Tagged! Help!

Linda has tagged me, bless her heart!!!

Actually, Linda, I have been tagged before, several months ago and am not sure if I can think of 7 new things to say about myself! Here goes, some readers might find what follows disturbing/boring/amusing/scary/stimulating/interesting/informative/deadly . . . . (Can't find pix for all of them)

1. One of my grandfathers was a bigamist

2. I love Tesco - well, for the first half hour in the store anyway.

3. Every time I go to a beach or shoreline I pick up shells and pebbles, and when we moved I brought several icecream tubs full of them with me! I have now made a vow to myself only to pick up very small ones, not bigger than 1/2". (The Quilters' Guild badge gives a guide to size!)

4. We've always grown our own tomatoes and they are so much nicer than shop bought ones I don't bother to eat them the rest of the year. This year because of moving house we couldn't grow any, but in the garden here we found a very late stray. Its been in the greenhouse and now we have taken it indoors! Its a good healthy plant and has some flowers, but it will be extraordinary if any tomatoes do grow.
5. One of my favourite arty activities is printing (aka stamping, when did we start calling it that? is there any difference?), and I just did these papers with one real beech leaf and a block made from a polysomething meat tray:6. Usually I work in colours, strong and bright ones, but just to show I'm capable of doing pale - two crazy cushions in whites and creams which we need now we have a terra cotta coloured sofa. (That's 2 facts in one, the pales and the sofa! Buy one get one free, see Tesco above.)7. And last but not least, I am a woman of simple pleasures (see Tesco again) and for ages now I have wanted a humble spider plant. Found this on a sales table at church recently, so now I am happy. (OOps, more stones.)Apologies, but I don't think I can cope with tagging anyone else, am not sure who to ask. Well, I have done half the task.

Tagged - last two

6. I am fascinated by rooftops and chimneys . . . . . . . especially if they have birds sitting on them. Herring gulls on a roof in Scotland.

7. We like having holidays in self-catering cottages. I don't find cooking that thrilling, but using other people's kitchens and things makes it more interesting for some reason! This was the latest cottage, at Dunnet Head, the most northerly point of Scotland without taking to a boat . . .. . . and this is the view from that conservatory. Some days there were baby bunnies playing around the bushes!

. . . and another . .

6. I've had a bit of a thing this year or so about growing trees. Last autumn we collected seeds and put them in pots. And some of them have been growing - here's a horse chestnut and some oak trees! When we came to live here my Mum was with us and she brought along a small chestnut tree growing in a pot. Rather foolishly perhaps we planted it in the garden, then after a bit realised it was going to get too big and we'd have to cut it down. We decided to leave it till it had produced some conkers of its own, and then to grow trees from them. It produced its first viable conkers last year, and now 3 or 4 are growing, and yes, sadly the tree has been cut down.

And again . . .

[I'm doing these one at a time because our pc is being VERY temperamental at the moment and I don't want to lose a long post]

5. This is our 38' long narrowboat Lyme Lady. She's 30 years old, wooden top, steel hull, just right for two people for holidays, and for taking out groups of friends for day trips. We've had her for 12 years and now have to sell her because there are no canals anywhere near our new home in Poole and we can't afford to keep her in a marina or on public moorings. She has been moored at the end of our garden, for which there is a cheaper rate. She fits very well with not liking water that moves, because canals don't flow like rivers do! She has a very nice stern apparently, which has been much admired.

Tagged continued

4. I had a phase several years ago of teaching workshops on how to use oilbars - Markal paintsticks. I went the rounds of a few groups, then interest waned. Then I was asked to demonstrate with them at the Quilters' Guild AGM when it was in Llandudno. Then silence again. This ws one of my samples right at the start - calico coloured using a stencil, wadding and backing, and some machine embroidering. He's been pinned on my wall for ages and I've just taken him down to pack. I think he's rather cute. There's a crab somewhere too. I've a lot of oilbars still around. Anyone fancy a workshop to try them out?

Tag response part 1 . . .

. . . a bit belatedly: 1. I love the sea, not being on it, but by it, just watching it. When our kids were growing up and we lived in Poole (second largest natural harbour in the world) DH and his Dad decided to buy a boat, not your plushy yacht or speedboat, but a modest half cabin, outboard motor job. I thought what a great idea, until I came to ride in it. Then I was nervous and didn't really enjoy our trips out. When we started having holidays on canals I realsied what the trouble was - I don't like being on water that moves!

2. I have 4 daughters, 6 grandchildren - 5 girls, 1 boy, and a 7th on the way who is also a girl. Their parents are not keen on having clear images of them put on the internet, so I've hunted up an unclear one of some of them. We don't see them often as we live in the middle, 250 miles from one lot and 300 from the other. So here are some contented looking daughters and everyone watching salmon leap, on the grand family holiday we all had in Scotland last August.

3. I love flowers, and when these meconopsis / himalayan poppies flowered last yearI was unreasonably happy. We bought 4 plants in pots, put them in the garden and I watched them anxiously for months, getting mad with the slugs. All 4 flowered beautifully. This year only one has grown! But we are moving away anyhow.

I'm going to stop now as blogger is getting unhappy - I can't lose this post, all this effort! Part 2 next time, Dy.

Tags and Scotland

Dy has tagged me - I'm not sure what that means!! I think, is it I'm being asked to say , is it 7, things about myself? That seems to be what Dy has done when she was tagged. Well, I don't mind doing that, but have to think about it a bit first! And find some pix to go with it all. Wait on.

Wild skies above Scotland on Saturday, coming south from Inverness on the A9 - wait on for that that, too, husband is making noises that sound like its time for lunch.