Christmas Cheer

The last two weeks we have had cold and icy weather. Some days it has rained on the ice and made walking difficult.

Icicles under the railway bridge at Lazonby.

Frozen daggers

I set up my Christmas display in the Artful Garden on Wednesday. The scarecrows were frozen to their seats so I had to prizes their arms and heads so I could dress them in their Christmas outfits.

Charlie Barley.

Do you like my Santa lookalike look?

Looby Loo.

Too cold for a party dress

Boozy Floosie.

Binge drinking

Bobby Barley.

Too many mince pies and not enough football

Crazy Maisie.

All dressed up with no where to go

Baabaara.

I know a sheep doesn't have antlers but

New this year is Jack Frosty. He is made from recycled plastic and newspaper. He doesn't mind the cold but hates the wet as any snowman would!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

I have covered some tin cans and decorated them with Christmas trees.

Can Art

There are some lovely cloud patterns at this time of the year.

Looking towards the Lakeland hills from Shap

I could not decide why there is plastic in the field at this time of the year.

At first I thought this was flooding

Acid yellow gorse is in bloom.

Yellow beads

The farmer's are ploughing their fields if the ground is not too wet.

A healthy loam

Sunset along the river Eden. 

The sun starts to set from 4pm so our last dog walk of the day gets earlier

Jill our sheepdog is not usually found of cats but she made friends with this little kitten on our walk.

Bosom friends

Mix and Match

It has been a mixed week of weather some very wet days and others warm and sunny. I have continued to update my artwork on wet days and then have been frantically weeding and getting the Artful Garden and my allotment ready for the Cumbria in Bloom visit next Wednesday.

On a walk along the river I saw an orchid.

It is part of a wild flower meadow

Also giant hogweed with blooms the size of a dustbin lid. 

Hogmundus

Heather on the moor is coming into flower.

Bell heather

This is the centre of a peony flower.

Exotic

The mallow is attracting the bees.

A froth of pink

I have started to harvest my kale.

Crispy kale

These carrots are a heritage variety.

Crepeus Paperus  and Wooly nets

The runner beans are starting to grow.

They have bean a long time growing

This is a french holding basket that make a good flower container.

Not fish but flower

Bobby Barley has returned to the Artful Garden. The straw hen has been re thatched.

Do you like my socks?

I have painted the ghords I grew last year and put then on canes in both gardens.

Gourdeous

I have created a marbling effect

Only two knobbly ghords survived

The painting is abstract flowers

The farmers are making hay.

Hoping the sun will keep shining

A view from Hartside looking towards the Solway.

Stunning

Wet and Wild

What a difference a week makes. We have had torrential rain and the temperature has dropped dramatically. I have not done much gardening this week instead I have been restoring and creating artwork.

I am continuing to harvest fruit. I am still picking strawberries and have now started to pick gooseberries.

It takes a long time to 'top and tail' but the effort is worth it

The thistles are now in flower.

Thistles come in many shapes and sizes

The roses in the Artful Garden have come into bloom.

Roses and pottery houses

The cardoon is massive.

I'm dooned

The gentle perfume of meadowsweet is in the hedgerows.

You can use meadowsweet in recipes. It is similar to elderflower

The farmers are sheering their sheep.

Herdwick sheep

These dandelion seed heads are wonderful.

Each seed head is like a tiny upturned umbrella

I have been busy making wreaths.

Alchemillia mollis and scabious

Alchemillia mollis and Sweet Williams

I have decoupaged some tin cans.

Cantastic

I bought a potting bench and have decorated it and a set of steps with plants in cans, tins, jelly moulds and plant pots.

With all the rain there is no need to water

Crazy Maisie has returned from the health farm.

Love the hair extensions

Looby Loo loves her new clothes.

Do you like my slippers?

Charlie Barley is feeling cool.

Charlie's added a bit of sparkle

A misty view.

Looking towards Busk

Reflections in the river Eden which we walk along each evening with our dog.

Mirror image

Sand martin nest holes. In the evening the birds dash and dart over the water.

The sandy bank

Hot,, Hot, Hot

This last week we have had a heatwave, almost too hot to garden. The gardens have thrived on the sunshine, both plants and weeds. I am up to date with weeding all my gardens and just have a few more flowers to plant out. I have lost most of the flower seedlings and some veg seedlings in the Artful Garden. Something has twice been eating them as I replanted some veg. I have put jam jars and plastic bottles on top of some seedlings. They have now reached the top of the container so I am looking for other solutions.

The runner beans are growing very slowly.

No giant to be seen

The blue campanulas are swaying in the flower borders. They flower for a long time.

Ring the bells

I love delphiniums and have a variety of colours.

Powder blue

This week I picked my first strawberries and made some into jam in the microwave. This is a very good technique if you have a small quantity of fruit.

Delicious

Last week in torrential rain and a howling gale we walked from Mungrisdale to Bowscale Tarn.

Stunning views

Suddenly the gradient changed

The ascent was very steep and the driving rain felt like needles on your skin. The wind was so strong you felt you could be blown over. The views should have been stunning and the tarn itself was very dramatic hemmed in by crags.

The tarn is 17 metes deep

An old sign.

Is there a hobbit about?

The wild roses in the hedgerows have a fragile beauty that matches their perfume.

Paper thin petals

I saw this willow chicken in Glasgow.

You alright, hen? 

Street art in Glasgow.

Padering to the tourists

This mosaic in Silloth commemorates the millennium.

Tiles of buildings and places of interest

I made these flowers with class 1 at Kirkoswald school. Each child had a petal preference colour and each design was individual including a cactus.

Petal power

Crazy Maisie has left the Artful Garden to go to a health farm to detox.

Feeling slightly under the weather