Crafting4Greyhounds

Snowy Sunday

2012-02-06T06:41:00.001Z

All last week, the UK forecasters were predicting that most of the UK would have snow showers on Saturday night and sure enough, Sunday morning we woke up to 4 –5 inches of snow. Big deal, I hear our American/Canadians readers, but for us, here in the UK, especially here on the East Anglian coast, snow is quite a big deal, however little we get.

Thought you might like to see some footage of our snowy Sunday. First up, is Raven being Raven (I apologise for me screeching in the back ground and if you turn the volume up really high you can just about make out the Sunday morning church bells), then the chicken’s first ever glimpse of snow (they were not keen at all, and in the end I had to clear a path the very short distance from the hen house to their feeder). Next clip is Tillie & Raven getting excited on our departure for the mornings walk (heavily egged on by Nigel winding them up with a broom!) and last but by no means least, Tillie & Raven ‘zooming’. Note Raven’s speedy, sleek run as opposed to Tillie’s ‘leaping in the air’ run.

Doggy Cake Recipe

2012-02-05T08:33:00.002Z

As requested by a couple of our blogging friends, here is the recipe I use for the hounds Gotcha Cake. The original recipe I got from Dog Cake Recipes but I tweaked the recipe very slightly by missing off the butter, I thought the oil was enough fat already.

Gotcha/Birthday Recipe

1 ½ cup of Flour
1 ½ teaspoon of Baking Powder
1 jar of Beef Baby Food (any flavour would do – its just for gooeyness)
½ cup of Corn Oil (I used rapeseed oil)
4 fresh eggs
Natural Yogurt
A few strips of Beef Jerky (I used chew strips like Scmackos, soft enough so you can tear them up)

Put the beef baby food, oil and eggs into a bowl and mix them thoroughly. Add the rest of the ingredients and make sure the final mixture is smooth. Tear the beef jerky strips into smaller pieces and add them. Pour into a lined 6” or 7” cake tin and cook in the oven at 200 C for about 1 hour. Turn out on to cooling rack. When cold spread natural yogurt over the top for frosting and using the strips, spell out the initial of your dog or using a squeezy bottle of sauce (I used barbeque sauce) write the initial letter or name. Serve and your dog will love it!

Raven’s 2nd Gotcha Day

2012-02-04T19:40:00.004Z

You wait for ages for a doggy cake and two come along in the same week. Today was Raven’s 2nd Gotcha Day. Actually it was the day he came to stay ‘temporarily’ as a foster but after a few days, he became a permanent addition to the family, so we celebrate the day he arrived in the household.

Is it my turn this week?

Yum! Smells good!

No Tillie we are not having doggy cake every week.

I can wait…slobber, slobber, slobber….

Going….

Going..

Gone!

I could easily eat that again!

Er…maybe not!

Sorry for the blurry eating pictures but you wouldn’t believe the speed he ate it!

Friday’s Fiver No 10

2012-02-03T08:17:00.001Z

This week’s donation goes to Galgos del sol a rescue based in Spain that rescues unwanted galgos.

From their website:

Welcome to GALGOS DEL SOL SOCIEDAD PROTECTORA DE ANIMALES NIF/CIF:G30856736

Galgos del Sol is a small rescue based in Murcia. GdS rescues abandoned and injured galgos (Spanish hunting greyhounds), rehabilitates them and finds them forever homes in the UK & other parts of Europe. Thousands of galgos are abandoned or killed annually at the end of each short hunting season and as they are not always viewed as potential pets in Spain, they usually end up in perreras (pounds), where their lives are ended, often not in ways we would consider humane. Galgos del Sol is entirely dependent on fundraising for its survival and is run by two dedicated women, Tina and Suzie with huge support from Beryl Brennan & other dedicated volunteers based in Spain, France and the UK.

Busy needles

2012-01-31T19:34:00.002Z

The long, dark winter evenings have given me ample opportunity to get clicking with my needles.

First up – I was asked to crochet this greyhound for Inge from The Netherlands.

Next a couple of crazy cats.

And then some dog coats of various sizes destined for some dog days coming up in the summer.

Lastly a trio of cushions

Tillie’s 5th Gotcha Day

2012-01-28T20:04:00.004Z

Yesterday, 27th January was Tillie’s 5th Gotcha Day and to celebrate, I made her a doggy cake.

Sorry Tillie, that it was a day late but I am sure you will agree it was worth waiting for.

Is it ready yet?

For goodness sake, enough with the photos!

Being a true lady, of course I gave half to Raven!

Oooooo! I think I over did it!

Friday’s Fiver No 9

2012-01-26T21:43:00.001Z

This week’s fiver goes to The Lexus Project

I came across this group through two blogs I read Life with dogs and Two Cavaliers who both reported the case of a woman in America surrendering her son’s dog to a high kill pound, to punish him for not doing his homework. Luckily The Lexus Project stepped in and Jewel the dog is now on her way to a foster home.

The picture says it all!

From The Lexus Project website

Robin Mittasch & Rich Rosenthal live in Oceanside, NY with their 5 retired racers and 3 cats.
Soon after adopting their first Greyhound Beau from a local rescue group, Robin discovered Greytalk and the nationwide community. Having found her passion for these noble dogs, Robin began playing on an ever bigger level. When alerted about Lexus’ plight in the Rhode Island kill shelter, she was able to enlist the help of her attorney husband Rich to help free her. Over the course of the next 8 months they were approached a number of times by different groups to intervene on behalf of Greyhounds at risk. Finally, acknowledging the need for an organized group to deal with these unfortunate situations, the Lexus Project was formed.

the origin of the lexus project

In October 2009 a high prey greyhound named Lexus, having been declared a vicious dog, sat on death row in a Rhode Island kill shelter waiting to be put down. Her crime? Left unleashed in a dog park she followed her instincts and killed a Pomeranian puppy. (Small, long-haired dogs are perceived by many greyhounds as prey; this is the instinctive response of a sighthound.) The greyhound was seized and her owner attended a hearing without counsel and the judgment paved the way for her execution.
Luckily for Lexus, Robin Mittasch read her story on the internet forum Greytalk and was moved, together with her husband, Rich (who is an attorney) to fight for her release. Thanks to a quirk in the Rhode Island statute he was able (with the assistance of an attorney in Rhode Island who also volunteered his time to file the Court papers) to negotiate the release of Lexus from her cell and her removal from the state. As she jumped into his van, snuggled up and ate cookies, the idea of the Lexus project was born.
Although we do all our legal defense pro bono, there are always court fees, marshall fees and if we have to get a dog released from the pound, depending on how long the dog is in, there are release fees. Our last case they wanted $3300.00 plus vetting bills. We were able to settle for less, but this is all out of pocket, in addition to our travel fees.
All proceeds go to The Lexus Project, legal defense for greyhounds and all breeds of dogs. We are currently in the middle of filing our 501c3 so your donation will shortly be tax deductible.

A winters walk from Felbrigg

2012-01-25T21:48:00.001Z

As we were lucky enough to have a couple of weeks off over the festive period, we were able to enjoy lots of country walks. Since going back to work at the beginning of January, we have had to wait for Sundays to enjoy this activity. A couple of weeks ago we decided to walk from Felbrigg Hall, an historic house now owned by The National Trust. This Hall is set in beautiful parkland and has a lovely wood, appropriately named the Great Wood. The weather was chilly but bright with blue skies and we set off in good spirits.

Tillie & Raven enjoyed romping through the wood, intrigued and excited by all the wondrous smells and occasionally being surprised by grey squirrels suddenly leaping up a nearby tree.

This tree is huge and to put it into scale I made Raven stand in front of it. I think it was a Sweet Chestnut. I love the bark pattern on it.

We walked on and out of the Halls grounds and headed field by field closer to the coast. Some of the walk was on the Weavers Way and some on the Norfolk Coastal path, but mostly they are circular walks worked out by Nigel from the Ordnance Survey maps, taking into account, not too much road walking and trying not to cross cow fields – I love cows but hate walking in the same fields as them and more often or not there normally is a bull in the field! I will walk miles in a detour to avoid this!

Our main stop was of course for lunch. We stopped in another wood called Roman Camp which has a few seats strategically placed to view the sea in the distance and is supposedly the highest point in Norfolk – This not being very high at all as Norfolk is mainly flat. We always have to share our lunch but we never get offered any of the dogs in exchange – Funny that!

We always take water for the dogs with us, but nothing beats a refreshing drink from a cool stream or best yet, a dirty puddle.

After our lunch we packed up and plodded on towards Cromer. We arrived at the outskirts of this lovely old fashioned seaside resort, first passing the old town cemetery, which we looked around. There were several headstones with nautical themes as many of the old sea going folk of the town, fisherman and life boatman are buried here. We also noticed some lovely headstones with entwined hands, which we see a lot in various churchyards we pass on our strolls around the countryside.

We walked across town and then slowly made our way out again passing Cromer Hall (featured in a previous post) and then back across several fields. The fields around this area are full of flint and lots of the houses have flint incorporated into their structure. I wanted some big stones or bricks to use in some door stops I was making, so decided to pick some up. They were actually brick size and weighed a ton in my back pack but luckily we only had another couple of miles to go.

By the time we got back to the car, we were all tired and the dogs clambered into the back of the car and crashed out. I checked our mileage on my phone and we had done a total of just over 12 miles.

That was the last of the sweet and fattening take away picnic lunches for me now as I am now on the slimming wagon. The last walk we did, I had a pasta salad and fruit – healthy but not as tasty as a Byfords delicious mince pie. Also this last weekend we couldn’t go on our rambles as Tillie is walking wounded as she has cut one of her front pads and until this heals she can’t go far.

Friday’s Fiver No 8

2012-01-22T17:15:00.001Z

This week’s fiver goes to The Greyhound Injury Fund also know as The Beading Divas to the Rescue. Actually I didn’t donate a fiver, I ordered a bracelet from their online Etsy store.

They are a group of talented women who sell handmade one of a kind beaded bracelets to raise funds for animal charities. This group first came about when one of the group whilst in her car with her two greyhounds were involved in a hit and run accident which left Lizzie the driver injured and her two dogs Opal and Rider seriously injured. The resulting vet bills were in excess of $14000 and so the group set about fund raising to help pay the bill. One of the ideas were making bracelets from donated beads and so The Greyhound Injury Fund came in to being. They reached their goal and since then, chosen a different good cause too raise funds for. Over the preceding years they have raised many dollars for deserving causes. Please visit their blog where this month the beneficiaries are New Hope Cattle Dogs.

Friday’s Fiver No 7

2012-01-14T08:48:00.001Z

This week’s Friday’s Fiver goes to Dumfires & Cumbria Greyhound Rescue in Scotland.

From their website:

Why, you may wonder, does Dumfriesshire and Cumbria need a greyhound rescue organisation? - Updated 14th April 2011

Well the truth is that Dumfriesshire is home, at Gretna, to one of the five remaining Scottish greyhound racing tracks. In addition the track is just a mile from the border with Cumbria and it attracts clients from much further afield. And where there is greyhound racing there are retired or abandoned dogs.
In December 2001 some concerned owners of retired greyhounds and friends decided that something needed to be done to improve the lot of ex-racing and ex-coursing dogs. Dumfriesshire Greyhound Rescue came into existence. Although we are based in Scotland, our constitution covers ‘Dumfriesshire and surrounding areas’. ‘Surrounding areas’ is mainly Cumbria, though depending upon circumstances has been further away.

With the assistance of friends we were quickly able to qualify as a Scottish Charity. This has enabled us to raise funds more easily. We use what we raise mainly for kennel fees, vet fees, fostering expenses and advertising. However we also run an extensive ‘Events’ calendar (it all costs money) where we try to raise public awareness of the plight of dogs at the end of their racing/coursing careers. Our new white caravan decorated with running greyhound logos (donated by members Margaret & Graham), is becoming a familiar sight throughout the area.

Due to the amount of work, rescuing and homing dogs that is now being done in Cumbria, it was proposed in May of 2007 at our AGM, that the charity's name be changed from Dumfriesshire Greyhound Rescue to Dumfriesshire and Cumbria Greyhound Rescue, the motion was passed and the charity name has now been changed.

