Barley reminds me of my childhood. Suffolk being mainly given over to arable farming (at least it was in the seventies; these days there is acre upon acre of beautiful free-range pigs) I learnt the difference between wheat, oats and barley when I was a very little girl. I don’t see much barley in Northern Ireland so when I came across this field of it in Delamont Country Park I was quite unreasonably excited.
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This time last year: Evening’s Entertainment
Something tells me it’s not going to be a good year for courgettes.
This rather feeble-looking specimen is all that remains of my third attempt to germinate, harden-off and plant out courgette seedlings this summer. Most of them didn’t germinate and the ones that did failed to survive the hardening-off process (because it was too windy and their stems snapped).
Fingers crossed for this chap. I always complain about having too many courgettes but a summer without any at all would be a bit sad.
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This time last year: Lilies
One of our recent garden centre purchases, now looking decorative in our only flower bed.
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This time last year: Origami
Oh it’s a long time since I posted a Filofax related picture.
I counted the other day and I have, ahem, fourteen. All but one of which are in use. The one pictured actually belongs to my daughter and today we made these pink dividers for it. She spends an awful lot of time watching Filofax set-up videos on You-Tube these days and I marvel at the unintended influence we have on our children.
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This time last year: Brick City
Lots of ships, too many people and a great food market. I had a splendid souvlaki to show my support for Greece. That and being rather partial to kebabs.
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This time last year: Sympathy Flowers
A bit of a day out, sans enfants, in Belfast.
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This time last year: Seaforde Tropical Butterfly House
Our family paintbrush collection. A storage solution which pleases me no end.
They came out today so that Wednesday’s clay creations could be decorated with our new acryllic paints.
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This time last year: Ta-dah!
Tayto is Northern Ireland’s number one crisp manufacturer (actually Northern Ireland’s only crisp manufacturer, but that is a minor detail) and the third largest in the UK. Tayto crisps, particularly the legendary cheese and onion flavour, are much missed by Northern Irish expatriates, so I understand, though being English I have to confess to being more of a Walkers girl (sorry…).
You can tour the Tayto factory for a small fee and it is an absolutely fantastic way to spend a couple of hours in the summer holidays. The tour takes you all around the factory, from the potato storage area (under the right conditions potatoes can be stored for 18 months, apparently. 18 months?? I’m lucky if I can get a fortnight out of mine) to the production line and includes many, many ‘hot off the conveyor belt’ samples to try.
Highly recommended and I may even switch my crisp allegiance on the back of it.
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This time last year: Smocking
The summer holidays are in full swing here in Northern Ireland, which means that my days are mainly taken up with child entertainment.
Today we made things with air-drying clay. Successful on three fronts: it’s not very messy, it kept them entertained for hours (literally) and it is adult friendly (although I have to say that my carefully created bowl looked more like it had been produced by a three-year-old than a forty-three year old…).
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This time last year: Kohlrabi
Behind with posting my photos? Just a little. I might never catch up with myself.
Anyway, here is a pile of beautifully laminated words that we produced for my youngest daughter. She is a most reluctant reader and I thought this may help.
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This time last year: Making Fishcakes
My Life in Pictures 