little birdies

I'm sneaking back in hoping you didn't notice I was gone for so long ..and I'm also doing a little jig today (well a very strange kind of jig as I have just spent 4 long hours weeding between some block paving and now have a very stiff back) I have in my possession freeeeeeeeee tickets to the Malvern Spring gardening show again...Yay!
It's a good beginning to May as April was a pretty dire month to be honest.
It started of nicely with a trip to Woodstock, a 40th birthday present from my 3 sisters and brother last year that I never got to take because of George's accident. Just me and Pete and a swanky boutique hotel in the Cotswolds, posh nosh, pretty shops and gorgeous weather...lovely.We'll ignore the fact I had one of my 3 day migraines and spent the weekend doped up to the eyeballs with painkillers, feeling sick.(They annoyingly seem to pop up whenever I do anything different to my normal routine or travel anywhere for more than an hour)

Those naughty ducks had to go to a new home in the end.I was finding the 3 inches of sloppy mud that covered every available inch of my front garden just too much to bear, the chickens cats and dog were even depressed by it all as well as me. You couldn't walk on the garden and the hen run was swimming in ankle deep sloppy mud.I just wasn't prepared for their arrival really, I wanted to save them from slaughter but didn't really have the right duck house or pond or garden for them.They also ate everything in sight, including what the hens normally eat in a month, they could put away in a week.So Hilda, Stan and Lily have gone to a nice lady with a smallholding to swim on her pond on the one condition they were not for eating. I feel so sad that I let them down.Poor duckies.

Last week I looked after my neighbour's chickens for him whilst he was away for 10 days.
Posh, pedigree chickens in their posh plastic cube Eglu. The first night, the posh, naughty chickens would not go to bed and got in a flap because I really wanted them to go in so no mean foxes would come off the park and eat them.I've never known hens that like being out after dark.We spent a good half hour going round and round the pen, I got in a flap, they got in a flap, one escaped out the larger pen into the garden and another one flew up ,landed badly and broke it's leg. I was MORTIFIED. All this drama on the first day of looking after them. I had to crawl into the smaller Eglu pen to get her out which was not an easy task with a bum like mine to fit through the door.Phone calls to various emergency vets ensued but they didn't 'deal with' chickens and eventually our own vet told me what to do until the morning.
The poor little mite was put to sleep first thing.

There's also been the drama of my lovely mother in law who has spent 4 long weeks in hospital, very poorly indeed. All very worrying stuff.
No I wasnt keen on April, not at all.

So, on to the Birdies...
To distract myself from all these traumas, this month I've been finding pretty things to spend my hard earned block-paving weeding pennies on. Pretty little birdy type things (believe me after 4 hours on your hands and knees weeding with cramp in your hands, you need to treat yourself to something nice once in a while)The brass ones above cost me a couple of quid, ready to be sprayed 'Dottie Angel ' style. I cant decide on the colour though at the moment, so I'll just spray them with primer until I feel some inspiration.
I really love Daniella's online store, Acorn and Will, where I mooched about for ages and purchased some delightful vintage 1950's birdy brooches and that gorgeous cushion that was on the cover of Homes and Antiques.(I'd been hankering after that one for ages but knew it would go in a flash when it appeared in H&A) I did get a bit carried away with the birdy brooches, but who wouldn't when it comes to all those delicious vintage colours to choose from?
This gorgeous necklace was from White Stuff, (a dangerous place to visit unless you have very deep pockets!) well it was from Pete actually, for my birthday back in April. As well as the silver birds,It has beads in my my two most favourite colours, that lovely vintage green and a soft turquoisy blue.
I LOVE it. And so do most people who come into the shop where I work for 2 days a week when I wear it!

This mug was a pressie from the youngest stinky boy's girlfriend, I have a few of these now..thanks to Waitrose and at only £2 I dont feel guilty in purchasing yet more mugs.(like shoes and bags...ummm, and cushions, a girl can never have enough mugs) It's those lovely vintagey looking swallows that make them slightly nicer than ordinary.


And then there are the real birdies, the little Blue Tits chose the sensible bird house and not the caravan in the end.My goodness they have been busy in and out all day, pinching moss from the pots and feathers from the hens to make it home sweet home, I just hope the five sets of beady eyes (well 4 and a half as 19 year old skinny Winnie is now rather blind) that watch them daily going about their business are really just watching with interest and not secretly planning some birdy-like feast. I've told them they are all pensioners now and should know better.

The summer house is on hold at the moment as it has decided to sink to the right and the base needs to be sorted out....Great.But!.. my wall is finished and the trellis is not far off either, Ooooh I think I feel a gardening post coming on next time...although Pete and I are off to Exmouth in Devon next weekend, so it may be a while .
DEVON!!!! How exciting..proper seaside with real sand!!!

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