It's the little things that remind us...

Whilst knitting away recently I remembered that my sister said there was a bag of wool at home, did I want it? Assuming that it was wool that my Mum had bought but never got round to using I accepted it. It was put aside and has lain in a bag until today.....

When I opened the bag I found that my Mum had started to knit herself a cardigan and there it was still on her needles. My Mum died last year far too young and seeing her unfinished work really caught me by surprise.

The wool is lovely and the colour matches a dress I bought recently so the sensible thing would be to knit a really pretty shrug or cardi but I can't quite bring myself to unwind my Mum's work. I know Mum would tell me not to be silly and just to get on with it but for now that little piece of knitting will stay just as it is...

Some Days!!!!!!

Some Days.....you'd be better staying under the duvet!
Today was one such day - the car decided that it wasn't playing any longer so one trip to the dealer, two friends who provided lifts and a brand new car battery later left me significantly poorer than I was this morning!
Work...less said about that the better!
And then to top it all....after providing free board and lodgings to a visiting blackbird family throughout the spring and keeping the cats away from their young, how do they repay me? By eating my one and only strawberry! And yes, it was behind netting - houdini blackbirds it seems we have!
At least the sun's shining and tomorrow can only be better......

My Beloved Jester!

I've been playing around with photos on the Big Huge Labs website and whilst clicking through the photos on my PC came across some of my dear departed guinea pig, Jester. Jester died last summer so in memory of him I have put together this mosaic of my favourite pics. Hope you like them - he was absolutely adorable. R.I.P. my little chunky monkey x

There are more pics of my piggies on the Flickr Photostream to the right of the screen - Casper is the white one and Stripe is the one with the stripe on his head (funnily enough!)

Optimism.....

Forgive me bloggers - I've been away too long! I've been a bit out of sorts recently which I attribute to the fact that it has now been a year since my Mum passed away, years too early at the age of 64, and we still feel the loss. However over the past few days I've felt a bit more optimistic, helped no doubt by a few days of glorious weather here in the west of Scotland. The plant I mentioned in my last post has finally burst into bloom. I like to think that at this time last year it sensed the sadness surrounding us and kept its blooms to itself but that now it's making up for it. Here's how it looks today....

I'm off now to sit quietly in the garden for a while before the family arrive back home. Take care everyone x

Tidy It for Goodness Sake!!!

....is usually my war-cry about my sons' bedrooms but I have to admit that today when I looked at

my craftroom ...

and the dining room table...

and the sideboard...

(actually, sideboard looks quite tidy!)

and the floor at the side of my sofa...

...that I was in no position to criticise! In fact, I had to look for my camera to take these photos! So the rest of today will be spent tidying up my mess so that tomorrow I can start all over again! Have a wonderful day, everyone x

Golden Anniversary

Just thought I'd share with you what's happening today in our home. It's my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary. They had asked for a quiet family dinner and will be arriving soon. Here's the dining room ready for their arrival...

I thought that rather than baking a cake I would make a whole load of cupcakes in gold foil cases with gold sugar balls scattered over them...

and the finale to dinner is this beautiful gleaming, golden maple syrup cheesecake...truly scrumptious!!!

Happy Anniversary to a wonderful couple, with lots of love!

Brrrrrrr....cold, snowy days

We don't often have severe winters in the west of Scotland but this year is truly an exception. It first snowed on 17 December and has continued to do so throughout the whole of the UK on and off since then. Coupled with subzero temperatures we are certainly feeling the chill. It would be nice to spend the days at home mini-ing and cooking warming, comforting meals but needs must so it's off to work we go! On a positive note however my garden looks lovely - or did until my sons decided to have a snowball fight - but I am still looking forward to the day when the snowy landscape will start to give way to the first signs of spring. Take care until next time.