Purple PawPaw

Well it’s a very long time since I wrote anything. Alex is 2 – so is Emilie and life is trundling on!

So what has caused me to return to the blog – well quilting – bizarre but true!

For my birthday last December my Mum made me a lovely quilt. One in all my wonderful colours, made with oodles of love and just enough snuggle power to keep me feeling warm and cared for on a miserable winters night. I was so inspired by her work and by the idea of quilting that I asked to see the book she used for the pattern. On flicking through I found a pattern called Rachel’s basket – how appropriate!

After some discussions we decided to make it – together! We  went in January and bought the fabrics – choosing all the colours really carefully and a month later we were cutting the strips and starting to sew. It is a massive and very complicated project but breaking it down into smaller blocks makes it seem more achievable. At the moment it looks like we might just finish it in time for Emilies’ wedding (if she gets married the same age as her Aunt and Mother – 38!).

There is something wonderful about quilting. It is very much a womans thing – if you haven’t read ‘How to Make an American Quilt’, I recommend it. I am sure it will be a great experience and what a lovely opportunity to spend time with my Mum and for us to create something together – very special.

We popped over to see friends and Godson today to celebrate the 1st birthday of the lovely Alex. Lots of friends for him to play with, lots of lovely new toys, including a trike, and fab food!

Its been a busy month and lots of exciting things have happened, all of which merited a blog post in their own right and none of which got one!

The allotment has been exceptionally fruitful (or should that be vegetable full?). We seem to have eaten quantities of the world biggest marrows, our potatoes all got blight  (except three plants which I am still nurturing), but we were able to eat baby ones, our tomatoes are triffid like, our broad beans were a success and we will grow more next year,  horrific memories of hard broad beans skins are now banished for all time. In the garden we have had more lettuce than anyone should have…I somewhat over planted…but the chickens are very happy. We have had french beans and peas are about to spring forth. It has most definitely been our the greatest gardening success ever for the Henderson’s.

The house is nearly all purple now, except for one gable end which can’t be seen from the house – our decorator has been taking a well earned rest ion the sun – so that should be finished soon. We still have the scaffolding up at the back though as Gordon is putting in a solar panel. It’s a tricky little blighter – not helped by the grim weather – which somehow makes clambering about on the roof unappealing!

We have been canoeing down the Wye. Followers of the blog will know that we attempted this last year but got rained out and had to abandon it. This year we completed – and in a most elegant fashion – as we decided to B and B rather than camp. We had a canoeing lesson at the start of July on a warm evening after work (that seems so long ago) and learned lots of things that Gordon seemed to know and I had no idea about. It meant that canoeing was a very different experience this year. Not sure I have entirely masted the art – which G finds frustrating – but I do have a jolly time. We even purchased our own canoe. A blow uppable thing – which has an amazing wow factor when you are by the side of the canal with a box one minute and a boat the next. The first one proved to be a bit leaky – but it has now been replaced – however we have not yet had the time or weather to launch The Ark Mark 2.

Dad is 70 this year and as his birthday present he asked for a number of experiences. These we gave him in the form of a sort of cryptic cheque book. A couple of weekends ago all of us, Miriam, Michael, Mum, Dad, Emilie, Gordon and I went to Bewdley where we stayed for the weekend in the most tremendous B and B, Kateshill House, which I would recommend to anyone. It was truly posh and yet very comfortable to be in at the same time, lucky really a none of us do posh exceptionally well. We spent the Saturday at the Black Country Museum. This is a living museum on the edge of the Black Country and we had a marvellous time in old shops, down the mine, watching steam engines, riding on the trams etc. A great day out – and as the birthday boy said – he remembered most of it before it became museum fodder!

Since then it has been back with noses to the grindstone, although the excitement of new doorbells, clothes airers and the start of the blackberry season keeps life fun.

For the past few weeks people will know that we have been having our house painted, this still continues but the front is now complete. There are some knobs and knockers to sort out but otherwise this is it…are you ready?

On bank holiday monday we went for a ‘Wild Food Walk’. This was organised by a group that we are part of called Buck the Trend (BTT) that is aiming to get people to think about living more kindly on the earth, looking at alternative energy, transport, cutting costs and food related things. This has included looking for some land, talking with people from different groups about how they have accquired land for planting, meeting with people doing fantastic and amazing things in terms of living more simply and small holding and now eating from the hedgerows.

The walk was led by Fiona Campbell who largely feeds her family from the wild. We were encouraged to try things and were also shown poisonous plants which should not be tried at all. We came back with a basket of goodies which formed our dinner for the evening – and with some BBQ meat (foraged from the butcher) and a little light dressing it was lovely. We have said we would collect more food this way, as yet we haven’t made time, but I look forward to another salad sometime soon.

We’ve been to the Devon Show for the past two years and decided to go again. The weather held and we bumped into a number of friends making us feel that Devon really is home. Managed to do some research on bee keeping, clay ovens and pigs as well as having to sample many of  Devon’s exceptional culinary delights.

Below are some photos of the exciting day we had….

Our allotment is growing excellent grass, chickens have had to have their wings clipped after escaping and digging up all our bean seedlings and we are planning great things for later in the summer…watch this space…

We grow potatoes, grass and rhubarb!

The scaffolding is down and you can see that the painting continues, we had some wet weather early on this week which halted things a bit but otherwise everyday the house feels more and more like ours.

The great reveal as the scaffolding at the front of the house comes down

Nearly all the green has gone!

Our house really is in the middle of the street and is pretty unique as it is rarely seen. If you photograph from the bottom you can’t see it and its the same from the top, as we are on a very slight bend. This has advantages. I particuarly like the anonymity. However we are slightly more visible at the moment!

After living here for 7 years and hating the colour of our house every day of that time, plus watching it slip into a stage of shabbiness we are currently having it painted. Due to being directly on the street and therefore dangerous for the painter (who we like a lot and want to do more work in the future and therefore it is our interests to protect) we have had to have the house scaffolded and bridging the road. Mr H has taken photos, which are below…enjoy!

Today was Dads 70th birthday. Gordon and I went down to see him before work to see him open present, cards and to give wishes etc. We had to wait a while for the birthday boy to descend but it was worth it…

Birthday boy poses with picture created especially by the artist Emilie Fiona Frier, at 4 months old

Stunned and amazed...at his present from Mum

We know it will be a wonderful year full of lots of exciting experiences and events – we look forward to spending it with you.

Happy Birthday Dad!