To date (April 2011) we have found homes for just over 700 dogs, a few of them lurchers, but the vast majority ex-racers or coursers. Most of the coursers have originated in Cumbria. We have found that despite their size – they tend to be larger and heavier than racing dogs – they make equally as good pets. The lucky owners who have one would say better!
So if you live in Dumfries and Galloway, Cumbria or wherever, and would like to help us find homes for retired greyhounds, please get in touch. You don’t have to own a greyhound, or even a dog. All you need is a little time and a big heart!

Registered Charity Number SCO32858

They have a very useful page on their website with a list of some dog friendly places to stay in the UK.

Stop the re-opening of Coventry Greyhound Stadium

2012-01-08T18:12:00.005Z

Please sign this petition here

From the petition site:

Today 04/01/12 Rugby Borough Council received an application to re-open this stadium, the aplication will now go to public consultation, so its now time to voice our opinions, and objections as to why this stadium should remain shut. The last race was held Dec 2009, thanks to years of campagning, lets ensure it remains shut, to avoid further exploitation of this majestic creature.

Below are just a few reasons why I have started this petition, your support by signing would be greatly appreciated, not just by me, but the greyhounds who potentially run the risk of death or serious injury each time they race.

"This so called "SPORT", is barbaric and cruel, and is fed purely by the greed of bookmakers, and the ower/trainers of this majestic animal. The injuries sustained by the dogs, in some instances is horrendous, broken backs for one, or a broken hock, which is a treatable injury, in the worse case senario a hock break could lead to amputaion, in the best, a full recovery, and the dog can go on and live a normal happy life, even with three legs. But many of these dogs are not given this chance, as they are put to sleep by the track vet, as the animal is no longer viable for racing, they will no lobger earn revenue for its owner, and whats the point of keeping an animal if it only going to cost you money, and give nothing back?

Around 10,000 greyhounds begin their 'careers' at one of the 28 licensed GBGB* tracks within the UK every year. The vast majority (80%) of these greyhounds are bred in Ireland. The average age of a greyhound upon retirement is about 3 Â½ years after competing in around 50 races. Greyhounds live to approximatey 14 years of age. Length of career, however, varies greatly and is often brought to an abrupt end through injury.

Sadly, the desire for only the highest performing dogs leads to massive overbreeding - 23,000 puppies were bred for the UK racing industry in 2007 alone. Many thousands of greyhound puppies never even make it to the tracks; either because they are not fast enough or because they do not have the chase instinct. Many of these puppies are simply destroyed as they are deemed surplus to requirements.

Approximately 10,000 greyhounds retire from racing each year. Responsible owners/trainers will keep their dogs as pets or find them a home through rehoming organisations. But this only accounts for some of the greyhounds retiring. Approximately 4,728* greyhounds seemingly disappear without a trace every year. Many of these greyhounds are abandoned, euthanased or brutally killed, while some may be exported to continue racing in appalling conditions abroad, while yet others are used in medical research or vivisection.

Friday’s Fiver No 6

2012-01-07T08:16:00.003Z

Sorry! A bit late this week.

This week’s Fiver goes to the Celia Cross Greyhound Trust

From their website:

We rescue, rehabilitate and rehome around 150 abandoned, sick or ill-treated greyhounds and lurchers each year at the Sun Valley Kennels near Guildford in Surrey. We were founded in 1970 after the late Celia Cross found her first abandoned greyhound which had been left to die in a disused barn. A registered Charity since 1993, we are small, independent and rely entirely on the fundraising activities of our supporters.

I would love to hear from anyone that has any suggestions for future Friday’s Fivers.

In and around the Burnhams

2011-12-31T20:03:00.003Z

We have 2 weeks off over Christmas and the New Year so we have had plenty of time for rest and relaxation and walking. Today we decided to travel up the North Norfolk Coast for about 1 hour or so and start our walk from Burnham Overy Staithe. We had roughly worked out a circular walk of just over 7 miles. On the way we stopped off at Holt and visited Byfords a deli/bakery that does great walking fodder eg. pasties, pies and cakes.

Once fully kitted up which normally means Nigel carrying mostly everything, we set off and were immediately drawn to a field running along the salt marshes with quite a few geese grazing the grass. On closer inspection with Nigel’s scope, he identified them as Brent geese (picture not very good as they were far away and the camera is on maximum zoom) visiting from Siberia for the winter after flying 2500 miles. We were pleased as we had never seen them in the flesh before. We later saw skein after skein of Pink Footed Geese arrive from the nearby salt marshes to feed on the nearby fields.

We were following part of the National Coastal Path for a little way and this was proving to be everyone else’s idea also, it was amazing the amount of people using it. However we soon lost everyone after turning off the Coastal path and walking inland.

We now headed off towards Burnham Thorpe our next destination as we wanted to visit the site of the house where one of Norfolk’s greatest and most famous hero’s was born - Lord Horatio Nelson, this made us deviate a little off our planned path but we thought no matter as it wouldn’t add on that much.

Our next stop was lunch, so we found a handy grassy bank to sit on and devoured our goodies from Byfords with Tillie & Raven looking hungrily on – don’t worry we had packed food for them too but human food always looks more tasty. After a short stop we wearily got to our feet and plodded on.

Our next stop was to have a quick look at the ruins of Burnham Norton Friary which was founded in 1241 and was thought to be the first foundation of the Carmelites or White Friars in Norfolk but was dissolved in 1538 by Henry VIII.

By now, time was pressing on and we wanted to get back to the car before dark, so we trudged on, now towards Burnham Norton village to pick up the National Coastal path again and we slowly wound our way back towards the village of Burnham Overy Staithe but it was dusk before we got back to the car.

After one detour to Nelson’s birthplace and two wrong turns, our 7 mile walk in fact turned out to be 10.75 miles!! We can now actually track our walks as I am now the proud owner of an android phone and I have downloaded My Tracks on it, which maps the walk, giving mile indications, mile per hour travelled etc.

The dogs are now tired out and after some well earned dinner (Tillie for some reason always eats her dinner half in the utility room and half in the Hall) they are now crashed out and I fear they may not be able to stay awake long enough to welcome in the New Year.

Friday’s Fiver No 5

2011-12-30T09:14:00.001Z

Today’s Fiver goes to Medecins sans Frontieres also known as Doctors without Borders.

From their website:

Médecins Sans Frontières MSF (Doctors Without Borders) is an independent international medical humanitarian organisation that delivers emergency aid in more than 60 countries to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural or man-made disasters or exclusion from healthcare.

In emergencies and their aftermath, MSF rehabilitates and runs hospitals and clinics, performs surgery, battles epidemics, carries out vaccination campaigns, operates feeding centres for malnourished children and offers mental healthcare.

When needed, MSF also constructs wells, dispenses clean drinking water and provides shelter materials, such as blankets and plastic sheeting.

Have a Greyt Christmas!

2011-12-24T18:50:00.006Z

Merry Christmas to everyone and have a peaceful New Year
from Sara, Tillie & Raven

Artwork by my talented husband Nigel

Friday’s Fiver No 4

2011-12-23T00:10:00.001Z

This weeks fiver goes to Hamlin Fistula UK a UK trust partner for Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia.

From the website:

The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital was founded by Dr Catherine Hamlin AC and her late husband, Dr Reg Hamlin OBE, and is dedicated to the treatment and care of women who suffer horrendous childbirth injuries, known as obstetric fistula.

Obstetric fistula is caused by prolonged obstructed labour when a woman will spend days in labour without any medical help or pain relief. If she survives this ordeal she will give birth to a still born child and her internal injuries will cause her to be incontinent of urine and sometimes bowel contents as well.

She will spend the rest of her life a destitute outcast unless she can get to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital or one of its outreach centres.

The surgical technique developed by the Hamlins successfully cures 93% of obstetric fistula cases. The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital has established a purpose–built village called Desta Mender ("Village of Joy") to provide long term care for women whose childbirth injuries are so severe that they cannot return to live a normal Ethiopian village life. At Desta Mender the women are trained in new skills so that eventually they can re–enter Ethiopian society as "citizens of the world" once again.

I first became aware of the plight of these poor, unfortunate, often shunned women through a forum I am member of on Ravelry called Stitches for Sisters.

Stitches for Sisters is an online community of women based in Australia and NZ, but with members from across the globe. Our aim is to make beautiful handmade creations for women and children in developing nations. We’re passionate about making each item unique and special and we put a lot of care and love into our work.

Our first project as a new group was to make either crochet or knit squares and post them off to the coordinator, who then assembled them into blankets/wraps for the women visiting the hospital in Addis Ababa. Following surgery which in many cases completely cures the patient, the women are given a new dress and a blanket which they use as a shawl. These blankets are always very colourful and the women do not feel properly dressed without one.

It would be lovely to think that a young Ethiopian woman maybe wearing a blanket with one of my donated squares in.

I would welcome suggestions from anyone, of some future Friday’s Fiver beneficiaries. Just drop me a message.

The year of the blanket

2011-12-21T22:51:00.002Z

This year saw me being obsessed with creating blankets of one design or another. They are all crochet as I do not have the patience to knit such large projects and anyway I find crochet easier on my hands. I hope you don’t mind me doing a little show and tell.

No 1 - Autumn Log Cabin Throw

No 2 - This design is called the Groovyghan Blanket

No 3 - Blanket is the Babette Blanket

No 4 - Blanket is just a simple Ripple Stitch Blanket

No 5 - A Scrapghan Blanket

No 6 - Winter Skies Blanket

No 7 - Granny’s Zinnias – made for my sister Jane’s 50th birthday

No 8 - Purple Passion

Just realised this is my 100th post!

Seaside Sunday

2011-12-19T21:17:00.001Z

Saturday saw us put the inside Christmas decorations up. The boring bit was trying all the lights out and yes, there were loads that didn’t work. I can never understand why they decide to not work after sitting in a box all year doing absolutely nothing. Getting them to work entailed pulling all the bulbs out one by one and finding the ones that were dud, and then trying to locate the box with the spare bulbs in. After this boring task was completed, the fun bit – decorating the tree. We have 2 trees, both artificial – in the past we have tried real trees but I found that the resin from the tree spoilt a lot of my decorations, so we have now opted for artificial.

We have one tree in the kitchen

And one in the living room

I get the chance to display this lovely knitted nativity purchased last year from a Save the Children charity shop for £18. The work in it is amazing and so under priced.

Sunday we took a trip to the coast again, this time Cromer. The tide was well in and very foamy which was flying about the beach which intrigued the dogs.

We walked along the beach then up some cliff steps and back along the cliff tops back towards the the pier and town, passing these intriguing thorny bushes with bright orange squidgy berries on, not sure what they are, maybe juniper bushes?

I have been lucky enough to be given a blogging award, nominated twice in fact. Thank you to Angela from Home is where the hounds are and to Hiking Hounds for nominating me for the Liebster Award.

"Liebster means “dearest” in German, and the award is intended to help up-and-coming blogs get the attention they deserve. As with any award, there is a bit of ceremony involved. In order to accept the award, we must do the following:

1. Copy and paste the award on our blog.

2. Link back to the blogger who gave us the award

3. Pick our five favorite blogs with less than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received the award.

4. Hope that the five blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to five more blogs"

I now pass on the award to five of my favourite blogs:

Jill at Pixie Peg Crafts – Crafts and greyhounds from Northumberland in the UK

Janet at Basset Momma – Fred & Gloria Basset Hound from Ontario, Canada

Urban hounds 5 urban hounds

Sandy from New Mexico Where my heart lives – horses, dogs and a donkey, beautiful photos

Michelle & Mitch with four retired greyhounds at Loving life with hounds

Friday’s Fiver No 3

2011-12-16T18:55:00.001Z

This week’ Friday’s Fiver goes to a campaign group called The League Against Cruel Sports. Among the many campaigns they have running are:

Blakeney

2011-12-10T17:53:00.002Z

Woke up today to our first real frost of the winter. We decided to drive about ¾ of an hour out towards the North Norfolk Coast for a nice walk towards the salt marshes at Blakeney. After stopping off at Holt for a few bits & pieces for an al fresco lunch we were soon at Wiverton where the dogs roared about getting rid of some excess energy after the car journey.

