The Missing Crocus Bulbs

Yesterday, we took a trip out to buy some bulbs for Mum. She wants to fill her dingle - the little valley at the bottom of the farm drive - with crocuses. We bought 300 bulbs in mega packets, which should cover the dingle, ready for the spring.

I left them at Mum's on an old sofa that's been used in various capacities for the past 50 years. Mum tells me my Grandma bought it in 1957. It coverts to a sofa bed, so it has somehow avoided being thrown out, despite getting tattier every year. Anyway, it sits in the veranda and provides somewhere for the dog to lie when he comes in covered in mud.

So, this morning, Mum called me to say that she got up to find all 300 bulbs had gone. Just the packaging and crocus flakes were left. She had to go and buy some more before we could come and help put them in.

By the time we arrived at Mum's, she's bought another 300 bulbs, but we still couldn't work out what had happened to the previous 300. There was little evidence of the bulbs having been eaten. It looked like they had been stolen by something small and furry.

There was nowhere for a mouse to get in. The cat flap is locked. The mouse must be inside. We took the sofa apart. There, along the back of the top 'mattress' were two tell-tale holes. The whole thing rattled with the sound of falling bulbs when we shook it.

We took it outside and jiggled it and wriggled it and shook it and pummelled it. Crocuses kept falling out, along with mouse nesting and for some reason an empty snail shell. Eventually, we took a pair of scissors to it and chopped it up to get the rest out. We didn't find the mouse, but we did find most of our bulbs.

Now we have 600 to plant. That's going to take a while! The kids decided to write the name of Mum's farm in bulbs, so Mum pegged it out.

I took the remains of the mousy sofa mattress and gave it a decent cremation. Thankfully, they didn't do fire retardant in 1957.

The Autumn Garden

How gorgeous is Queenswood Country Park at this time of year? I just LOVE the colours.

Lakeland

Donny and I had a weekend away in the Lake District. It was great to have some one to one time together. You can read the blog and see the photos in my travel blog.

The Romans' Day Out

Eartha's class teacher asked me to help out with their school trip. They have been studying the Romans so they were going to see some Roman artifacts and learn a bit more about the Roman way of life. We were instructed to dress up in togas for the day and most of the children made an excellent effort. The adults didn't do too badly either.

The coach trip was only half an hour. The kids were ever so excited. We split them into two groups. The one group had an interactive talk about pottery and things you can dig up. The other group got to excavate some trays of sand and record the findings of their 'archaeological dig'.

We watched the resident glass-blower, Charlotte, make a green swirly-patterned goblet in a matter of minutes.

Then one of the kids had a go at blowing glass, to amusing effect. The molten glass rapidly slid towards the floor, leaving a cooling glass structure in the shape of a golf club.

After lunch and a visit to the gift shop, the children played some traditional games, like hop-scotch and got to cut out and decorate a picture of a Roman urn. Time was a bit tight, so we hopped back on the bus to get back to school just in time for the end of the school day.

Harvest Festival

This is notably my 100th post, something I wouldn't have realised, but for the counter on the dashboard. I must have started this blog about a year ago (maybe November?? I can't remember), so I'm averaging about one posting every couple of days, if you take the six weeks when I was out of the country into account.

Is that good? I have no idea. How often does a 'normal' blogger post? How long do they make their posts? How long do they keep it up for? Months? Years? Just once and then get bored? Has anyone done a study on this? I need answers. Show me those statistics.

So today was the Harvest Festival Assembly at my kids' school. The first three classes did theirs first. They did some poems and little prayers and showed the harvest mice they'd baked out of bread rolls. Saskia and Eartha both read something out.

The classes sang a couple of songs. My friend Sue's little boy, James, is in the reception class. He's only four. He was there on the front row, looking smart in his uniform. During the songs he resolutely stood there with his fingers in his ears whilst his classmates sang cheerfully about the Harvest Moon.

Then there was a produce sale, with proceeds going to Save the Children. I ended up with a butternut squash, three potatoes and a swede, as you do. Mum took some onions and a pineapple. One parent asked if there was anything apart from vegetables for sale. Someone gently pointed out that it was the harvest festival, so vegetables are to be expected.

Then it was time for the older kids to perform. They did a short musical play. Donny was one of the dancers, and she did it very well. Mel didn't join in much with the singing. I like to think it was because he doesn't know the words and can't read well enough to follow them on the screen, but I suspect it was because he was less than enthusiastic about being one of the chorus. He did do the actions to the songs. I guess he's not a singer like his sisters. Maybe he had something else on his mind.

They were all great. The performances get better each year. It is so nice to be able to get to see them without having to beg for cover from work. That is definitely one advantage of being unemployed.

Whalebone

The village hall puts on a range of entertainment throughout the year. It's mostly low key stuff - yoga classes and the annual gardening show. They have a toddler's play group and there's a pantomime most years. This weekend a folksy, rootsy band called Whalebone was playing. I wandered across in a thick jumper and hat and met Elaine and her three boys there.

The band is made up of two guitarists and a fiddle player. They don't sing, they just play infectious reels and jigs. The hall was decked out with tea lights, giving a subdued cosy atmosphere. Very soon, I was tapping along in time to the bouncing shanties. They were very good, and as always with live music, I wonder why I don't get out to see more of it, more often.

Spiders of the Wyre

Autumn is here. I walked the dog this morning and took a few photos in the forest.