Random Week

 Peas!  Our first harvest, and we just got enough for a meal!  Well, there would have been more, but they are just too good raw!  One for the pan, one for me!  Well, that was Luke's way of podding them!

 A birthday present for a girl in Ethan's class, hair slides and grips.  I hope she likes them.  Ethan is such a popular little lad.  Invited to so many parties, and this last one he was the only boy invited.  He took it all in his stride, and I am proud that he still enjoys playing with girls, when many at his age are only playing with children of their own sex.

 We have a bit of a family obsession/dream of hobbit holes at the moment.  Luke is creating one from scratch.  A papier mache balloon, some balsa wood and filler has so far created this.

 Ethan has been busy designing a hobbit hole too.

 With an inside plan too.

 And just to add to the random nature of this post.  I have some new storage for my unspun wool.  Still have half the alpaca fleece in a bag, but this should keep me busy for a while, and means there's a few less plastic bags dotted about the place!

A mish mash of things

Apart from the ongoing saga of my parents-in-law (MIL back in hospital with a racing heart), what else has been happening this week?

We had the boys returning to school. They have all settled in ok, although Luke had some teething problems with his rather strict form teacher. When will they learn that to gain a child's respect you have to respect them, not dominate them or strike the fear of god into them?

Mum, bless her, has been down the allotment regularly harvesting what is ready. We have maincrop potatoes coming in now, along with more runner beans, cooking apples, plums, a bit of purple sprouting, we had to pull all the carrots and they were riddled with carrot root fly, but we were able to salvage some. And we should have had some lovely sweetcorn, we'd just been waiting for it to plump up, and when Mum went to harvest it at the weekend she found some vandals had beaten her to it, and have destroyed some plants, strewn the ripe cobs around which have subsequently been eaten by local wildlife, and we are left with a few cobs which are not ripe, but, fingers crossed, will come to something later. It has been a regular occurrence on the site, but the first time we have been hit. Hopefully the instilation of high, locked gates will help deter the trouble makers. Only time will tell.

I have managed to add to my jam store with damson jam and plum and apple jam, which will hopefully help to make up some jam hampers for Christmas, hopefully I'll be adding quince and blackberry to this. As far as Christmas goes I've also made a start on some longies for Sophie, it will take me til Christmas to get them done, as she seems attracted to the needles!

Stuart is planning to go back to work this next week, his recouperation has not been as restful as we would have hoped, but he has put a very brave face on it all.