The sun was very low in the sky but very bright. It was very crisp but the only thing cold on me were my fingers even though I had gloves on. We walked past some lovely gorse bushes in flower and were surprised to see some blackberries still on the bushes, left over from the very mild weather we have been experiencing.

The footpath takes up towards a farm where they were loading sugar beet on to a lorry for transportation to the British Sugar processing factory at Cantley.

There is usually a flock of guinea fowl skittering about this farm and sure enough they appeared, wary of the dogs, but no worres, they were both safely on their leads. As there were no leaves on the trees, we could see some old vacated birds nests from the summer.

Once we reached the salt marshes, Nigel spied through his scope many birds feeding in the salty pools – egrets, curlew, teal, shoveler ducks, wigeon, red shank and a lone marsh harrier. Also we speid right over on the horizon towards the distant sea, what looked liked a passenger ship, which is very unusual on the coast here, as that close to the shore it is mainly sand banks. We were not sure if it had run into some trouble or was just closely following the coast line round.

Blakeney used to be a small busy port before it silted up in the middle 1800’s and is now used mainly for leisure boating. It is a very ‘twee’ village, mostly inhabited by second homers – put it another way, property is very expensive here.

The walk back took us out of the village along a quiet lane, where the sun dipped slowly away. We reached the car, eager to get home to a nice fire, coffee and a mince pie. According to our gps thingy, it was approx 4.7 miles and took us ages, as we stopped alot to look at the various bird life through the scope.

One thing – Does anyone know what these weird, nest like things are that we sometimes see in various trees, mainly in silver birch trees?

Friday’s Fiver No 2

2011-12-09T07:41:00.001Z

Today’s fiver goes to - Baas Galgo Association

This is an organisation set up by Sandra Baas, a Dutch woman living in Spain, who helps rescue and rehabilitates unwanted Spanish hunting greyhounds commonly known as galgos.

From the website:

Every year in Spain, thousands of Greyhounds are abandoned. Many await a cruel death and others just wander around streets and highways. Five years ago, Sandra Baas founded the BaasGalgo Association in order to protect these dogs and create public awareness of their problem. Every year in Spain, more than 40,000 Greyhounds are abandoned. They hang them, beat them, kill them by a lethal injection of bleach, and starve them. In BassGalgo, we rescue these dogs, we cure them, we give them affection and a second opportunity with their foster families in Holland, Belgium, and France. It is essential that government commitment be in not only providing new animal shelters but also providing more education in the schools, and tougher laws respecting animal protection. There is a need to increase public awareness!

Friday’s Fiver No. 1

2011-12-02T00:11:00.001Z

Personally I have been very fortunate in my life but I am well aware that this is not the case for everyone and have long felt the need to ‘pay it forward’ as such. I have been thinking of making regular monthly donations to some worthwhile charities & groups and whilst I do give throughout the year, I have never made a regular commitment. I also use my limited crafting skills to sell things I make to raise money for greyhound charities that are dear to my heart, as well as volunteer for some other fund raising activities. I have also sent crocheted squares, hats, toys etc to various charities that ask for them.

Recently whilst lying in bed trying to get to sleep one night, I came up with an idea that would make it easier to commit to a regular donation by making a weekly post on my blog. I am going to call it “Friday’s Fiver”. Each week I will donate £5 to a worthwhile cause and at the same time showcase the worthy cause on my blog, on, of course, a Friday. I know £5 is not very much but to quote one of the UK’s leading supermarket’s favourite saying “Every little helps”.

So without further ado, this week, the very first Friday’s Fiver goes to Little Hen Rescue.

This non for profit group saves battery, barn and free range hens from slaughter and then rehomes them. These birds are normally only kept for one laying season before being declared uneconomical as they don’t lay enough eggs.

From their website:

About Little Hen Rescue

Little Hen Rescue is a not-for-profit organisation that rescues thousands of battery hens from farms all round the UK. We not only catch, collect, rehabilitate the hens we rehome them on the good homes in which they can live there life to a natural end with kindness and care. Every hen is important to us, we spend hundreds on fixing those that need medical attention and we find those special homes. We try to educate youngsters and adults alike, via talks and visits to schools. clubs and groups.

Our aims are to give farmers another option to slaughter, as we and lots of you know these hens have so much more to give and many more years. We rehome the hens on to people like yourselves with a good pet home for life.

We regularly save battery, barn and freerange laying hens, and have set dates to collect from our regular farmers.

I adopted 6 hens from Little Hen Rescue earlier in the year see this post and they now enjoy a safe, free range life away from the horrors of factory farming and are able to live out their natural span of life.

Snoods for greyhounds

2011-11-27T15:25:00.002Z

I knit and sell greyhound snoods to raise funds for a greyhound charity called Action for Greyhounds. Of course I have two willing and sometimes not so willing models to photograph wearing the snoods – Here is todays photo shoot.

My favourite is this one:

Pet Bloggers Blog Hop

2011-11-26T21:46:00.002Z

Pooches in the Peaks

2011-11-20T15:25:00.002Z

Just a quick report in from the Derbyshire Peak District where we are staying on holiday this week. Internet access is a bit sketchy as I am connected by a dongle. I was a bit dubious about one of these but it managed to find a signal enabling me to hook on.

After a full English breakfast in Bakewell this morning, we went for a 5 mile walk from the Longshaw Estate walking below Burbage Edge and then climbing up to Higger Tor amongst all the big boulders.

We then had to clamber down the other side and walk back along the valley. For the end of November the weather was fantastic although foggy in some places.

The dogs had a great day and walked and ran far longer than 5 miles with all the running ahead and back to us again. Raven particularly enjoyed the rock climbing although Tillie was less sure.

Both of them are now crashed out and sleeping for Britain back at our holiday cottage. I hate to tell them that there are several more days of walking yet!

Pattern Junkie

2011-11-17T13:43:00.001Z

I have to come clean, I have an addiction, apart from coffee and chocolate, something far, far worse….Patterns! My acquiring of patterns far outstrips my time, my need, let alone my ability to ever get a teensy, weensy percentage of the vast amount of patterns that I now have in my possession ever done in my one life time, even factoring in hopefully that I shall be around for the next 40 – 50 years!

The last couple of weeks I have scored these:

The following three patterns I purchased from Debi Birkin Designs - Hemel & Hettie, Hooty Owl Cushion & Cupcake Tea Cosy. All three of these patterns are available as instant downloads.

Last but not least this pattern – Quick & Easy Greyhound Sweater available from Aerie Designs over on Etsy.

Do you too have pattern addiction or are showing the tell tale signs?

Autumn leaves

2011-11-15T18:39:00.001Z

Where are house is situated we are completely surrounded by trees which is really lovely but boy does it mean lots of raking this time of year. I was taking no prisoners this year and bought a super rake. This proved much easier and quicker than using my usual metal tined leaf rake which does a adequate job but is rather too vigourous, not only raking up the fallen leaves but pulling up some of the grass too.

My new rake is very lightweight and is made from plastic and made the task much easier – raking by the way is an excellent exercise for tightening those tummy muscles! It would seem that the last trees to lose their leaves is the mighty Oaks, one of which behind our house is now a magnificent golden colour.

Whilst raking away the chickens investigated the recently up turned leaves before their attention was diverted by scrumping for the apple windfalls.

I religously collect up and store all the fallen leaves and fill my leaf mould bins, having to literally keeping jumping on top of the pile to make space for the thousands of leaves collected. After 1 – 2 years, a lovely dark, crumbly mixture is produced and is an ideal soil conditioner which before covering up for the winter I put on top of my raised vegetable beds, along with horse manure and regular kitchen and garden compost.

Tillie was no where to been seen much preferring her R and R time to spent in the warmth of indoors, Raven however made regular trips outside, only to check up that I hadn’t abandoned him.

On the crafting front I have just completed this bright patriotic cushion which I intend to use on our recent maritime acquisition Perfect Lady. The pattern is available from Michelle at her excellent blog The Royal Sisters Blog

An afternoon out at the Seaside

2011-11-10T20:54:00.001Z

Living in North Norfolk means that we are never very far away from the Norfolk Coast. One of our favourite seaside destinations is Cromer - famous for its crabs!

We had completed some chores in the morning and as it was unusually mild for the time of year, we thought we would take a drive to the coast.

After the end of September the restrictions for dog walking on the beach are lifted for the winter and Tillie & Raven like nothing better than a roar round on the lovely soft, golden sand, although this time the tide was in and covering up most of the sandy beach, but there was still plenty of room for a nosey about.

A couple of the crab boats had been out at sea and were coming into land on the beach where they were being pulled back up the beach by rusty, sea sprayed tractors.

Once we had been for a walk, we went and had lunch in the Rocket Cafe which overlooks the beach and pier.

They have outside verandah seating where you are allowed to take dogs. I had pumpkin falafel, salad and chips – well, Tillie and Raven had most of the chips!

Perfect Lady 2

2011-11-06T08:38:00.001Z

Mostly this year as usual I have been kept busy with work at the boatyard. You would think we would be sick and tired of all things related to boats. For some reason we got it into our heads that we would like to have a boat of our own again. Years and years ago we had a little wooden cruiser but were forced to sell it (long story). We wanted a traditional wooden boat as opposed to the modern fibre glass boat.

We nearly bought this:

We soon realised that it would take about 2 or 3 years to get this old girl floating again.

Shortly after, we came across this:

She was built in 1936 by Herbert Woods as a sailing cruiser for hire, one of their Perfect Lady class – she was Perfect Lady 2. She was in their hire fleet from that time up until the early 1980’s, so you can imagine the hundreds of families that have had there summer holiday on board her. She had been stored on land for 3 years, so we had to make sure she was water tight before she was put back into the water, so we could motor her home.

Once we got her back to the boatyard, we took all her mast and sails off as we never intended to sail her but just use her as a motor boat. We decided to put her name back to her original Perfect Lady 2. Over the years she has been modified somewhat. She originally was 31ft but previous owners wanted to make her sail fast so added 3 foot on her back end so they could have a longer mast on her and more sail. Nigel set to and removed the extra 3ft and put a new back end (transom) in.

Also as she was a sailing boat, she had a complicated extra roof affair that raised and lowered when you were not sailing her for extra head room inside, rather like a camper van. When we bought her the extra head room had been taken off, but luckily we came across some of these window panels and Nigel put them back on and secured them in the raised position as we will have not have reason to lower them ever as we are not going to sail her.

Next instalment soon.

Back again!

2011-10-30T18:12:00.001Z

Whoops! I haven’t posted since May…..bad blogger, bad blogger, bad blogger. But if anyone is still interested, a little snippet of the last few months.

Garden Bargains

2011-05-31T07:15:00.003+01:00

Here in Norwich we have a discount store where every thing is 99p or less. If I am in town I always have a poke around and generally come away with a bargain or two. This week was no exception.

I bought all these garden decorations for under £10! My favourite I think are the flamingos.

And I pulled the first crop of radishes as well. The garden has been very dry and I have done loads of watering but yesterday evening and night we had a good long downpour, absolutely soaking the garden and the rain filled all my water butts right up again. Supposedly we are in for another hot and dry spell – proper June weather at last.

The Honey Flow

2011-05-12T07:04:00.000+01:00

“A swarm of honey bees in May

Is often worth a load of hay.

A swarm of bees in hot July

Is hardly worth a fly”.

This old country saying couldn’t be truer. If you are lucky enough to collect a swarm this time of year, chances are that it will be quite a substantial size and you will end up with a decent hive of bees. Swarming is the bees way of establishing a new colony and increasing in numbers. Before swarming can occur, a new queen has to be raised. Just before she is born, the old queen will depart with over half the colony from the hive and ‘swarm’ usually in a tree or bush and send out scout bees to find another suitable home. If you are really lucky, they may set up home in an empty hive left about for this very reason, but this does not happen that often. Obviously your remaining colony with the newly hatched queen is depleted in numbers and will take the rest of the season to build up numbers again. Bee keepers try and prevent this process of swarming, to keep their hives with a good number of bees, so to enable a greater honey collection. Once the spring arrives, the bees have to be opened up weekly and each frame inspected for the tell tale signs of queen cell building, these have to be taken out, hopefully preventing swarming. This is not as easy as it appears as with the vast number of bees climbing over the frames on inspection, a queen cell can be easily missed.

