Green(ish) Christmas

I went to a party on Christmas eve. I wore a pair of skinny velvet trousers which I have had for years, a new long sleeved, scoop neck top, a waistcoat I made years ago (and the lining was calico that came wrapped around something I'd bought by post!), a necklace I have had for years, and earrings I have had since my teens. A friend said I scrub up nicely (she is used to seeing me in kayaking gear!).

There are the Christmas cards. Although some greens moan about the waste, I like them, they are a cheerful splash of colour for a few weeks in the dank, damp days of winter.

There's a wreath on the door, which I've had for 4 years. I nearly replaced it as I saw one in the Lakeland catalogue I liked, but I knew it would do another year. As there were no loose bits in the box it has perhaps shed all the bits it is going to and will last for years yet.

I will have one string of lights in the dining room this New Year as I have a friend staying. No Christmas tree (plastic, decades old) and decorations (also old) and lights. Not because I didn't like to have it up but because I think the cats would immediately have it down. My first two cats (which I had one at a time) were fine with the tree. When the lights were on the first would pose under it. The last two and these two clamber on everything. I have never had the lights on a lot, only evenings when I was in, and most of Christmas day. I have noticed that there are far fewer Christmas tree lights kept on 24 hours a day round here - there are advantages to a recession!

I also have a paper chain in the bay window, which I'd got at the William Morris Exhibition at 2 Temple Place. Making the chain reminded me of my childhood when my brothers and I would make them together, though this one is far prettier.

I was very full after my Christmas dinner (large helping of nut roast!) but, except for the staff Christmas lunch at work, haven't over eaten so my attempt to reduce my tummy won't have had a set back.

But the best bit of Christmas is all the time off work as I am one of the lucky ones whose place of work closes down between Christmas and New Year.

Winter comes to Leyton - sort of!

Yesterday Leyton had it's first frost, heavy enough for thin ice on the pond and in the buckets but not enough to kill off the nasturtiums, though the ones in the back garden, away from the home, are damaged.

The rest of the day was drizzle intermingled with patchy sun.

Same again today.

On my bike ride this morning I couldn't complete my planned ride due to a large amount of water on the path under the railway line. If I needed to get through it was probably shallow enough. As I didn't, I didn't try. There was probably a similar expanse of water under the cattle creep.

I have been using this route for my Sunday morning ride a lot this summer and autumn, but I might have to give it a miss for a while. Pity, as if the weather is good for bike rides over the Christmas/New Year break it is nice to have some varied routes. I could still have one ride north, up one side of the Navigation and down the other, perhaps with a stop at the cafe at the bottom of Springfield Park for their vegetarian breakfast.

Green drinks

Transition Leytonstone have their Green drinks on the 15th of the month in the Red Lion.

The Red Lion is a very nice pub in what used to be "Zulus", a drinking establishment that caused continual trouble. It is turning more of its tables into restuarant tables, and this was particularly apparent when I arrived on Thursday at five past eight, as obviously many offices and friends were holding their Christmas get togethers. I wondered round twice and could see no-one I recognised and no table with a "green drinks" sign on it. So I left to walk home.

I was just over the road looking at the entries in a photography competition in a window when Ros came by, and back I went to the pub with her. She couldn't seen anyone either - I have often be in pubs looking round for my friends with them waving at me and I not able to see them, so I was pleased to be sure that I hadn't just not spotted the green drinks group!

Soon Grear arrived, a journalist who blogs for the Telegraph on green issues, who had met Martin on the bus and he had told her about green drinks. I can't remember the order everyone else turned up, but there was Martin himself, Jan whom I had met at the Transition Leytonstone Christmas do the Friday before, Chris, whom I first met years ago through the local Green Party but who is incredibly active in all sorts of groups, and several people from the local Green Party who were having their Christmas Social on the same evening, including 3, Ashley, Steve and Mark, whom I knew from when I was active in the local party. In all there was 13 of us squeezed into the corner.

There was music but low enough so we could easily hear each other putting the world to rights.

I left soon after 10 pm to walk home, as my alarm goes at 6.15 in the morning!

Frostier and frostier

Went to Chingford on the 97 bus this morning. Leyton slightly damp with no frost, but as I went through Walthamstow there appeared frost on the grass and the cars and it all got whiter and whiter as I approached Chingford.

I then went out in a friend's car to Whillingdale where there are 2 churches in one churchyard. The story is 2 sisters argued and each ended up building their own church. In reality the first church was a Norman church, the second one came 200 years later when the wool trade had increased the numbers in the parish. Instead of knocking down the church and building a bigger one,they split the parish, building the church for the new parish in the graveyard.

A very nice day with friends - but only possible because Tony has a car.

Water cress this winter?

This morning as I was packing up after doing a bit of sawing of wood for my wood burning stove, I spotted what I thought was a viola in the guttering of the conservatory. When I reached up to weed it I discovered it was some watercress, obviously selfsown from the watercress I had had in a pot.

Only yesterday I had torn from a magazine my next door neighbour had given me a snippet about rooting watercress stems. "Keep the contents very wet on a cool, bright windowsill inooors. You'll have free home-grown watercress for the rest of the winter."

My conservatory windowsill has plenty of light, but not sure whether that counts as bright, as it is north facing. Will this get too cool?

I could put it upstairs in the front bedroom, where the cats couldn't knock it over. This would be south facing. You are often advised to save energy by not heating rooms you don't use. Having been brought up in a house without central heating and living in a flat without central heating for 16 years, I know that if you don't heat a room all winter everything ends up smelling musty! So when the central heating is on that room is heated thought the thermostat is on low.

Ah, well, it is still free, so worth the experiment!

First fire

It is no colder than it was yesterday, but this evening I have treated myself to a fire. It lit perfectly the first time

Collecting leaves in the dark

Just before I got ready for bed on Thursday night I took an empty bucket to the end of the road to fill it with plane tree leaves (they are huge this year!). As it was after 10 o'clock there were not many people about so I didn't feel too self conscious!

Made 5 trips. Put them on the front garden. As the nasturtiums as still alive due to the mild weather, I stuffed them between the plants and the wall. This is all to help hibernating insects and toads.

Making my robin Christmas cards

The first idea I had for this year's home-made Christmas cards didn't work. Instead I have adapted, by simplifying, a card in the December issue of Country Living.

I have cut out a shape from brown wrapping paper, stuck this on 100gsm white paper folded into 4, drawn on an eye and legs with a black biro, add a red circle and, hey presto, a robin.

This will only go to close friends and relatives. I will be getting a Survival reindeer card for everyone else.

"Beachcombing" on Thames foreshore

This afternoon I went on a London Walk starting at Mansion House tube. On our way to the southern side of the Thames, just below Tate Modern we heard about the history of this part of the Thames.

Before we could go down on to the foreshore, we had our warning on veils (spelling?) disease and had to wear plastic gloves. As we did not have a Port of London Authority licence we could not dig "even with our fingers". Anything made of precious metal would belong to the Queen, anything of archeological significance would go to the Museum of London.

This is me on the edge of the Thames.

We were asked only to take a couple of things. This prevented stuff ending up being thrown away and going to a council tip somewhere. This is what I took - something that looked like pottery with a grazed glaze - they don't know what these are, 2 pieces of chalk as fancy using foraged chalk (didn't count this as part of my "2 things"!), and a button for the button box.

Misty ride with mystery noise

This morning was very misty (or is it a fog?).

I rode my new bike for the first time (a Claude Butler). Unfortunately I can't have a front pannier on it, though I will keep a look out for a bag with straps. The bell it has is pathetic! I will take the old-fashioned bell off my old bike and use that.

I wished I had dressed up a bit warmer, particularly with leggings under my trousers, though several joggers were in shorts and short-sleeved t-shirts. My toes were very cold by the time I had finished my ride but my finger tips had warmed up!

As I cme out of the east part of Victoria Park there was a mandarin duck swimming in the Hertford Union.

My bike got a noise while I was in Victoria Park which continued until I was within a couple of yards of the bike shop, which now opens Sundays. I can come back within 3 months and they will make any necessary adjustments. I had correctly identified where my now-stopped noise was coming from (the pedal shaft rubbing against the plastic chain guard) and it took the guy two seconds to adjust with a spanner.

The Bike Shack is a nice bikeshop - pity it is so small so not a lot of stock.

Peter - I am impressed with the photo of how much you got off your allotment at this time of year!

Temporary mantlepiece

I have hired Rene, a friend from kayaking who makes designer bathrooms, furniture, light sculptures, etc, to put in a chunky mantlepiece for me.

He has made it - I've seen it in his workshop. It's made from cedarwood - his favourite wood. But it is now 2 years and it is still in his workshop not my sitting room. With the second year without a mantlepiece to put my birthday and Christmas cards on, I've made a temporary one.

I've used the offcuts Len, the carpenter who lives 3 doors up the road, gave me for my stove to make two equal piles. For the top I used a long piece of wood I rescued from a skip and didn't like to cut up until I really needed it, in case it came in useful - and it has!

Unfortunately the 2 piles are on a slant - I think the floor's not flat. One side is very slanty indeed. I am afraid of the cats knocking everything flying, so I have only put 2 candlesticks on it, metal ones that won't break.

Looking forward to displaying cards on it soon.

watch out for weather!

On 14 November 2007, presumably a Sunday, I spent some time in the afternoon in my hammock. The next day was the first frost of the year. The day after that there was a heavy frost and ice on my pond.

Haven't my heating yet, but might have to soon just to get clothes dry!

Bucket of autumn leaves disappears!

For years I would see plastic hands for gathering autumn leaves in the catalogues and didn't buy them as I would only need them for a few weeks a year. Then a few years ago I got them and wished I'd got them sooner.

