Label

This amuses me for two reasons

It is the label on the back of a wardrobe that has drifted down through the family from somewhen back. It is stuck on the rear of a gentleman's wardrobe, and was probably bought by my grandparents in the early years of their marriage. You will see its context in a future post. It is part of that distillation of things which comes when a frugal family, with rather old fashioned ways, keeps odd bits of furniture from generation to generation. That family trait always makes me smile.

The name on the label also amuses me - it says Lamson Paragon Supply Co. Ltd. London and includes a Patent number and other arcane bits of information. What amuses me is that this label now lives in a room in Paragon Cottage .....

Varieties of patchwork

I've been working steadily on my quilt, moving it to and fro under the evenly bobbing needle, twisting and folding to get the fabric where I need it to be, to stitch where I want to stitch. I have managed to do all of the "decorative" - for which read rather trembly, wavering, slightly rambling stitching. Here is the back, so you can see the patterns, as in front view they tend to get lost in the pattern of the fabric itself. The colour is all wrong as it was taken in artificial light; it could do with a good press as well, but you get the picture.

I'm really rather pleased with it, as I've not done any machine quilting before and only a tiny bit of hand stuff, I'll post a picture of the front once I've added the binding - the next big challenge. Before that I have all the loose ends to sew in and lose in the layers of the quilt, but that is rather pleasing to do when sitting down watching the TV of an evening.

Meanwhile another kind of patchwork is taking place, in our side yard, the one I mentioned as being destined to be a courtyard. Well, progress is taking place, though first you should see it's original incarnation to appreciate the change

Crikey! It's a bit of a jumble isn't it? Bits of quarry tile mixed with bits of crazy paving mixed with bits of shingle and the odd row of brick edging to catch the feet of the unwary. It's where my slow trees live for the most part, so I can appreciate their seasonal changes from the kitchen window. From the opposite end it looked like this when we first arrived, with a scruffy, but extremely useful shed that has been housing odds and sods.

It is part way through it's transformation now

further on than this, in fact, but you can see the patchwork analogy. My dear one has been acting as labourer, digging holes, filling them in again, moving vast quantities of earth and "stuff" into the skip out the front, salvaging topsoil and barrowing it down to the kitchen garden, cleaning off the black quarry tiles as I want them reused as part of the final design and generally being all round useful, while Ray has been doing the skilled work.
The scruffy looking wall will be painted eventually but before that happens, yet another type of patchwork is being done; pointing, to fill in all the gaps between the bricks where the old pug has fallen out. This, along with the pointing between the pavers, and eventually the painting, is being done by another expert

My daughter

A Whole Year

Today we have been in our home for a whole year. This time last year, we were all packed up and ready to go - or at least I assume that was the case. To be honest we were both so exhausted that I can't really remember much. I had been away on retreat a couple of weeks before, leaving my dear soul to cope with all sorts. I still had stitches in my heel from having sliced it open on our front gate and he was still reeling from the sudden realisation that he was retired - or on eternity leave as he puts it!

I do remember the anxiety, sleeplessness, endless calls to estate agents as we were trying to sell two flats, and a sense that I was almost emigrating - having lived in the same town since the age of eight, moving 6 miles down the road seemed a very BIG step.

From this end of the telescope I am simply stunned by how much we've achieved in a relatively short space of time. We have

transformed a very scruffy overgrown, dank sort of track, which was almost invisible when we moved in, to this rather nice path. The most recent improvement being the fence, which was put up last week by our trusty friend Ray from Rotherview. It has offset uprights, which allow for a view through to the garden next door at certain angles, and which catch the light in a variety of ways, cast lovely shadows across the path and will, I hope, let more light and air into the bed that runs beside the path.

smartened up the shed a bit and had this part of the scruffy old patio replaced with some rather nice paving stones, again courtesy of Ray.

removed this very curious turreted affair, which formed a porch between the back door and the door to the shower room. When taken down, it proved to have been constructed of trellis and cardboard! We had noticed the gale blowing in under the sides and a worrying view of the outside from inside, where there shouldn't be, if you know what I mean

and replaced this shambles

with a rather nice conservatory, in which my good man sits in the evening with his glass of wine and, usually, at least one cat.

It looks over the garden and is just the right size for two people to sit and contemplate the stars on a chill winter's evening or watch the sun move round to the west while the birds sing their evening songs.

Three days after we moved in, this arrived

I hope we don't get a repeat this year - I'm planning a trip to York to be with my daughter for her birthday. Last year I was stranded on my way back, and had to be rescued from Tonbridge!

Down in the Dell Where the Badgers Dwell!

Spring is bustling in my garden There are all sorts of magics happening as moisture surges through the soil and the light moves round to fill the space.

There are magic trees, hazel and conifers

totems from a long ago, distant garden guarding a water source

a Japanese girl who welcomes you as you leave the house

















 A little old man and lady, who converse in measured and discreet tones beneath the watchful eye of the sun and the moon

Tulips in our lovely new front garden catch the evening light,     

A watchful cat wonders when biscuits are due - always time for biscuits you understand

while his brother explores down in the dell where the badgers dwell .........


where things might soon be stirring as night approaches, birds flitter and flutter their way to bed .....

evening falls and sunset fills the sky with glory







catching the hazel catkins in its last rays

you can find more pictures here

A Garden presence for the New Year

Deep frost

Frost and Hydrangea leaves, morning sun

 As the year turns, the garden has gone in a matter of days from frozen

to mild and almost dry in places. This has allowed me out to explore the character of this new space we occupy for a while. Quite along while I hope, though in terms of the plants that are here already, we are newcomers.

The first delight I discovered was this quiet presence lurking beneath some unpruned young growth.

 

The trunk is a delight, so sturdy and moistly dark It is, I think, Prunus laurocerasus and stands at the top of a very short run of some all but invisible tiny little steps which will need to be cleared in time. It sits at the turn of a miniature walk that wends its way from the back door to the lawn.

Wol in his new home

Wol has been moved there, he seemed to fit with the spirit of the tree, despite being from Zimbabwe originally

Then this afternoon I went to clear this space,

a narrow little channel which zigzags between the house and the property boundary, and is fronted by a garage.

As I fought my way to the garage wall, I found this

the pattern of seedheads against the blue of the window frame delighted me. It did, however, have to go!

Oh Christmas Tree!