A frame filled with honey and capped over with wax

This frame is filled with honey but as yet uncapped

After inspecting my bees at the weekend, I noticed there is a lot of honey in the frames, some of it capped over with wax, which means that it is ready to extract. We are well into the honey flow now with all the spring flowers in bloom. I shall leave it 2-3 weeks and then take off the frames of honey to extract it.

So many bees, missing the queen cells is easy

To take these photos I had to remove my gloves to operate the camera, luckily I didn’t get stung!

Colourful Cushion Cover

2011-05-08T19:45:00.001+01:00

Still working from my never ending stash, I have been working on this cushion cover for the past week.

As you can see one side is a giant granny square – slightly wonky, not sure what went wrong, probably due to having to re attach new colours on every row. If anyone has any pointers concerning this problem, please let me know.

The other side is done with the diagonal box stitch. I love this stitch as it gives you a lovely dense texture and fairly rips along once you get the hang of it.

The edging was a sort of shell pattern by slip stitching x 2 followed by hdc, dc, hdc all the way round. I cheated and didn’t do a removeable cover, as I can easily undo one side if laundering is needed.

Visiting the seals 2011

2011-05-06T19:19:00.001+01:00

We did this trip about a month ago and I snagged this post from my other blog, I hope you don’t mind!

You may remember last year around about this time we went to see the seals at Horsey. Well as it was such a lovely day yesterday (Wednesday), after work we all clambered into the car and drove the 15 miles to Horsey again. On looking back at last years blog I noted that we were a couple of weeks earlier this year. It is always a bit hit and miss, not really knowing if there are going to be any there or not but last week the crew of Royall Courier managed to get through Potter Heigham bridge and walked over from Horsey Mill to the coast and reported that they had seen numbers of anything up to 600. We parked a bit nearer to the beach than Horsey Mill because as it was in the evening we didn’t want to run the risk of being locked in the National Trust car park, plus Nigel being a bit tight didn’t want to pay the parking fee!

The dogs enjoyed a roar round along the long track leading up to the gap in the sea wall, sniffing about for bunnies and just before we arrived at the dunes, I made sure they were securely on their leads. We made our way over the steps on to the viewing platform and as luck would have it below us were several groups of seals basking in the evening sunlight.

We made our way onto the beach and took it in turns holding the dogs so we could each get a closer look. The pups were a fair size now and there were the most amazing variety of colours, ranging from all one colour of dark grey, cream and brown to allsorts of dappled, dalmation type colours and even one very rusty coloured pup. There were also various ones bobbing about in the sea, lazily swimming in and out of the surf.

At a rough count there must have been about 200 in total. On the evening air the soothing musical song of the seals could easily be heard as they playfully rolled about on the beach, play fighting, and jostling about for the best spots. We watched them for ages and then reluctantly made our way off the beach back to the car, still hearing their distant lyrical calls to each other. As we made our way back along the track, the sun went down quite rapidly but leaving the most amazing sunset which Norfolk is so very famous for.

Barmy about Bunting

2011-04-30T20:06:00.001+01:00

I recently have been somewhat obsessed with crochet bunting. I found a great tutorial over on the blog of Pink Fluffy Warrior and just had to have a go. My first attempt was just plain triangles which I used outside our door - excuse the filthy state of the guttering, which has since been scrubbed!

Then I did some more triangles interspaced with some hearts, which I put up outside my kitchen window around the other side of the house.

I then had a go at bunting with letters – the ideas for the letters were taken from Melody Griffith’s “201 crochet motifs, blocks, projects and ideas”.

I put this up at the boatyard outside reception. Unfortunately we had quite a windy day today and it kept blowing up on the porch roof, so no one could read it. Anyway, I wouldn’t be surprised if over the weekend, some bright spark didn’t take a liking to it and spirit it away.

This bunting works up really quickly and also I only used yarn from my stash – which despite several projects, still doesn’t seem to be diminishing.

After finishing the bunting I have now started two more blankets, even though I haven’t finished off my hexagon throw yet, but I just couldn’t resist. In my defence, I am still only working from my yarn pile, so I think it is allowed.

The Canine Boomerang

2011-04-21T19:14:00.001+01:00

Sunny Sunday

2011-04-17T18:51:00.001+01:00

Boy was I ready for a day off today. The pace has really picked up at the boatyard as the last two weeks have been really busy, with most of the boats booked for the Easter hols. Friday and Saturday were both very long days with lots of what we call ‘newbies’ – people coming on holiday on our boats who have never had a boating holiday before. As you can imagine, the tuition and takeover procedure is a lengthy process and at one point yesterday, Nigel lost his voice! Eventually we cleared the yard of all boats and went home yesterday for our Saturday tradition of a cream cake and coffee followed later by Nachos and salad (can’t be bothered to cook on Saturdays!).

Today must have been the hottest day of the year so far. The sun has been shining all day and there has actually been some warmth to it. Before we could do anything today, Nigel had to pilot 3 boats through Wroxham Bridge but once finished we drove out to the countryside and did a new for us 4 mile circular walk from Alby Crafts. Unfortunately I forgot the camera which was a shame as we walked through some lovely countryside. The oil seed rape fields are just coming into bloom and in another couple of weeks there will be vast blankets of stunning yellow. My bees love the oil seed rape and it makes lovely honey but needs to be extracted from the comb quickly as it a fast setting honey. Once jarred up it sets within days and turns almost white. We also so a fox up ahead which Tillie tried to chase but to no avail.

Talking of foxes, my new hens have settled in really well although we had a little bit of a scare earlier in the week. It had just got dark and the phone rang. It was Nigel’s Mother saying her outside security light had just come and she had seen a fox go past her window, had we locked up the hens? Luckily I had about an hour earlier but I still went out to check they were ok.

The girls have been busy haven’t they?

This afternoon I inspected my bees which being all suited up in my protective gear, was hot work. The numbers inside the hives have increased dramatically since my last inspection and there is some new honey in some of the combs. I managed to spot two out of the three queens, no easy task trying to spot her amongst her thousands of workers. One hive is very small and will need feeding up, so I will have to mix some sugar syrup up for them later. I still managed to get stung on my hand, even with my gloves on, luckily it didn’t hurt at all. The place I hate getting stung is on my head, now that really does hurt!!

At last the warm weather has brought up my seeds at last. Excuse the mousetraps but the little blighters nosh on my seeds as soon as I sow them.

Can’t wait for later on this evening as No 1 Son is due home for a few days – Hurrah!

Halfway to Hexagon Heaven

2011-04-13T20:10:00.001+01:00

I actually started the project I am currently working on way, way back in Dec 2009! I started my hexagon blanket full of enthusiasm and diligently set forth and crocheted a number of hexys and joined them together as I went.

Just as suddenly as I started, I then put it down and went on to other things. Every time I was rootling about in my stash room, it reproachfully looked at me, hoping against hope that I would release it from its unfinished home and give it a new lease of life. I pretended not to notice it peeking out of it’s box and overlooked it for more pressing projects. But in my effort to try and work only from my ever increasing stash, I pulled it from its box and set forth with renewed vigour. Even after working on it night after night for a good couple of weeks, I am probably only still about halfway as I plan to make it double bed size, which will not only fit my bed but also can double for a throw for one of my sofas.

I have had to fudge my resolve of only working from my current collection of yarn because I need quite a bit of the purple coloured yarn used to join all the hexagons together- Stylecraft Special Double Knit Shade 1425 grandly called Emperor. The hexagons are made up of three rounds – round one 12 dc into a magic ring and joined, round two 2dc into the spaces of the previous round seperated by 1ch, round three 3dc into previous rounds ch space seperated by 1ch. Obviously these are at this stage, still circles but are them turned into hexagons by the join as you go method much used by moonstitches and attic24. I chose not to do the chain loop round but like the overall effect despite this.

I have lost count how many circles I have made and just to mix it up a little, complete the circles two ways, either crocheting a complete three round circle or making lots of round ones, then working all the round twos, then all the round threes. I keep finding different colours to use and hope I haven’t got too many repeats but without really studying the blanket closely I am not sure.

I think I will work on it some more until I get hexagon burn out and then it may have to go back in the box for awhile again!

Arrival of my new hens

2011-04-10T18:59:00.001+01:00

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had lost my last 4 remaining chickens to a visiting fox. After contacting Little Hen Rescue to find out when their next rehoming day was, we reserved 6 hens and this morning we drove over to Flordon and picked up 6 ex battery hens. They are only between 50 – 70 weeks old and deemed by the farmer to be too old for laying. In reality these girls will continue to lay eggs for years to come if allowed to live out their natural lives.

Once we got home we released them into their new home. The first time in their short lives that they had felt the sun on their backs and the green grass under their feet. They stood about looking very bewildered for a while but were soon pecking at the grass and plants and it wasn’t long before they were tucking into their feed.

Tonight should be interesting as when we put them away in their house at dusk we shall have to actually sit them on their perches. Having never perched before this will take a bit of getting used to as all they have known is standing 24 hours on metal mesh in the battery cages.

I wonder when I shall get my first egg from them?

Blossom Scarf

2011-04-08T06:21:00.001+01:00

There is a massive craze going on at the moment all over blogland of crocheting flowers. Nearly every blog that I visit has some kind of project going on that includes flowers. I am currently in the middle of crocheting a massive hexagon flower blanket which I actually started well over a year ago, so I was already in the flower zone but I thought I would start a new flower project. This year I am trying to only use yarn from my huge stash. Someone gave me 3 more bags full of yarn at the weekend!

The only yarn I have bought recently are a few balls of purple which I am using for my edging colour on the hexagon blanket and some cream for edging on another blanket I have just recently started.

The pattern I chose for my current flower project was The Blossom Scarf a free pattern from Lion Brand. You just have to register to view the patterns, and you don’t get inundated with emails just one a week featuring new patterns. It was a quick project to complete as I used two contrasting colours together.

I am donating this scarf to Joan over at 100 Scarves 4 Bethesda who is raising money for her local care home and hospice in Stornoway on the Scottish Isle of Lewis.

A Sunday Spring Walk

2011-04-04T21:49:00.001+01:00

We decided to make the most of the milder weather and packed up a picnic, jumped in the car and drove out into the countryside to enjoy the lovely Spring day.

Our picnic spot about halfway round was going to be the ruins of Baconsthorpe Castle, not a castle as such but a manor house that was crenelated, built in the 1400’s. Along the way we passed what we affectionately call the Troll House but actually called Ralphs. This house stands on the edge of some lovely tranquil woods overlooking some fields and this dwelling has an unusual grass roof.

On arrival at Baconsthorpe Castle, several other people had decided to picnic there also but all of these had arrived by car. In fact over the whole walk of just under 6 miles we didn’t see one other person walking in the countryside. We sat on the bank of the moat and watched the geese, ducks and other waterfowl enjoying the quiet waterway and munched our way through our picnic fare.

We sat in the sun, warm enough to sit in our shirt sleeves, the dogs were hot from all their running to and fro.

Once recovered we gathered up our belongings and headed off back through Baconsthorpe village and back to the car. Along the way there were plenty of spring babies to be seen.

One mystery we don’t know the answer for is what is this strange looking plant? I have looked through some wild flower books I have and haven’t found it yet. Does anyone have any idea?

Mr Fox comes calling

2011-03-19T16:04:00.001Z

Last thing I do every morning before heading off for work is to go out back and feed the chickens and to my horror this morning I found carnage in the chicken run. We had been visited by Mr Fox in the night, no doubt looking for takeout for his new family of cubs and came across the Grebes Rest Hen Hangout. He ordered 4 plump hens to go, tried two and eventually left with two. So I have the grand total of zilch hens now. Just when the poor old girls had grown back their moulted feathers and had started laying again. I keep my hens in a secure run but never actually locked them up in their house. The picture below shows them in happier times with temporary fencing in the summer when I let them on the grass but this time of year they are permanently enclosed in their run. I think this fox must like swimming and be an expert climber as we are enclosed on three sides by river and the sides of the run are at least 6 foot high.