This year I at last got round to tidying my shed and found today that I had moved the hands from near the door. Blocked by the wormery by the door and bags of twigs from my neighbour's ashtree and bushes (for kindling) I can't see where I put them or easily get near the back to look. So I used a small handtool and my hands.

Whilst scooping up leaves I saw there was some fruit on my autumn raspberries, so I put the bucket down and picked and ate about 10 fruits. Came back and couldn't find the bucket!

I have a small garden, and was anyway only a few pacss away from the raspberry canes when I put the bucket down. It had seemly disappeared through a hole in the space/time continium (the one that often follows me around). Finally I saw it. From above a bucket full of autumn leaves standing on autumn leaves is very well camoflaged!

Along the road to the east of me are some plane trees - the leaves are really large this year. Is this the result of the wet summer?

Recycling collection in the dark

Waltham Forest Council have contracted Kier to collect both rubbish and recycling on the same day in the same lorry. The lorry is divided into two sections.

Chaos, with some streets not having had anything collected for weeks. Also recycling was seen going into the rubbish section of the lorries when the recycling bit was full. A friend of mine in Chingford saw them putting the recycling from the green recycling bins into the black rubbish bins and then chucking the contents into the rubbish section!

RoseMarie at my rugmaking session said a lorry had come back to do the recycling in her street. My rubbish bin was emptied during the day yesterday, but they were collecting the recycling at 7.30 in the evening. I hope this means some low-paid people are getting some decent overtime!

Firework litter louts

Had my Sunday morning cycle ride, on the fold-up as my big bike still upside down in the dining room.

On the field behind the ice rink where at least a dozen empty firework boxes. Obviously a private firework party leaving their litter for others to clear. Wouldn't be surprised if some of the guests at that party were responsible for the beer cans thrown in the stream further north.

They have also put (back?)a cattle grid in the path on the east side of the Navigation. It is right at the bottom of a short, steep slope. There is a bit to the side of the grid wide enough to cycle (but too narrow for any cows). However I don't have the confidence to cycle fast incase I miss, so don't have the speed to get up the slope.

The Thrifty Forager

I have just treated myself to this book by Alys Fowler.

Several of the plants mentioned grow in my garden. I'll ignore the spinach type ones. I have swiss chard free seeding in the garden, so I have no need of anything else spinach-like.

There is featured in the book the stag's Horn sumach/velvet sumach, which looks like the tree I pass on the way to the bus stop. I'll have to check it is not the varnish tree (same family) which is toxic.

The red fruits of the stag's horn sumach are soaked in water for several hours with a little honey or sugar to make a lemon-like drink.

It seems a long time to wait before I can start putting this book to use.

B!@@%$ bycycle back wheel

Wednesday morning I moved by bike so I could get out the front door and realised the back wheel completely flat (why always the back wheel?).

So Wednesday evening I upturned the bike in the dining room and changed the innertube, adding the punctured one to the pile of 4 already waiting to be patched.

I usually have major problems getting the wheel back in place, each time I adjust it so the wheel is evenly adjusted between the brake pads, I then have to adjust it so it doesn't rub the mud guard, which then means it is no secure in the holding (can't remember technical term for where the axle goes), and when I adjust.....

This time I haven't even got so far - I can't get the back wheel in in the first place! There are lots of people at work who'd look at it if it was here, but that's no good when I have a one-wheeled bike back at home.

One more try this evening, seeing if I can get the chain really out of the way when I put it in. If it fails I will be looking for a second hand bike.

This one cost me £25 from a colleague of a friend plus a £30 service and I have had it for at least 3 years.

Garlic transfer and cabbage hearts

This summer the garlic leaves dried off so quickly that by the time I went to harvest them they had disappeared and I wasn't able to find all of the bulbs. Some of those lost have sprouted and on Sunday I dug them up and put the cloves into next year's onion bed. I covered them with a sturdy metal mesh I have to protect them from the local cats. This morning I went out to take a photo. You can see the mesh but not the garlic. The big leaves you can see are foxgloves - always keen to grow in my vegetable beds rather than the flower beds!

The picture below is of one of my January Kings. I am supposed to protect the heart from the winter weather by tying the outside leaves around it. What heart?! I hope the cabbages keep growing over the winter, otherwise they will have been a complete waste of time!

I am trying to get more than just a few leeks to harvest over the winter. The Organic Gardening Catalogue has "flower sprouts", a cross between curly kale and brussel sprouts which I plan to try. I'm getting old if the memories of curly kale we ate every winter through my childhood have faded so much I am prepared to grow something associated with it!

Looping the Limehouse Loop

I haven't cycled to Limehouse (Lea Naviagation, Old Ford, Bow, Three Mills the Limehouse Cut) and back (Regents Canal, Hertford Union and back on the Navigation) since last winter. They were doing work on the Bow stretch until the July, and I like doing the loop, and then was cycling in the opposite direction to pick blackberries.

I used to have to come off the towpath and cross the road under the Bow flyover, making a run for it when there was a gap in the cars coming off the roundabout. There is now a bridge (which a cyclable slope up and down) that takes one across the river and then along it under the road. Fantasic!

I nearly didn't go as for this long ride I usually like really nice weather and this morning was overcast and breezy, but I am glad I went

rag rugs rather ragged

On Sunday I had a rag rug session for Transition Leytonstone. Only four of us,as that is all I can fit round my dining room table. (The table is second hand, if slimmer and longer it would fit much better in my dining room and fit 6 crafters around it, but that is the problem of second hand, what you find is often not ideal, especially if you don't have a car so everything large has to be sourced locally.)

One person didn't turn up, and one came, but, as she hadn't sourced any material to mend the rug she wanted to mend, didn't stay for long. So that left RoseMarie and me.

Here's how far I have got!

And RoseMarie was making a toothbrush rug (named after the hook used).

Though both us found it useful to have an "appointment" to start our rugs, we won't be having other rag rug sessions together.

Problems with commenting so writing this message instead

Dear Peter
Don't want you to think I am ignoring you, but have been unable to comment on your comment on my blog or to comment on your blog. Hope it'll all work out on the work computer after work tomorrow.

Can't remmber your name, and your photo is too small to help. How did we know each other in Leyton?

I used to have an allotment but gave it up when I got the house. I didn't like the trekking to and fro, and getting half way home and realising I'd forgotten to pick any chives, again!

Newt rescue! And frog news

Cycling this morning in the Lea Valley between a stream and a ditch (after the cattle creep at the bottom of Coppermill Lane), I stopped to rescue a worm wriggling at great pace towards the middle of the path. Then I saw a tiny newt on the path - about 3 inches long. It was almost dead, but I put it in the damp grass out of the way of passing cyclists to give it a chance.

When I was young I always missed the nature study class on newts, coming back to school after illness to see the pictures of them on the wall - infant school and 2 junior schools. I didn't see my first newt until I was adult, in the pond of a garden that was open, and I haven't seen once since until this morning.

I also saw a frog in my pond this morning. The woman with the 17/20/30 (depending on which neighbour one spoke to) cats has moved, so he has a chance. In previous years I often had 5 poking their heads out of the water. My pond is covered with duck weed which I don't try to get rid of, as it gives the frogs some protection from the cats until the (non) flowering rush has grown (and this year I didn't have much rush at all).

The duck weed used to be killed off in the winter and grow again in the spring. The lsst 2 winters though, it has reduced drastically but never completely disappeared.

Red Admirals in the sun

This morning there were 2 red admiral butterflies sunning themselves at the end of my garden. I think these are the first red admirals I've seen in my garden this year.

Only now do I think I should have taken a photo to put on blog here. Can't rush out now as I am waiting for a fridge to be delivered and the door between the kitchen and conservatory is blocked by the trolley loaded with all the stuff that had been in the old fridge.

My vegetable patch this year

The purpose of this second postis to try to insert a photograph. I have managed to upload a picture of myself - very unflattering, taken by me holding up the camera. So let's see if this time (third attempt at this) I can manage it.

Doesn't look good - a load of gibberish above this, which I hope will translate into a photo when I "publish" it.

This was a fairly typical day's picking from the vegetable patch (and I didn't harvest every day). Luckily I live on my own and have a good lunch at work.

Autumn has come!

This morning my north facing, single-glazed bathroom window had condensation. My north-facing double-glazed bedroom window was steamed up, but my other windows were fine (forgot to check the conservatory windows).

I left on my bike at 9am in a long-sleeved top in a thick material, but was glad I had put my winter bike jacket in my saddle bag, as I soon stopped to put that on, plus the gloves in the pocket. Back by 10.30, and, although much warmer, I didn't feel hot.

My garden at 8 am looked as if there had been a heavy dew. By the time I got to the Lea Valley, along by the west side of the old Essex filter beds, the grass in places was white. The Navigation was steaming - so the water was presumably warmer than the air. There didn't seem much rubbish in the water. Denis at my kayak club claims it sinks in cold weather, and I suspect he is right,

I went down the Navigation, half way along the Hertford Union, round the east of Victoria Park and back, a route I haven't done since the Spring.

The leaves are beginning to turn, but no real autumn colour yet.

Price of logs generally high, not just mine!

Out with friends today, and one, Tina who live in Sudbury, Suffolk, also has a wood burning stove. She got a load of logs for £125 this year, much more expensive than last year. So my £195 - also much more expensive than last year - is probably only the usual London price.

Hopefully as more and more people have wood burning stoves installed, the managed woodland providing the wood also increases - we can't rely on tree surgeons!

