60 TODAY!

Well, it's nearly July and I haven't blogged since mid-June... we've been so busy.... so much stuff is happening....Wimbledon started... Andy Murray is officially 'British' for a fortnight ... unless he's loses, then there'll be another 'Devasted Scot' on the media's shame pyre burning gloriously alongside Gordon Brown and Fred Goodwin....Glastonbury has come and gone, though we're all still sniggering like schoolkids over the weather reporter who described it as a 'muddy shite' .... IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY .... ON RADIO 4..... we'll all reacting like the Queen has been caught doing a Britney!White Rose Morris went on a very successful 'day tour' of Hebden Bridge on a Saturday, and I vowed never to shop in the River Cottage again because the lady came out and asked me to move away from her window - I was standing there taking pictures.... honestly, I know I'm on a diet, and that it was a fairly small window.... but my ass is NOT THAT BIG! She's fairly lucky the chaps were doing a stick dance otherwise I would have been able to hit her with something significantly heavier than a hankie!!! Enough said, I'll by Cath Kidston gift tat online going forward! That'll teach her.We also did Stalybridge train station on a Tuesday night, which was odd because the pub at the station was sooooo retro - proper feet-stuck-to-the-floor-if-you-stand-still-too-long, plastic bowls of scummy water outside for pooches, molded plastic school hall chairs and tables outside, scribbled tags on the handpulls 'cos no one can be bothered to find the right ones, and Ernest and Julio Gallo on optic!!!! But - and this was where we entered the twilight zone - the most splendid toilets by comparison???!!! Bizarre. Not a raving recommendation, but I'll go again next year... and make sure I order a bottle of cider....The Dewsbury Morris tour was fairly good, although the other side brought a goat with them, which was very eager and trying to stick its straw into everyone's pints... no, not a real goat, a bloke dressed as a goat.... (it really would be something to see a goat managing to nick alcohol by cleverly manipulating a straw)... and we ended up at the Leggers pub which was fabulous. At the end of a really good dance out, the sides sit down to a well-deserved pint and the singing starts. The lyrics are funny and sad, and you could listen all day.My sister emailed to say that she and my mom are coming over in September, and we can't wait to see them. It's going to be one long run of housework in the run-up, but then there'll be a couple of days out in London and a trip to Fortnum's - hoorah.... the mothership has been calling to me for at least a couple of months, so a trip is long overdue!Fereday's indoor greenhouse is working a treat with stuff coming on very fast. We now have a pepper, a chili pepper and a cucumber growing in there alongside a load of perennial seedlings. We've taken to having an after-work Pimms sat in front of it and beaming benevolently - we must look like two village idiots, but hey, after all the kerfuffle of the day, it's a nice break.I've been loaned a sewing machine and shown how to use it by Liz - she's the wife of the Morris Men's bagman (bit like a Treasurer / Secretary) - and I'm absolutely thrilled with it... Fereday's plotting the quickest route to the hospital for when I stitch my hand to a piece of fabric, as I invariably will... he's also working on excuses so he doesn't have to wear anything I've made - it's fairly obvious that it will take me a long while to get my seams straight!Fereday's birthday is coming up very soon, so I splashed out on a little i-Pod shuffle for him.... and one for me, too.... WE LOVE THEM! I am literally bounding to work in time with Monster Magnet, though this means I get into the office feeling quite aggressive, so early conference calls are being avoided like the plague... Fereday's i-Pod is a lovely green, mine is red... so we have a green apple and a red apple... geddit???....Unfortunately, I found out too late that the red colour denoted some involvement with something to with Saint Bonio from U2, but I've risen above being exploited by a short overpaid git to just simply enjoy the music...I've been making a rug... nearly finished.... it's a replica of a Chinese design and will be lovely and warm underfoot in the winter in our bedroom.... at the moment, it's just bakingly hot sitting under it as I work row by row.... Fereday's done a few rows as well, so it's a shared effort.Fereday has taken on another garden, working for a lovely old lady who makes sugar flowers and decorates cakes... apparently she has a bouquet of sugar sweetpeas in her kitchen.... how fab is that.... I so need to get on an join the WI so I can do these kind of things when I get older...sugar sculpted dandelions anyone?And finally, the most recent event in the Fereday household has been the rabbits' trip to the vets for myxomatosis jabs... Fereday and I are both on three rabbit individual naughty lists for the next couple of days....There was a bit of an anxious moment when the vet put her hand under the big rabbit's tail.... it is a normal part of the overall MOT... but he's been a bit incontinent lately and I just had this mortifying image of the vet with her hand covered in wee.... Luckily, he saved it for the towel in his carry box... and embarassment was avoided.So, 60 today, then....well, this is my 60th blog on LJN rather than an announcement that I'm staring down the barrel of retirement. Apologies for the misleading title! Over the course of my blogs, I've shared the trauma of trips to Betty's Tea Room at Harlow Carr, recounted the story of the funeral of Peanuts O'Flarherty, mused on my Mom's issues with chickens while also discussing Amy Winehouse and growing up Catholic, likened the finding of Fereday to rooting out a rare (if smelly) plant from a festival field, and confessed that I christened an unfortunate rose in our garden 'Ferdinand Pilchard'.... I hope that at least some of my musings have brought a smile, because I am so grateful for this little light space and thankful to all those who have shared back by leaving comments and sending emails - so a big THANKS! and I hope you have a great rest of the week....

"Others have ID ed it.
I chop them off at ground level with secutears then spray a drop or two of Praxys on the wound... if it doesnt killt he first time, it will the 2nd or 3rd"

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"If it has thorns it is likely to be a Robinia. I have a client who has a couple of trees 10 or so Metres away & this year they have been popping up all over the lawn. A nightmare tree for anybody who climbs!!!
I have a Gleditsia myself, (my…"

Comments

Kerrie John-The garden design Co June 30, 2009 at 7:41pm

WOW!
There is just too much here to comment on Cat. I for one have always lol (ed) at your blogs, you have a lovely outlook on life and are a genuine 'pick me up' with your observations of everyday stuff.

Looking forward to the next 60 and beyond! xx
Graeme @ BGS June 30, 2009 at 8:37pm

What a milestone! Just keep posting them Cat as we all love them.
Cat Fereday July 1, 2009 at 2:59pm

Ooooh comments, comments!!! Thanks Kerrie and BGS, you've convinced me to keep going a bit longer!