I seem to have been reading very slowly lately, but I can promise you that it is nothing to do with the quality of the last book I've finished. If you saw the TV adaptation of Housewife 49 or enjoyed the book version of Nella Last's War then you really must not miss Nella Last's Peace: The Post-War Diaries Of Housewife 49.After the war Nella Last continued writing her regular diary as part of the Mass Observation project and this second book covers the post war period, when Nella was trying to come to terms with her new peace time role. She ... read more
A wet weekend
After an incredibly wet Saturday we were woken in the early hours of Sunday morning by yet more rain. Looking out of the bedroom window the wind was raging, the road turned into a river and several rumbles of thunder passing overhead. We therefore headed down to the WWA this afternoon expecting to see some degree of damage from the weather. Luckily we were proved wrong. The butterfly garden seemed to have escaped the worst of the wind, and with only a couple of small exceptions, most of the plans were still standing proud. There weren't that many butterflies to be seen today, but the bees ... read more
The sun has got his hat on…
... hip-hip-hip-horray!The last few days have been absolutely glorious here. Hence the lack of blogging. When I haven't been at work I've been busy enjoying the sun. I'm not yet at a stage where I can multi-task enough to blog and enjoy the sun at the same time. Only just over seven weeks though until that becomes a possibility! ... read more
Heligan reminder
I'm delighted to be able to tell you that I've completed my little reminder of our anniversary trip to Heligan. It's simple, but I do like this mini-sampler and look forward to finding somewhere to hang it in our new house, hopefully near the garden. ... read more
Village cricket
One tradition Mr C and I have every summer is to pop down to Mr C's dad's local cricket club in Harpenden. It's a lovely way to spend a lazy summer Sunday afternoon, especially with a cold drink in hand.I wouldn't really call myself a cricket fan - I certainly couldn't even try to explain the rules - but any games that stops for afternoon tea has to be good in some way!Afternoon tea the last time we were there provided a great opportunity for a walk around the area and there can be nothing quite as nice as a field full of buttercups like this. Buttercups just ... read more
Dig In Seeds
I was delighted to see this message when I opened the front door this evening. It seems like an age ago that I ordered by seeds via the BBC Dig In website after hearing about it on Gardeners' World. A shame that it took them so long to arrive, but I'm just glad that they are here. There's a useful little booklet accompanying the seeds that tells you exactly what to do with them. Sadly I think that when we get our garden in July it will be a little late to plant anything this year (mainly as we'll have to actually dig the beds first) but fingers crossed ... read more
Spring has sprung
If you're in the UK and like nature then you should definitely make sure that you watch the new series of Springwatch on BBC 2.I'm completely addicted at the moment, and am also loving the encyclopaedic knowledge of new presenter Chris Packham. The random nature related facts that he keeps throwing into every conversation reminds me so much of Stephen Fry on QI!As someone quite new to bird watching I loved the small segment that Simon King did on tonight's programme on identifying different woodland birds by their song. Fantastic! ... read more
Button bounty
From reading this blog, my mother in law, S, has realised my button addition. Therefore, when I saw her over the weekend she very kindly handed over a tin of buttons! Yippee! Thank you S!There's a fantastic mix of styles, sizes and colours in there and I've had a great time so far sorting through them all and arranging them into little piles. Only for them to then all go back into the tin. I'm hopeful for a nice set of glass jars soon so that I can have them separated out into different coloured jars arranged nicely on a shelf. I just have to hope that I can find such a shelf in ... read more
Bank holiday exercise
I'm sure Bank Holiday Mondays are supposed to be for lazing about. Ours turned out to be quite an active day. We met up with our friends S and A and headed out for a good long walk in the sunshine. Mr C and I often go walking with these particular friends and know that they're up for a bit of a challenge. Hence we decided to repeat a walk from our Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire walks book which took us from central St Albans to Harpenden and back.Now the book reckons this walk is 10.5 miles and should take about 5 hours. It's not a particularly challenging walk, but a nice ... read more
A Year of Being Mrs C
A whole year of writing this blog has now passed and I'm amazed. In a way it feels like yesterday since I sat here and started writing my first post about the things in life that make me smile. After a couple of years of reading about other people's lives I wanted to start capturing the key moments of my life that made me happy.A year on I think I've been managing that reasonably well, but still wish that I had so much more time to do even more with my life. It's just a shame that work has to get in the way!When I look back through my archives it's great ... read more