I've got visitors next Sunday and plan to have the stove lit for the first time this winter then. Nice in the sunshine in the middle of the day, but chilly mornings - I'll be waiting for the water to run hot for my morning wash from now on! Light frost on the edge of London (Chingford) this morning.

Green connections

Went to a Transition Leytonstone evening on "your money or your life". This was a follow-up to the talk by the blogger Stoneleigh where I had been very depressed by her predictions of a depression worse than the 1930s because of the housing bubble. As someone without sellable practical skills and savings the outlook if she is right isn't good at all!

Yesterday did not cheer me up ref the financial situation, but I have got an application form so I can join the local Credit Union (as a depositer), I met Sarah and we discussed our vegetable plots, and she told me about a very sweet plant and the name of the nursery I can get it from. I was able to get some advice about the replacing of my window where the seal on the double glazing has gone (don't bother with triple glazing). And I met and chatted with several other people I know from Transition Leytonstone and other green events.

Solar powered flats

The two blocks of 3 storey flats behind my house are having solar panels fitted. One is having them on the south roof, the other on the west roof. I haven't gone round to check, but from the scaffolding it looks as if the flats with the panels on the west roof are not having them on the east roof to catch the morning sun.

Logs for stove arrive

Last 2 years it has taken me 2 hours to take logs through house and stack them.

Today I had to take the logs through the house and leave them to go for a boden session (which I didn't make due to the Victoria line being suspended - and they think signal failure is not going to happen during the Olympics?!). This took me an hour. Then when I got back it took me 2 hours to stack. The pile looks bigger than usual, but I think this is because the logs are much more of a mixed size, so the pile is not so neat.

In my hammock in October

Both yesterday and today (Sunday) I have spent time in my hammock, in the shade under my neighbours' overhanging ash tree. And in a short-sleeved t-shirt too.

It is said the greenest thing to do is often to do nothing, so I have been very green!

Wood for stove - expensive this year

Have just ordered some logs from a tree surgeon in Chingford (north end of my borough) and it is about double the price of the logs I got last year. It is about the price of the wood I could have got from my stove suppliers which could have go delivered at the same time they came to sweep the chimney and do the maintenance, but I didn't order as I though it too expensive!

So, the stove is not saving me money (even before the cost of getting and installing the thing).

But who knows for the future, and it helps towards fuel security, and the cats love it!

PS I had another go at trying to insert photos into a blog the other night but with no luck. I wish I was more techie savvie!

Wood for stove - but not enough!

Len, the carpenter 3 doors up, left me some offcuts, but not his usual several black bin bags, only half a bin bag. Some of the wood will be painted and I'll have to put in the bin. But everything gratefully received!

Linda for several doors down, has had a friend round who cut up a small tree for her, and a pile of logs were left at the door yesterday. Three evenings burning, perhaps four, but it will be next winter not this coming one they will be ready.

Hope to have a day off in a fortnight and will have another go in trying to catch the tree surgeon in Chingford to see if he has wood to deliver.

Nut harvest in the street

I now have a digital camera and this is my first attempt at trying to upload a picture to my blog - which has failed! Curses!!!

There is a street near me where some of the street trees are nut tres, with nuts very like hazel nuts but fancier casings. I collected some the other day. There is not much "meat" in them, but I expect as street trees they don't get a lot of water...

green tomato chutney making looms

Yet another person reporting tomatoes really slow to ripen this year. 

Hers started getting blight, so she quickly picked the rest and made green tomato chutney.  If we get clear days and frosty nights anytime soon, I will be having to make green tomato chutney too.

How can I be green when I can't trust weather forecasts?

I am a bit worried that I moan too much on these posts, but here I go again!

One of the things that annoys me about some people trying to encourage others to be green, is that they don't seem to live in the same world I do!

According to a lot of them you don't need a tumble dryer as you can dry your clothes outside. One of the sad things about being an adult is how much time I spend thinking about getting stuff dry! Even today, when the weather forecast is for clouds and sunny periods (and I've just now double checked on acuweather.com) I was hanging up sheets and towels before going on a cycle ride when I looked up and saw masses of dark clouds. I brought it all in to hang on the clothes horse. Now the clouds seem to have moved off to the west, so I might try the cycle ride but the sheets and towels stay indoors!

Last weekend when the weather forecast was for a dry Saturday, I had 2 loads of washing on the line, went out,and it poured down. That washing came in wetter than it went out!

If I had children I am pretty sure I would squeeze in a tumble dryer somewhere!

fox asleep in the clematis

This morning when I opened the curtains there was a fox curled up asleep in the clematis that comes over the garden fence on to my shed roof.  It was still there when I left for work, despite it having started to drizzle.

I have now got a digital camera, and trying to work out how to operate it. I would have liked to have posted a picture of it.

more showers to save water

I much prefer baths to showers, and for years I haven't had a shower where I live now. When the bathroom was done up I got a shower. I use twice a week when I have a shower and wash my hair. This summer I have tried to have an extra shower or 2 each week. I am so used to washing my hair when I am in the shower that I have wet half my head before I remember I'm not doing my hair this time!

Major back problems at the moment, so had to have a shower tonight whether I wanted it or not. As I have a shower door to make the tap end of the bath a shower, I put a towel down to catch the drips off the bottom of the door before I can towel-dry the bottom and then use newspaper to dry the inside. Luckily the emergency visit to my osteopath this afternoon meant I could bend down- albeit very slowly - and pick up the towel again!

Secret garden in Regents Park

I had told my osteopath about the herb walk I went on - outside the College of Physicians near Regents Park. So last week she told me about a programme she had seen about a "secret" garden in Regents Park, where people walk by the opening without realising. It is the garden of St John's Lodge.

I looked it up on the Internet and sent that to Andrew at work, as he organises a monthly lunchtime walk. We went on Thursday, and it is indeed a lovely garden. On the way out we took a look at a vegetable garden looked after by horticultural students. I was pleased to see that although the cherry tomatoes were ripe, there were only a few of the ordinary-sized ones ripe. This made me feel better about mine - first ripe one on Tuesday and one more now just beginning to turn.

We were lucky with the weather, it started to rain on the way back to the office, but not hard until we were indoors. This morning, as I believed yesterday's weather forecast for a dry Saturday and a wet Sunday, I left 2 loads of washing on the line but it rained while I was out and it came in wetter than it went out! I think if I had a family I would squeeze in a tumble dryer, however ungreen it is!

First tomato

Today  (16 August) I had my first tomato (outdoor). All the rest are very green.

In 2008 and 2010 I had my first tomato on 1 August, in 2009 on 22 July.

I think it was that cold May, with cold nights and cold winds, which turned most of the plants' leaves brown, set them back.

blackberry brandy

Picked blackberries this morning and put in a large jar with sugar and brandy. I will shake the jar twice a day until the sugar is dissolved. Then leave for a few months (officially 3) before decanting. I then use my collection of second-hand liqueur glasses to drink it.

My mother is up at the beginning of September, but that will be too soon.

I usually make blackberry vodka and the recipe is the same for both. Official quantities are:

450g - 1 lb blackberries
100g - 4oz - 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1.1 litres - 2 pints - 5 cups vodka or brandy

First primrose!

Not yet the middle of August and there is a primrose in flower in my garden!

Christmas Charity Catalogue tradition

I feel seasonal traditions are very much part of both green and country living.

Not quite the sort of thing one would imagine, but one tradition my mother and I have is seeing who gets the first Christmas catalogue. I've been "winning" for years, but yesterday my mother rings up having received her first. "Have I won this year?"  "Ye-e-s", I reply, "but the Traidcraft autumn catalogue has Christmas cards and wrapping paper in it." My mother thinks that doesn't count!

Destroying t-shirts ready for ragrug making

I have arranged the rag rug session with 3 other members of Transition Leytonstone for the end of October. Time will fly by, so I have started to cut strips of old t-shirts and sew them together into lengths about 1m long.

I have a dressing gown which won't stay done up. I have recently realised it is t-shirt type material, so have added that to the stash ready for the scissors.

As I am also refilling old lavender bags with fresh lavender for my clothes drawers, I need lots of TV/radio, as that's is when I like to do these sorts of tasks.

Lovely Sunday Morning

It's a beautiful day, sunny with a light, cooling breeze.

I was tying up tomatoes before breakfast. A nice job - easy, not too long, with a feeling of a job well done at the end of it.

I then picked autumn raspberries which I had with my breakfast sitting in a deck chair in the garden.

Saw what I think is a Gatekeeper butterfly, which I have never seen in the garden before.

Then off on my bike and picked blackberries, and it is still only 10.30 with the rest of the day to enjoy!

Asparagus pea: weird!

I got some asparagus pea seeds from the the Organic Gardening catalogue (though they weren't organic). Pretty red flowers and small, winged pods that are picked before they are more than 3 cm long.

Only half my row came up, but they survived the slugs, and I picked a handful today. Had them with onions, courgettes (from the garden), runner beans (first picking from the garden) and pasta as a chunky soup. Not impressed, don't think I'll bother again. Also used a stock cube, but rather salty.

Had it with sour dough bread from the new Organic Lea stall off the Leytonstone High Road. I am pleased that sour dough is getting easier to find.

Autumn autumn raspberries

The autumn crop off my autumn raspberries are just producing.

I had a large handful on my breakfast cereal this morning. 

Will have to fertilise them well next spring, having had two crops of them this year.

Vertical gardening in small spaces

Article on the Telegraph website - pity there weren't pictures with the links

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/plants/vegetables/8655257/Grow-your-own-edible-urban-jungle.html

Later: I've just been in and clicked on some of the links - not as useful as I had hoped, unfortunately!

