Hobbies and Crafts

Lovely day today; mostly blue skies and sunshine though with a real autumnal nip in the breeze. It would have been a good day for gardening but we had to go out for nearly all the day so nothing got done again.

We finished the day in Bury St Edmunds and had a lovely walk round the Abbey Gardens as we always do when we are in Bury. It's beautifully kept and always something new to see. This time there were quite a lot of modern sculptures all representing things to do with WW1.

I have changed my avatar again. A couple of days ago I was having a coffee in our conservatory and glanced out of the window and thought what a lovely view I had, so I took a quick photo through the window. I do love my clumps of purple asters at this time of year. There are several throughout the garden. There are often lots of orange/yellow flowers as a contrast but I had just done a big dead-heading so not much orange to be seen.

I just went out to the garden and zipped down the front of my mini greenhouse as the forecast says our temperatures might drop as low as 3 degrees tonight. Brrr..... First time I have closed it right up but I don't want to risk losing the few cuttings that are in there.

Thanks for the link Ann, I've just replied to your email.

Thanks Ann, I've just PM'd you my email address. I can't remember if you had it or not.

Sunshine and showers here today so no gardening for me, I don't fancy getting wet as the rain is quite heavy when it comes down. Thankfully the wind has finally stopped so I don't need to worry about anymore pots falling over.

Off to watch "The Circle" with Sandra now, we weren't sure whether we wanted to watch it or not, but saw a clip of it on Gogglebox, it looked good and I'd recorded it anyway so we'll settle down and watch it now. OH is scraping all the paint off the bathroom ceiling, he's been on it for a few days. The paint keeps peeling and flaking in there and he's fed up of sanding it back and re-painting it, so it's all coming off and we'll buy a different paint, hopefully it'll work and we won't have anymore problems with it. I'll probably have to fill a few places when he's finished but it's only a small room so shouldn't take me long to do. Taking the paint off on the other hand is going to take quite some time.

Have I got your email address Gill? If not maybe you could pm it to me and I will try and forward a link

The wooden plant container and seat sounds ideal Ann, we were going to buy another bench but after reading your post we might have a go at making one of the planter seats. Could you send me the link if there's one please so I know exactly what it looks like? Don't worry if you can't.

The weather is a lot calmer today but is suppose to be very wet and windy again tomorrow. When are you coming back to the UK Ann? I hope it's not to much of a shock for your arrival. That's a good service Jet2 have, it'll save you a lot of messing around and it'll be less stressful too.

Pleased to see your mini greenhouse was okay in all the bad weather Vera. Good job your OH anchored it down for you. At least you know it'll be okay through the winter now so your plants will be nice and cosy. No, don't forget to check it, a little note, like Ann said, is a good idea.

Yes, I looked a right sight in all that wind, Sandra laughed when she saw my hair, I looked like I'd been dragged through a hedge backwards. The plant stayed up and never fell over again so it was worth it, thankfully my OH is taller than me so between us we managed to get it upright again. I did notice this morning that one of my tall plants was a bit flattened in the front, OH went and fluffed it back up, so no harm done. Hope your flattened plants were okay.

I hope so Vera otherwise it will come as a bit of a shock. Really blowy here today great for watching the wind surfers. Just had a chat to the Jet2 rep who is very helpful but frustrated at the lack of help (for him) from jet 2 office who are supposed to update the posted flight times on the board. We are lucky as Jet2 come to the complex and, as long as we have checked in on line they can weigh and take our luggage T 0915 then they pick us up by coach at 11.15 and we go straight to security at the airport. Hopefully if it all works (and it did with daughter) it is good as we avoid check in queues. We did this once with Virgin in Florida.

You had better pin a note up somewhere to remind you to check the mini greenhouse. Good the gales didn’t affect it though well done your OH.

That was a big plant to topple over Gill. I’m glad it hasn’ t done much damage. I had a smile at my imaginary picture of you, hair blowing everywhere, trying to pull upright a plant twice as big as yourself.

Everything in our garden is still in one piece though one or two plants look a bit flattened. I suddenly thought to check on my plastic mini greenhouse but OH had anchored it very firmly to the concrete path it is standing on and it hasn’t moved an inch. At the moment it just has a few cuttings in it but I shall be shortly wanting to lift some tender plants and overwinter them there. I must remember to check it from time to time. It’s along the back of our garage and it’s a bit of a case of out of sight, out of mind.

Grey and gloomy here today and not very warm. The sun of Bulgaria seems a long way away although we haven’t been back two weeks yet. Hopefully it will be a bit better when you return Ann.