Just recently I have been on a chicken knitting frenzy as well. I made a batch of Spring Chickens designed by Bluesocks Designs over on Ravelry. They are a really quick knit and easy to put together.

Also I have whipped up a flock of these adorable Easter Egg Cozies found on Delights Gems Blog. Not only is the pattern available to knit, there is also a crochet version too. Although I prefer to crochet these days (due to RSI in my hands) I like the knitted version better and can easily sit and do 2 or 3 in a sitting. Claudia of Delights Gems has very kindly let me sell the finished chickens for my greyhound charity fund raising – Thank you very much Claudia, you are a very generous person, by not only sharing your superb patterns but allowing them to be sold in aid of charity.

So to finish a few photos of some more chickens here at home. Now off to see if I can get some ex battery hens from Little Hen Rescue

Our first long walk of the year

2011-03-13T21:06:00.001Z

We decided last week that this Sunday if the weather was forecast fine, we would do a long walk with accompanying picnic. The last couple of days have been fine with some actual periods of sunshine. This morning we packed our lunch – a disparate collection of Sweet potato burritos, babybel cheese, coconut macaroons and bananas, and of course some nibbles for the hounds. This walk was going to be one of our long walks taken over a few hours. We decided on one of our favourites, a circular walk from Felbrigg Hall (a National Trust property) towards the coast to East Runton, calling into Cromer for a cup of coffee and then back towards Felbrigg. Nigel, in the past has estimated the total distance to be about 8 miles.

I am breaking in a new pair of hiking boots ready for our summer holiday in Switzerland in June, but decided to go with my old pair of trusted Brashers as I didn’t want any blisters. We set off about 10.45 and relished being in the fresh air out in the countryside. Once we had passed the lovely Felbrigg Hall (currently undergoing some roof renovations) we were able to let the dogs off the lead.

The dogs act quite differently on walks. Tillie being confident and headstrong will always be surging ahead, sniffing at every available tuft of grass or bush and looking about, scanning the horizon for any signs of bunnies, ears pricked. Whereas Raven, being less confident will run off ahead with Tillie, sniff what she is interested in but immediately race back to us and walk with us until I tell him to go on ahead. Overall he covers much more ground, probably adding on about another third of the distance of the walk with his constant going backwards and forth.

The sun made a brief appearance but on the whole it was quite overcast most of the day but warm enough to walk without coats on. We take regular breaks to drink and of course eat our picnic and to give the dogs a drink and their treats although Tillie loves drinking out of muddy puddles.

By the time we were approaching the town of Cromer situated on the North Norfolk Coast, famous for its pier and Cromer Crabs, we were probably ¾ of the way round, so were quite tired but looking forward to another well earned rest, this time at Huckleberries, a coffee & cake shop on the high street that luckily has a few outside seats, handy when you have two great hulking hounds in tow.

We were enjoying our Americanos and sharing a millionaires slice (shortbread, caramel and chocolate) when we felt a few spots of rain, so we decided to press on with the last leg of our walk, out of Cromer and back towards the car at Felbrigg. About ½ a mile from the car it started to come down quite hard and by the time we arrived back to where the car was parked all four of us looked somewhat bedraggled and damp. As a side note – legend has it that Arthur Conan Doyle, whilst staying in Cromer, visited Cromer Hall and heard about the Black Shuck legend (a ghostly black dog that is supposed to roam the Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex coast) and incorporated it into his story The Hound of the Baskervilles, but not however setting it in Norfolk.

Once home, Nigel downloaded the info from his GPS gadget to find out how far we had actually walked and proudly announced it wasn’t 8 mile but 13 which took us, with stops about 4 hours!!! No wonder we all feel tired now and I haven’t heard a peep out of the dogs since we got back, they only stirred themselves to eat their dinner.

Rainbow Circle Scarf

2011-03-12T16:23:00.001Z

I decided to make myself a multi coloured scarf to go with my red winter coat and came up with this:

I used up some odds and sods up from my basket where I keep those really tiny balls of yarn you are not sure what to do with but can’t quite bear to throw away.

New Crochet Design Book

2011-03-03T20:14:00.001Z

I have just purchased Crochet Design for kids by Lucinda Guy from Amazon mainly for the two adorable toy patterns. I know the elephant pattern was published in a UK Women’s magazine recently but I couldn’t resist buying the book it came from. Most of the patterns are for very twee crocheted items of children’s clothing.

I am not sure that today’s modern children would want to wear some of the designs but the book is delightfully illustrated throughout by Francois Hall. As I mentioned, I really only wanted the toy patterns, namely the elephant and the whale but I don’t think you can ever have enough crafty books anyway.

I have so far completed one of the elephants and was pleased with the result, although the assembly of the lower gusset to the body was a little tricky, in the main, it was an easy pattern to follow. I hope to soon cast on for the whale.

Coconut Macaroons

2011-03-02T21:47:00.001Z

I did a little baking at the weekend and as well as making a chocolate & banana cake I made these Coconut Macaroons which we haven’t had for ages. Mmmmm! They were lovely and very coconutty. Obviously not very good for the slimming but as they say “a little bit of what you fancy now and then!” If anyone wants a go at making them, they are dead easy and here is the recipe:

Coconut Macaroons
Makes about 18 - 20

12oz dessicated coconut
12ozs castor sugar
6tbsp cornflour
6 egg whites – depending on size of egg (if eggs are large you could cut this down to 5)
glace cherries

Whisk egg whites with mixer in bowl until creamy, then gradually mix in with wooden spoon the sugar, cornflour and coconut. Mix together well. The consistency should be fairly sticky but not runny, if it is, just add more coconut.

On a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper or baking parchment. Spoon 6 piles evenly spaced out in a fairly round shape. Place a cherry on top of each Macaroon. Bake in oven at about 180c for about 20- 25 minutes or until lightly brown and fairly firm to the touch. Let them cool down on the baking sheet, then once cool place on cooling rack.

Back again with Blankies

2011-02-26T16:05:00.001Z

You would think the amount of time I spend on my laptop, I could actually post a little more frequently on my own blog. It is exactly the same with Ravelry(a knitting and crochet social networking website) that I am a member of. If only I employed as much zeal and time to my knitting and crochet wips as I do browsing the projects, forums, groups etc that are on this wonderful site than I would be inundated with finished articles and projects. This said I have managed to finish one long ago started project - Autumn Log Cabin Throw I started this well over a year ago and did a few squares, then it was put away until just after Christmas when I dug it out and really worked on it to finally finish it. I was pleased how it turned out, particularly as the colours I chose bring the log cabin effect alive.

“Some folklore meanings to the log cabin quilt relate to the center piece and how the quilt block is pieced together. The center piece was traditionally a red square and was believed to stand for the hearth of the house, as told by the quilters to others in the late 1800s. The strips of material surrounding the center square alternate light and dark sides representing the sunny side of a house and the side in the shade. Another meaning to the light and dark stripes is that the light side relates to happiness and the dark side to sorrow, of which life is filled.”

I didn’t use red for the centre fire square but a coppery colour which I hope had the same effect.

Another blankie project I have finished was the 70’s Scooby Doo inspired Groovyghan by Tracy St John. This project just flew along, whether it was the delightfully retro bright colours or the crazy patterning, I just couldn’t put it down. It was a zany, riot of colour that really lifted my spirits in the dark depths of a dreary winter. The photos don’t show the colours to their best advantage as the current winter days are too dull. Once the weather improves I will take some more.

Before Chrimbo

2011-01-07T08:27:00.001Z

Again, weeks have passed since my last post. The couple of weeks leading up to Christmas were hectic, not through organising Christmas and buying lots of presents and unnecessary food, as we don’t really go in for all that commercialism, only buying gifts for Sam our son, but with tying up loose ends at work (we close for 2 weeks over the festive period), so this meant working out wages for the next 3 weeks. We had one visitor to the boatyard staying in our holiday bungalow, Brenda a regular visitor. This was the first year we didn’t let any hire boats – just as well as with the severe weather we experienced before Christmas came with it freezing temperatures which froze up all the back waters and most of the navigable stretches too. It is just not practical cruising in the winter, as no matter how well the boat is heated, you can’t get away from the fact that you are sitting in a plastic tray in VERY cold water! For the last week at work all the water pipes froze solid, so all the water had to be turned off and the heating left on to further reduce anymore freezing. Throughout our whole closed period we had to keep checking that everything was safe round the yard and that all the boats stayed afloat. There is quite a lot of water stored on boats which have to be drained off and the boat especially the engine winterised, as once this water that lays around (in pipes, toilet bowls, in the engine itself) freezes, once it then starts thawing, it expands and can wreak havoc, splitting metal & plastic quite easily, which in some cases can cause the boat to sink. Once we were back at work we heard of several examples just in our very local area about boats that had sunk and engines completely cracked open wide, solely due to the owner not having the foresight to winterise them – A very costly mistake.

Once I had tied up all the loose ends at the yard, I had booked off the week leading up to Christmas as we had organised 7 days up to and including Christmas Eve as collections outside various retail premises. The 18th & 19th December we were outside with Tillie & Raven but also in my care was Vikki, another greyhound we are looking for a home for. She has been in foster care but the fosterer went away over the holidays and I have been looking after her. By golly it was cold as we sat outside. The dogs have a purpose built shelter which keeps the rain and wind of them and of course they had on jumpers and coats. I was fairly cold but managed to wrap up well also apart from I couldn’t keep my feet warm at all. In the end a Swedish friend offered me some leather fur lined boots which with a wool pair of socks made all the difference. Next day was outside Tesco at Stalham another village about 6 miles away. By far this was the coldest day for me and once I was home, after a meal I sat in our living room with the central heating on, the wood burner alight and huddled under a blanket and it took me until I went to bed that night for me to warm up properly. Tuesday to Friday we collected outside Pets at Home only missing Thursday. We did really well, not only collecting a substantial amount of money and selling plenty of snoods and knitted greyhound pups but also our main objective raising awareness of the plight of greyhounds - I was glad it finally came to an end on Christmas Eve and so were the dogs.

This was the Christmas card Nigel drew me.

Greyhound Snoods

2010-12-15T09:05:00.002Z

Whenever we go away anywhere I always make sure I take plenty of knitting & crocheting to do. In fact I probably take more of this stuff than clothes & food. Recently whilst we were away in Derbyshire marooned in our snowbound cottage, I knitted my way through a good load of greyhound snoods. As mentioned in a previous blog entry awhile ago I use the wonderful pattern from Erssie called Dizzy Lily - A Snood for a Hound. Erssie sells this pattern to support Essex Greyhound Rescue. The link to the pattern can be found scrolling down on the right hand side of her homepage. The pattern suggests knitting with dpns but as I absolutely loathe and can’t get on with these devilish instruments of torment I usually knit flat on two needles and once finished quickly sew the seam up.

As modelled by Raven (top) and Bluey the nearly real greyhhound

Greyhound Calendar

2010-12-08T17:54:00.001Z

The 2011 Action for Greyhounds UK is now on sale for £7.95 plus postage and available from AFG’s website here – where you can pay by cheque or paypal. My very own Raven is the star of May. I think you will agree he looks every inch the star due to the talent of Greyhound Watch whose stunning photography is featured throughout the calendar.

A week in the Derbyshire Snow

2010-12-07T12:06:00.002Z

Saturday 27th November saw us head north to stay at Aero Cottage near Baslow in Derbyshire. This delightful, tastefully converted stone holiday cottage sleeps 4 and is equipped with everything to make your holiday perfect. John & Claire the owners are always on hand for any queries or advice about the local area -they live behind the property. We had stayed previously in Aero in September and thoroughly enjoyed our stay especially as they are one of the few holiday cottages that allow two pets. The ground floor of the cottage has flag stones with under floor heating, so with dogs and boots traipsing in and out, there are no carpets to worry about.

