Saturday 7 April 2012

Mair Seven Days....gairdening, sna and a drought.

Now and again I like to join in with Jacqui at The Barefoot Crofter - for 'Seven Days' for a look at the week just gone by. This week for us started with a trip to the beach for the wee puppy Haggis (9wks old, 2kg weight!), Peedie is now a giant dog, or seems like a giant. The first trip to the beach was successful, Haggis (the horrid) waded upto his chest in the sea - clearly not afraid! That deserved his name on the beach............
The weeks generally been taken up with my normal wombling and also a fair bit of gardening - having given this up at home - I'm tending to rampage around other people gardens. Don't worry I'm not guerrila gardening on the quiet - I'm not that keen - however I'm often caught rampaging around other folks gardens (lets call them clients, it sounds better than being a garden stalker). I only tend to play, or interfere in, sorry I mean work in, with a few folks gardens, and this week - play was stopped by snow. SNOW! I gave up weeding the rockery I was rampaging around after I couldn't see the weeds for the white stuff.
Play-stopping snow, isn't much fun. However prior to gardening I was wearing my very lovely hand made mitts (by a lovely chum Keiss, who I'm seeing soon up here in the frozen north).  Can you spy them under the snow - rainbow stripes and so lovely - I wear them all the time! (Not when gardening)
Gorgeous aren't they - clearly I couldn't put them back on again - bah - had to gently wash them and dry them out! Poor mitts and snow isn't fun. We had a bit of a snow dump of it this week.......do you wish you were here.....Darwin doesn't.
The weather abaited long enough for me to plant another willow hedge (again in another garden) - I had willow planters thumb again this week! But all done! I'm still amazed you can grow a tree from a stick (hard wood cutting) - thats pretty amazing or ridiculus I can't decide!
In between all this gardening malarkay - I've had my mother to stay and lost my children - all in all a normal week I guess? Made a few of Robyn's cinnamon whirls - they looked better uncooked than cooked! Somehow or other I don't have the knack with these! Although the recipes amazing.
And, finally, the most dreadful news - we're down to the last bottle of the sweetest sonsie of elderflower cordial - thats right - made in June-August last year - and now its running out - Mr Flowers is not a happy bunny.
Neither am I as - the trees here are just breaking bud and coming very slowly into leaf - sensible things - between the snow and the sunshine if I were them, despite the current and upandcoming cordial emergency - I'd stay asleep for a bit yet. However, there's not a hope of a flower anytime soon and we're on 1.5l of cordial and diminishing...............there maybe a a flower emergency to hand soon, and we might need a special trip to the mainland for an early crop to stop the 'elderflower cordial drought'.

Best quote of the week - from a movie cellist chose..........

'Its easy to love you now, you're young and fun.  But pick me, not him, I'll love you when the winds dried you out and you're old and broken.' - Class!

Romance clearly isn't dead.
Anyhows, thats been my seven days - how have yours been? If you've a moment go over and join Jacqui, the Barefoot Crofter.......

16 comments:

  1. Ooh, lovely to see you back here, you've had a busy week! Glad to hear Haggis and Peedie are getting on a little better! Those cinnamon rolls look lovely (when I did it, I bunched them all up together in a baking pan, stopped them unfurling too much). eek at running out of cordial though!

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    1. The first time I did them they worked really well apart - but next time I will take your and others advice! Haggis and Peedie are indeed getting along better! Both say 'woof' to you both - I'm creating them thier own 'page' on here and they can update you on their adventures to keep Peter from fretting!

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  2. Brave wee Haggis :)looks like he will be a real water baby.

    I second the comment above about the cinnamon rolls, pack them tight together or else they spread out like mad and you end up with something resembling cinnamon pizza crusts :)

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    1. Thanks Dreamer - Haggis is a real water baby unlike his uncle Peedie - Or Uncle Neep as Kininvie would have me name him. Maybe I'll buy two more - one called tattie and one called neep?

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  3. I love elderflower cordial, but never make enough to keep any. It seems to be drunk faster than I can produce it so we just end up regarding it as a seasonal treat. Linda xxx

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    1. We made about 22ltrs.......Mr F is very fond of it!

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  4. Finnan the Westie seemed like a giant next to Rodders to start with!

    Does Peedie share his love of water?

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    1. Uncle Peedie DOES NOT like water. Not one bit - so to tease him I go in as far as I can in my wellies and he woofs at me very unhappy but excited. I can sometimes tempt him in but not often. He also hates a bath, but tolerates with great insolance the shower.

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  5. Sna and drought just about sum it up just now.
    I've never made them, but from pictures in recipe books I think that cinnamon rolls are meant to be packed tight, or else the dreaded spreading occurs. Just like the florentines daughter and I made yesterday...

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    1. It's a very interesting post.

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    2. Linda - it does doesn't it - snow and sunshine again today - florentines are so tricky - you guys are so brave - I've made them once and they turned into a gigantic one!

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  6. I've worked on in the rain before but not in snow! Snow calls for a fire and tea and cozy time... I hope you got those pretty mittens all dried out and warm again too. Looks like Haggis is thriving. I hope your weather softens up soon. I love the idea of the willow fence but I do wonder how you keep from having a huge stand of willow trees after a few years--is that the goal or do you prune them into submission?

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    1. Ah Linnie - here in lies the rub - whilst willow grows here - its exhuberant behaviour is kept largely in check by our challenging climate - when they can get to 10-12m south - they average 3-5m here and are whilst 'fast' in hedge terms not what you'd call rampant. A hard prune every 2-3 years can acheive much - but the wind does that for us nicely each autumn/winter.

      How helpful eh?

      Gloves and me now dry - thankfully!

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  7. I still think the puppy should have been called Neep. It seems appropriate. Maybe if you get another?

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  8. I think I'll call Peedie Neep and Haggis - either peedie haggis or just peedie or just haggis.

    Peedie is now no longer an appropriate name for this older dog. He's now a giant - perhaps Galioth is more appropriate.

    Hmm, perhaps not - Neep it is then! Thanks - Peedie is so disobedient that a name change shouldn't prove to bother him much.......

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  9. Psssst. Doesn't matter how the cinnamon whirls looks.....it's the taste that matters! xxx

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