Terraria and other Bits and Bobs.

Hello Blogger friends. Another month (or is it two?) has whizzed by and my camera has silted up again. For Mother's Day this year, L bought me a terrarium making workshop at Botanical Boys near King's Cross in London. The workshop was for 2 and L agreed to be my plus 1 for the day; spending the time with her was one of the many lovely aspects of the gift. It had been a long time in waiting, owing to it being cancelled twice: firstly because L came down with a stomach bug the day before, and the second time because of a train strike! Luckily, the 3rd time was a charm and it all went without a hitch.

L met me at Paddington and we had a quick coffee and catch up before wending our way towards King's Cross. I always like to find where I'm going in good time and can then relax and think about lunch and pottering, safe in the knowledge that I won't be late - typical Type A personality behaviour.

We decided to have a snack beforehand to keep us going and then a belated lunch after the class. Coal Drops Yard, where the Botanical Boys shop is situated, was lovely to explore. Originally 2 Victorian coal drop sheds, they received coal from South Yorkshire, transferred it onto narrow boats on the Regents Canal and then onto horse-drawn carts to supply London. It is now a shopping complex and we plumped for Japanese street food to tide us over. Japanese curry bread is a bit like a savoury doughnut filled with curry - it was delicious and hit the spot nicely.

Then it was off to the workshop, where we were greeted with a glass of prosecco and met our fellow terrarium makers. The 2 hour class flew by. We learnt about the history of terraria, had a little quiz to see how much we had been paying attention, and, of course, constructed our own terrarium to take home. It was such fun! The glass jar was layered with clay pebbles, activated charcoal (to absorb any nasties), sphagnum moss and compost. We filled it with Fittonia (Nerve plants), ivy, decorative pebbles, moss and, the cherry on the cake, a plastic dinosaur! The cork lid when fitted creates an enclosed ecosystem. It will only require a small amout of water when the Fittonia flop - so far, they haven't!

Wrapping our terraria in the towels that we had brought along, we left Coal Drops Yard in search of a belated lunch and decided on pizza. It was yummy!

That evening R met me at the station in Bridget and we crept slowly home with me muttering go slow warnings as we negotiated corners in order not to dislodge anything! 

Other happies this month:

A trip to the Corn Exchange to see Andy Hamilton. It wasn't rib crackingly funny but he was a nice chap and we enjoyed the eveniing:

A trip to the New Era Theatre to see 2 short plays. The first one was good, but there was a point 3/4 of the way through where there was a perfect point to finish it. Sadly, it carried on a bit too long. The second play was distinctly unmemorable! They are, however, performing 'Blithe Spirit' at Christmas, so I'm looking forward to that.

We have 3 new ducklings - Pip, Squeak  and Wilfred. There were originally more of them, but various predators caused their number to diminish. I think these 3 are now sufficiently big to survive. We also have a new fawn in the garden (sorry, no photo, it's too quick!), that we have named Womble as we first spotted it whilst watching Wimbledon!

A trip to our local church to hear this concert. It was excellent, producing a sound that far exceeded our expectations given that they were relatively few in number:

A trip to Laycock Abbey (an Augustinian nunnery, founded in the 13th century) with my friend, S. It was a really lovely day out and the village of Lacock is equally enchanting and used in many a Harry Potter film.

The refectory did a rather scrummy vegan pasty. They were quite large and I initially intended to have half for brunch and save half for later ......... there was no later! :O)

I loved this sign:

We popped into the local pub for some very nice chips and lashings of ginger beer!

Lacock is home to Professor Slughorn's temporary abode in Harry Potter and also Lily and James Potter's house, which appears in a flashback scene showing Voldemort passing through the wooden gate on his way to kill them.

Another day, another NT property. This time, Hidcote, an Arts and Crafts inspired garden in the Cotswolds. I met my friend, C, here and after what had been a warm week, it was surprisingly chilly. We forced our picnic through our frozen stiff upper British lips and giggled at the fact that we had both religiously applied sunscreen that morning. C had her sun hat rammed down over her ears in an attempt keep warm! :O)

The house was lovely to look round. The only disappointment was that there wasn't a kitchen to explore, and I do love a National Trust kitchen.

I feel that they chose the wrong day to shear the sheep; they were looking decidedly disgruntled as they were released to face the cold without their lovely fleece!

A trip to Shaw House for Opera on the Lawn. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. A couple had taken their dog, Bracken, and apparently he was rather partial to a bit of Rossini. For most of the evening he sat on his blankie dozing happily. Then one of the tenors started singing an aria from The Barber of Seville. At this point Bracken stood up alertly and stood transfixed, with wagging tail, until near the end when he felt compelled to join in! His owners hushed him and, apart from when he woke up to have his share of the picnic, he went back to dozing for the rest of the evening.

Another trip into London to see L. We went for a wander around Brixton Village, had Carribean food for lunch and paid a visit to the Bookmongers, just to say hello to Popeye the book shop cat.

R and L bought a Nail Gaimon book each and I bought John Buchan's 'The Collected Richard Hannay Stories'. We rocked onto Electric Avenue for a coffee and brownie and then returned to the flat for a bit of DIY.

Lastly, R and I spent yesterday at the Woodcote Steam Rally. There were traction engines, classic cars, tractors and a crafts tent. The only disappointing thing was the lack of camper vans - I do love an old camper van to dream over.

My favourite tractor, a cute Massey Ferguson (how sad am I?! :O)  ).

I also love Morris Minors:

Well, that's all for this month. I have a pub quiz to go to tonight, so I'm off to prepare dinner early so that I'm organised in time. How are things at your end? Anyone else enjoy a pub quiz? We're not very good but we have such fun while we're losing!

Toodle pip for now. x