Surfacing for air

Happy Friday! Well it is for me anyway.

Having done a mammoth first real set of shifts, I feel rather pleased and quite excited about having some time off. Of course, I have already planned enough activities to keep me going for a month of down-time.

I found a special secret dress pattern online a few days ago. It's a very special, very versatile, and really rather simple; just the way I like it. So I'm going to make two of them. This is one pattern that I won't be sharing - somethings are just SO for keeping to yourself! Sorry!

I really need to think about some Easter gifts for the children off the family. I know, I know, not much time. But I'm thinking jelly mold, lots of bars of chocolate, melted, tin foil and yellow ribbon. I had planned to make solid chocolate eggs, but I don't anticipate getting an egg shape mold at this short notice.

Watched some inspirational telly last night too. The "how to grow your own drugs" man made some homemade oat based dry skin ointment. It was really simple, and, might well make it into my Christmas hamper list. The wonders of the Internet, eh, I can find the bees wax etc required for making it. Might be nice with some of Sara Soap's wares. I thoroughly recommend all of you, that haven't already, take a little look at www.morethanbubbles.co.uk for some sheer gorgeousness!

So the vines are budding, the window sill is getting greener as my seedlings develop. The goat house is read for his lordship, the decking is finished, so the useless patch of waste ground has, in part, become useful again. Everything Hubby's used has come from the reclamation yard, other than the fence posts, and has been put to use in addition to the existing materials we had. So some more photos will be available soon.

You'll be pleased (?) to know that, mammoth shift over, normal service will be resumed!

"Morning Jerry!" "Morning Tom!" "Morning Margot!" "Morning Barbara!"

I ache from head to toe. The Husband and I have spent 2 days clearing our land.

Anyone who has seen the land we're lucky enough to get with our house will know that this is no mean feat.

The Husband borrowed a Brash Cutter from college and we've worked our butts off clearing. We had a lovely bonfire yesterday with a load of the brash, and there are going to be a lot more of those to come.

The top part was fairly straight forward, raking up the brash, but the next tier down was horrendous. The waste we've had to clear through has been incredible.

2 mattresses, a gate, a kids sit on fire engine thing, a washing basket, bags and bags of clothes, buried in the earth, more shoes than you can imagine, several carpets, old tyres, scrap metal up the ying-yang and more broken glass than I could ever imagine. There was even a crochet blanket there. I was really annoyed about that.

Someone, probably out of the goodness of their heart, has sat with a hook and yarn for hours and hours making that blanket, for someone to chuck it onto "waste ground". Trust me, if I could have rescued it and given it a new lease of life, I would have, but it's beyond repair. But the sheer wastefulness I've had to deal with is just incredible. I now have to physically shift it all the way down the hill, calling in on every bonfire we have every 100 yards or so.

Exactly what do people who dump stuff like that think is going to happen to it? It doesn't just just disintegrate. But I guess that's just it, isn't it, they don't think. I've found some lovely bits down there so far that I can reuse and turn into something once again loved. I've found lots of little old jars and glass bottles that must be years old, they'll be scrubbed and used for something, probably decorative.

Because that's what this labour of love is all about really, I guess. Turning something that we already own but has been ignored and neglected for decades into something useful, loved and purposeful.

I really am going to have the best garden in the world. An orchard, bee hives, an ornamental area, and a tiered vegetable garden. I wonder if I could squeeze a pond in there? I'd have everything I've ever wanted then. As of now, we've only spent money on the fuel for the Brash Cutter. All the unearthed bricks, rock and rubble is being re-used creating the tiers.

And my "Indoor Propagation Centre" (kitchen window sill) seems to be getting excited at the prospect of being transplanted into my newly created vegetable patch. "The Good Life" here we come!