Summing Up Sunday 30th August

Another week at 2CC!

In The Garden: last of the cucumbers - but the plant did about nine! Great tomatoes, even though the plants look very sorry for themselves. Gladioli nearly all over, maybe three to still come. Dahlias still strong - beautiful reds, yellows, light pinks, bright pinks and deep purple-y red. Lovely. Sunflowers grow-grow-growing, apart from one that was sadly severed by its own tie. (Note to self: leave even more room for stalks to expand.) Too much rain to have much fun outside, and the garden needs a bit of tidying, but still very productive.

Outings: an exciting week! J went to London (two plays - one mediocre, and one very good), gallery-ing, Mexican food-ing, wandering, reading, looking at the magnificent view from hotel window. A and E to Wells for charity shop clothes, but sadly none found. Then, the unexpected Banksy trip by E, J and C (chum for the afternoon) - so lucky to get in, as we never imagined that we would! Excellent. A more charity shopping on Saturday and struck gold! And A to a lovely outdoor wedding on Saturday afternoon/evening. Packed packed week!!

Purchases: 'fairings' from London (notebook and tea, so very good automatically); two charity shop dresses (A); trowel and hoe set for a £6 bargain in Wells charity shop; then an almost new (second-hand) Settlers of Catan on ebay, but were outbid at the last minute (I think that there's a real knack to ebay); twenty six books bought (... er. Yeah. How did that happen? Oops); new secateurs! (there must be some huge party house in a secret part of the garden where all the old ones live...)

Kitten Updates: still very very sweet! Growing day by day, if everyone is to believed. (Hard to tell when you see her every day.) More confident and spending much more time in the rest of the house - desperate to get around in fact! Contact with the other cats is continuing at a slow pace... no one is that impressed so far, but hissy/spittiness is getting a bit better.

Visitors: twenty-two month A (I made this blanket for her as a tiny thing!) and her mum visited on Friday. A was completely uninterested in Popoki, but she thought the toddler was terrifying! A had friends round for a laugh on Friday night. KH visited E on Tuesday for a lovely craft session.


What a mammoth week! What has everyone else been up to?

Love from 2CC xx

Dismaland

Our friend Banksy has put on a show in an old dilapidated outdoor swimming pool on the beach near us.

Getting tickets is a bit like getting into Glastonbury: as soon as they're released they're gone, so E and J with Charlotte in attendance went along to join a queue on spec. We won! We asked a dismal assistant when we arrived who told us that 300 tickets were about to be released, so go join the crowd. The people around us had come from France, Plymouth and Barnstaple, so our four miles seemed a bit too easy. They had also been waiting four hours when we joined them.

We had been waiting about 15 minutes when a non-dismal Beaches and Events assistant came up the line counting, and stopped about five people behind us, which seemed hopeful. I went to get an ice cream and when I returned, E and C were gone! Moved right forward into the barriered zone in front of the ticket hut. The lovely Beaches and Events opened the barriers and let me through, to the cheers of the rest of the queue. Three pounds later we were in.

The rest is best told in pictures. We went round pretty fast, and could happily have spent twice the 90 minutes we did spend.

Wordless Wednesday 26th August, Today's Installation in the Turbine Hall

Summing Up Sunday, August

Hello! It's been a while, hasn't it? A sort of low level business of summer time is the general sum-up. Here are a few bits and bobs:

We have welcomed: Popoki (Poppet) joined us from Alysun and Tim's house a week ago. She is black and white and now 8 weeks old, and despite a lot of conversations and scent swaps with Kirry and Koshka our resident cats, is a complete surprise and horror to them. She is very sweet and living a life of luxury in E's room whilst she gains confidence and K and K get more used to the idea.

The Garden has been growing: mulberries by the bucketload! Tomatoes (although E managed to snap a brilliant one...) Sweet peas on and on and on - 4 bunches on Friday!

The serpent radishes have finally radished and we had a bowlful of little glistening pods as a salad last night.

Dahlias, sunflowers, rudbekia...

We have had lots of: rain, thunder, lightening, slugs (huge brown and orange ones) :( 

We have made and played: a new fence in the field; a tablet stand and laptop case for T's birthday; an amazing mulberry Bundt cake in a new birthday tin;

several games of scrabble, Bananagram, and  new Ticket to rides (Nordic and Holland). (Banangram best words: philatelist; yodelling; oxidises). 

First game of chess against S that was actually a near win! (E)

We have been reading: 'Dominion' by CJ Sansom (everyone for book group, really compelling); 'The Chimes' (J); 'The Illuminations' (A); lots of YA books (E - Cassie Claire's Mortal Instruments, The Coldest Girl in Cold Town, reread of The Fault of in Stars, The Darkest Part of the Forest, Demon's Lexicon trilogy, I Capture the Castle etc etc)

We have been visited by: lovely S our family therapist to sample our gluten free baking, S and C bearing Sally Lunn Buns from their holiday on Bath, and C to work extremely hard with J in the orchard project and putting up a great fence...

