Last day !

Well I thought I would wind up this daily blog with an indication of the reason (excuse!) that I struggle with eating. Actually that's not true - I have no problem at all with eating but rather with moderation !
 Virtually every week, a local group/charity runs a coffee morning in the Town hall and this week was no exception -

Quite why we have an active Lifeboat charity group in our landlocked town is a mystery, but it has been going for years and raises money several times a year. It is almost incumbent on locals to support each weekly event - and as everyone knows everyone else here, one must do one's duty ! Next week it the Methodists - one of the highlight groups as their ladies are prolific and skilled at culinary products and are the source of most of my homemade jams and marmalades (plus the odd cake for the freezer for 'emergencies'!
This next pic is another of the reasons I struggle -

There is an Artisan bakery at Catterick run by army veterans who are no longer fit for active service. It is run in conjunction with a housing association and the patron is the celebrity chef Rosemary Shrager, who used to live down the road from us until moving south last year. The bread is sold twice a week at our market and this delicious sourdough is my Saturday purchase. It lasts us until Wednesday (I freeze half) then I usually buy a rye loaf to do us until Saturday comes round again ! To be truthful, I could live on good bread so have to restrain myself as best I can !
Our lovely bread board was a present from a neighbour - she carved the wheat ear herself.

Almost forgot !

Ir has dawned on me that daily blogging, particularly when one has nothing of value, not to mention interest, to blog is a rather pointless exercise.  I started with good intentions but find myself struggling to post a meaningful blog most days, I have therefore decided that tomorrow's post will be my last in this daily endeavour - and I will have completed a calendar month of posts. One out of twelve isn't great but better than none. Perhaps next year I will go for February which at least has the advantage of fewer days!
A few random pics for a penultimate sign off and maybe I'll find something pertinent tomorrow for 31st.

Still frosty in my garden.

The bubble gum artist made this artwork outside my neighbours house last autumn - the pic is her house (attached to mine) with her name and those of her three children painted in the 'pebbles' that form the border.the lego man is a size indicator.







Just because I like them, these fat lambs were at the Sheep Fair last September.

Bug House (post modernization)

This is my first insect house, (chez hazeltwiglet) built by my own fair hand!!  No frame and no DH to  help me.  It has now been modified so I will take another picture and post it soon.  It houses solitary bees and other bugs.

Another project on the go

A frosty, snowy start to the day so my planned coffee and cake meeting was deferred until tomorrow. Not wanting to waste a free morning, we went to the tip to get rid of the mountain of garden rubbish we have cleared in the last few days (without, I might add, making much visible impact on the garden). A quick trip round the (depleted) market resulted in half a metre of polycotton which I hope to get transfer paint onto tomorrow.
When we got back, it was time for me to go patchworking in the Town Hall and my DH decided he was going to make a start on my Premier Inn (possibly only Travelodge) for insects. Being too mean to buy new wood, I had suggested he use some pieces of oak we had lying around. It was unfortunately a little on the warped side, so a great deal of energy had to be expended to make a useable frame - here is its beginning

He has found enough oak to make its pitched roof too and we have some copper left to felt it with. If you  look behind the electricity supply channel you will see my whippet left over from the WI Call my Bluff when it was part of my Yorkshireman guise ! DH thought it was too nice to throw out especially as the night after the WI do, he answered the phone to a lady who asked 'can I borrow your whippet' ?

Seasonal Sunshine

It has been such a miserable day - wind, rain, sleet, snow and cold! This bit of seasonal sunshine is delicious and cheery -

These blood oranges from Italy are so juicy and sweet, they would make anyone smile. Some were wrapped in lovely papers - I have smoothed one out so you can see. The background is the piece of breakdown printed fabric I am planning to use to cover my new travelling journal.

Another walk

I can't pretend I did this walk today, but it is 10.30 and I have just come back from the pub - went for a drink with Jane after the History Society meeting. It was a talk about Jerveaux Abbey - a very lovely place  just a mile or two down the road from here. It is a privately owned Cistercian Abbey, which has very little left in the way of stone - probably because the last Abbot took part in the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 and Henry took his revenge by virtually razing it - 250 years to build and less than three to demolish. Lots of local churches ( and houses!) have bits of the old Abbey in their fabric. The speaker was the person who owns and runs the Abbey - it is a very peaceful, quite low key place - entry by honesty box - with more than 200 species of wild flowers in season, and an excellent tea room. Might be an afternoon visit when you come to stay !
My walk though was, as usual very local. The Community Office has leaflets about the 'Leaves walk'. This begins (with an acorn) at the school and follows a trail of stone leaves which pop up in various guises along the way .This pic is the first leaf (depending on which way round you walk ) and is in John Waddington's field behind the church.

Here is another of the leaves - there are 6 in all - which serves as a bridge over one of the streams that feed into the River Ure.

Perhaps we'll do this walk too when you come to visit.

Another project ?

At Harlow Carr on Saturday we enjoyed lots of sun despite the fact that the temperature barely reached above 3C. The winter garden was looking good with brilliant Cornus stems and lots of hellebores - not much smell though - it's very open and there are no enclosed bits to trap the wafts of loveliness from sarcococca or winter honeysuckle. Perhaps it was just too cold - even close up the Witch Hazels had almost no perfume.
It was lovely to walk round though and there were lots of children enjoying the snow which was still in evidence particularly in the woods. I was very taken with the boxing hares -

but I'm  not going for willow weaving this time.
Instead I rather fancy this insect hotel for solitary bees and the like - it's a bit elaborate for my garden and was about three feet high but I think I might utilise the hollow stems of last year's plume poppies which I just happen to have saved to make a more modest version - a Premier Inn rather than a 5* establishment !

Just watch this space !