We left Norfolk with a slight dusting of snow on the ground and as we proceeded northwards up through Lincolnshire and into Nottinghamshire there was a little more snow about. However we arrived safely at our destination stopping for a well earned late lunch at the nearby market town of Bakewell (famous for its puddings!). We soon settled ourselves in for the evening.

Sunday and Monday were ok to get about in, we could drive out to the local villages and get a meal out in the evenings as long as we drove really carefully. Both evenings we drove into Sheffield to pick up Sam to take him out for a meal. Also Monday was Nigel’s birthday (46th!).

However from Tuesday onwards we experienced a lot of snow (about 2 foot in places) and freezing temperatures and after visiting Bakewell in the morning to pick a few supplies up we headed back to the cottage where we stayed put until we left on the Saturday morning. Luckily on Thursday, Charlie the son of the owners of the cottage gave Nigel a lift into Chesterfield in his landrover which with difficulty managed to creep back up the hill to the cottage and his house.

We had a lovely relaxing time where I got loads of knitting and crocheting done but we would have like to have gone walking in the hills as we usually do. Nigel had to dig us out of the cottage drive and on to the road.

Our journey home was initially slow as the first 15 miles took over an hour to drive but once past Mansfield we drove home as normal as there was considerably less snow the farthest east we went. On arrival home there was hardly any snow around but evidence of some very hard frosts and to Nigel’s dismay our little river dyke that leads onto the main river was frozen and remains frozen to date, so he is unable to get his boat out from its shed.

Raven ready for a cold spell

2010-11-17T20:08:00.001Z

I finished Raven’s new jumper yesterday, so he is already for his duties with us fundraising in the lead up to Christmas. Probably not a good idea to let him loose on a walk in it though, as he has a tendency to sidle up to any hedge, bush or tree to ‘cock’ his leg, if you know what I mean and knowing Raven he would be likely to snag it and then run off with his new apparel unravelling behind him!

With the collar rolled down

Wearing his jumper ‘snood style’

Crazy for Crochet

2010-11-14T16:55:00.002Z

I love knitting but in the last couple of years I have found attempting to knit for long periods of time hurts my thumbs not sure if it is RSI or arthritis, so I have been leaning towards doing more crochet plus the projects seem to proceed quicker. I was taught to knit by my Mother but taught to crochet by my Grandmother.

A recent finished crochet project was this crazy scrapghan blanket I made from all the odds and ends of chunky (bulky) yarn I had kicking about. I made 4 different colour themed panels, crocheted them together and then did a quick border around the whole blanket. I was pleased how it turned out and it was a relatively quick project completed on and off in 2- 3 weeks, unlike some other blankies I am in the middle of making – a hexagon, granny type blanket and a log cabin blanket I started over a year ago.

I am now in the process of crocheting Raven a snood combined jumper using two strands of double knit in orange and brown. The orange was donated to me but I thought a bright orange jumper on its own would be too vivid so I toned it down with a dark brown. I purchased the pattern from the Etsy store of the pattern Crochet Pattern for Greyhound Sweater and Snood. I have had to modify the pattern a little by cast off more around the chest area and continuing the collar to make it into an attached snood rather than a seperate snood. I had it nearly finished before I realised it wasn’t a great fit around Raven’s chest and had to rip it back. Once it is finished he should be real toasty in it especially as in December we have quite a few outside fund raising collections taking place.

Week 7

2010-11-08T08:42:00.001Z

Well I have continued with the running programme Couch to 5K – where it is possible to be able to run 5k after 9 weeks of training. The idea is to run three times a week, mainly doing intervals – walk for so long, run for so long, walk for so long. Week 6 was really hard as Day 3 was brisk walk for 5 minutes and then continuously run for a WHOLE 25 minutes!! The thought of that was very daunting, but not to be deterred I started it and guess what, I managed to do it all. According to my treadmill my distance was about 2 miles. Tuesday night I start Week 7 which is the same as Week 6 Day 3 but hopefully increasing the distance over the same amount of time, so I shall have to up the speed a tiny but. At the moment I am running at 5mph. I usually hate to exercise unless it is walking but this programme I am really enjoying and once I graduate I am going to actually run outside! Maybe by that time I will be fitter and not look so red in the face as I do at the moment. You can download all kinds of podcasts for the programme with mixes of music and cues to walk or run at the appropriate times. At the moment I am using Carli’s podcast from her website Running into shape – the music is a mix of r ‘n’ b and hip hop, but there are loads of different ones out there. The running must be helping with my weight loss as in 6 weeks I have lost 10lbs – only another 32lbs to reach my goal of a 3 stone loss!!

This is Floyd one of the dogs our rescue group is trying to find a home for – I probably run with my tongue out too!

Great balls of yarn

2010-10-13T12:19:00.001+01:00

Last weekend was the first weekend in ages that I didn’t have to participate in a fund raising event. Don’t get me wrong, I love doing it and I wouldn’t volunteer if I didn’t enjoy it but nevertheless it was lovely to have a lie in on Sunday morning. On the Saturday night my sister and her hubbie came over and I cooked them a meal. It was her birthday on the Sunday and we met up with some other members of the family and had yet another meal. All this eating out wasn’t very conducive to my new healthy eating regime. I didn’t have a starter or dessert but thoroughly enjoyed my main course which was kind of like a beef wellington vegetarian style made of portobello mushroom encased in pastry with an absolutely to die for creamy dijon mustard sauce – YUMMY! I duly gifted my sister her birthday presents, two of which were handmade – a soft snuggly scarf made from pompom yarn and some crocheted coat hangers. Even though it was my big sis’s birthday she had bought me a gift – this funky, bright, woolly, made from giant pom poms, scarf.

Here is the link where it is available in UK.

Despite all that rich food I still managed a loss at my Monday night weigh in – only a pound but definitely better than gaining any.

I am still here!

2010-10-05T08:17:00.001+01:00

Not sure if anyone reads my blog but as of late you may have noticed I haven’t posted for a long while – SORRY! I have bee super busy over the summer months especially with work (obviously this is our busiest time) and with fund raising events for greyhound protection & rescue taking up nearly every weekend.

Thinking back to the beginning of the year I did a posting about gaols and since then I can honestly say I haven’t achieved one of them (well Number 4 (Be more organised) I half do as I am quite organised at work). I am restarting No 1 and No 2. I have enrolled at Slimming World and went for my first weigh in last night and lost 3½ lbs WOOHOO! Also at the same time I have started The Couch to 5K program which aims to get you running non stop for 5km in 9 weeks. I am just about to start Week 2, and so far am loving it. No 3 – not much chance of that, I could give Gordon Ramsey a run for his money!! No 5 hopefully will come with No 1 & No 2.

I have still been knitting and crocheting lots – will post some pics at a later date.

I will leave you with a pic of Raven & Tillie helping to sell handmade doggie bandanas at fund raising events.

Bees

2010-07-25T15:01:00.001+01:00

Here are some pictures from my weekly inspection of my bees. At the moment I have two hives, one really strong colony and one very small colony which I have persevered with for two seasons but to no avail. My bee keeping friend Tony gave me a virgin queen last week to re-queen this weak colony but as yet she hasn’t started to lay yet. She needs to go on her nuptial flight with some of the boys (drones) to be fertilised, then hopefully she should start laying eggs. The other hive (the really strong one) is doing really well. At the moment I have two brood boxes on (the boxes where the eggs are laid and the young bees are reared) and 3 supers (the boxes where the honey is stored). There are a LOT of bees in this hive, literally thousands and luckily they are evenly tempered and don’t get too narky whilst I am looking through them.

This first picture is a frame of uncapped honey which is probably still being processed by the bees.

The next picture is of capped honey, sealed by beeswax. This is ok to take off but I won’t be doing that for a few more weeks yet. Each super if full normally holds about 20 pounds of honey.

The next picture is of the bottom brood box where most of the bees are, you can only see a fraction of the bees.

I have another hive of bees in the garden as well but these are Tony’s.

A chap who keeps a lot of bees locally is reducing the number of hives he keeps due to ill health and is selling them at a very reasonable price - £160 for a full colony of bees. I have ordered two of these to try and increase my stock as usually I would have had a swarm by now but none have been forth coming. The hives should be available middle of August.

Cake vicar?

2010-07-20T22:37:00.001+01:00

These are a fun knit – easy, quick and uses minimal yarn - Cupcakes by Alison Hogg

Now off to google more cake patterns – makes you feel hungry doesn’t it?

Summer colour

2010-07-19T19:30:00.001+01:00

I haven’t been blogging lately as this time of year is really hectic for us. The gorgeous summer weather we have been having lately has had a terrific effect on the garden with everything bursting forth with growth but It has been a hard job keeping everything watered. This year I have been using an organic peat free compost which has a lovely texture but seems to dry out really quickly. At them moment I am growing a variety of tomato called Garden Pearl which has a tumbling type growth ideal for hanging baskets and tubs, but the tubs are drying out really quickly even with watering them twice a day so I went to the local garden centre to buy those plastic terracotta coloured saucer type dishes you put under the pots but was appalled at the price of them. On looking round for an alternative I spied some brightly coloured trays that were being sold as cat litter trays. Not only are these ideal for my tubs and have a huge capacity but I can use them for putting small pots of seedling in for easy watering and they were cheaper too!

On the yarn front I have been crocheting some covers for boring plastic coat hangers. I used the pattern Granny Hangers from Sarah London. I love how they have turned out.

Norfolk Broads Holiday

2010-07-07T08:16:00.001+01:00

Last week we managed to grab a few days away on one of our own hire boats. We chose Royall Oak as this is our favourite boat. The weather was scorching and couldn’t be better. This was Raven’s first holiday afloat as Tillie is an old ‘sea dog’ already! I hope you like the pictures.

Royall Oak moored at Coltishall Raven cooling off in the long grass

Another boat of our fleet Royall Commander 2 Approaching Horning

Tillie & Raven looking out over Ludham marshes Nigel sailing is gun punt ‘Shoveler’

A couple of examples of Norfolk drainage mills

Approaching Barton Broad Nigel relaxing at Barton Staithe

Exploring narrower waterways in Shoveler Hunsett Mill on the River Ant

A boat ‘shooting’ the very low Potter Heigham Bridge Tillie & Raven in Shoveler

Raven hoping to enjoy a pub lunch The Pleasure Boat Inn garden at Hickling

Aboard Shoveler again Overlooking Herbert Woods Boatyard Potter Heigham at sunset

The Norfolk Wherry ‘Albion’ Walking near South Walsham marshes

For a more detailed write up, Nigel has blogged about our holiday from the perspective of his boat ‘Shoveler’ over on the Royalls Boatyard Blog

Chicken coops and beehives

2010-06-24T06:47:00.001+01:00

Yesterday saw the arrival of one of my birthday presents from Nigel. Here he is assembling all the pieces:

Yes it is my new ‘made from recycled plastic chicken coop’. It is made by a company called Green Frog Designs. I have been looking for a new chicken coop but preferably not one made out of wood to cut down on maintenance and one that was more hygienic and easier to clean and also one that was easily moveable. It didn’t take that long to put together and here is the finished article:

I think you will agree this is a vast improvement on my current wooden house pictured below:

Before, the chickens were in a permanent run, being let out on the grass but the temporary fencing had to be always linked up to the old run as my original house was built in situ and couldn’t be moved. I had fun and games last night seeing if the chickens would put themselves to bed. One persistent old girl kept escaping and heading off back to the old house, 2 had sensibly gone to bed by themselves in their new des res but the other four I chased round for ages to catch them and put them away. I shut the pop hole up last night just so they would get used to being in there but usually I would have left it open. I am well pleased with the new house and it will be nicer for the hens to be moved about on fresh grass in the summer.