We have been going: up hills in the pouring rain in swimming trunks, coming back wringing socks out (! J and C); round and about the garden and field (all); to poetry group with the theme of 'Food' (J and E, as A wasn't well enough); America, Amsterdam, Exeter (E in book world)...

On the net: brilliant cartoon here based on JK's speech at Yale. Inspiring words beautifully brought to life

Guardian Quiz: 6/15. Did you know that Lennon and McCartney met at a garden fete?

Happy Sunday!

Summing up Sunday August 2nd 2015

The week held:

Kittens, several visits.

Saying Goodbye to Church Road.

Visiting the lovely livestock of Brecon Show.

Canoeing, learning to meditate, taking B and G to Court Farm (A) 

Starting a NetGalley challenge! Very exciting :) 

Wordless Wednesday 29 July 2015: Busy Bee

Wordless Wednesday 22 July

Brimming over...

Summing Up Sunday 19th July 2015

This was a week in which everything GREW: the first sunflowers, the first gladioli, the first tomato and LOTS more currants and gooseberries.

And today was Book Club (Flight Behaviour, Barbara Kingsolver) hosted by our members who have moved to Bath, so it's their turn to host once a year, and we visit for a summertime weekend lunch. 

We harvested the mini carrots and beetroot:

and pickled them:

and added a courgette:

and added vinegar, salt,  honey and fennel seeds:

and then had some of the soft fruit:

The book discussion was good too.

Apart from that, two family visitors over the weekend, lots of time spent in the sun, a private visit around a show garden! (... next door's), and frantic crocheting as one baby came a little earlier than expected!

Happy Sunday.

Summing Up Sunday, 12th July

A went to Cambridge to visit T and H (and to a VetEd conference) for a few days. Looks like they had a good time!











J and E played a mean game of Scrabble with M and J's mum (and another with A on return); sat in the field and felt the space around us; spun/crocheted/cross-stitched; read in the garden, and enjoyed it being summer.

Everyone has been reading lots; the garden has been grow-grow-growing, and A found two cauliflowers she never knew about! These are the Persian buttercups (thank you Mr FX):

Everyone been to see new kittens (!), amidst worry about our 13-year-old Kirry-cat who has a mass on the side of her neck. J removed it on Friday, so it's a bit of a waiting game...

No Guardian quiz - we're rather out of the habit!

Looking forward to: book club for A and J next Sunday; a potential party for A on Saturday night; a YA binge for E; the peas being picked; the long summer evenings, and a new edition of The Train Game.

Noah's Ark for Baby Sol

Now, this goes back a looooong way. A friend of the family had a baby waaaay back in September. I meant to complete this for his birth. Then for Christmas. Then... well. It could be for his first Birthday, but that feels like cheating him out of a present somehow! So here it is, only seven and a half months late!

It was a long stitch done from a kit, so I can't take all that much credit for it. It's a lovely design, though, and I hope that it gets hung in his bedroom somewhere if mum and he like it. I personally love the bright colours and the animals. (I also mastered the art of French knots somewhere along the line - wahey! Although I have a strong suspicion that I have forgotten already...)

Then, it was just backing it (recognise the starry material from my first tote bag?) and putting a cane through the top to hang.

Welcome to the world, baby Sol.

(Even if it's really late!)

Wordless Wednesday, Week 10: The View From My Window

Summing Up Sunday: July 5th

Best Event: It's A Knockout - J got covered in foam, soaked in a thunderstorm, climbed some plastic mountains, jumped through hoops, dressed like a Telly-Tubby and did a four person sack race, all in aid of Pet Savers charity BSAVA! Despite the rain, a really fun day for both participants and spectators. AND Coombe Cottage hay from Maidens' Piece for the first time - really exciting!

Best purchase: A's new sparkly shoes from Rieker! Even more sparkly than they looked online!

Enjoying: 'The Gilmore Girls' - somewhat to our surprise. It's pretty old, and has surpassed our expectations. Rory and her mother, Lorelei, are an odd American family muddling their way through life and work with mostly funny, sometimes touching energy.

Reading: 'Flight Behaviour' (A - reread of a brilliant novel), 'The Miniaturist (among others, E - one of Mr B's reading spa books, good read), 'Gut' (J).

Best things in the garden: the rose tree (again), and the first beautifully stripy courgette!


Travels: London for a 90th Birthday (J), RSPCA to see cats and kittens (A/E), visiting J's mum bearing flowers and playing Scrabble.

Best News: Lacey has a new home!

Crafty things: painted runner bean poems afoot, hats being tie-dyed, pots being painted, more bunting being made, cross-stitch still being crossed...

Happy July xx