Monday, December 1, 2014

a bit a this and a bit a that

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Happy new week, month and season you guys!!

There's a crazy amount of stuff going on here at Foxs Lane at the moment, so I think that instead of inundating you with photos and stories right now, I'll try and get a few blog posts up and out there this week. Try being the operative word of course, but my intentions are definitely good and that's what really matters right? I hope so anyway.

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So let's get to it.

Lately, I've been;

HARVESTING - and double podding and smashing on toast, frying into felafel and making fritters, out of broad beans. There are still heaps left on the plants but we probably should get to freezing some to eat later and drying some to plant later, soon.

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READING - and adoring The Poisonwood Bible. I always thought I had read it before, but now that I am reading it I don't think I ever have. I'm not really reading a lot these days, eight or ten pages at night in bed before I can't keep my eyes open, but part of me feels happy because that will make it last longer. What an incredible piece of writing.

And I do have to mention that although I was excited to go back to a real paper book after my first on the Kindle, I do miss the back-light and the lack of weight. But I can read in the bath and that is a total winner in my book. Ha!

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LOVING - our kitchen garden. The smells and sights and flavours of late spring/early summer are just delicious. Some evenings after dinner I pop out into the garden with no other purpose but to walk from bed to bed admiring the new growth. I have been known to compliment certain plants on their daily developments too. Such a luscious joy is the garden at this time of the year when the days are warm and long and there is enough water to keep things green.

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KNITTING - the same pair of socks. There's not much sitting on my bum knitting time these busy days.

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PLANTING - so many seeds in trays, seedlings in the garden and also this new market garden up near the house.

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BUYING - other people's yarn on buy/swap/sell sites. How gorgeous will these guys be as socks and then in my sock left-over blanket.

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STICKING - and swapping and chatting about stickers.

Maureen from Pipsticks runs a sticker subscription club and sent us a couple of packets to play with and we're having so much fun with them.

As soon as they got over the excitement of getting envelopes filled with stickers in the post, my girls spent ages examining each sheet, picking favourites, swapping them, sticking them on their own drawings and then organising them into collections.

There's something so simple and easy and fun about stickers. Stickers encourage kids and their parents to be creative. Stickers are great things to collect. An envelope of stickers enables a Mum to make dinner in peace. AND stickers totally take me back to my childhood and my carefully curated boxed collection of scratch and sniff, puffy, sparkly, Hello Kitty and hologram stickers.

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WATCHING things grow. Grass, the fruit on the trees, the baby birds, the veggies in the garden and our own children. Pepper's tee-shirts barely cover her tummy these days, Jazzy is growing out of her shoes once a month and Indi started year nine today. Year NINE!!!!! It's all happening so quickly at the moment I sometimes struggle to keep up.

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RELISHING - togetherness. I don't know how long this happy to hang out together stage will last, so I'm noticing and appreciating every second while it still does. Sisters are the best!




LISTENING - to our Indi's new song she recorded with her music teacher Geoffrey Williams.


So that's me mostly caught up, how about you?
What're you harvesting, reading, loving, knitting, planting, buying, sticking, watching, relishing and listening to?

I hope you find exactly what you've been looking for.

Lots a love,

Kate xx

25 comments:

  1. I really love your blog and your updates! One day, when I'm owning my own house and garden, I hope to have some fruit and vegetable plants there as well! Everything looks so beautiful, so green and alive and YUMMY! :)
    Greetings from Austria
    Emm.A

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  2. The song sounds amazing. Your daughter certainly has talent!! Hoping to hear more from her! :)

    Also the yarn looks great - very soft and beautiful colours.

    Take care
    Anne
    http://crochetbetweentwoworlds.blogspot.de

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  3. Oh my. Wow. What an amazing voice :)

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  4. Love your veggie pics, especially with everything snow covered here. The yarn is beautiful.

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  5. Your blog is such a delightful place for me. Our weather is cold and quite dreary here today in the States (Arkansas to be exact), but you have given me much sunshine.

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  6. Love Indi's new recording. Her voice is so lovely!
    Andi xx

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  7. What a beautiful voice! You've got me craving broad beans too :)

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  8. Lovely update. Only on my first pair of socks but already considering possibilities fir a sock left-overs blanket. Happy, busy times x

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  9. Um... Indi sounds FANTASTIC! She has a touch of the Lisa Mitchells about her. So good. You must be so proud, and she must have a great music teacher!
    Those broad beans look great. I buy them frozen, so I'm very jealous of your garden!

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  10. I have read The Poisonwood Bible twice - it is a fantastic book! I was amazed at how it was written, with the various voices that are so different from each other.

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  11. That Indi! When can I buy her first EP ;)

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  12. Indi's song is absolutely fantastic, seriously, nicest song I've heard in a long while. So much talent.

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  13. LOVE LOVE LOVE indi's song!!! Congratulations chickie....keep up the good work. Can't wait to hear more.

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  14. You have an amazing place - and I always love seeing what you're girls are up to. This update has taken me on a little vicarious trip down memory lane.

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  15. Plenty going on here too, but things look good at your place. Keep going, it's all good, right?

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  16. i love seeing bits and pieces of your family farm! We spent our Thanksgiving holiday with my husband's uncle in Missouri & they have a farm much like yours (only here in the states!) they have bee's, vegetable gardens, chickens, and cattle. It really got my heart glowing for that sustainable way of life, so fingers crossed that we will be able to start our own little piece of heaven within the next few years. Indi's song is AMAZING, there is something hypnotic to her voice that pulls you in. I can't believe she is only 9 and can sing like that! Your socks look lovely, I'd like to start knitting again, but having a 2 year old running around makes ANY spare time precious for thinks like laundry and bathing =)

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  17. Lovely catch up... I adore the green socks you are knitting - those colours are so luscious! We have started harvesting the first of delish green beans, I finished attaching the pom poms to my knitted cardy, and we've been listening to lots of Angus & Julia Stone lately :-)

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  18. dear kate, typing here while listening to indi. looking through your photos (gorgeous) makes me have tears in my eyes {she's incredible}. i want to comment on each and every photo, i love that sweet pup in the beginning, your gorgeous gardens and girls, your knitting {and plans} and that book {LOVED}. oh dear i love it all, but mostly the relishing togetherness. you have cultivated this in your girls, and i think it is something they will always come back too {from my experience with my five grown fledglings} sigh. thank you for sharing. xxx

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  19. Love you and your bits of this and that xxx

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  20. Kate, Kindle's are the BEST bath-readers! Just pop that sucker in a ziplock bag, and you're good to go again!

    I never thought that I'd enjoy an e-reader as much as paper books, but my Kindle is probably my favourite thing in the world. It's not what I'd grab if the house was burning down, but it spends most of the time in my hand, propped up on the sink, or tucked on the end of the ironing board!

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  21. Although there's no much sitting, I do like the socks!

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  22. The warm color of the sock yarn on your needles glows. Very beautiful.

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  23. I love Barbara Kingsolver! The Poisonwood Bible is my favorite by her but I also love Small Wonder, Flight Behavior, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by her. She is such a fantastic writer!

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Thanks so much for stopping by...

I do read every single comment you leave and appreciate it very much, but I should let you know that I can be a wee bit on the useless side when replying to comments, that's just me, everyday life sometimes gets in the way....so I'll apologise now, just in case.

Kate XX

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