Oh dear it sounds as if the weather at home is not helping gardeners. I have not heard anything but I am assuming all is well at home. Glad nothing was badly damaged when the pot blew over Gill and hope you can eventually get your fence finished Vera, so much needs doing this time of year in preparation for winter that we can do without storms as well.

Gill I have just seen on Pinterest a long wooden plant container that was sort of mounted on more wood that at one end became a seat. So the container was narrower one end than the other. Difficult to explain but I immediately thought what a good idea for your garden. More of a temporary seat for a rest while gardening but maybe your OH could design something like it for you.

Just had a mad dash outside with OH, the largest plant we have, almost 10 foot tall Red Robin, blew over onto some other plants in front of it. Luckily the plants in the front weren't damaged and we've put the larger plant back and put a rock in front of the pot. OH has given it plenty of water to try to make it heavier. The weather is terrible today. Hopefully the plant won't blow over again. I'll just have to keep an eye on it.

Your OH was brave working out in this weather Vera, at least he got some of the painting done. It's suppose to be dry all next week, unless they change their minds, so it should be a good week to finish the painting and for you to do a bit more of your garden.

I was saying the same as you, no watering which is great for us with having around 400+ pot plants to do. The only reason OH watered the big Red Robin was to stop it falling over again. Hopefully it'll work. You should of seen me helping him. My hair is almost down to my waist and the wind was blowing it right over my head, I could hardly see what I was doing, I don't think I was much help to him, plus I'm only just over 5 foot tall so lifting it back up again wasn't easy for me. Never mind it's done now. You're right Vera, every cloud does have a silver lining, you're plant will love all the rain, let's hope the weeds don't though ;-)

OH decided to try and finish the second coat of paint on the fence. He was about half way round 3 or 4 weeks ago when he had to stop because of bad weather and then we went on holiday so it never got finished. It was pretty breezy this morning but he got going and painted two panels, then the wind got up again and the rain came down :-(

So no painting for him or gardening for me this afternoon. Oh well, every cloud has a silver lining - at least the new shrub is getting well watered in.

Thanks for your kind offer of help, I just need a starting point. I have so many Allen's on my tree I'm not sure where to start.

Thanks also for letting me know how to start a thread, once I know which Allen to start with I'll ask for help.

How is your holiday going? Have you been out and about? I really do envy you, the weather here today is the worse so far. I just went into the greenhouse and the roof sounded like it was going to blow off.....needless to say I got out of there pretty sharpish. From inside the bungalow it looks like a car wash it's raining so heavily. I hope you don't come home to this and it's calmed down by then. Next week is suppose to be brighter, although they say it's going to go colder too. I guess winter is on it's way.

Thankfully I've finished everything in the garden, apart from the planter we couldn't do due to rainy days and of course the water feature we'd like to install, but all that can wait. At least all my bulbs are in now and with the rain, there's no watering to do.

Gill, when I get home I will see if I can help with your Allen branch. Do remind me though.

To start a thread, go to the board you want from the list left hand side. At the top right you will see, start a topic. Click on that and you have your thread.

Sorry to hear about your brother's health Vera, good that he is positive though as I'm sure that'll help. Pity about his garden, can he get someone in to help him with the things he can't manage. He's doing well growing potatoes and tomatoes, I bet they were delicious. I'm pleased to see you made it home safely, I was thinking about you and hoping you'd be safe. We have a similar problem with our next door but one neighbour and his security light, it's always coming on and is really bright, luckily it points down his garden towards the back so isn't directly in our property.

I know I shouldn't, but I had a little smile when you said your OH would probably be clad in a suit of armour with extra goggles when he finishes the Euphorbias. Sorry I know it's not a laughing matter, it was just the way you said it. I hope they come out with no more accidents for him. Pleased to hear his eye is on the mend now with no lasting damage.

My Allen's originated from the Isle of Wight Ann, they moved to the London area sometime between 1826 and 1841 and most stayed in London with just a few moving around the country. My granddad moved up North for work and I believe another Allen family member ended up in Oxfordshire. One moved to New Zealand.

I don't know how to ask for help on Genes, or how to start a thread, so I've been relying on tree match's, although that hasn't got me very far. I don't have access to census's or anything like that so it's very difficult to find anything out about them. I try to find things out when Ancestry open their records for free, but again haven't got any further.

I'm sure I'll have a breakthrough at some point, as new records come to light. I'm looking forward to the 1921 census as I'm sure that'll be a great help, when it's opened by Ancestry for free that is. Never mind, they're not going anywhere, so I've plenty of time.

Imagine the excitement I'll feel when I finally do find them, that'll be something to look forward to. ;-) :-D

The journey back from my brother’s was good but the wind is really getting up again now. I couldn’t work out why our outside security lights kept coming on till I realised they were sensing the movement of grasses in a big pot by the front door and of shrubs outside a neighbour’s house.

