Pot luck

I'm not doing hugely well with my 'do something creative every day' resolution.... which should come as no great surprise to anyone really. But rather than dwell on it, I'm going to keep chipping away at forming new habits and notice the things I have achieved for a change. When it's even remotely light enough I'll take photos of the two (2!) pieces of jewellery I managed by last night... but for now I'll flag up my third creative thing from the first week of 2013. 'Three out of seven ain't bad' as nobody as ever said after all. 

The pots by the front door are a bit a bugbear of mine. Obviously they should be fabulous antique lead massive pots with some kind of stunning standard tree or maybe a Buxus pyramid in.... but they're not, they're cheapie fibreglass lookielikies and the conifers I've put them in over the years always eventually give up and are then a bugger to get out. So last Autumn I filled them with Chrysanths, but they'd finished before Christmas even and could be ignored no longer so it was time for a do-over. I've settled on a couple of shrubs, some fail-safe Heucheras and a bit of seasonal colour which can be changed/added to etc. For now at least that's what I've settled on. They need a bit of filling out. Maybe they could try my diet, it seems to be doing wonders for filling me out! 

 















Obviously there are no 'Before' pictures. I'm not very good at this blogging malarky yet. 

Winter Gardens

Not the Blackpool kind... the garden kind. I realised today that plants for winter interest should be where they can be seen from the house as much as possible because frankly, that's the only place the garden is seen from whilst the weather is pants.

This stroke of genius came when I ventured out to get something from the shed (can't even remember what now and it was only yesterday) and saw how lovely the Garrya elliptica looks at the moment... tucked down at the end of the garden 'behind' the Viburnum opulus that sticks out miles into the middle of the garden, the Garrya just isn't seen at this time of year. And this is its moment. (Ignore the dodgy looking Christmas tree next to it.)

I wonder if I'll be looking at this garden this time next year, or a new one. This one I should imagine since Mr. Moneybags doesn't like spending too much money on anything (apart from new computers natch).

Day 8 - Broadstairs

A lovely day out in Broadstairs today.  Fish and chips for lunch as soon as we got there. Boys chasing the seagulls along the beach. Testing the new wetsuits. Blue lips. Digging holes and building castle reinforcements. A wedding in the beach bar in the corner, which provided the soundtrack to the end of the day. When the tide went out we did a bit of rock pooling (whilst the eldest stayed with the bags to chase seagulls and try and make friends with the boys with the better whistling-ball) and mostly found dead starfish - which the youngest said we were mean to point out their deadness as it wasn't their fault cos they didn't know the tide was going to go out. He was mollified by the boys who yesterday had caught 409 live starfish and 3 crabs in their bucket from the sea-pool on the edge of the beach.

It goes without saying that a fleece was more appropriate attire than a swimsuit. Sadly only one of us had planned ahead enough to bring one, but he was very willing to share. (Not that I took my swimsuit either I hasten to add.)