What I've been up to lately

I haven't been near my home computer much lately. I have missed reading all the lovely blogs I usually visit and hope to catch up in the next couple of days.

Meanwhile, here are some of the things I've been doing:

• Making jam - for my friend who is fund raising for the hospice

Lovely Victoria Plum Jam

• Blackberry Jam and Apple & Blackberry Jam (my favourite). These are the few I kept for me - about 20 pots of jam went off for the sale.

Spare blackberries were used to make crumble and stewed apple and blackberries - haven't the blackberries been amazing this year?

• Making lavender bags - another fund raising idea
  
  
  

• Taking two very cross rabbits to the vet for their Myxamatosis jabs. No photos of them I'm afraid - since their visit to the vet they are staying very firmly out of my way. Little do they know they're going back in two weeks for their VHD jabs. I expect after that I won't see them again till spring!




• Making Bunny Manor fox proof in preparation for the long dark nights - it's turning into Colditz - photos to follow when all is complete.




• Covering old box files to store magazines and knitting patterns in:
  
  
  

Before

After

• Painting my newly acquired EBay bargain - I got two of these basket stacks for a very reasonable £13. The other one has two drawers and they will be very useful for storing sewing, knitting and other such crafty things, plus all those odds and ends that we all have lurking in drawers! Also I've got a few charity shop bargains. I want to paint or decorate this little jug but need some inspiration first - any ideas?

Yesterday I had a flying visit to my mum and sister in Bristol - and to collect all the stuff my daughter left behind at the end of last term. When she came home from university in May the car was absolutely packed to the gills and we had to leave bulky things like her bike, bookcase, duvet and pillows behind. Now she's going to be at Cambridge for the next year doing a placement with the Autism Research Centre she will definitely be needing the bike! What a wonderful bike-friendly place Cambridge is (and much nearer home so we will be able to see her more often than when she was at Bath). I'm really looking forward to visiting lots of interesting places in and around Cambridge.

Random End of Week Ramblings

It's been a very busy week work wise. One of the pleasant elements of my job involves writing a newsletter twice a year, which is great fun and a lovely change from the day to day routine. However, it's been tough to fit it in to the normal week and I've ended up staying late and even bringing work home in order to get it done. But my articles are all finished, and the draft has gone to the design and print company, who do a great job on the layout. I do feel a little bit of satisfaction when it is all finished.

We have had no hot water all week - amazing son discovered the problem on Sunday night - while in the shower - ouch! Cold water is far from ideal for washing hair that is almost elbow length (AS likes the goth look and hasn't had his hair cut for a couple of years!). However, we were able to get someone in to fix the immersion heater, and I had a lovely long shower this morning (as opposed to juggling with kettles and jugs of water every morning). Being a person who washes their hair every day, I read this with interest. I don't know if this is something I could try. I do try to cut down on blow drying my hair. When I was much younger I had waistlength hair, and I didn't even own a hairdryer, so it is possible to manage without. But the washing.... somehow I can't contemplate this at the moment.

AS is suffering with a very bad cold and sore throat and quite a few people at work have similar symptoms. Amazing daughter is in the middle of her university exams and has been struck down by a horrible bug too, though of the stomach variety. In addition this is the worst time of the year for hayfever, which another cross she has to bear. She has worked so hard, but is very worried that she will do badly this year (this is her second year).

Thanks to Willow for your comments on our rabbits' window box - the wendy house was bought from EBay, and had been built by a dad as a play house for his daughters, but they had outgrown it. It was originally painted blue, and the window box was already attached to one end and a trellis to the other. To me, it looks a bit like a prairie log cabin, you could just picture an old woman in a rocking chair on the porch shelling peas, or darning socks! It is just over 5ft high inside (I can just stand up in it as I am just under 5ft tall) but AS keeps banging his head! I liked the light colours - most wood preservatives and stains are quite dark, but having painted my fence the lovely light green, I thought the cream and more of the green as a contrast would look nice. I like the beach hut look too, so my poor old shed had better look out or it might get a lick of paint next!

I'm currently reading my way through the Rebus novels by Ian Rankin - 6 down, quite a few to go. I think I'll take a break when I finish the current one and try something a bit different. When I find a writer I like, I then try to read their entire output, but that doesn't always have good results. I'd read a couple of Joanne Harris's novels that I really enjoyed, but when I read a couple of later books I found them disappointing. I started reading the Ian Rankin books because I got a bargain paperback of his from a charity shop, but when I started reading found that I needed to know what had happened in the previous novels. I've gradually got through the earlier Rebus novels, and haven't been disappointed yet, but I do feel the need for a change of style for a while.