Vertical gardening in small spaces

Article on the Telegraph website - pity there weren't pictures with the links

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/plants/vegetables/8655257/Grow-your-own-edible-urban-jungle.html

Vertical gardening in small spaces

Article on the Telegraph website - pity there weren't pictures with the links

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/plants/vegetables/8655257/Grow-your-own-edible-urban-jungle.html

focaccia bread

Yesterday I made focaccia bread using the recipe in August's Country Living magazine. It worked well, I was pleased with it.

I used white as the recipe instructed but plan to try half-and-half with wholemeal next time. I also used quick yeast instead of two risings. I would have had time for two risings yesterday, but if I make bread in the evening after work I don't, so the quick yeast is all I have in the larder cupboard.

blackberries and hammock

Years and years ago some friends and I would walk one of the chapters in a book "Green London Way". On the Wimbledon section of the walk we found a path lined by blackberries which, despite the numbers of people that must have passed by, weren't picked. We filled our lunch boxes.

How times change.

Lots and lots of people pick the blackberries on the path between the riding stable and the Leyton Marshes, and then over the hill to the car park by the cattle creep. I cycled up there this morning. As yesterday had been overcast and cool, I don't think many had been out picking, so easily able to fill my container. I made a crumble with them.

Sunny day today, and in the late afternoon had time to hook the hammock to the frame under the overhang of my neighbour's ash tree and have a little read and a little nap.

No window ledges for plants!

We're moving offices at work, Four departments all on one floor, mainly open plan. On Friday afternoon my computer and phone went upstairs and I went to have a look at the new space.

I haven't been able to understand why we are not being able to take plants with us.  Not that I have many - a african violet and an amaryllis, both inherited from departing staff. But the last 2 years I have sown my tomato seeds in a container on my office window ledge, then transferring the little seedlings into individual pots. I now see why - the secondary glazing means there are effectively no window ledges.

The conservatory is unheated. If I put them in the upstairs front room, which is south facing, there won't be any heat during the day, and on the evenings when I just have the wood burning stove on, none in the evenings either. I think it will be back to what's available at the DIY stores again.

gift of lettuce and cucumber

One of our trustees at work coming in for a finance meeting brought me two lettuces and one cucumber, fresh from his garden this morning.

I wouldn't by choice buy a sandwich with lots of lettuce in, but when I get a lovely fresh lettuce like this I spread margarine (I'm vegan so don't use butter) or hummus on two slices of bread, put on several lettuce leaves, squeeze the two slices together and enjoy my sandwich!

red currants

I had a large handful of red currants with my breakfast ceareal this morning.

I have 2 red currant bushes in my garden, both in their second year. Although only feet away from each other, alongside the western fence, there has been very different results.  One has had its leaves badly eaten and has had no fruit.  The other leaves are fine, and I got the large handful of currants - disappointing though that that's the entire crop!

small gardens

Back to my usual gripe about writers and broadcasters on gardening not understanding about small gardens.

In the Permaculture magazine which arrived yesterday there is an article on "How Britain can feed itself".

It says the "average" size of a British garden is 190m2 (2000ft2). Leaving aside the possibility that large gardens of several acres haven't scewed* the figures, what a mean average usually shows it the half-way mark - so probably about half of British gardens are smaller than this.

My garden of 1080ft2 is just over half this "average" size and most people I know living nearby have gardens of under half the size of my garden.

And of course, the problem with small urban gardens is that only a small proportion of them get enough sun to grow food!

*I've just tried to look up this word to check the spelling, but can't find it so have obviously spelt it completely wrong. I also used the word in my letter (on similar lines to this post) to the magazine. Oh dear!

Blackberries

Yesterday kayaking on the bit of the old River Lea between Tottenham and Waltham Forest, where usually only us paddlers go, there were masses of blackberries which we were eating as we sat in our boats. Because of the rain they were rather sodden - but that didn't affect the taste!

This morning I decided to risk the heavy showers that are forecast and went out on my bike. There were lots of blackberries on my route, particularly because in yesterday's rain there would have been few people picking them. They seemed dry and if I was wanting to bottle them I would have risked it - but I am planning to stew them instead.

Neals Yard Remedies Cook Brew and Blend your own Herbs

Today I had the second of two classes at the City Lit on "Declutter your life". Got rid of a carrier bag-full in the bin, the chance of another to the charity shop, but it has not had as much effect as I had wanted. Hopefully things will work through and more will go!

Rather than go to the scrum outside Holborn tube station, the nearest, in the rush hour, I walked to Oxford Circus, popping into Neals Yard on the way to get some vervain. Dangerous shop for my purse! Ended up also getting an expensive moisturiser (though big reduction) and a book "Cook Brew and Blend your Own Herbs".

Lovely, clear pictures of the herbs, giving parts used, main constituents, actions, how to use, how to source and cautions, recipe choosers by 10 common health concerns, then recipes for healing from the inside and then the outside.

Lovely book! And it will hopefully replace an old Marks & Spencers herb book I have kept as it had the best herb pictures in.

Blackberries, mystery bird and first cucumber

I made a detour on the way back from kayaking to pick blackberries. I take a left fork under the railway bridge where fewer people go, but it must be a little shaded there as not so many ripe ones as out beside the made-up path on the way there. But I got enough for a crumble - large juicy ones.

On my way there, cycling past the Leyton Marshes, I saw a small reddish brown bird with a ruffled crest. My first thought was "yellow hammer". I haven't seen those since a child in Cornwall when they would be high up on the telephone wires, so it was by their song I'd recognise them: "little bit of bread and noooo cheese". This might sound strange to those who have never heard it, but it is what they sing!

I've just looked in my Collins Bird Guide, and yellowhammers have yellow heads and underparts, and the reddish brown is just at the bottom of their backs. According to the book the male cirl bunting has a crest as well, but also quite a bit of yellow, and "in Britain now confined to handful of coastal sites in SW England", so unlikely to be in NE London! The rustic bunting has more brown, but books says it breeds in swampy spruce or pine forest with birch, willow or other deciduous trees or in dense, waterlogged deciduous forest. I'm still searching the Collins Bird Guide as I type this and have found the indigo bunting. That looks my best bet, but "rare vagrant in Europe including in British Isles". 

So "mystery bunting" it is then

Picked my first (indoor) cucumber.

Decluttering: sword in the works

I am going to a two-afternoon course at the City Lit on decluttering my life, in the hope of picking up momentum in my attempts to make space in my home and not store so much.

My main stumbling blocks are not wanting to waste anything, and it might come in useful one day.

On Monday I had my first session at the City Lit. On Tuesday a colleague asked whether I had a sword at home*. I did - a wooden one from doing sword-form at tai chi 15+ years ago. So I've lent it to him to use as a prop.

I haven't used that sword  for all those years, and now it has come in useful!

* He thought to ask me as I used to do archery, so was associated in his mind with weapons. (All my archery gear was sent to someone who was working with an archery club in Uganda.)

Elderflower champagne getting its fizz

I started drinking my elderflower champagne 2 weeks after making it, when the "cork" gave only the tiniest of pops. It was very nice, but no fizz.

Yesterday's bottle now has a slight fizz, and with 5 more bottles to go, I am hoping they will get fizzier and fizzier.

The danger of fizzy is why I left plenty of space in the bottles!

Late one evening in my teens there was a loud bang coming from a cupboard in the kitchen. It was opened to find bottles swimming in elderflower champagne as 2 bottles had exploded, with the break coming just above the bases, so at first we couldn't see which bottles the champagne had come from. The whole  family, some already in pyjamas, were then slowly easing off the tops (my mother used the old fashioned wire-topped cider bottles) so we could decant some into another bottle, leaving more space at the top.

It happened to me too, at the flat where I used to live; and I left the flat with a tiny piece of green glass still stuck in the spare bedroom ceiling!

Alan Titchmarsh and a small urban garden

Caught up with Friday's episode of "Love your Garden" on itvplayer yesterday - the episode on a small urban garden. This time Alan actually mentioned the size of the garden - 20 metres, so about the same size as mine. Only mention of shade was when Alan was putting a seddum roof on a shed beside a neighbour's tree which was on the north side.

The vegetable patch looked like a real vegetable patch rather than an attractive pottager which us ordinary mortals can't achieve in real life.

Also the vegetable growing on a small balcony (8 ft x 4 ft) was interesting. No shade problems, but I can't complain it wasn't small!!! Chinese cabbage in 8 weeks - I will have to look out for seeds of that next year.

He did say there was no excuse not to get peat free compost. They rarely sell it in DIY stores round here - getting 20 litre bags I can lift is a problem all of it's own!

And lovage mentioned again - hope to try that next year as well!

First courgette

When I was watering the pots this morning I spotted a small courgette on one of my 3 courgette plants and thought, in a few days time I'll be eating my first homegrown courgette. Then, this evening, when I was doing my big weekly water of the veg, I saw on the other side of the plant a courgette ready for cutting. I have just had it with some left-over spaghetti sauce. Yum!

Usually when it is dry I water both pots and veg. I have just started experimenting with leaving the veg for a week after proper rain before I water, and then give a really good dose (2 cans per sq metre). Rain forecast on Acuweather for Tuesday, but otherwise would try to hold off watering until the weekend.

Though I used a rose when watering the asparagus peas they were knocked over a bit - hope this is not an open invitation to every slug in the neighbourhood!

lavender & blackberries

I've just picked the lavender on the small bush in the front garden, leaving the new buds.

This year I need to refill some old lavender bags whose scent has completely gone.

