Spring is sprung, the grass is ris, I wonder where the birdies is

As it says in the heading of this post, spring is sprung..... well after a fashion. As to "I wonder where the birdies is" we saw them flying over this week, must have been a couple of hundred cranes, what a sight and the sound cannot be mistaken for anything else. You hear that first and then you are searching the skies trying to find them and then this skein appears and there they are. Our neighbour got in his car and followed them for quite a way, he was having trouble keeping up with them at 50-60km ph and then they stop and circle as if taking imaginary photographs so they can find their way another year. Quite amazing.

You can see from the 2 photos below how exciting it all is with the bulbs. The snowdrops in fact have nearly finished and the crocus are out in their best frocks now, all yellow!!! No idea where my purple and white ones went, I think the mice underground had a field day. Our very good friends came to see us last September and brought us some tulips so they were planted up in pots as you can see - not having the mice chewing on those little beauties. Well they are doing really well as you can see and if you are wondering why they are covered with wire netting, if you have a cat, you will realise the reason. She just loves using the pots as toilets. Little darling!

At this time of year the garden will begin to get out of hand so we need to get out there every good day there is. Yesterday I took about 15 hardwood cuttings of elaeagnus which is a shrub with the most beautiful perfume in all the world, to me anyway, so fingers crossed they will be good to plant out as the start of our hedge come next Autumn.

In the evenings it is still on with the knitting, I finished the scarf in the photo and it is really soft wool and such wonderful rich colours, though you can't really see that in this photo. I'm not very good at photo taking, I would like my son-in-laws skills on that front. Still knitting socks, yes Di, still knitting them. I say that because when I told my friend I was knitting them she almost wet herself laughing so the pair that should be winging their way over to her will now be held here. You wait till you see them Di, you'll be sorry!!! :-) They would keep your feet so warm in your riding boots when out with Zeffie.

I have just spent 2 days clearing out my sewing room, oh my goodness, you know what it's like when you start a job and wonder what on earth you have done. Well I was surrounded by wool, fabric, patterns, frames of all sorts and enough cross stitch kits to keep me busy until I'm about 200. Why on earth did I buy all of them and when am I going to do them? I should have had my mum and sister with me when I was doing it, we would have had such a laugh and I could have sent them home with some. I have a massive bag of wool to take along to the sewing group on Monday for anyone who wants some. Full balls, little balls bits and bobs but they will be useful for someone surely.

Today Richard and I went to a town called Condom (I know, don't say anything) which is about 40 minutes away from here and went to church. It was a lovely anglican service all in english and the people made us so welcome. We are thrilled to bits to have found a church for ourselves because we have really missed it, we were very involved when we were in the UK. They hold a service on the last Thursday of every month so we will become regulars.

Oh well, time to go and do some dusting, we have friends coming tomorrow afternoon so I better show willing. Take care family and friends and fellow bloggers.

Before and after

Sitting here with the snow falling gently outside the window with the sun shining on the mountains showing off their wedding gowns, it's easy to know why we are here, but yesterday when there was more drilling in the walls and we were looking through a fog of dreadful dusty mud from the walls, you often wonder. I ask myself will it ever be finished and did we start this much too late in our lives, but being realistic we couldn't have done it before because we were working. To make myself feel a little better I thought I would look to see how far we have come. The first photo is when we were viewing the property.
The next one is a closer look at the work that had to be done. Perhaps another day I will show you some of the inside.

The last one is of the outside and taken by a very good friend of ours who has the knack of making our house look very nice indeed. Sorry about the car in the drive. If I was clever I would be able to take that out, but ho hum..... you have the car!!!

So now I have looked at these and realise just how much we have achieved in a short time, it makes me feel better.

Cat's cradle/bed socks

I am not allowed to mention the fact that I don't have much to say, on strict instructions from my girls, because when I do I tend to ramble on a bit, so now I will start my ramblings. Really it is just to tell you how clever my little kitten Sophie is, as you will see from the first photo, she is taking serious note on how to knit.

Once she had mastered the technique she thought she better have a go at getting the knitting pins in the correct position, this took a little more effort and drove me insane as you can imagine.

There was more than one time when I was busing knitting away and suddenly, whoosh! the damn needle had been whipped out of my hand and into her little paws. She is very quick. Look at her, butter wouldn't melt would it? So after a few days, look at what WE have achieved, isn't she clever?

These are now winging their way over to Vicki, so I hope they fit you OK and keep your feet nice and warm when you are out walking Mabel in your wellies.

Now, can someone answer a question that came to mind, and I'm sure the person to answer it will be aims. When knitting socks on 4 needles, you only use the knit stitch, because you are knitting on the outside of the sock, though it looks like pearl on the inside. I don't quite know how this happens but is this where the words "stocking stitch" came from??

Well the lovely sunny weather is calling so I am going outside for a while. Thanks for stopping by and hello to all my family and friends again, especially the Smith family who I don't see very often. I hope all is well with you and that school/college is going well for Briony, Jess and Charlie. Pete, you shouldn't work so hard, take some time to stop and smell the flowers and Tracy, let me know when you get fed up with your handbags and throw them in my direction!!