Catching up...

Well it has been a while then hasn't it.

I really hadn't realised how long it has been until I sat down the other day and found a comment in my inbox.

There are a few reasons why it has been so long, much has been happening up at Broccoli acres (acres! I wish but Broccoli Square Feet just doesn't have that snap).

Summer was blighted with the ultimate failing of the old mac.  It was second hand, quite old and not very well. I had brought it back from the brink once with some cunningness on my part that was almost weasel like, but this one was beyond me. So that glorious fleabay came up trumps again with a cheap laptop until we can afford a grown up mac again. They do hold their value sadly.

Getting back on line there was a lot to sort out with one thing and another and also I wanted to get a couple of designs sorted out for the t shirt thing.

Then the was the recent addition to the collective and the promotion for m'Lady.

Now as a species we are particularly blinkered, we tend not to notice things. This isn't a criticism as it comes to us all. How many of you come here regularly? How many of you noticed a change a few months ago?

Anyone? If not go and have a look at the top of the page, I'll be here waiting for you...


...right welcome back.

So we got a kitten, and as soon as I can dig out a piccy of her I will pop it up for you. Her name is Willow which is a common name around these parts, wasn't copying Murphy honest! No her name comes from the tree which provides me with the raw material to weave things.

The thing I wove was quite special, did you notice the other bit? Is anyone sat there thinking what is he blathering on about? I wove an engagement ring so m'Lady is now the Fiancee. It was about time, the Daughter had been asking for months, and even a few friends were questioning me. As it happens I had also been thinking about it but trying to find the way to do it wasn't easy.

We had a pretty special first date, we met online got chatting, got on and arranged to meet. The day was capped off with a kiss on top of Lincoln Castle as a thunderstorm rumbled in from the north. Pretty special like I said.

The trouble I had is we aren't often apart. We aren't really go outy people, we tend to like sitting at home and watching a film or two. We also work at the same place so I couldn't easily slip away without being undetected. I also had a few ideas of what I wanted to do but orchestrating it wasn't going to be easy.

However then I got my chance unexpectedly, a friend of a friend had some kittens to give away. they had got rid of all but two of them, and then gave these two to my friend saying 'You'll know someone who will want one.' They kept one and the other was up for grabs. At the same time m'Lady was going up to Woolfest at the weekend (this puts us back in late June), which gave me an opening and ideas formed.

I just had to get a kitten home get all the necessary paraphernalia and sort a ring in less than 10 hours!

Easy.

In the evening, cuppa finished and mother in law to be cleared out, it was a simple matter of dropping the little fuzzball in m'Lady's lap with the ring tied round her neck and a simple note saying will you marry him. Had to clarify just in case she thought the kitten was proposing, you know how it is. Also I figured it would be really hard for her to say no if I made the kitten part of the deal! Clever I am see.

So that was the big bit. There has been a lot of planning after that, which throws me a problem. Weddings by their nature these days are hideously wasteful expensive affairs. Possible the only thing more wasteful and expensive is a baby. So how to have a wedding that fits in with our low impact ideals?

Well that one is going to be the subject of a future blog when we have a few things sorted, it will also explain further reasons for absence.

As will a further post about the garden.

Long term readers will have noticed that there has been no updating about the harvest this year, basically because there hasn't been one. I lost my way at the beginning of the year, one or two things then went wrong and I never really got into it again. However the last month has seen some major progress along these lines and again that will be an upcoming blog.

So peeps, thanks for hanging around, those who have. That is a mini catch up and there is more to come.

One last note, we managed to hold of till November with the heating this year. Quite chuffed although it is on now as you should never be able to see your breathe inside a house! Also we have a real problem of acclimatisation. That is m'Lady and I are both naturally warm people so we tolerate the cold really well. Last year the heating only came on if the house was below 15 degrees unless we had guests or the Daughter who is a bit of a wuss. This means that when it gets warmer than about 17 degrees we suffer quite quickly with over heating. This year I have decided that I don't want to spend mos of the year uncomfortably warm so the winter heating is not going to get us to a point where that is likely.

In a few years the Daughter will be old enough to be told, tough put a jumper on!

TTFN

DtB