We bought my bees back from Ranworth on Tuesday night where they had been for the oil seed rape. Both my hives are very weak this year and I wasn’t expecting any honey from the rape this year unlike last year where I got about 60lbs, but I thought visiting the rape fields may build them up a little. One of the hives has built up nicely but the other one is still very small and my suspicions were confirmed when I opened them up yesterday and spotted the dreaded varroa mite. As there are no honey supers on this hive I quickly put some thymol treatment in and hope I can catch it in time. The varroa mite has had a major impact on bee keeping here in the UK and is becoming a huge problem especially as they are now becoming resistant to the treatment. Later in the year I may get some honey off the strong colony I have, we shall just have to wait and see. Tony, a fellow bee keeping friend who also took his bees to Ranworth managed to harvest 115lbs of honey – mind you he has been keeping bees for about 40 years and as I have only been doing it for about 8 years, I am still a novice.

All my beehives were built by Nigel, the first is a WBC style hive and the second is a Cottage style hive.

Exhausting work

2010-06-15T07:03:00.001+01:00

For popular greyhounds it is exhausting work meeting your adoring public so plenty of naps are in order between this busy life.

Starring in this photo shoot – top left photo Gemma & Zonda, top right Gemma & Zonda with Tillie on the left, bottom left on top of shelter Tillie 2 and bottom right Tillie again with Raven at the back.

9 miles from Aylsham to Wroxham

2010-05-24T19:51:00.001+01:00

Yesterday saw us complete our 9 mile sponsored walk at the start of Greyhound Awareness Week and to raise money for Action for Greyhounds UK.

I had been keeping a careful eye on the weather for the last week and realised that Sunday was going to be a scorcher so we decided to delay the start until the afternoon. After getting a lift from Annie from Action for Greyhounds in the back of her greyhound bus we arrived already hot and bothered in the sweltering heat in Aylsham at the Bure Valley Railway station. We set off at 3.40pm with Annie, her little boy and two of her greyhounds for company until we hit the Cromer road where you take your life into your hands crossing the busy Sunday afternoon traffic heading for the coast. This is the only grim bit of the public footpath, the railway line goes under the road through a tunnel and we often wonder why they didn’t make the tunnel wider and put the footpath under the road as well. We waved goodbye to Annie and set off in earnest with Tillie and Raven plodding on ahead off lead. The oil seed rape was out in brilliant yellow bloom and you could really smell the flowers. The sun however was relentless and the two dogs soon became very hot and panting heavily. After about a mile we sought refuge under a shady tree for drinks and a rest. I think the temperature was in the high 20’s and there was not a breath of wind. I was worried about doing the other 8 miles and contemplated turning back and attempting it on a cooler evening but Nigel said he would go on ahead as he thought there might be a cool stream up ahead and sure enough he returned very quickly and reported back that there was. We quickly diverted off the track and down some steps to a bubbling clear stream that was shallow and with a pebbly bottom. We all stood in the cooling waters and I soaked the dogs head to toe and thoroughly drenched them with water whereupon they immediately shook all over us. After sitting on the bank with our legs dangling in the water to cool off, we eventually roused ourselves to continue the walk. We have done this walk numerous times before and it normally takes us about 3 hours so at our present rate of knots of about 1 mile an hour it didn’t look like we would be home before midnight. However the fierceness of the sun had now subsided and some clouds were scudding across the sky so we were able to plug on. After several more short stops for drinks we reached Buxton station about half way and stopped properly for tea in the shade of a hedge by the side of a wheat field.

Tillie and Raven enjoyed yet more drink and some biscuits and a lovely lie down in the cool long grass. We had packed a carton of strawberries to eat and on retrieval from the rucksack, they had become a little squashed in transit and Nigel found himself covered in strawberry juice, however they were still delicious and very refreshing if a little flat. We then proceeded on in the glorious evening sunlight and the miles soon fell behind, passing Coltishall station and then on to Coltishall St James.

The wildflowers were out in abundance all along the walk with red poppies, red campion, stitchwort, buttercups, ox eye daisies all out in full bloom and the Hawthorn blossom was particularly beautiful. We didn’t see many other walkers but plenty of cyclists passed us on their way to either Wroxham or Aylsham and we only saw 2 trains heading back to Aylsham.

Both Tillie & Raven would suddenly dart off at speed in front of us thinking there was something interesting to chase in front only to see a blackbird or pigeon take off and desultorily flap away. At last we approached Belaugh green level crossing and we knew we were on the homeward straight. And after about 4½ hours we arrived , dusty, hungry and dishevelled back at Wroxham where Annie was there to meet us.

After all their hard work we chauffeured Tillie & Raven homewards in the dayboat where they enjoyed a short river trip back home.

After a well deserved tuna tea, we didn’t hear a peep out of either dogs until the morning!

Thank you to everyone that sponsored us on our walk and at the moment the total stands at £552 which you will agree is a massive amount.

Raven update

2010-05-18T20:55:00.001+01:00

You may remember Raven the black greyhound we were fostering for Action for Greyhounds UK, well two bits of good news, firstly he is fully recovered now, all wounds healed, most of his hair has grown back over his baldy bits (Nigel is well jealous being follicly challenged himself!) and now he has the most lovely shiny, glossy coat. The second bit of good news is that he has at last found his forever home………….drum roll please……WITH US!!!

We have decided to keep him as he is just about the most perfect greyhound you could wish for. Seriously though, he has blossomed into the most loving, faithful, funny and handsome hound you could wish to meet. Recently we have been letting him off the lead with amazing results, he actually has great recall.

At the moment we are a three dog household as we are looking after Rocky who is back for his hols for a couple of weeks.

Before that we looked after Sophie, a sweet little black greyhound whilst her owner went on holiday and in a couple of weeks we will be looking after Peg whilst her current fosterers go to New Zealand for a couple of weeks. The only downside of keeping Raven is that we will not be able to long term foster anymore as taking three dogs to work with me is ok temporarily but full time sometimes is a bit hectic. So for some people 13 is an unlucky number but for Raven Raisin it has been his lucky digit as he was the 13th dog we had fostered.

Seeing the Seals at Horsey

2010-04-25T21:39:00.001+01:00

Following a busy sunny but blustery Saturday and having heard several reports from those boaters lucky enough to pass up stream of Potter Heigham Bridge, we decided to walk out from Horsey Mill car park to try to see the resident colony of Grey seals. Previous attempts to view the local Horsey crane colony ended dismally so as we parked in the late afternoon sun we hoped for better luck. Across the flat grazing marshes the wind died away as we crossed a couple of cattle fields toward the Nelsons Head pub that we fully intend to make use of on our trip on Royall Oak in June. After a short stretch on tarmac, a footpath headed toward the sand dunes where we could see a narrow gap.

Here amongst the reedy, dyke fringed meadow, new born lambs skipped about their mothers and we climbed the soft sand through the gap and down onto the beach. At first we struggled to spot the herd amongst the rock groins as even at close quarters they blend in, but a bit of shuffling and a couple of raised heads soon revealed them a short distance towards Winterton. The herd numbered about seventy animals of various colours, greys blotched with black, black with grey and fluffy tan.

Three or four seals swam alongshore and emerged our of the waves to shuffle up the beach, passing (we assumed) two huge black rearing bulls slapping each other with their flippers and biting. The others higher up the slope took no notice, indeed one great beast lay completely comatose on his back. Further on a similar sized herd also frolicked amongst the surf and slept. Tillie and Raven were intensely interested but we kept them well back at the viewing platform provided although they could still hear the continuous moaning and slapping of the snoozing and fighting animals.

Crossing the dunes we descended from the viewing platform down some wooded steps onto a track leading back to the footpath and this is certainly easier going than the soft sandy beach, returning as the sun sank passed the pub and along the road which although noisier at least meant we did not have to lift the dogs over any field stiles.

The distance is difficult to judge, especially as I forgot my GPS , however we estimate a round trip of four miles, very well worth the effort.

T.E.D. the 2 campaigning greyhounds

2010-04-06T19:48:00.003+01:00

I am a great fan of the Life sized Greyhound crochet pattern from Leonora Conlon of Aerie Crafts and have made quite a few of them. Recently I have completed two rainbow coloured ones which were requests. They are both going to be called Ted short for Totally Exploited Dog and are going to two campaign group whose aim is to bring about the abolition of greyhound racing - Greyhound Action and my local group Action for Greyhounds UK. They will be used on fund raising stalls, events and festivals that are held throughout the year.

Here they were having a meeting before going their separate ways – Not sure what relevance Mr Toad’s presence was but he is looking pleased with himself!

Hereford Hot-pot (vegetarian)

2010-04-05T17:11:00.002+01:00

I made this in the week – lovely served with homemade bread.

1 dsp sunflower oil

3 medium leeks, washed and sliced

1 large onion, sliced

325g/12 oz swede, cubed

225g/8 oz carrots, sliced

25g/1 oz plain flour

550ml/1 pint dry cider

1 tbsp tomato puree

1 tbsp yeast extract

1 small dessert apple, cored and sliced

175g/ 6 oz pre cooked red lentils

450g/1 lb potatoes, parboiled for 3 minutes and sliced

75g/ 3 oz cheddar cheese, grated

Salt and pepper

Serves 4.

Pre heat the oven to 180c/350f/gas 4.

Heat the oil in a heavy-based flameproof casserole and sweat the leeks, onions, swede and carrots over a low heat, covered with a lid, for about 15 minutes until softened a little.

Meanwhile in a small saucepan, mix the flour to a paste with a little of the cider over a medium heat. Gradually add the rest of the cider, stirring. Mix in the tomato puree, yeast extract, salt and pepper.

Chop the apple and add it to the vegetables in the casserole together with the lentils, then pour the cider sauce over. Arrange the potato slices on top, put tiny dots of the butter over them and scatter the cheese over the top.

Cover and bake for 1½ hours. Uncover for the last 30 minutes of cooking time to allow the topping to brown.

If it looks like getting too dry when you remove the lid for the last half hour, carefully add a little water in between the layer of potato and the side of the pan.

Porn!……….Frogsporn!

2010-03-28T17:30:00.001+01:00

I bet that made you look twice!

Over the winter Nigel has been making me a pond which I hope will develop into a wildlife pond. I didn’t want an ornamental one with fountains and goldfish but a pond that can support frogs, toads, water snails etc. Obviously it is very new looking at the moment and will need ages to mature but so far I am pleased with it. Once the reeds grow up and the pond weeds establish it should start looking more natural. Not that we are short of water around here as our property is surrounded by river on three sides.

This morning whilst the dogs lounged in the sun in their baskets supervising, I planted a few seeds in pots in the greenhouse and sowed 2 rows of parsnips and a row carrots, we then decided to take the dogs for a walk in Weybourne Woods as we knew there is a pond there with a huge population of frogs.

When we got to the pond it was heaving with frogs having a huge amphibious orgy! We thought we were a few days too early but eventually spied some spawn in the reeds which we scooped up a couple of jam jars worth. We continued on our walk almost following the North Norfolk Steam Railway and the coast.

It was a lovely afternoon but quite chilly in the coastal breeze. Once home we placed the frog spawn in my new pond and put some wire over it as we have a huge population of grey herons here who would just enjoy a beakful of heron caviar! I can’t wait to see it develop into tadpoles over the next few weeks.

Spring has Sprung!

2010-03-22T17:47:00.001Z

It is official – Spring is here! At last we can put the long cold winter behind us and look forward to warmer days and lighter evenings. It was even warm enough the other day to go out without a coat on. One day last week I spent the day clearing up the garden, tidying away last years bedding plants (I am ashamed to say left all winter), sweeping up the remainder of the leaves which luckily for me I have a brush attachment on my mower which makes this job so easy, turning over the soil in the veg beds and generally just relishing being outside all day in the sunshine. Next job was to look through my seeds to see what I need to get – somehow I have ended up with 3 packets of courgettes!

I can’t lay claim to the gorgeous crocus’s above – I snapped this photo outside someone’s door in Tideswell Derbyshire whilst out on a walk this weekend.

Thank you!

2010-02-28T15:50:00.001Z

It would be very remiss of me not to forget to thank Em over at Pearlesyarn for the lovely parcel of donated yarn she sent me in the week. I am sure I can make ‘greyt’ use of it in producing some items to sell for fund raising for greyhounds. I have just now got to think what to make with it – Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated.

If you have a spare moment, why not visit Em over at Pealesyarn, where she describes herself as a hen keeping, veggie growing, knitter who likes to cook and take pictures.