Cycling this morning saw a few ripe blackberries on the bushes by the marshes - should be able to pick next weekend, and I've got out my plastic container to put in my saddlebag so I don't forget it.

blackcurrants and (2) gooseberries

Though I have 3 bushes in their second year, not a large crop. So, this afternoon, I picked and ate the berries straight off the bush! I also picked and ate the only 2 gooseberries on the gooseberry bush.

The blackcurrants particularly nice!

present of ash logs

I came home yesterday to a small pile of fresh ash logs behind the wheelie bin. These are from Linda, a neighbour a few doors down. Some need sawing into 2 so they fit in my stove, but there's a good evening's worth of burning there - and ash is the best wood, and can be burnt fresh rather than waiting for it to season for 2 years.

I am having problems finding a supplier of a load of logs. The supplier for the first winter I had my stove, who I think got the wood from Eastern Europe, disappeared from the telephone book. Last year I had a tree surgeon deliver a load of logs. He was very put out to find a terraced house with a tiny front garden, and no drive to dump the logs in. Though I helped him unload, and it didn't take us very long at all, this year he's not keen, but will ring me if he is in the area. Which is unlikely to coincide with time I can take off work!

Therefore I am relying on Len's offcuts (he's a carpenter living 3 doors up) and bits and pieces like this ash.

wildlife

On Thursday morning as  I was walking down the road a jay flew off the road onto a birch tree about 10/12 ft from me, perching on a bump on the trunk about 8ft from the ground - the nearest I've ever been to a jay. As I was doing my weekly yoga/pilates session in the sitting room yesterday morning, it was flying about the birch trees outside.

This morning there were 2 foxes at the end of the garden, one lying in the sun being groomed by the other.

On my cylce ride this morning I passed poppies where the ground had been disturbed north of the football ptiches on Hackney Marshes. There was also a clump of them in the middle of one of the filter beds in the  old Essex Filter Beds nature reserve - that had been flooded over the winter. Along the new path by the Navigation just north of Leabridge Road there were poppies again - but in all sorts of colours. Part of me was disapproving that garden poppies had been sown there, but another part of me thought they looked very pretty.

The slope at the bottom of Springfield Park is meadow, and full of white clover and some bright yellow flower,  but I didn't stop to check what it was. Coming back on the other side of the marshes. on some ground cleared last year, are some plants, some with blue flowers, some with white and it looked very colourful. I really must find a good wild flower guide so I can look up what they are!

Harlequin ladybirds

I have recently found an article about the harlequin ladybirds (by Ken Thompson) with a picture, so I now know I have them in the garden (along with 6-spot ladybirds).

The article recommends we resist the temptation to interfere. We may squash native ladybirds by mistake, and the harlequin ladybirds are so well-established that we aren't going to have an effect on numbers.

Herb walk at Royal College of Physicians

This evening herbalist Paul Grainger led a herb walk of the herb beds outside the Royal College of Physicians (St Andrews Place just north of Great Portland Street).

The beds were at their best, the information given was extremely interesting, and the weather was dry. Would thoroughly recommend walks led by this herbalist.

Paula also does a blog on her website. Not being very technically savvy I haven't seen how to become a follower, but will certainly visit it again.  Today's entry on lemon balm. My neighbour has shingles and it is supposed to be good for that, so I'll ask her to try it.

http://paulagrainger.com/

PS mouse still alive so presenting a problem about what to do about it

Wildlife in the house!

This evening cats were playing with something under the shopping trolley in the hall. I went to pick it up - it was small, furry and moved! I did what most women do in these circumstances and gave a shriek! I then caught the mouse.

It is very, very small, with grayish fur and a wound on its back. I held in one hand cupped against my tummy while I went down into the basement and got the plastic, rats' travelling case I used to take the rats down to Cornwall all those years ago. I then screwed up newspaper, put that inside, then put in the mouse and took the case up to the spare bedroom. I put water in one plastic bottle lid and oats and houmous in another. When I put that in the case the mouse was not hidden in the newspaper but just in front of it.

It is probably in deep shock. Though it might be suffering from poisoning. It'll probably die tonight. If it does live, I hope it doesn't get out of the air holes in the case! If it survives till Thursday, when I have a day off, I'll have to take the bus up to the pet shop at Chingford Mount to get a proper mouse cage for it. The problem is giving it enough attention when I can't have it and the cats in the same room!

I've just looked up house mouse on google, and I think it is one. So letting it go in Epping Forest  when it has healed seems cruel (I still feel guilty about the mouse I did catch in a human mouse trap years ago which I let go under the hedge of a school playground).

I don't think they'll allow me to have it in the office!

Busy in the veg patch

Today I got from Homebase:
6 January King cabbage seedlings - cleared space between the leeks and the garlic and put them there.
6 african marigold plants - cleared space between beans (getting their first flowers) and the asparagus peas and put them there
beetroot seeds - scattered them amongst the garlic and lightly forked them in with a hand fork. I want them for salad greens. The african marigolds and the cabbages are in slug collars, the beetroot will be exposed!
Nasturtium seeds - some in front garden - but to flower they don't want good soil, so put in cracks in concrete by the back of the house.

I also transplanted one of the elderflowers from the flowerbed (having learnt they probably give up something that is toxic to other shrubs so not good for the countryman's hedge I was planning) into a large pot.

Transplanted 3 x one year old foxgloves into small pots for my friend Tina who I'll be seeing at the end of January, so hope they'll be nicely settled into their pots then.

Love Your Garden - average sized my foot!

Just watched "Love Your Garden" and grrh! grrrh! and grrrrh! again.

Still no mention of what they think an average-sized garden is, but this one was large - even the width of the house would be longer than a lot of urban gardens.

They did show a nice way of making stone mosaics which I'd like to try if only I could get small bags of quick-set cement rather than the huge bags I can't even lift!

They also recommended lovage.  Good for flavouring. Good for shade! So I'd definitely look out for that.

My first WI meeting

Yesterday I went to my first WI meeting - Wanstead, just one tube stop away.

It was collage with us making a Matisse like portrait of a live model. My second exercise - torn orange napkin on newsprint went straight into the black binbag. The first, torn newspaper on A4 white paper, was carefully carried home protected from the rain, and will be kept, for a while at least!

Only one person I knew, Joy from Transition Leytonstone.

RSPB bird count

Saw 8 swifts out of my bathroom window, too late for RSPB's bird count.

You had a chance to do your hour's count in one week instead of one weekend.  Even with cheating, by making my hour by adding together all the times I saw a bird, I only saw 2 swifts, 1 house sparrow and 1 magpie!

womery liquid

Just got about over a litre of liquid plant feed from the watering can under the wormery tap.

Would not recommend a wormery for someone, like me, who doesn't waste much food (mainly burnt toast and stuff I've dropped on the floor), but there are some benefits!

Looking out for small bottle with narrow top to take some of the plant feed in for the plants at work.

Saffron crocus

Just seen an advert for a saffron crocus from Suttons: "Grown the most expensive spice in the world".

Tempted to get a pretty flower that provides something edible, especially as it seems you don't destroy the flower harvesting the saffron.

However, I thought you needed lots and lots of crocus to get very little saffron - how much 30 saffron would 30 crocus bulbs produce?  I where do I have room for them?!

Love your Garden

On Friday I watched the first of Alan Titchmarsh's series on ITV1 "Love your garden".

This first programme was on the traditional British garden. The garden we were shown was "a little larger than average size" but no mention what average size was! It looked bigger than mine (and I am twice average size for my area).

I am presuming he will do a programme on cottage gardens, and perhaps one on edible gardens. But large gardens don't have the problem with shade that I, and so many others, have.

If we want to grow ferns and hostas, fine, but if we want vegetables and cottage garden plants then we have problems. At least my garden is big enough for a vegetable plot in the middle and enough space round that for some flowers.

Bird of paradise plant in flower

My bird of paradise plant which I have had  for several years now has a flower!

Only connection to green and country in the city I can think of is it that it has lived in an unheated, north-facing conservatory, which is green. But I am very pleased with it and telling everyone I know!

Food4wealth

Yesterday I went to an open evening at Sarah Innes' allotment in Wanstead where she has started experimenting with the "Food4Wealth" (dreadful name!) system of food growing.

This method is for use in small spaces - allotments and gardens - rather than small holdings which Permaculture seems geared towards. It involves setting up some beds with layers of newspaper, hay, compost, straw and earth (unless you have some good deep beds already.). Crops are mixed, more closely spaced than normal, and the beds are not rotated. Perennial vegetables and ones that seed themselves are encouraged.  After setting up it is claimed it takes only hours per year to maintain the system.

I have signed up to join Sarah's google group"fun and ease in sustainable gardening", as she hopes others will join her experiment and share ideas, successes and failures. 

I don't intend to follow the system myself, but develop the way I am working my garden already.

As a result of my visit I intend next year to get some perennial kale, and experiment with carrots scattered randomly in the beds. Sarah also reminded us that carrots were originally grown for their tops, their roots were a later development, so that's an addition to my salads. I might also try spring onions, but have had problems with germination the last few years.

Valerian

While the plumber was here fitting my new boiler I went round the garden cutting off the valerian which is now beginning to loose its flowers. I have enough of the stuff, so want to prevent it seeding. I left one head of the white valerian. If the cuttting I took doesn't root, I hope to get seeds for my friend, Tina.

Cutting of the heads also gives a second flush of flowers later in the season when my garden needs it - both for the colour and the insects!

New boiler fitted, wood burning stove maintenance

My new boiler is being fitted today.

A colleague has problems with his new condensing boiler's pipes freezing up in winter. Pat, the plumber, says the Valiant boiler, which I'm getting, is made in Germany, which have harder winters than I will, and the water condenses into a container which then vents a quantity of water at a time. He can't promise it won't freeze, but he doesn't expect it to.

