Thursday 14 May 2015

Snapshots

Hello again. Just a very quick post this week as not much has happened. Most of it has been spent taxiing E to and from her exams and trying to keep her calm in between. The lurgy has also struck, so there has been a fair amount of this:
Lemon and Ginger tea ....
.... and this:
Still, it did give me an opportunity to enjoy my stripy tights which E forbids me from wearing if we are likely to leave the house and see actual people!

Being confined to the sofa did give me the opportunity to do a little crafting. The first of which I've been meaning to make for a while now. 
When R asked me what I wanted for Christmas and my birthday a few years ago (the 2 being practically on top of each other) I decided a bike would be nice. R cycles to the station every morning, pops his bike on the train to London and then cycles to work at the other end. He's usually complaining about the state of his bike, so when I caught him looking at black, manly bikes for my supposed birthday/Christmas present, I smelled a rat! I predicted that within a few months, something would have 'gone wrong' with his bike, necessitating him borrowing mine and then I still wouldn't have had a bike to call my own. So, I asked for a pink one with a wicker basket! He tried to dissuade me but I held firm and Bernard (!) was purchased and so far, unsurprisingly, R has refrained from acquiring it! Since seeing Bunny Mummy's transformation of her glorious bike, Bernard's basket has been feeling a little lacking in the crochet department. So, with much sniffing and drinking of hot tea, a little bicycle bunting was born.
What do you think? Sufficiently girly and husband proof?
I can't decide whether a few crochet flowers would look good or do you think they might be a little OTT?

Other happies this week include:
My lovely irises (is that the plural or is it 1 iris, 2 iris?):
I bought a bag of bulbs a few years ago from the Pound Shop and they have brightened my May every since. Yesterday I popped back and bought a few Dahlia tubers, so I'll keep you posted as to whether they grow or not - they didn't look too promising to be honest!

Another crochet pot cover to hide the 'urine yellow' pot - the only one I could find in the cupboard to house my geranium. That makes 2 covers in as many weeks but The Management has made its views clear and, sadly, no more will be forthcoming!
A couple of shots of the canal when I went to replace my library books:
I love the sleeping swans in this one:
Playing with my food!:
Lots of rain, although it is nice weather for ducks. Here's Jemima who, after pecking at the glass doors to remind me that it was supper time, fell asleep on the patio after eating.
Normally, I only tend to show you my successful attempts at baking but this week's chocolate fudge cake was such a disaster and provided so much mirth that I felt I had to record the moment. Admittedly, I should have taken its photo before decorating it to show it in its true glory, but I think you can still just about see the crater-like dip in the middle that I've attempted to hide with the fudge topping and flake (the flake was the nicest bit!).
Trying to distract the eye with a jug of flowers!
E saying that she could make it look nice  ........
My loaf of the week - much better than my cake, even if it is just a bog-standard white:
 I actually put it into one of my Mum's old loaf tins for once; it felt rather lovely to be using something of hers and made a change from the usual mound.
Finally, a little collage of a few more gardeny bits:
... and that's it for this week - actually a longer post than I envisaged, so thank you if you made it to the end! I'd better get back to calming duty. Have a wonderful weekend.
Toodle Pip for now. x

10 comments:

  1. Totally man-proofed, I'd say! I love your bits of life you share by posts. Lovely, lovely life you lead.

    Julie @ Pink Doxies

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  2. I do hope that you are feeling a little better now, the lurgy can be so draining! Oh I say....clever you re the pink bike! I love the bunting and would certainly go for the flowers too!
    Jemima looks adorable, how lovely to have a duck hanging around! Your cake looks wonderful to me, and the iris are great....what a bargain!xxx

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  3. I agree that adding flowers to the bunting is a good idea. It will look beautiful, and I imagine that you'll be the only one using your bike, given family views on stripey tights and crocheted pot covers (I'm with you on those!). I think your fudge cake looks delicious, and the bread too .I can smell it from here - mmm :)
    Cathy

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  4. Gorgeous flowers, and I'm very envious of your duck. We used to live near a house with a pond, and every so often a couple of ducks would land there. It was a huge house, and we always used to peer into the garden and ooh and aah over their Private Ducks. Two or three crochet flowers would be lovely, I'd be happy to see a bicycle like that, I'd want to talk to the owner. I'd love to see a man on a bike like that as well. Not every man could carry it off. The cake looks delicious, I don't see a dip at all. In my experience a large spoonful of extra thick double cream or a scoop of ice-cream and you can sell almost anything. Maybe mine have lower standards... Have a good weekend, I hope you're feeling completely better soon. CJ xx

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  5. I am in love with your bike!!! I've always wanted a bike with a basket. I have visions of Honey sat in it while I cycle along in a care free fashion. Of course the reality is that St Ives is one bloody great hill after another, and I'm not that good at gears!!
    Some lovely blooms in your garden. And best of luck to your daughter with her exams.
    Leanne xx

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  6. I love that you man proofed your bike. I don't have a bike anymore, as hubby broke his, and then destroyed mine with years of cycling to the station.......
    hope exams are going well, we are in the thick of them here and it is not fun....

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  7. I love your cunning in asking for a pink bike, go mad and add some flowers too, why not! Your chocolate fudge cake looks rather good to me. Love the canal shots, they look like they were taken in my home town (or the nearest town to the village where I grew up), I recognise the crane in the Wharf and what looks like the boating lake in Victoria Park. xx

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  8. Hey you!!! I am just loving your irises!!! And your bike is too outstanding for words! Oh how I wish I had a basket for my bike! I hope that her exams go great for her! And all of your blooms from your garden are stunning! Wishing you a weekend full of outstanding things friend! Nicole xo

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  9. Love your bike bunting! Hope you are feeling better now.

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  10. My bike used to have a basket on the front but a few years ago when cycling over a particularly nasty pot hole (you know when you're forced to the very edge of the road because of aggressive motorists) the contents which were in a cloth bag fell out under the wheels and I crashed and fell. Since then I've used a back pannier which slots on the back of the bike and can be firmly secured with proper fastenings and also easily removed when I go into a shop. It is the size of a large shoebox and is the perfect size for transporting rhubarb and asparagus back from the allotment so I don't have to use nasty plastic bags. It is however black. Mmm maybe I should crochet it some flowers or something more apposite given it sits on the back of my bike.

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