My Tiny PlotA Neat Little Box of Pears
One of our neighbours gave us this lovely box of Pears for a Christmas gift. Such a simple but beautiful thing, I was a little jealous I hadn’t thought of it first. The red blush on the fruit sets off the green packing nicely and gives it the perfect Christmassy feel. Fruit is such a […]
Father Christmas Mugs
Merry Christmas Eve! We’re spending most of today sitting around the fire, watching Christmas movies and drinking eggnog. These are my vintage 1950s Santa mugs from Japan. They make the eggnog taste sooo good! We’re so excited! You could never buy eggnog in the shops when I lived in the UK so I always made […]
My Stone Fountain
At long last we have our lovely stone fountain working again. When we moved into the house it was looking very sad. It was full of soil and weeds and the pump was on the floor beside it. It was also in the middle of a very overgrown garden and so you couldn’t really see […]
Introducing Freeway
This is Freeway. And this is her, ‘love me!’ pose. We got her from the Humane Centre here in Portland about two weeks after we arrived. She was in an enclosure with another dog that barked at everyone when they walked past. Freeway just sat there and watched. When we finally met her she was […]
Greenhouse Beginnings
A very inauspicious beginning to my beautiful greenhouse. These concrete slabs will eventually be lovely, brick walls. And the greenhouse on top of them will blend seamlessly in to its surroundings. Unlike this base which seems to be the antithesis of lovely right now. One day it will be as gorgeous as this.
Early Morning Christmas
I woke up early this morning. Around six actually. I was woken by a small boy in my bed asking me to, ‘find his blanky’. Well, I couldn’t refuse and so up I got. When we came downstairs the sun was just coming up and the sky was a perfect dark blue. So we did […]
Fresh Christmas Wreaths
As part of a fundraiser for my local pre-school I’ve been selling Christmas wreaths. This kind of thing is fairly new to me but I had so much fun doing it. As someone who’s new to the neighbourhood it was a great opportunity to get to know people. I knocked on doors around the area […]
Christmas Cookie Time
Christmas cookies don’t last long in our house. I made these little blue ones as a trial run for the cookie exchange that my neighbour is doing next week. I used the Sugar Cookies recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. And they were amazing! They went missing in about five minutes. With only a tiny […]
My Planting Plan
The garden redesign is really split into two parts, the ornamental garden with the lawn which is where we will play, eat and hangout. And the kitchen garden where I’ll grow our vegetables and fruit. The two will be split up by the greenhouse which will effectively be a barrier between the two. I will […]
It Must be Christmas because…
…my snow village is out. When I packed up all the delicate little boxes last year, knowing that they would have to make the long and bumpy ride to America on a container ship, I feared for them. I’ve made one every year for the last few years and while I’m handy with a pair […]