I am here in the dining room while Pat and his nephew, Tony, work on the boiler upstairs. It sounds as if they could come through the ceiling at any moment!

Also today, my wood burning stove had a maintenance check and the chimney was swept. This done by Abbotts Stoves, which fitted the stove two years ago. £96! With the cost of wood and the cost of this, and still needing gas to heat upstairs, I'm  certainly not saving any money - and that is ignoring the cost of getting and fitting the stove in the first place!

But, with the price of gas rising, that could change in the future. It's fuel security. And any lowering of the demand for conventional fuel takes away from the argument for nuclear power!

Transition Leytonstone Recycled Craft Group

The second meeting of the Transition Leytonstone Recycled Craft Group at my house this afternoon, with 5 of us.

Roger is going to organise the Make Do and Mend event in September. Hurrah!

Four of us will meet at my place for a rag rug session.

I have volunteered to circulate information around my email contact list, but we will not be setting up a committee to run the group unless someone else volunteers for this task!

We will concentrate on the Make Do and Mend event and see what develops!

rhubbarb and rain (lack of it!)

Just discovered a friend of mine loves rhubarb. Most years this would mean I could give a bundle most weeks. This year I have had one meal from my 2 established plants. The rhubarb shaded by the loganberries has hardly anything, and the other one not much.

I met someone on my cycle ride this morning and we got talking about the lack of rain. He has a 20 foot by 20 foot courtyard garden but it only gets 2 hours sunshine in the early afternoon. He does have a vegetable garden on top of a large metal storage place at the front, but he has to climb up to water it!

strawberries

And my first strawberries today!

loganberry

Picked my first loganberry this morning!

raspberries for breakfast

I had a handful of autumn raspberries with my breakfast cereal this morning!

This is from the late canes from last year which I kept specially for an early harvest.

My thorough watering session followed by a good dose of rain has made them a decent size.

The loganberries and strawberries are nowhere near ready, though traditionally as a child we always had strawberries from the garden for my grandmother's birthday - 13 June.

Charleston

Yippee! At last able to visit Charleston again, with a lift from a friend from Balham station, a two hour journey to meet friends of hers in Lewes before travelling on to Charleston.

A house next to a farm in the South Downs might not seem a good subject for a blog called "green and country in the city", but, I see no reason why much of that lifestyle that so appeals to me can't also be done in the city.

One could live in a city house full of paintings by oneself and ones friends and relations, and of them too. With books by them as well. With pottery lampshades made by one of the family, and a table lap made of a painted bit of telegraph pole and the lamp shade of an old skirt. And instead of buying wallpaper one could paint the walls instead. And the furniture! And evenings/days/weekends spent creating and talking.

Bliss!

Thermal curtain linings

This evening I've been using my new sewing machine to sew my blackout thermal linings for my spare bedroom curtains. I've just got the hems to do which I will pin while watching TV tonight.

Sewing machine for curtain linings

I haven't had a working sewing machine for years, but I have two thermal curtain linings to turn in at the sides, hem, and sewing tape onto which would take ages and ages of TV-watching to get sewn. I also need to clear up. I have a meeting in the dining room on 4 June, the boiler being replaced in the bedroom on 7 & 8 June, and the wood burning stove being checked and the chimney swept in the sitting room on the 7 June. Two curtains and two thermal linings are taking a lot of room on the spare room bed which I need for stuff from the bedroom so the plumber can move!

So today I bought a small (fuchsia-coloured!) sewing machine for £59 from John Lewis.

I only trimmed the late summer canes of the autumn raspberries to get an early crop, and picked my first this morning!

,

Making space in my conservatory

I can keep amaryllis going for years. Some years they don't flower, but unless the bulbs have really shrunk, I keep them going for another year (or 2) and they can usually be coaxed back into flower.  Then they start producing bulblets attached to the bulb which get bigger and bigger until they can be broken off, potted up, and brought into flower, sometimes, but not usually, the same year.

This meant that last year I had 14 amaryllis, 13 flowering, in my conservatory and little space for seed trays, etc.

As they are in a north facing, unheated conservatory I have stopped trying to start them off in January but wait til Easter or until the first one shows a tip of a leaf, whichever is the sooner. Last year I put in wooden plant holders into the pots noting the colours of the ones I wanted to keep.  This year any of the other pots that showed a bud coming, I have brought into work and given away. I have found good homes for 7.

Ants in compost heap

I was pleased to see ants in my compost bin yesterday.  It means I will have to take compost out very early in the year before they are active, but from past experience they do sieve the compost, and mine doesn't rot down well so everything is of help.

Cherries

Yesterday morning standing at the outside tap waiting for my watering can to fill I looked properly at the tree in a neighbour's garden (about 6 doors down) and realised it was a cherry. "Oh," I thought, "that's where the birds get the cherries whose stones they drop in my garden." 

Whilst I was watching a pigeon, a crow and a magpie all disappeared into the tree, one after the other.

Yesterday evening I found a cherry stone with a bit of uneaten cherry in my garden. I thought it a bit early for cherries, so I checked my "Fresh all year round" cookbook and found cherries are in season in July!

So, presumably they are cherries.

Thermal lined curtains and the worm and the caterpillar

I replaced my old door with a solid wood one. I wish I hadn't. The panels have split leaving space you can see daylight through! My handyman said he could fill the gaps, but it could be as little as a fortnight before the wood moves and I have the same problem.

So delighted when Transition Leytonstone put on a workshop for putting thermal linings in curtains. This afternoon I made a separate lining (that you hook on to the curtain). As the old curtain I use as a door curtain had only a thing strip allowing only one row of hooks, I have started putting curtain tape on that.

We were using old hand sewing machines that Roger from Forest Recycling Project renovates. It reminded me of my childhood where when my mother was sewing sheets sides to middle,  I would be turning the handle while my mother guided the sheets.

I also brought blackout, thermal linings for the spare bedroom curtains.

This morning when I emptied an old pot into a raised bed so I could fill it with fresh soil and plant a tomato in it. I found it the soil a worm in a knot. I carefully untangled it and put it on some damp soil. It was very flabby so I hope it had enough strength the feed.

I told this story to Jan Ashford who was leading the curtain lining workshop. She said she once had some empty window boxes on her windowsill fill with water. She found a little caterpillar marooned in the window box, so she rescued it to put it on the nearest plant, a russian vine. The little thing was so hungry it started eating before it left her finger!

Elderflower champagne

On my bike ride this mornign I picked some elderflower heads for elderflower champagne. Some of the comfrey at the foot of the bush was flattened so I don't think I was the first doing this.

5 or 6 elderflower heads
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
2lb white sugar
8 pints cold water
4 pints hot water
2 lemons (juice and cut-up rind)

In a large container (eg plastic bucket) dissolve sugar in hot water, add other ingredients. Cover with cloth, stir occasionally.

After 3 days pour through muslin into strong bottles leaving plenty of space. Have a tight fitting cap (I am using some olive oil bottles and lemonade bottles which have the caps held on by wire).

I was in the middle of mixing everything in the bucket when I realised I normally do half quantities - hope I've got enough bottles!

caterpillars, parsley and poppies

On the lime trees in the road round the corner are long caterpillars who rest stretched out amongst the leaves like a brown stick. I have googled lime tree caterpillar and then found a couple of butterflies, then more googling to find a picture of the caterpillar, but no luck, so presumably my caterpillars don't just feed on lime trees.

I sowed some carrots in a trough with some parsley down the middle. The carrots germinated a little while a go, but parsley has just started showing too. Parsley is recognised as a slow germinator - it is supposed to go to the devil and back 7 times before it germinates.

There are poppies in full bloom on some roadsides and roundabouts.

Getting rid of stuff and a new boiler

Three things put on Freegle and safely collected. The person who responded to my email about the 4th thing - a metal fence post holder - hasn't responded to my email offering it to her.  Bit of a pain as I had today off and took some things to the PDSA shop and that could have gone too, but am keeping it for a few more days in case she responds.

My boiler is 14 1/2 years old and my handyman who does the maintenance has said it could last a few more years or could break down at any time.  Safest to get it replaced while it is still working, so had the plumber who replaced a friend's boiler visit to give me a quote.

I was worried about condensing boilers as a colleague has one and the pipe kept freezing in the cold weather. The plumber said some installers keep the outlet pipe at the first narrow size instead of changing to a large size, and some boilers dribble condensation all the time (I am paraphrasing here) but the Valiant boiler he will quote me for is a German make where winters are colder so they have thought of this. The condensation collects and is vented about a 1/4 pint at a time. It doesn't guarantee the outlet pipe will never freeze but makes it unlikely. Plan to have the work done in June. Expensive, but should be more economical to run.

Olympic(?) clearup removing wildlife cover

They have been clearing all the undergrowth along the towpath. In places very welcome as it will make it easier turning corners on the bike.

Not sure whether it is connected with the Olympics but they have also been clearing undergrowth along Orient Way and in places putting down turf. With this dry spring the turf has not taken well, and a lot is straw-coloured. They've been watering it, which makes me grimace when we could be very short of water this summer.

This morning on my bike ride I found they have started clearing the undergrowth between a foot/cycle path and Orient Way leaving just the young trees. 

All this is wildlife cover and also proving food for wildlife - pollen, nectar and berries.

Other matters:
Suddenly the elder is in flower! Must check my recipe for Elderflower champagne so I have all the ingredients ready for next week!

Came back from my cycle ride and found I had a slug on my shoe! I have enough in my garden without importing more!