Greyhounds Galore again!

2010-02-27T17:26:00.001Z

I have been busy making greyhounds for fund raising again. Two life sized ones in crochet and some small knitted pups. Raven our new foster was very interested but Tillie has seen them come and go before..

I have finished another large greyhound but it just needs putting together and I have already started another one, a commission this time in rainbow colours.

New Foster Raven

2010-02-17T08:13:00.001Z

Sorry for the infrequency of postings lately, but I just haven’t felt up to being bright and chatty after losing Ali (thank you for all your kind words) and then last weekend I was hit by a nasty cold bug. Sore throat followed by 2 days of a very, very wet nose and constant sneezing, luckily now I am feeling better although I still have a fuggy head. It must have been bad as at the weekend when I had ample time to indulge and sit around just knitting or crocheting revelling in my germs guilt free I didn’t even feel like doing that – what a waste!

Anyway on to other news. A couple of weeks ago after only 4 days had elapsed after Rocky’s departure we welcomed Raven into our home. He is about 2, black with a slight white muzzle, white chest and little white on his feet. He was in a bad way, very thin, open wounds, broken tail, and with loads of pressure sores after lying on concrete. I can’t say too much way about where he his from at the moment as it looks likely that a cruelty & neglect case may follow. Even in this miserable state and being denied care and companionship he is such a gorgeous, friendly & trusting boy. Over the few days we have had him he has emerged from his ordeal a very lively, puppyish, inquisitive and very loving dog. He is trying to cram over 2 years of being unloved into the last 2 weeks as he loves to sit on your lap – at 32kgs no mean feat! All his open wounds have healed, his coat is beginning to grow back even with a shine and he sits for treats & his dinner.

The first two pictures are on the day we got him and the third picture is with Nigel who he idolizes after being with us a few days.

Sweet Dreams Ali

2010-02-09T19:59:00.001Z

It is with a very heavy heart this evening that I tell you that our lovely black and white puss Ali passed away this afternoon. He had been slowly going down hill for a few weeks and really looking his age which we estimate to be around 20. He came into our lives around about 1991 when I kept seeing him skulking around the garden but would never come near us. Eventually we were able to gain his trust and he made his home with us, Rocky our dog at that time and another puss called Jess. Sam who was nearly 3 by then wanted to name him Annie but it soon became apparent that Annie needed a more masculine name so sounding like Annie we chose Ali – Ali Cat. He was a really loving cat and in his younger days would go for a walk with us into the village, only going so far and then on our journey back would leap out at us unsuspecting to greet us with many miaows and then journey home with us. The last couple of years he lost his hearing and with this he became more vocal and as he couldn’t hear himself he thought neither could we so he upped his volume. We should have realised that his days were nearing an end as he became much quieter vocally in the last couple of weeks. We were home for lunch as usual today whereupon Ali was wandering around when he suddenly collapsed in the hall unable to get up. With a very leaden heart we took him to the vets where cuddling him close the vet quietly eased his passing.

He now lies in the garden under some trees where he used to love to lie in the dappled sunlight, close to his old friend Jess. Sweet dreams Ali Puss, we shall miss you xxxxx

Snow again!

2010-02-02T08:10:00.001Z

Last weekend on Saturday we woke up to some snow again. It has mostly gone now but is still hanging about in the cooler more sheltered parts of the garden.

Nigel’s boat is frozen in and stuck in it’s shed again so no rowing to work for him until the ice melts. The hut in the tree is Sam’s old tree house which I now use to store all my bee-keeping equipment in.

Sorry for the poor quality picture of the heron but we did take it through the kitchen window. The poor thing was stalking about trying to fish but to no avail. He had got his eye on the bird feeders but was too shy to have a go. I did throw some bread out to him but the gulls came down and stole it before he could get to it.

Good Luck Rocky!

2010-01-31T14:30:00.001Z

Yesterday saw us say goodbye to foster greyhound Rocky. We drove him to his new home on the beautiful Sandringham Estate. Sandringham is HRH The Queen’s Norfolk Country Residence. Rocky will be going to live in a cottage with one of the estate’s employees. We loaded the car with him, Tillie and his belongings and drove over to the other side of the county and met his new perspective owners on neutral ground to start with as they already have two terriers, Bradley and Dudley. The meeting with his two new chums went well so we went to his new home where eventually he will also get used to the two resident cats. In the kitchen next to a wood burning stove was a sofa ready and waiting. Incidentally the cottage where Rocky is now living was originally built in the grounds of Sandringham House as a summer house for Edward VII and his wife Alexandra but was allegedly used for ‘entertaining’ Edward’s many ‘lady’ friends!! After the handover I reluctantly said goodbye to Rocky after promising that we would have him to stay when his new owners go on holiday. I am sure he will settle in there well and have a glorious time with his new friends. I shall miss having him around after looking after him for the last 4 months. Good Luck Rocky!

Sunday

2010-01-24T20:13:00.001Z

As discussed in my previous post I am trying to up my exercise – not doing too badly once I can motivate myself. Since last posting I have done some cycling (on a stationary bike), 30 mins of walk, run, walk (knackering) and this morning we took the mutleys out for a 4 mile walk…….now if only I could resist that carrot cake I foolishly bought yesterday – but I am restricting myself to one slice a day.

After decluttering a bottom drawer the other night I came across this card someone sent me and had to chuckle.

I have a few finished items to show you:

The greyhound pups are a really quick knit but take me ages to put together. The fingerless mitts are super easy too, as usual Barbara has been helping with the knitting.

Some more Beatrix Potter characters sewn up by me for Barbara (but knitted by Barbara) – Jeremy Fisher and Tom Kitten. Sorry for the photos but there hasn’t been any good light for days for photography.

The other day Julia - aka hooliaknits contacted me via Ravelry, offering me some unused acrylic yarn to help with the knitted and crocheted items we make for fundraising for greyhound charities. I very gratefully accepted her generous offer and in the mail the other day came this huge pile.

The houndies and I would like to say a HUGE thank you to Julia for your kind thought and generosity, we can make greyt use of this!

2010 goals

2010-01-21T19:53:00.001Z

I have been reading lots of blogs lately where bloggers have published their goals for 2010, so not to be left out I have been thinking what my intentions for the New Year are going to be:

Number 1 Lose weight – I know this has got to be nearly everyone’s intentions and probably one of the hardest to keep, but I must lose my extra weight. Ideally I would like to lose 2 stone (28lbs, 13kgs) by the middle of the year.

Number 2 Exercise more – I mostly walk everywhere anyway – to work, walking the dogs etc but this is what I normally do so can’t really be exercise as such. I have a treadmill and exercise bike indoors which normally sits their unused and gathering dust but I am going to start using it again. I have made a start – last week I cycled for 2 lots of 30 minutes and this week so far I have used the treadmill for 30 minutes although I am still feeling the effect of that one in my biggeous gluteus maximus at the moment!

Number 3 Stop swearing so much! – This comes from the stress of running our own business along with my rapidly greying hair!

Number 4 Be more organised – some hope of that!

Number 5 Take more care with my appearance – I tend to just dress for comfort and practicality. Most days at work especially this time of year (spring cleaning) I am cleaning something or other involving cleaners and chemicals etc so I tend to wear scruffy clothes. I never ever wear makeup and my hair just needs some gel stuff rustled through it once a day. Oh I nearly forgot, my beauty regime consists of slapping some moisturising face cream on once a day! Hopefully this one will tie in with No 1 and No 2.

How do you think I will do? Watch this space to find out!!!

Chilly Christmas Collections

2010-01-12T23:05:00.001Z

The week leading up to Christmas saw Tillie, Rocky and myself help out Annie from Action for Greyhounds on a fundraising collection outside 2 big pet stores in Norwich. As everyone in the UK will know, that week was very cold due to the sudden cold snap we are currently still experiencing. We were set to do 4 days in total including Christmas Eve. One of the days I couldn’t manage as the night before coming back from one of the locations, my car was overheating and I had to call Nigel out to sort it out. Annie however braved the cold for the full 4 days. It was absolutely freezing standing out in the cold for 5-6 hours but well worth the effort as the good people of Norwich dug deep and donated approx £500 in total which was GREYT! The hounds were well wrapped up in their coats and snoods and Annie had built a kind of grotto for them complete with beds and hidden gas fire! Rocky did really well as this was his first meet & greet, he loved meeting all the new people, Tillie of course being an old hand at fund raising. You wouldn’t believe the amount of stuff people were buying for their pets, they were coming out of the store with armfuls of it.

The top 3 hounds are Tillie in the foreground with Rocky behind and the three legged Gemma (one of Annie’s 8 dogs). The second picture is Tillie again with Zonda in the foreground (another of Annie’s dogs). Tillie was being a right show off wearing her festive Chrimbo collar and tassel.

One sewn up, only another dozen to go!

2010-01-09T16:32:00.001Z

You may remember towards the end of last year I posted about Bags of bits which were knitted items from my friend Barbara who loves knitting but hats sewing up, well I have finally sewn up, stuffed and completed the first project – Tabitha Twitchet. I am not satisfied with the head and face, I think she has slightly porcine rather than feline features – I think it maybe the muzzle & the ears aren’t quite right. This toy is going back to Barbara as she wants to collect all the Beatrix Potter characters. in between she is still knitting for me though. I shall start putting together another one tonight, this time it is going to be Jeremy Fisher.

Talking of cats, I just thought I would post a pic of my own feline friend Ali. He is not as good looking as he used to be especially as the years and probably numerous fights have taken there toll. We estimate he must be at least 20 years old now as he turned up here at home as a stray in 1991 and he was fully grown then but not neutered. He is a very friendly but vocal cat more so now that he is totally deaf. He doesn’t go far now, just in the garden and sauntering down the drive to visit our neighbours but in his younger days he would follow me into the village and wait in various gardens until we returned and then jump out at us and then follow us home. Here he is as close to the fire as he can get!

Crafting4Greyhounds

Snowy Sunday

Doggy Cake Recipe

Raven’s 2nd Gotcha Day

Friday’s Fiver No 10

Busy needles

Tillie’s 5th Gotcha Day

Friday’s Fiver No 9

the origin of the lexus project

A winters walk from Felbrigg

Friday’s Fiver No 8

Friday’s Fiver No 7

Stop the re-opening of Coventry Greyhound Stadium

Friday’s Fiver No 6

In and around the Burnhams

Friday’s Fiver No 5

Have a Greyt Christmas!

Friday’s Fiver No 4

The year of the blanket

Seaside Sunday

Friday’s Fiver No 3

Blakeney

Friday’s Fiver No 2

Friday’s Fiver No. 1

About Little Hen Rescue

Snoods for greyhounds

Pet Bloggers Blog Hop

Pooches in the Peaks

Pattern Junkie

Autumn leaves

An afternoon out at the Seaside

Perfect Lady 2

Back again!

Garden Bargains

The Honey Flow

Colourful Cushion Cover

Visiting the seals 2011

Barmy about Bunting

The Canine Boomerang

Sunny Sunday

Halfway to Hexagon Heaven

Arrival of my new hens

Blossom Scarf

A Sunday Spring Walk

Mr Fox comes calling

Our first long walk of the year

Rainbow Circle Scarf

New Crochet Design Book

Coconut Macaroons

Coconut Macaroons Makes about 18 - 20

Back again with Blankies

Before Chrimbo

Greyhound Snoods

Greyhound Calendar

A week in the Derbyshire Snow

Raven ready for a cold spell

Crazy for Crochet

Week 7

Great balls of yarn

I am still here!

Bees

Cake vicar?

Summer colour

Norfolk Broads Holiday

Chicken coops and beehives

Exhausting work

9 miles from Aylsham to Wroxham

Raven update

Seeing the Seals at Horsey

T.E.D. the 2 campaigning greyhounds

Hereford Hot-pot (vegetarian)

Porn!……….Frogsporn!

Spring has Sprung!

Thank you!

Greyhounds Galore again!

New Foster Raven

Sweet Dreams Ali

Snow again!

Good Luck Rocky!

Sunday

Coconut Macaroons
Makes about 18 - 20