What happened next

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Amy

Someone asked me a little while ago what are my interests.

To be honest I don’t have very many that are consistent.

I quite enjoyed swimming for a while until a German Speedo wearer started regularly attending the same sessions as me and proved far too much of a distraction to attempt anything cardio-vascular. Unfortunately the Slimming World handbook doesn’t cover such things.

I have also tried my hand at horse riding, canoeing, sailing, gorge scrambling, aerobics, ‘Zumba’, painting, aromatherapy, pottery, archery, quad biking and glass blowing to name but a few extra curricular activities – all of which I thoroughly enjoyed but not enough to keep me ‘at it’ on a regular basis.

Sadly the only hobby I can really say I’ve stuck to and continued to derive deep personal joy from, is capturing moments like that photographed above where you just know the situation can’t end well. Indeed, moments after I hit the shutter button, the squirrel bit the man causing him to yelp so loudly it startled the chap behind him holding the camera who ended up sat in the flower bed. Meanwhile the lady to his left started to hyperventilate and between gasps was shouting ” You need shot, need shot!” (I couldn’t agree more, but our country needs tourism) and shortly after everyone was escorted away by a Park Ranger who told them off for being on the grass. Oh how I laughed!

I’ve started tagging my blogs. A sad little experiment now I do ‘Social Media’ for food and have since discovered that a few people find my blog after searching Google for ‘little but deep’.

I don’t think it’s safe for me to comment but that could be a different hobby entirely….

If life could be

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Amy

If life could be a short walk to Barbara’s…

For a bargain or two…

I would be very happy. Of course if there was an offer of lunch…

I’d know where to go…

Then I’d walk it off with a pleasant stroll

And put the world to right with my Old Man…

Yes, I’d like belong to a place where the tree surgeons wave…

Where I could find my ghost

And dogs behave, although I don’t know if I’d have one with 6 legs.

Life would be perfectly twee

If only such a place existed.

An offer was put in on the house. Unsurprisingly it was rejected, but with the work required and the dodgy planning permission situation I think that offer will be our last.

The search continues.

I love

Posted on June 11, 2011 by Amy

A cup of tea and a biscuit on a rainy afternoon.

My new blue shoes for £8

Adopted succulents (thank you Emma!) on my windowsill

Spent another great day with the girls at the Potting Shed and then Lainston House Hotel which is the most stunning of wedding venues! The talented Mr Whitmore also kindly joined us – can’t wait to see the (am sure) beautiful photos he’s taken for the Potting Shed blog which will be up and running soon and am very excited about! Good times.

The pyjamas went on at approximately 16.37, forgot to get anything proper out of the freezer so it’s omelettes for supper, now waiting for the Toy Boy to return home after painting a chimney and trying not to eat all the biscuits in the meantime.

Should we put an offer in on that house?

Fortunately, Unfortunately

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Amy

Those who have ever watched Outnumbered will be familiar with the game ‘Fortunately, Unfortunately’ in which players take turns to tell a story using these prefixes. Today has very much felt like one of those days. I’m going for the one player version.

Fortunately the sun was shining!

Unfortunately only long enough for me to hang the washing out…

Fortunately most of it has managed to dry since!

Unfortunately I have inadvertently created a new generation of sock orphans…

Fortunately in a jacket pocket I finally found the piece of paper for the ring cleaning service!

Unfortunately in the meantime I have become allergic to both my wedding and engagement ring…

Fortunately we have found a house, in budget we really quite like!

Unfortunately for the Toy Boy it is only 3 houses away from his in-laws…

We view it on Friday, let discussions commence.

This isn’t something you cover in marriage classes.

Playing in the Potting Shed

Posted on June 7, 2011 by Amy

I am at the moment very privileged to be working with the extremely talented Emma Lappin, and despite being the subject of much renovation, last weekend I was allowed in the ‘Potting Shed’ to see where the magic happens!

Emma is quite cutting edge in her approach to floristry and occasionally employs the services of resident stunt riders to contrast the beauty of her floral designs with a gritty urban vibe.

I think it works.

The dangers of being home alone

Posted on May 27, 2011 by Amy

There are certain dangers associated with being left in one’s house on ones own. This includes (although please note this list is not exhaustive) :

1) The potential for severe dehydration due to absence of resident tea maker

2) Chronic delay in the removal of nightwear

3) The potential for an extended period in the bathroom during which time an experiment to seek alternative uses for shaving foam presents itself as a worthy and compelling challenge

4) Vertigo from an expedition to the loft in which to locate a reversible jumper

5) An addiction to programming whereby someone is either building a house, buying a house, selling a house, decorating a house, auctioning a house, buying something to go in a house, auctioning or selling something from within their house, or is called ‘House’ (I do like Hugh Laurie).

