly not another 'Gold'.
However, there were major problems in setting up and a huge panic to get it all done in time, but they judged it very early before we got there on the morning the show opened and we hadn't added all the finishing touches - partly because of deer on site and also the risk of attracting rats with the picnic food, which was all cooked fresh the evening before. The valuable/ borrowed items were also in the Art Tent until we were allowed on site on Tuesday morning.
I guess "Silver-Gilt" isn't too bad. Already planning for next year.
Now for some time afloat...
Friday 3 April 2015
Major milestone! We've just moved our Sadler 26 from Keyhaven to Lymington - our first proper "voyage". I wasn't feeling too intrepid, but it all went OK.
We bought 'Blue Diamond' last November and made a few forays out into the Solent over the winter, but this was the first trip from A to B.
Weather fine, sufficient wind to make progress against the ebbing tide until nearer Lymington, so we turned the engine on and motored in to the Pylewell mooring. Banks of fog rolled around the Island coast. They didn't affect us, but made it quite "atmospheric" and made for a lovely day out on the water.
Hurst Castle now looks quite distant...
We bought 'Blue Diamond' last November and made a few forays out into the Solent over the winter, but this was the first trip from A to B.
Weather fine, sufficient wind to make progress against the ebbing tide until nearer Lymington, so we turned the engine on and motored in to the Pylewell mooring. Banks of fog rolled around the Island coast. They didn't affect us, but made it quite "atmospheric" and made for a lovely day out on the water.
Hurst Castle now looks quite distant...
Friday 6 March 2015
Just starting the preparations for the New Forest Show 2015.
We gained our 3rd GOLD in 2014 and I couldn't help but wish my dear Mum had been there to see it. (Maybe she was somewhere looking on, but I really don't know.)
Last year we constructed, "In an English country garden", complete with a wrought-iron music stand, printed music, the boys' recorders and the silvery musical notes suspended over cottage garden planting - roses & lavender, hardy perennials and a small tree. Charlie (then 16) helped by making clay snails and George (14) came to help with the final set-up.
Now, I'm planning the next display, working out the details and the practicalities, finding seeds to grow...
We gained our 3rd GOLD in 2014 and I couldn't help but wish my dear Mum had been there to see it. (Maybe she was somewhere looking on, but I really don't know.)
Last year we constructed, "In an English country garden", complete with a wrought-iron music stand, printed music, the boys' recorders and the silvery musical notes suspended over cottage garden planting - roses & lavender, hardy perennials and a small tree. Charlie (then 16) helped by making clay snails and George (14) came to help with the final set-up.
Now, I'm planning the next display, working out the details and the practicalities, finding seeds to grow...
Good grief! I'm not good at this blogging lark! I've not written anything since August 2013!!!
We've had happy times and sad times, a real roller-coaster ride over the last 18 months. I've spent so much time almost every day with my parents, looking after my dear Mum, who eventually died of cancer in June last year. I wouldn't have missed a minute, but felt so helpless and frustrated at not being able to make her better. I miss her almost every day, but have to be grateful that she is no longer suffering.
Meanwhile, life goes on and has been SO busy. My new office conversion in our old coal store lean-to is now finished, completed by the amazing Adam Guy (AMG) and his construction team. They gave me a "pink box" - plastered - and I really enjoyed decorating and furnishing it. It looks amazing! So wonderful to have a dedicated work space and library shelves for all my books :)
We did well again at the New Forest Show in July 2014, winning a 3rd 'GOLD' and have been mad-busy with many projects over the last year and a half.
Anyway, design work beckons, as we are already onto our 6th garden construction this year and several other ongoing projects will soon require additional planting. It is so good to see the sun shining and Spring is here...
We've had happy times and sad times, a real roller-coaster ride over the last 18 months. I've spent so much time almost every day with my parents, looking after my dear Mum, who eventually died of cancer in June last year. I wouldn't have missed a minute, but felt so helpless and frustrated at not being able to make her better. I miss her almost every day, but have to be grateful that she is no longer suffering.
Meanwhile, life goes on and has been SO busy. My new office conversion in our old coal store lean-to is now finished, completed by the amazing Adam Guy (AMG) and his construction team. They gave me a "pink box" - plastered - and I really enjoyed decorating and furnishing it. It looks amazing! So wonderful to have a dedicated work space and library shelves for all my books :)
We did well again at the New Forest Show in July 2014, winning a 3rd 'GOLD' and have been mad-busy with many projects over the last year and a half.
Anyway, design work beckons, as we are already onto our 6th garden construction this year and several other ongoing projects will soon require additional planting. It is so good to see the sun shining and Spring is here...
Wednesday 7 August 2013
A whole year gone and another "GOLD" at the New Forest Show. What a year it has been! With 15 commercial projects and input to the gardens of 18 residential clients, I have been, as one friend commented, "beyond busy!"
We've had a week off in St Ives and 3 weeks preparing for/at/taking down the display at the show, but all worth it in the end. I'm already working on ideas for three more displays...
Now back to work with several private clients, from both near and far afield. It is good to have a little more time to do other than work all the time and I'm hoping to clear the decks, then get out in our own garden. Cooking with George, hopefully getting out in the Forest with the boys, swimming and, with good weather, some sailing in my SCOW, "Peppermint". A hot summer so far, with lots of sun, but too much work. Now with luck, the weather will stay fine and the winds will be fair. If only...
We've had a week off in St Ives and 3 weeks preparing for/at/taking down the display at the show, but all worth it in the end. I'm already working on ideas for three more displays...
Now back to work with several private clients, from both near and far afield. It is good to have a little more time to do other than work all the time and I'm hoping to clear the decks, then get out in our own garden. Cooking with George, hopefully getting out in the Forest with the boys, swimming and, with good weather, some sailing in my SCOW, "Peppermint". A hot summer so far, with lots of sun, but too much work. Now with luck, the weather will stay fine and the winds will be fair. If only...
Saturday 5 January 2013
Well, 2012 was an amazing year... and so far 2013 is pretty good too.
The weather is so mild that I've actually started Spring-cleaning - having been so mad-busy with work all Autumn, our house definitely needs it! Progress is, at last, being made again on the lean-to behind our house, where I am trying to create a home office and a space to store all the wonderful books I have collected over the many years of my life so far.
The lean-to has single-brick walls; last year French windows and a small window were fitted; it now needs insulation, plasterboard, floor and ceiling, wiring, etc. Then I can decorate it, keeping it simple, clean and light. My dear sis-in-law has given me fabric for curtains, a friend has given me a large piece of beautiful blue carpet and I have Peter's old desk, kindly given by Jenny. I'm planning full width shelves...
Now, I just need the builder to come and quote for the construction work :)
The weather is so mild that I've actually started Spring-cleaning - having been so mad-busy with work all Autumn, our house definitely needs it! Progress is, at last, being made again on the lean-to behind our house, where I am trying to create a home office and a space to store all the wonderful books I have collected over the many years of my life so far.
The lean-to has single-brick walls; last year French windows and a small window were fitted; it now needs insulation, plasterboard, floor and ceiling, wiring, etc. Then I can decorate it, keeping it simple, clean and light. My dear sis-in-law has given me fabric for curtains, a friend has given me a large piece of beautiful blue carpet and I have Peter's old desk, kindly given by Jenny. I'm planning full width shelves...
Now, I just need the builder to come and quote for the construction work :)
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