We had some showers yesterday morning and overnight. Very welcome, but I checked the soil in the vegetable patch this morning and the damp is only on the surface. I'd like it dry on Tuesday as a handyman is mending the outside tap, but if it could rain for a while after that?

Found a home for spare flower pots

I am always surprised with the frequently seen money saving tip of turning yogurt pots etc into flower pots. Unless you grow everything in your garden/allotment from seed you soon collect an awful lot of particularly small flower pots.

I knew someone who used to bring pots of plants to sell on the local green party stall and the local organic gardeners stall at events, so I eagerly offered her my spare pots. She had just taken over a shed with loads of pots in so declined my kind offer!

Some on Freegle asked for pots, as the charity she works/volunteers for sell plants to raise funds; so I have got rid of 3 carrier bags of them.

I have some things to put on Freegle, but not looking forward to it.

What doesn't get done in the garden

On the Telegraph website I read an article by Anne Wareham on "Why I hate gardening" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/8479689/Anne-Wareham-Why-I-hate-gardening.html

What I like is the list of things she doesn't do which I don't do either:
Turn my compost heap
Wash my pots
Clean my garden tools
Edge the grass, and how list of other things to do to a lawn (thoughI don't have a lawn!)
Dig up plants and divide them
Put out slug traps
Graft
Dig
Lime
Clean the greenhouse (I don't have a greenhouse, but I don't clean the conservatory which counts as the equivalent)
Remove any leaves from borders
Label plants
Mulch at some particular time of year

I do, however, grow my own vegetables.

Her garden in the picture looks very attractive. She loves the garden, not the gardening!

ducklings, coot chicks, door curtain, potting soil

Yesterday kayaked to Limehouse Basin and back. Have seen no ducklings or coot chicks this year, but yesterday I saw a family of quite big ducklings and several coot families including one where the coot chicks had lost their red head feathers and got their white throats.

I've put myself down for a workshop for lining curtains with insulated lining later this month. Plan to start with my door curtain as the wood of the door has shrunk leaving slits you can see light through! This is a second hand curtain I've had up for 15 years, so decided to wash it. It survived the wash but shrunk in the process. Luckily it has a deep hem, so I've unpicked it and will lengthen it.

Need some potting soil so went to Homebase and they had only 50 litre bags, far too heavy for me to lift and they would kill my shopping trolley. Went to B&Q today to see if I could find 20l there but got there just as they shut. I also need some copper tape to put round pots to stop slugs, but see the Wriggly Wrigglers catalogue have these.

Attracting insects and a mistake with Elder

I didn't do well with my brussel sprouts - too close together I think, but I did get a few sprouts, as well as a handful of sprouted sprouts. They are now a mass of yellow flowers which the insects are loving - including 2 types of bees this morning.

Last year I rooted 2 cuttings of elderflower which I put out in the garden to be part of my countryman's hedge. Today I have just read in a book (The Living Landscape: How to read and understand it by Patrick Whitefield that Elder is one of those plants that inhibits the growth of its neighbours - so I'll have to pull them out. I'll try one in a pot.

Bank holiday. spring, slugs

A bank holiday helps me be green and country in the city by giving me more time. As well as city things (one theatre trip, one film), usual things (kayaking Saturday morning, cycle ride Sunday morning), I had an extra cycle ride this morning (such a lot of broken glass about at the moment!), made rhubarb crumble, made some bread rolls, Will have by this evening sown most of the seeds that should have been sold in April, and started a paper mache figurine.   I've also had some afternoon naps in my hammock as the leaves on my neighbour's ash tree are just big enough to give me shade (and sometmes the greenest thing to do is nothing!).Note that tidying the conservatory and the studio do not feature in this list though both should do - perhaps next week end.

I successfully found a slug eating my indoor cucumber seedlings, but another leaf half eaten the next night. A couple of visits after dark, but still no sign of a culprit, but another half leaf gone! Yesterday I potted the seedlings into slightly bigger pots - no sign of a slug. However this morning nothing extra eaten, so hopefully now safe!

Put some copper tape round two planter troughs yesterday, one old one with a french strawberry and a succulent in it, and one new one where I had sown carrots and parsley. Need to get some more.

My wisteria looking magnificant, horse chestnuts in full bloom, hawthorn as well. Love this time of year!

rhubbarb crumble

Had my first rhubbarb crumble today. The sticks were thin and not very juicy due to so little rain.

something eating my cucumbers!

In the conservatory I have 3 small pots with cucumber seeds in, 4 of the 8 seeds have germinated, but they've been nibbled! I hope to remember to sneak out before I go to bed in the hope of catching the culprit!

Day off today, and did the winter bedding - two trips to the laundrette as well as my washing machine. This was a time when a car would have been useful, as I would then have only needed one trip to the laundrette. And I had only one bed to cope with - real problem with families to get this sort of job done!

Almond trees

What I think are ornamental almonds are in full, glorious bloom at the moment. There has also been quite a bit of planting young trees round about, including a lot on the north of the football pitches on Hackney Marshes. Some look like ornamental almond.

Pity they couldn't be real almond trees.

Would grey squirrels be a problem then? If so, in some places there is room for sweet chestnut instead.

herbal tea tasting

Last of the herbal tea tasting course last night.

It has been a very interesting way of learning about herbs. Each week we have had a herb to have as a tea throughout the week, not knowing what they are (though I'd guessed 2): fennel (pungent), vivain (bitter), hibiscus (sour), liquorice (sweet) and marshmallow (bland). The sixth taste is salty.

Last night we learnt a bit about blending teas and had a go.  I made mine of chamomile, nettle, hibiscus and borage, which I have yet to try.

I've learnt that I can leave teas to brew longer than I do (usually I dunk the teabag a few times then take it out). The bland tea we had as a cold infusion, which is less time consuming to take. I don't like tea, so usually drink water, so no waiting to for tea to brew or cool, and water can be gulped down, so making tea seems to take ages! I am also going to try making hot tea, having the first cup hot and then leaving the rest to cool.

Last night we had a fresh, green tea, made from weeds from Gail's garden. It didn't include one of Gail's favourite herbs - chickweed - but only because there is none in her garden at the moment. I usually have masses, but also have none at the moment.

I am thinking of getting an hibiscus bush for the garden - a pretty shrub, good flowers for insects, and can be used for herbal teas.

Problems with my Sunday cycle ride routes

This morning I cycled round the west bit of Victoria Park, not just the east bit; but probably the cycle ride round the park was no further than normal due to the work they are doing on it, blocking paths. In two places I cycled across grass, which is fine with the ground hard at the moment.

My long route on a Sunday is to Limehouse Basin, which at the junction with the Lee Navigation and the Hertford Union is a loop which I can do either way. Until mid June they are doing some Olympic Regeneration work on the tow path along to (and past?) Old Ford Lock. It will be nice to have that section of the path made smoother to cycle, but a nuisance while it's being done.

I'll try to find out whether anyone at work lives near Victoria Park and can tell me when the paths are open again. Though the weather forecast seems to think this dry weather will last a while, so I can keep Victoria Park as one of my rides.

Figs and lemons

I took the fleeces of the lemon tree and the fig tree yesterday.

The fig is just starting to come into leaf. It also has what looks tiny, tiny figs but I expect will turn out just to be bigger leaf buds.

The lemon tree was one that was advertised widely last year as fruiting outside even in the British climate. Despite the fleece it looks completely dead. A friend says, not to worry, it will spring back into life, but looking at it I am not very confident!

emptying the womery

When you see a picture of a wormery you imagine worms working in the food waste at the top and lovely worm-free compost underneath. Not so! There are worms at all levels, including in the trays full of compost/worm shit (depending on how you view it!).

I read last year that the method you use is lifting the lid off, allowing the worms to hide from the light by disappearing into the tray below, and then lift the top tray off, and let the same thing happen to the tray below, emptying the ones that are ready. 

I tried this today, and it doesn't seem to work!  Picking worms out of the compost before putting it in the pots I am transferring the plum trees into takes ages, so the shed doesn't get tidied. Hopefully next Sunday.

The bindweed beginning to grow - I get it coming in from one of my neighbours, having successfully got rid of it in my garden by continually pulling it up for years and years.

Vegetable garden

Today I sowed leeks outside and cucumbers inside.

I planted out a parsley plant and a coriander plant (in the garlic bed!) and put a coriander plant and a basil plant in a trough for the conservatory.

The brussel sprouts were sending up shoots, so I picked those and had them with my rice and green lentils.

herbs

I brought some pots of cutting herbs at Waitrose yesterday - basil, corriander and parsley. 

Gardening writers are usually very sniffy about buying these pots of herbs and planting them, but I have been reasonably successful.  I have some flat-leaved chives from some years ago that I have to weed to stop spreading too far, parsley which I plant fresh each year, basil which I get fresh each year, planting into a larger pot and keeping in the conservatory (they wouldn't survive the slugs for a night in the garden!), and I had a pot of mint outside last year which I thought had died at the end of the summer, but it is growing again now.

I am not sure whether corriander would thrive outside, so I will have that with the basil in a trough in conservatory.  If I see some more at the supermarket on Saturday, I might get a pot to plant out in the garden to see how it fares.

Tomatoes

Yesterday lunchtime I transplanted the tomato seedlings on my office windowsill into small, individual pots. Even discarding two very small seedlings and 3 growing so close together roots were likely to be damaged separating them, I still have 13. They are all looking good this morning.

I got a packet of alicante tomato seedlings free with a catalogue. I put them on the "freegle" intranet forum at work and someone has been very pleased to take them. I don't have space for 13 tomato plants in the garden so will put surplus on the forum as well to find good homes.