6) Causing oneself an allergic reaction from trying to de-limescale and sanitise the porcelain simultaneously

7) Temporary blindness due to misdirection of squirter button on iron

8 ) Relapsing into to single behaviours including the preparation of alternative foodstuffs

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Wishing you a pleasant bank holiday, and if you happen to be spending it alone, stay safe.

Aspirations for a twee corner

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Amy

There is very little point in denying that my vision of heaven is one of twee – cream teas on the lawn, bunting billowing in amongst some apple trees, (ideally mute) children fishing for minnows in the stream, and cow parsley growing in between the mechanics of an artistically placed item of agricultural equipment.

Unfortunately I think I am a little way off from achieving my ‘celestial vision’ at the moment, but I do have very serious plans for creating a twee corner in my garden. Indeed the hunt has already begun for suitable artefacts on which to place potted white Diascia, native Bluebells, Lavendula, Hydrangea, and perhaps a G&T thrown in for good measure. Heaven wouldn’t be heaven without a spirit mixer. I’d probably consider hell if I knew they served Gordon’s.

Today’s featured Twee Corner is in Beacon Hill in Boston, MA which itself is the epitome of what I live for. It took everything I had to get on that plane. Immigration has a lot to thank ‘Duty Free’ for.

Moving on…

Posted on May 5, 2011 by Amy

That be it then – ‘The Palace’ (as featured) has been sold. Twice in fact, although we are very happy that it has gone to the lovely young couple (both work for the NHS, he – VERY shiny shoes, she – mixes high street with vintage very well) rather than the grouchy lady who’s brother-in-law interrogated us as to the fixings of our loft ladder. It’s funny what people ask on viewings, we’ve had all sorts from the traditional ‘how are the neighbours?’ to ‘will you be leaving the lightbulbs in the extractor hood’?

Yes, but we’ll be taking the coving with us.

Really?

Anyway that’s the good news. The bad news is that the person currently residing in the house of our dreams has not yet decided to put it on the market. Which house and where that may be has yet to be ascertained, but we’re trying to remain very philosophical and Kirstie Allsopp about it.

We did actually see a lovely little pile just a stone’s throw from the Middleton’s who we most certainly would be inviting round for tea (I hear they put on a lovely do). However on closer inspection it did need a lot of work and money throwing at it, and that is even before we come to the acro prop holding up the roof. It breaks my heart though to think what could have become of the alfresco bread oven….

So for now we are sitting tight, grateful to our buyers that they will hang on until January, and continue to build a photographic memory of the offerings on RightMove. In the meantime if you hear of anywhere celubrious in West Berkshire with a kitchen-diner, grazing for a modest alpacca herd and the potential for fibre to the cabinet (you have to throw them the odd bone every now and then) please do get in touch! We’d be most grateful.

Sunny Side Up

Posted on February 20, 2011 by Amy

Tonight we cooked what OFT (Old Father Turner) refers to as a ‘Cowboy’s breakfast’. Not normally being people that fry, achieving anything sunny side proved a quandary until a griddle turned up at the back of a cupboard. If I had asked a graphic designer to cook a couple of eggs, this is what I would’ve expected them to have come up with.

Happy Birthday

Posted on February 6, 2011 by Amy

Happy Birthday to my Husband.

That’s two of us now a year away from the big ‘3’ ‘0’. Depressingly it will always be me that reaches these milestones first and the toy boy won’t let me forget it.

I am finding that this age offers interesting juxtapositions. A happy afternoon was spent recently hiding from each other in a box that the BBQ came in. Last night we held our postponed Christmas get together following the snow dump in December. This served as a useful reminder that my innards no longer hold up to the kind of abuse they used to quite so graciously. Happily, the scrummy home made welsh cakes my ‘sister from another mother’ made have supported my being this morning. After a healthily sized sausage sandwich.

I’m now trying to redeem myself with a herbal tea.

P.S. I got Neil a new alarm clock today, the box it came in pictured below. I have to admit there were reasons other than functionality for buying it.

A Little Bit Different

Just an old fashioned blog

Category Archives: Musings