Day 4 of Blog Hub Swap

I have got into a little morning routine this week.  I get up and do all things you do when you start your day.  Then, I go to my sofa, which is set up by the PC, and I reach for my lovely bag of wonders from Marie and I pull out a red wrapped parcel.  Then I peel back the paper and pull out Marie's little note and wrestle with the sticky tape sealing the bubble wrap.  I then smile broadly and pull out the camera.  Look what I got today!

This is fudge made with maple syrup.  Apparently this is from Wood Homestead in Stamford, NY.  I did a quick search on Google and found their Facebook Page.  I've never had maple syrup, it's not something that we get very often in the UK.  We tend towards the Golden Syrup end of the sugar spectrum.

As a purely scientific endeavour I felt that I had to try one of these "candies".  I feel I have to use inverted commas for this word, as I feel really Americanised using it.  In the UK we have sweets!  I can confirm that these are indeed delicious and sweet, but there is no overly sickly sweet after-taste, that you get with some fudge.  The flavour is really mellow and rich.  I am delighted to have a few more of these to treat myself with over the next few days!

I think I am going to hide these so no one else gets a look in!  Not only are they delicious they have really pretty shapes.

So back to my currently daily routine.  After I take my photos of the parcel, I look up the Month of Craft Photos subject and go and take my snap.  Today's subject was Day 17 - Last FO You Used.  All I had to do work out what this photo should be was to look down to see my slippers.  Remember these?

Then I looked across the room to see my cat taking advantage of another FO that gets used every day.

See that lovely fabric trapped underneath her furry backside? It was meant to be a project bag.  It was claimed by the cat, who loves it more than anything else in the world.  She plays with the ties, she chases it around the room, sliding across the floor, and then sits on it wherever it ends up.  I don't think I could take it off her if I tried!

Then I realised that this wasn't a FO that I used, it was used by my cat so it didn't count.  The slippers photo had to be the one submitted. I had to share this photo with you anyway, because I wanted you to see the face of a cat who isn't going to have her bag taken away!

So, that is today's morning routine out of the way.  I can't believe I have three more days of the Blog Hub Swap and eleven more days of the Month of Craft Photos.  So much extra work, and so much extra fun.  I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Spring Photos

As everyone has been so lovely about my rubbish health this week, I thought I would reward you with the cute and/or pretty photos I took last weekend when the sun was shining.  They do not fit in with any photo challenges at all.  In fact I am way behind on my WPC 2011, but I do intend to catch up.  My aim is to have 52 photos at the end of the year that I can make into a photo book to sum up my progress over this year.  So as I intend to have 52 photos for that, I will have to catch up smartish when I'm up and moving again.

Until I have less pain and more strength, these photos will have to hold you, and I have to say I am slightly proud of them.  My photography is still improving with each batch I take.  It is so rewarding to be able to see my progress so clearly, just from practising.

© 2011, Chrissy Fletcher - Daisy

© 2011, Chrissy Fletcher - Dandelion

Not bad for two weeds are they?  I love the sunny yellow in both flowers.

© 2011, Chrissy Fletcher - Orange Tulip

This tulip is the single flower of this type, that is hidden underneath our apple tree.  All the other tulips we have are bright red and yellow.  I love this one blended flower that we have.

© 2011, Chrissy Fletcher - Apple Blossom

Speaking of apple trees, our cooking apple tree is really well established.  It was part of the orchard that our street was built on, in the 1930s.  Nearly all the gardens have at least one fruit tree still in place.  We have this apple tree and four damson trees.  We also have an eating apple tree that was planted by the previous owners on a dwarf stock, so it is tiny.  We usually have about three apples in total from that tree.  The cooking apple tree, showers our lawn with enormous fruits for about a month.  We don't bake sadly.

This year our eating apple tree is full of blossom, so we are hoping to have slightly more apples from it.  As this photo was taken last weekend, you can imagine how beautiful the trees look this weekend.  I wish I had the strength to take the camera out, but I don't, so you shall have to imagine it's delicate flowers instead.  They really are beautiful.

© 2011, Chrissy Fletcher - Bleeding Hearts

I love the Bleeding Heart plant.  Every year it appears for a brief spell of colour and beauty.  Then it disappears into insignificance again.  We have a white version that comes up in a few weeks, after this one starts to die away again.

© 2011, Chrissy Fletcher - Fat Cat

You can see our sea of yellow and red tulips in the background of this photo, but mainly what you can see is my fat cat, lazing around as usual.

© 2011, Chrissy Fletcher - Parsley waving like a Royal Cat

I really enjoyed taking these photos of my cat as we both lazed around on the grass.  I must have taken dozens of photos that I whittled down to three.

© 2011, Chrissy Fletcher - What does Parsley Spy?

This has to be my favourite photo of all.  I love the way the shadows fall on her coat and how her eye glints in the grass.  I've always struggled to take photos of my black and white cat, as her features were often hidden by poor lighting, but reading and learning about the different settings on my camera has meant I've been able to get some really nice ones of her lately.  As she's so lazy, she's a great model!

So there you have it, some more photos from this beginner, that I hope you like.  Oh by the way, all the plants in our garden were put in by the previous owners before we moved in, 6 years ago.  My poor OH spends most of the nice weather wrestling with it to stop it taking over completely.  Maybe one day we'll put in some nice low maintenance shrubs, but until then, I get some pretty flowers to photograph.

Oh and for the record, the hayfever has been bashed into submission by the antihistamines and my head no longer feels like it is about to explode.  My pain today is more of the usual kind from having so many chores to do last week.  Just four more sleeps until the surgery!!!  Oh and I get to take a mobile phone into the hospital so I can hopefully update my Facebook page if nothing else to let you know how I'm doing.  You can follow my Facebook page by either clicking the "LIKE" button on the right hand side of my blog, or by just looking at my page, which can be found here.  However, If you click the "LIKE" button you will receive updates made on my Facebook page, which includes when blog entries are put up and tweets, in your newsfeed.

Hope to be back and blogging soon!  Thanks again for all your well wishes and support, it really does mean and awful lot.

British Summer

You may have thought that over the last few weeks I had disappeared without telling you again. I promise that I have been at home, crafting away, but I have an excuse for not blogging. You see it is the British Summer we have been waiting for around 10 years to arrive. We haven't had one in ages. The last few weeks have been glorious here in the UK. And I am totally making the most of it!

I have been sat in my lounge with the french doors wide open, or I've been sat under a tree for shade. I've been enjoying all the bird song and flowers we are getting.

We have barely seen our cat, because she has been living in the undergrowth. However, we seem to have gained someone else's cat. He also seems to be enjoying the bird song!

We don't know who he belongs to but he seems to have adopted us and he is adorable. He is very obviously still young as he bounces round the garden like a kitten still. In fact the local boss cat even tolerates him. I wish I'd had my camera when they bumped noses, as we've never seen the boss cat looking so laid back. Yesterday though, our cat decided to hang out in the shade by the french doors.

And about a metre away, our new friend sat facing her.

Our cat was not happy but was too hot to object. She even let him wander into our house and help himself to her dinner. I cannot believe how tolerant Parsley is being. Normally she goes crazy with any cat within 10 yards of her. It has to be the heat.

I have come to the conclusion that our new friend is trying to learn how to be a proper grown up as he is following all the well established cats round the neighborhood copying their every move. I just hope that when it gets cooler their patience doesn't wear out, or he is going to be one chastised kitty cat!