Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed a brilliant Christmas and at least a few lazy days of food/films/family&friends, that's what it's all about! I have been looking forward to 2013, after an 'eventful' (to say the least!) 2012, I am welcoming the opportunities this year will bring me! I have decided against making any solid resolutions (even my horoscope told me not to bother!) but I have a few aims that I hope to make a good solid start on:
- Get cracking with redesigning the garden: build more vegetable patches, tidying around the greenhouse and sorting the sheds. Make progress with the wild flower 'mini meadow' and cottage garden section, lets get those bees-a-buzzing!
- Book myself onto some crafty courses to get motivated into using my imagination for arty purposes once more! *I have so far signed up to Stained Glass and Willow Weaving at
The West End Centre - result!*
- Plough through the numerous paperbacks that I have collected over the years, donate as many to charity as possible, and build a proper bookcase to house my antique and collectible novels before I am buried alive.
- As well as growing my own fruit&veg as much as possible, be more aware of where the food I'm eating comes from. Aim to buy from more local producers and avoid supermarkets as a first option. And if it's not quality British free range, I'm not eating it.
- Travel. 2013 is the year I shall get on a plane....gulp!
- Use time wisely, enjoy the little things, keep busy, keep curious.
So nothing too scary or taxing! As long as I can look back and see the progress I've made, I'll be happy! Meanwhile, 2013 has brought quite a few creatures into the garden, starting with this amazing fellow! Excuse the low quality photo, I only had a second to snap him before he scarpered, but isn't he beautiful? I believe this to be a Peregrine (do correct me if I'm wrong! I did make an effort with the bird watchers guides but I'm not 100%) - the first one I've ever seen! They usually prefer coastal areas, but I assume the terrible weather has encouraged them inland. The little birds scarpered and didn't come back for a day or two, although its said they prefer pigeons - in which case, help yourself Mr P!
Meanwhile in the garden, there is life appearing in the cold frame! The broad beans are shooting up, I'll have to move them on soon, though I bet this mild January will turn to instant snow and frost the second I put them outside! And the greenhouse is still in hibernation, looking forward to being in there sowing and potting very soon, I certainly have a lot to do! I got some great gardening gifts for Christmas, including the pepper growing kit in the photo, an enamel vegetable bucket and a windowsill rocket plant.
Just a few cheeky photographs of my neighbours lovely chickens - who have realised the top of their coop is the perfect height to look over the fence and check up on what we're up to! I adore working on the raised beds hearing their contented little noises, they really are most endearing! Hello to Emmie if you're reading this, hope you like the chook portraits! :)
And finally, good news! Mollie had to go in for an operation after Christmas to have six teeth taken out, including the right canine which was terribly sore, and I'm glad to say she's doing well! The vets were brilliant, they preformed thorough blood tests beforehand, as she's eleven now they wanted to be careful, and gave the rest of her teeth a good polish. It's always so horrible when your pets are unwell, I am an awful worrier, and when I saw her with a little bandage around her leg (where the drip had been) I nearly burst into tears! However, when it came to taking it off at home she was her usual grumpy growling self, so I knew she must have been feeling better! She was eating chicken only hours after coming round from the anaesthetic (classic terrier), so let's hope they heal up smoothly now!
Hope the start of the New Year has been a good one for you!
Thanks for reading!
Katie