I only have one sibling, Kandj, and how clever you are to remember that he had serious health worries. Sadly things have not really improved much for him and he faces constant hospital visits, operations and treatment. As you can imagine his garden has been somewhat neglected over the past year but lunch still included his own home grown potatoes and tomatoes. He remains very positive.

OH’s eye is much better and I am hoping that over the next few days we can finish removing these dratted euphorbias, probably clad in suits of armour with extra goggles ;-)

Pity your Allen’s don’t come from Derbyshire Gill. Did you say they originate in the London area? Have you tried asking for help on genes?

Love the picture Vera, it's going to look lovely in your garden, such wonderful colours. Pleased to hear everything stood up to the windy weather, I weighted some of my pots down and was lucky like you, as nothing fell over or got damaged. I hope the weather isn't to bad on your return journey home. Good idea to stick to the main roads. It's nice to have a get together though.

Yes, Sandra is still helping Kandj, or should I say was, everything is finished now unless we start a new project like the water feature. I'm still thinking of making a water feature as we still have the moulded waterfall from the last one we had a couple of years ago so all we'd need is a pump and pond liner. Although I might cheat and buy a moulded pond that way I can sit it on the patio and surround it with rocks, of which we have loads, then pop plants all around it to make it look more natural. I might move the greenhouse back into the space we've just made so the new space will link to another patio area we have nearer the kitchen, that way we can buy an electric pump and have the electric come inside as there isn't much sun there for a solar pump, I might even invest in a few lights or buy a pump with a light on it.

It's pouring with rain here so I won't venture out to the shop until it's drier, plus I can't do any work anyway in the rain.

I do envy Ann being away in the sun, do be careful though Ann with you saying you can't be in the sun to much. We're suppose to have wet weather for a few days yet :-( :-( :-(
Never mind it saves me having to water the garden.

I must admit I'm bored as anything today, all the housework is done so there's nothing to do.

I did try and take a look at my family tree but still have the brick walls I started with, so gave up in the end. I'm researching the surname "Allen" not an easy name to do. I've been stuck on this family for years and don't seem to be getting anywhere with it. I wouldn't mind but I'm sure if I can find the first piece of the puzzle the rest will follow.

No compost in the village garden shop until tomorrow but that's ok as it has rained all today and there is no sign of it stopping. Lights on early here tonight I think. Thankfully the strong winds have calmed down which is pleasing me.

Ann, I hope you and Hubby are thoroughly relaxed and wound down now? I know when you are back home that you will both be kept busy in your beautiful garden.

Vera, your new shrub looks really interesting. I need to Google this one I think.
I hope your hubby has less eye pain today after his awful eye problem recently. Enjoy lunch with your brother. Is this the one who had serious health worries last year? He'll be happy to see you both and appreciate your travelling to be with him.

Gillx, I think Ann's idea of a water feature sounds really good. I doubt that they will come cheap. Perhaps this will give you the incentive you need to stop smoking?

I have never smoked but my husband smoked when we went out together in our early teens back then and a lot of men and women smoked all those years ago. Nobody ever mentioned the health risks. Hubby decided to stop smoking when our daughter was born. Money was tight for us two when I left work and we relied on just one wage paying a mortgage on our first home and buying everything that came with our little bundle of joy!! I think it takes a lot of will power to stop, so good luck
Is your daughter still helping you and her Dad sort out the garden? Such a lot to do.

The trees and the new fence stood up well to yesterday's wind. It's much calmer today but due to get very windy again from about tea time till tomorrow. We are just off to my brother's about 50 miles away for lunch and will be driving home about tea time. I think we might be sticking to the main roads!

On the iPad Vera I enlarged the avatar, the leaves are very pretty, might have to look out for that one.

Gill. Yes it is the health threat that is the problem I know, a bit like me and the sun. Even though zi have basal cell carcinomas (rodent ulcers) which could possibily turn to melanomas I still sit in the sun. Just try and keep to the ten a day.

OH has been keeping an eye on the two trees (a hawthorn and a crabapple) that we planted 4 years ago. He decided earlier this year that the roots were quite firm so he took the tree supports down. Although they are now 8-9 feet tall the trunks are still quite slim and in this wind they have been bending and swaying about a bit. I think they are OK.

I changed my avatar to show you the colour of the leaves on the new shrub we bought called physocarpus, but I am not sure it shows up very well in the little picture. I am looking forward to seeing the flowers in early summer - something to look forward to.

You have all been very busy planting lots of bulbs. Your gardens are going to look lovely in the spring :-)