Gilly wrote:
Were the little plum things like tiny red berries Gilly? If so we had one in our front garden years ago! The cat got stuck up it once and we had to rescue her It was a lovely tree though

Those cup and saucer flowers are lovely so they don't last long?

I really want a tree now not a massive one though

irrepressible wrote: Sounds like a Rowan Irre. I have one in my garden.

oohh nice thread

well done to gilly's daughter - fantastic results

hope you have a really good time feather

abs - coppers in the wardrobe should always be celebrated hehe

mandy - i am glad you are feeling better

irre - awesome gardening type stuff

now for me haha - forgetting the utter shite that this week or two has thrown at me - the bright side is that i have been invited to join a craft co operative and am off to display and hopefully sell some stuff tomorrow

Irre & Feather - this is what they look like, and the fruit looked more like cherries to me. They're not meant to be edible, but when I bit one, it did taste of plum.

www.google.co.uk/search?q=ornamental+plu...sAQ&biw=1372&bih=815

You can see (I hope) why I mistook it for a cherry blossom.

The Rowan looks beautiful btw. Anything with berries looks fab & attracts birds.

Although the cup & saucers are bienniels, when they do flower, they look glorious for a few months.

Thor - your news is great! What kind of crafts do you involve yourself in? I LOVE crafty things.

That's what it looked like Gilly, but I'm sure I can remember little red berry type things It was lovely anyway, I'd like another one

irrepressible wrote:
Then it's a happy coincidence that you now know what they are.

Our tree was here long before we were, and we'd been here several years before I spotted them. Perhaps they don't fruit every year.

Gilly wrote:
atm its crochet and fabric stuff will add some more pics to the 'stuff i make' thread at some point - just finishing off another crochet poncho atm - have found crochet to be really quite healing - the repetitiveness and the finished article do wonders for me would love to see other peoples stuff too if they wanted to share

With Biennials, just so them two years running and let them self seed. As long as you don't weed them out you have them every year that way.

You can get varieties of things like foxgloves that have been bred to be annual now but personally I prefer the native.

I love crocheted stuff - throws & cushion covers. I'd like to learn, but won't as I've a cardigan 3/4 knitted that's sat in the cupboard for a year, an embroidery that's 3/4 finished that's been untouched for months, and a watercolour painting that's 3/4 finished and gathering dust

The only thing I finish is when I'm making cakes, and that's only because they're for other people, so need to be completed by a dead-line. I learned from books to make sugar flowers, so have made a number of wedding cakes for nieces and that sort of thing.

Yes, please do put some pictures up - I haven't explored that thread yet, but I will be doing.

I hope you sell some.

There's nothing nicer than handmade stuff.

dubmeup wrote:
You're right - that's what I plan to do from next year.

Yes, my foxgloves seeded themselves for about14 years, then suddenly vanished a couple of years ago. My mum reckons they can lay dormant for a couple of years then reappear, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I once grew some angel's choir poppies from seed and adored them. They seeded themselves, the the following year's display had fewer colour varieties. Oddly, the year after that, there were a few of them that had seeded, but they were absolutely tiny (like 1cm or so tall, where the previous ones were up to about 2 feet tall) but perfect.

One of my many nieces has just given birth to a beautiful, healthy daughter!

This is especially excellent news, as she has a condition which led her and her husband to think they wouldn't be able to have children. She's been worried throughout the pregnancy, but the baby's absolutely perfect!

Also, I'm pleased that a 14 year old niece who usually can't be bothered climbing off the settle, has decided she'd like to learn to cook. She & my Sarah have decided that once a month they'll prepare a dinner, from scratch, for us & her parents & my mum, in my kitchen.

They've opted for Chinese today, and chosen to make pork soup, prawn toast & chicken stir-fry.

Ah - life's simple pleasures are the best!

i have no news but they say no news is good news.

Good news: The meal went really well, & they made spring rolls & chocolate brownies too, and they were proud of themselves.

Good news: Have lost some weight due to gallstones.

Not so good news: Waist band of jeans slid to knees whilst serving dinner to guests.

Great idea for a thread!

Congratulations and well done to your daughter Sarah, Gilly!

Good for you irre!

Including you in my intentions Mandy!

Now for good news: I am going out to another folk session tonight to play fiddle again!

Brill! Have you got any film clips, Mikey? Fiddling's under-rated imo (no double-entendres intended).

Today is the first day of my third year as a 'bloody immigrant and our outlook is the most positive since arriving. As the first year involved starting a new business from scratch to find ourselves in a not great position with our business 'partners' that basically lead to us leaving after 9 months to almost immediately having the demise of mrs oioioi's father drag out for the next months. The 2nd year saw us not take away anybody's jobs despite our efforts and have to come up with a plan C, D and E(mergency), have another kid and live off the small profit we made from our first years venture. Anyway, the good news is I'm/we are now ready for the 3rd year, I'm writing this as I also work on a business plan that isn't reliant on the Greek economy, we're slowly starting to make preparations for our wedding next August, the sun is still shining but temperatures have dropped to a more comfortable low 30's and I've just had blue cheese on toast...all these things make me happy, all in very different ways!

^ Superb. I hope things will improve constantly, till you have the luxury of not having to worry about your business. And congratulations on your wedding plans.

It's those simple pleasures, like blue cheese on toast, that make life worth living.

@irre, have you given up on the garden? I put my getting down and dirty as a big part of the reason for me getting more focused and being able to post the above good news. Something about being out there, alone with nature, no radio, tv to distract from my thoughts helped get me back into a positive, more focused frame of mind.

oioioi wrote:


Well, I haven't been out there much recently, but I will do soon. I've been a bit wrapped up in my tortured mind

It does help to keep me positive and focussed, it's very theraputic, just working and getting a sweat up...quietens my mind. In fact I'm going to go out there today, the sun's shining, there's still borders to be dug, grass to be mown

Thanks oi

irrepressible wrote: