Merry Christmas

I used a small yew tree this year for my decoration as I lent my artificial tree to a friend who needed it more than me.  I also gave her the lights and the tinsel because she did not have any.  So my good deed done, I had a look around my garden and I had a small yew growing in a pot which I thought might just do the trick and here it is.  I had to buy a pretty little bird for the top because the branch was a bit flimsy and there was not much foliage up there, but I am pleased with the effect.  The photo was taken on my mobile phone so its not completely clear as I turned off the flash but I rather like the way it has an ethereal quality to it.  So there it is a small delicate wonderland inhabited by a very pretty bird.

I do hope I can come back on this blog next year as I had trouble logging on, I think Blogger is sometimes very difficult and it kept giving me error messages, so I hope to blog again soon but would prefer it to be a bit more hassle free.

I am now convinced that this next year will be one of innovation and am looking forward to it.  Oh and my Redpolls are back!  I thought they had forgotten where I lived but no they were just teasing me.  So I hope you have a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

I am not hibernating - just not enough hours in the day to blog

My poor, sad woodburner.....

The reason is simple, I am trying to catch up with some chores around here. Number one is wood burner repair as the glass cracked last week and I had to go to Penrith to buy more which is expensive. Whilst there I decided I would need to redo the rope around the door seal too and I thought I had cement/glue left over from last time so did not buy any. Wrong again: I now have sent for some from Ebay as driving back to Penrith with the cost of petrol was not an option......So the Morso cannot be lit and I have resorted to various candles to bring a bit of cheer to the gloom of no comforting fire. The place does not seem the same in the morning either because its colder as the heat usually keeps in until the next morning and I just pile on more wood and it springs to life.

Number 2 was new curtains for the kitchen door as the draft is a bit of a problem in winter. I decided they had to be thicker but did not go for interlining because I was worried the weight would be too much and bring down the curtain rail (that once happened in the hall and it smashed a favourite large pottery bowl made by Marea Goodman who is now resident in Colorado so no chance of another). So I just used light fabric for a backing and went for the velour/velvet material. I thought they were going to look too dark but DH says they have transformed the kitchen, a welcome pat on the back....



Probably the darkest fabric



Contrast

The material is actually very pretty and I used it to make a patchwork of rectangles so the kitchen does not look formal as it's country style with a dresser and open shelves with pottery on display.

For those of you interested in the bird saga, I had a fright on Sunday morning because a hawk swooped down to the bird table when 6 Lesser Redpolls were having breakfast.... I don't know if it made off with one or not, it was so fast. I did find though that the speed with which it scattered the other little birds caused one of the Siskins to fly into the greenhouse glass and I found it lying in a pool of water hours later. The poor little bird's neck was probably broken, I was very upset and decided to put something up on the greenhouse glass so the birds know its a solid wall. I am going to a garden centre later today to see what they have. Any suggestions?

Wonderful day

Yesterday saw me snap Gloria's stocking above her Lakeland slate fireplace at our Cumbria Patchworker's party. We all had a great time and I made two new ornaments for the Christmas tree which sadly I took down last night and it's now outside waiting to be chopped up and put onto the wood burner.  The job of taking down the decorations took most of the evening and I had not been able to look at this blog all day with being in Penrith so I had a quick peek at about 10 pm. Imagine my surprise to see that I had won the wonderful giveaway from Sarah at Happiness is a bottomless button box.  So I will be a busy bee this month with some more goodies to play with. I have also a few projects to finish not least a quilt I started and had to put away before Christmas because I just did not have the time to settle down and give it my full attention. I have not forgotten it and I will be getting it out again once a couple of other sewing ideas have been completed. One of them is a bag for a dear friend who lost her husband last February and I want to make it special for her so I have been working on it this week. So I have plenty to do and never a dull moment, now if only I had time to tidy up the garden too life would be perfect. Speaking of the garden, those little Lesser Redpolls have been coming back every day and I counted 14 of them last Monday. I must go and top up their Nyjer seed, I think that is the correct spelling after getting it wrong before.......

Birdfeeder Battle! - More Nyger seed is the answer

Well this morning, 2 more Lesser Redpolls arrived, which now makes 4 and then 4 Siskins turned up.  All of them at the one Nyger seed feeder designed for a cosy pair......So after the inevitable tussles and wing displays and seeing each other off I darted out and took another feeder to them full of Nyger seed. I am now hoping they all settle down.  I was not able to photograph this as it's still snowy slush outside so was not in the mood for cameras too.  So the moral of this tale is if you want to attract Lesser Redpolls which are on the red endangered list then get in some Nyger seed, it's little black seeds, they don't feed on anything else at all. Lesser Redpolls it says on the RSPB site are often seen in flocks with Siskins, so I suppose my breeding pair of Redpolls were invaded this morning by a marauding flock. Anyway, I don't mind as long as they are all fed. Phew................ I am going to do some reading of the 5 books DH gave me for Christmas, he spoilt me with some new waterproof warm Gortex gloves too as I had been complaining about cold hands on the last two mountains I was up. Deliberate on my part I have to add ;-) because he had invested in a pair of waterproof gloves last month.