Radio Times "My country life"

In the new Radio Times, which came out this morning, there is an article "My country life" with a full page picture of Kate Humble with a dog and chicken on her lap, donkeys in the background and the Wye valley behind her. A very strong desire overcame me: "I want that!".

This blog is about being green and country in the city, and I do believe this is important. However, if I had a way of earning my living in the country I doubt I'd resist the temptation!  And there is excellent kayaking on the Wye river as well!

Ideal Home exhibition

My friend, Elizabeth, had free tickets to the Ideal Home Exhibition, so we went today.

Went to the "Natural House" from the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment. The charity is working for communities that are walkable places that are designed effectively to encourage social interaction and make people feel safe, encouraging local industry and jobs. http://www.princes-foundation.org/.

They are, for instance, creating a 1,000 home sustainable village on a brownfield site in Neath Port Talbot in Wales and helping to redevelop the centre of Port au Prince, Haiti.

Whilst queuing to enter the house I was reading on a display board about the "web of daily life", which is encouraging people to live locally (that's not just "live" as in home, but work, shops, hobbies).  How quickly would a major spike in oil prices disrupt your daily necessities?

I am not sure how far work is from home as the crow flies, but it is 8-9 miles cycling via towpaths for the middle bit of the journey, which I wouldn't want to do everyday! In London, as long as the tubes can run I'd be OK. I would miss evening classes at the City Lit, lots of exhibitions at central museums, second hand bookshops, some cinema (I do go locally but it doesn't always have the film I want to see), theatre and decent haberdashery stores (though John Lewis is not a patch on what it was!) if I had to stay local for most things.

I liked the Natural House. Because a lot of the stuff in it was second hand, it seemed much more normal and real than other show homes I have been in. There was an overmantle and a long shelf I particularly liked - I don't see nice things like that in my local junk shop!

Spring chickens and snow

Yesterday morning, for the first time this year, I heard a neighbour's chicken after she'd laid an egg. I fancy some rescued chickens but would be worried about foxes. I could get a fox-proof pen, but foxes sniffing around all the time, or even lying on top of the run, would be very stressful for them.  Though I am seeing and hearing foxes much less often this last year or so. Someone told me if there are a lot of cats that means less foxes - and someone who moved in a few doors down has lots of cats, so perhaps that's true.

In my perpetual diary I see that in 2008 it was Easter, and there had been light snow early in the morning followed by sleet! Today I am wearing a 3/4 length sleeved t-shirt and thin, embroidered waistcoat, no vest

Spring weed and rescuing soft toys

This morning I have been out in the garden giving it a general weed. I find a good weed at the beginnning of the season helps to keep the weeds under control the rest of the summer. Let them get out of control now and it's hard, hard work for months.

I've left the foxgloves in the deep beds. I'll get most of those out when I start sowing the vegetables (and it's March so I should already have started!). Each year I scatter the seeds of foxgloves and poppies all over the flower beds but they insist on coming up in the vegetable beds!

Yesterday kayaking up the river Lea (not the Navigation) above stonebridge lock I rescued two Santa soft toys, a teddy in a Santa jacket, and a shark. I left behind one teddy that was too muddy to try saving. I had all 4 of the rescued toys in the washing machine this morning. They have come out better than I expected. One of the Santas is a dog toy, so I'll take that for my friends' dogs, Pip and Fred, to play with. The shark will go to the charity shop next visit, and the Santa and Santa teddy I'll take next December.

draught snake

Transition Leytonstone is holding an event on energy at the end of the month. The local free paper wants a photo this week.  Long, thin, fabric animals to stop draughts coming in under doors are going to be made at the event, but that would be too late for the photoshoot.  Ros, guiding light of Transition Leytonstone, remembered that at the Transition Leytonstone Recycled Craft meeting at my house she had seen a snake I had for under-door draughts. On her way to dinner at her daughter's, she popped by to borrow it ready for its moment of fame.

Charleston, finding buses, blue wool and horrible herbal tea

Today I had a day off so went down by train to Lewes in Suffolk.  Partly as a trip to a pretty town, but mainly to suss out buses to Charleston, the country home of Vanessa Bell (sister of Virginia Woolf). This is my favourite house. I love the idea of living in a house full of painters, potters, writers, political thinkers (and with servants to do the housework!), where the house is decorated by the people living and staying there, not just the pictures,the lampshades, but the walls and doors as well. It is difficult to get to if you don't have a car. I found a tourist office in Lewes, so now how my bus timetable.

The service is infrequent - once every 2 hours - and it looks like if I miss the 1521 back to Lewes, I'll have to wait till 1811! If I leave London after 10am to take advantage of getting some money off the price of my train ticket with my yearly tube season I won't get to Charleston after 1 pm. In fear of missing the bus I'd want to be early to the bus stop to get the bus back to Lewes....so about an hour and a half at the house! The joys of country buses!

I think I will just have to hope a friend with a car will take me and I'll disregard the carbon footprint.

As well as lots of antique shops, there were several charity shops. I got a big ball of blue wool for a £1, and this should be enough to knit a tea cosy. As I was offering ordinary tea green tea and herb tea, I made all the tea for my meeting on Sunday in the cups. So I really don't need a tea cosy, but I fancy knitting one all the same.

At my herbal tea tasting class yesterday we were given another tea - a bitter tasting one. Very good for us I am sure, but I have only committed to drinking one cup a day as I know I won't manage more. I am drinking today's cup now while I type this. The best I can say of it is I like it better than I do ordinary tea, which I hate!

Transition Leytonstone Craft Group & tomato seedlings

There were 8 of us in my dining room on Sunday afternoon for an exploratory meeting on setting up a Transition Leytonstone Recycled Craft Group.  One person didn't show up and one person had warned me she might not have been able to make it after a lunch-time meeting in Hackney (and with two main routes blocked locally and the diversion routes full of traffic as a result, even if she had finished her meeting on time, the bus journey likely to have taken ages!). So, instead of a few of us around the dining room table as planned, I had folded the table down and put out an oval of chairs gathered from around the house and out of the conservatory.

We are still feeling our way about we should/can/have the time and energy to do, but we have supported another "Make do and mend" event in September and are thinking of compiling a recycled craft directory for E11. Not sure this will work, but nothing ventured nothing gained. I will be hosting a second meeting at the beginning of June.

It was nice using some of the china I have collected over the years from charity shops and bric a brac shops.  Normally I have only one or two visitors at a time and they just get handed their tea and coffee in the kitchen mugs, and my mother gets the same, very pretty, pink rose tea cup each time she comes because it's nice and large and she likes her tea and doesn't like it in mugs.

My tomato seeds on my office window ledge have germinated and I have 10 seedlings so far.

Parkland Walk

It was a misty, frosty morning this morning which cleared to a sunny, warm day.  After my hoover had been delivered, instead of unpacking it and using it, went to Finsbury Park and walked along the Parkland Walk. This is an old railway line from Finsbury Park to Highgate.  Thirty years ago when I first did this walk it was very obviously an old railway track.  Now, except for it being linear and you pass some platforms, it's like walking along a woodland path.

At the other end I had a snack lunch and popped into the two charity shops (very naughty, I am supposed to be getting rid of stuff not looking for more!). I found a little teapot with an integral strainer, just right for making my herbal tea at work during my herbal course.

I then walked back again.

Herbal tea tasting course

My herbalist is running a herbal tea tasting course which started last night. As well as a small bit of theory, we had various things to taste to categorise as sweet, sour, bitter, salty, bland or pungent. Then we had a tea to taste and comment on. 

We have been given a supply of this tea, to take 3 times a day for the next week. I was able to have some before breakfast this morning as I have had the day of to take in a delivery, but I think breakfast is not going to be possible on workdays (supposed to have it half an hour before meals), but hope to take it twice a day. We have to keep notes for each tasting. We are to try not to "label" the tea and bring in any knowledge, etc, we have of that herb, though I think I recognise the smell. For me there is very little taste, though I would categorise it as sweet. However I am finding it pleasant to drink.

The more I learn about herbs the more amazing I find them.

Gail (the herbalist) had picked 3 plants from over the road, as she is keen on plants in season.  They were chickweed, goosegrass and shepherds purse. You can eat chickweed in soups, so I might try as it is rampant in my garden!

Spring in London

I haven't had a Sunday morning cycle ride for several weeks so nice to be out on the bike today, despite it being overcast and cold.

Cycling along Leadbridge Road (the A104) saw lots of flashes of the white on the wings of finches in the bushes along side the road.

Then into the Lea Valley Park.  The pussy willows are now yellow instead of soft white, the willows are covered in small yellow/green leaves.  The hawthorn have their  fresh green leaves and the blackthorn are just about to burst into flower.

A friend who lives in Sudbury in Suffolk has frogspawn in her pond, but no sign in mine.

Choosing a vacuum cleaner

I changed the bag in my vacuum cleaner at the end of a hoovering session. When I came to use it last weekend I could hardly get any suck out of it at all.  I can't work out why, though my mother suggests the filter, which I can't get at

Although I'm not keen on housework, especially hoovering which makes my back ache, I have the first Transition Leytonstone recycled craft meeting on 13 March and feel I ought to get rid of some of the dust and cat fluff first!

So after work today down to John Lewis looking at vacuum cleaners.  Stood there for ages trying to decide between a John Lewis one and a Miele one.  The John Lewis one was nearly half the price, slightly lighter, bigger capacity. The Miele one was Which Best Buy and used less energy. I went with the Miele one, but don't know I made the right decision.

Fourteen years ago I got a washing machine and choose one that was better energy rated but more expensive, but it only lasted 4 years.... Its less green replacement has already lasted 10. Time will tell with the vacuum cleaner.