I Bought A Fishing Net For The Butterflies

Our lovely conservatory - full of plants and flowers and comfy seating also attracts far too many butterflies.  The doors are wide open in the heatwave so they flutter from the nearest flowers outside to the ones inside - not being quite as agile as we were once, they're pretty hard to catch - and mostly die.  So I've bought a child's fishing net - and I have to say, I'm pretty good with it!!!  Nearly all trapped butterflies now released daily in the 'wild'. Yes it is a comical sight!

I ran out of space for flowers in the last couple of blogs so as I look at my wilting/scorching garden, I am reminded that the lawn will always survive, topping up the tiny ponds matters the most or the frogs will fry, watering the pots and tomatoes matters a lot - and the rest will probably take care of itself in due course and look great again (I HOPE). The passageway between our neighbour's fence and our conservatory is  almost a greenhouse, full of tomatoes and flowers and indoor plants having a holiday outside and does get watered everyday so is thriving.

The Passionflower seems quite happy in the heat, but has well shaded roots.  Meanwhile, I've just realised why my tiny ponds need topping up such a lot every day - the local birds are all coming in droves to bathe and drink.  Another good reason for looking after them!

My chum Celia aka KT Miniatures has acquired a wonderful dolls house and contents that are probably 100 years old - she's fallen in love with the house but individual items are for sale on her brilliant website - and she gave me a present because I fell in love with it. It is a patchwork 'ball' - unbelievably, 20 sided and minutely hand-stitched from 1/2" triangles of the finest silk and silk brocade on templates of thin card or paper. Only approx 1" across, it wasn't until I photograhed it that I noticed teeny weeny pins in the corners - I'm guessing it was made for the miniature nursery, although I suppose it could be a pin cushon. Some other fascinating items are up for sale -  take a look at KT Miniatures.com  

We're both keen on hunting for bargains at the car boot sale and have lots of fun - this week I bought a tiny little ceramic fairy carrying a daisy - pre-war I think and made in Germany.  I'm pretty sure she was a cake decoration, perhaps for a Christening and fancy there's a bit of ancient icing sugar still stuck underneath! She's just over 2" tall.  At first I thought a petal was broken from the flower, but of course the naughty little fairy has pulled one off and that's what she's waving.

Before the heatwave really got going Rob and I took a favourite wander along the canal tow path in nearby Oxford.  The canal passes through the old boat yard at Jericho which is part of the waterfront area  due to be redeveloped.......
I shudder a bit at the thought, but for now the traditonal, colourful and sometimes shabby barges are still moored and the little streets of Jericho with Victorian workers' cottages, are famous for many fictional murders in 'Morse', Lewis and 'Endeavour' and still reach down to the waterfront.
We walk back to the centre of the city through ancient and very familiar streets where we once lived and worked.  It's a very special historic suburb  and worth a visit or Google, if you're a fan of the books or T.V. series.

In between being distracted by the garden, little visitors, football and tennis....I did finally manage to paint the doors of my new toy cupboard. I settled on a favourite folklore theme and chose the very famous Pied Piper of Hamelin luring the children of the town away. It isn't the first time - many decades ago I painted a full sized mural of the scene on a real door for my children and much later recreated him (with rats this time) as a 1/12th scale character doll.

Approx 6" tall

Created in 2008....with 40 rats!!

Still have shelves to fit and toys to collect up and arrange on them - hopefully next blog. 

Thank you for looking
Robin

I Do Love Car Boot Sales

Apart from good weather, lots of time spent in my garden and the opportunity to have some lovely summertime walks in our countryside - car boot sales are top of my list.  Fortunately I have a friend who loves them just as much and we have a really good one that attracts great stalls, very close to our town so we can wander off for a happy couple of hours at the weekend.
We have similar tastes....miniatures, art deco, quirky, plants.....it would be fair to say that our nearest and dearest don't necessarily love what we purchase, but we're good at haggling and rarely spent very much.

Up first - a totally over the top - damaged (lots of ancient glue) vase. I love it - my nearest and dearest think it's hideous. O.K. - I can live with that! It's 'quirky'. And I've found a really super place for it....

A week or two back I bought this rather nice lustre jug which did meet with approval.

A stunning ceramic brooch - I so wish I knew who the maker was! I know brooches are out of favour but I do love them.

......and this mad necklace - broken - which we all agreed had 'possibilities'.  Various attempts to mend it failed so it was back to plan 'A' and use it for something entirely different. An old dilapidated frame with tatty velvet background seems to work so now it's about to hang on our picture wall.

If by any remote chance you have wondered how the toy cupboard is progressing.....I tried the 'picture book' style animals - hated them - painted them out.....onward and upward. I'm going for folklore/fairy tales instead - I'll let you know.

A few garden pictures - there are lots more so I will do another blog  very soon - hopefully that will please Donna!! The first two are from our veggie plot - the blazing sun is almost cooking the strawberries, which isn't great. Lots of gardening the last week or two - not through the heat of the day - and some lovely visits and visitors.

The Viechenblau rose is a favourite - taking over the garden - and climbing high  into the cedar tree.

Thank you for looking
Robin