January Days

The January page in Edith Holden's Book -  The Nature Notes of an Edwardian Country Lady

January brings the snow
Makes our feet and fingers glow

so said Sara Coleridge in her Months of The Year poem  written in 1834 for children. We are more likely to get snow in January or February nowadays rather than December, and January is one of the wettest months of the year and often the coldest, this very old weather saying is usually right.

As the days lengthen so the cold strengthens 

 January is named after the Latin for door or opening , ianua, and Janus a Roman God with two faces, looking backwards and forwards.

I did the looking backwards bit on yesterdays post (and a HUGE thank you everyone for all the lovely supportive comments, it's  really good to know that people enjoy reading) so now I'm looking forward.
Of course lots of things will depend on Colin's health, how quickly will he recover from this treatment? and has it worked? But the year will march along regardless so I need to have plans and ideas.

The Garden:-
One of the things Col was able to do in November was to get the frame of a fruit cage sorted for the raspberry bed. The canes arrived two days after he went into hospital and I got them planted. They won't produce fruit this year but from 2019 onward we should have a good crop. The very cheap canes I got from Poundland and Wilkinsons before we moved  and the few that were here already should give us some to eat this year.
The new strawberry bed is looking healthy, I just need 5 more plants to fill it up. We might get a few gooseberries this year from the new bushes.
We now know that the pears don't keep - even in the freezer - they defrosted into a slimy mess -  we must start eating them sooner. The amount of cooking apples our tree produced didn't last us long so I shall be picking up cheap bags full when I see them at car boot sales this year.

I'll be growing much the same as last year in the vegetable beds and greenhouse and we have a couple of extra foot of space now some dahlia tubers have been moved. My tin is stocked with seed packets and I'm ready to go......

The House:-
 I hope we get round to swapping the massive deep roll-top, claw-footed bath to a normal bath with shower over. Then the random shower in the bedroom can be removed and bedroom redecorated from dull cinnamon to something much more cheerful.  Kitchen unit replacement will wait another year, there's only 1 missing drawer front and a few missing kick boards...... Everything is still use-able.

Crafting:-
I could say that this year I'll learn to crochet, to knit more than dishcloths and to rustle up quilts and clothes.........but I know myself by now and it won't happen! I'd rather be reading.
So I shall just make the years birthday cards from the stash and maybe get to use that willow kit I got from a boot-sale last summer.

That'll do for now. Back Tomorrow with Budget 2018
Sue

December 31st and Remembering 2017

I always did this on my old blog, the photos here are taken from the blog through the year, a little glimpse back.

We moved in on March 1st

"Look for the post box and turn up the lane, we're right at the end"

March 11th, Colin's 60th Birthday Get Together and the last photo we have of Col's Dad who died in July, seen here with our youngest and Florence, she was a baby then, now 14 months old

After 6 weeks with a picnic stove and a microwave, I was glad to get my new LPG range installed

We have a good view of the sunsets here, across the open fields

The Mid Suffolk Light Railway Museum,  half a mile just across the fields from us or 3 miles by road.

Pyramidal Orchids on our meadow

June and a sunny Fathers day at the beach hut.Colin with Jacob and then with Florence

Polly quickly settled into her third home and likes the wood-burner

Being able to join a new WI and re-joining a WI that I last went to in the 1980s -  has been  good.

That strange weather phenomenon when the sky turned red with dust from the Sahara high in the atmosphere

A few of this years paper-craft cards.

Getting all the trees planted was Col's dream and he succeeded

Seasonal bits and bobs on the mantle-shelf

We've seen rather a lot of Addenbrookes hospital this year, but these mosaics are cheerful

Snow in early December brought all the birds to the feeders

So that was 2017. 10 months in our new home, another year of hospitals but with good months in between. Our Grandchildren have both gone from babies to small people and another on the way and we look forward to whatever life throws at us in 2018.

Thank you to everyone who's followed me from the old blog to the new and read the blog all through 2017, and for all the comments that make blogging a two way affair.

Have a good New Years Eve if you stay up to celebrate......... I shall be fast asleep I hope.

Back in 2018
Sue

December 30th and The Walk Down The Lane Again or Maybe Not

What you should see here is my December post with photos of the lane.................except the weather has been awful, so I haven't done it!

We had to go to Addenbrookes again yesterday.... second time in 3 days, this time for blood tests and to see one of the Post-Transplant team. Once again I drove there in pouring rain, parked in the multi-storey car park, pushed Col in a wheelchair round the hospital and sat about and waited for an hour and a half. Drove back in pouring rain stopping for shopping and diesel on the way.

When we got home the wind was howling round the house and still raining so instead of walking down the lane taking photos I unloaded the car and then lit the wood burner. It was so windy the garage door wouldn't stay open - had to prop it up with a bit of wood to get the car away.

Didn't venture out again.

Instead of photos of the wet soggy trees in the wet soggy lane here's how the jigsaw puzzle is looking

after about 12  days, just the sky left to do - as always.

Just added the last "Book Read" to my list - 112 read this year! The list is on the separate page under the header photo.

Back Tomorrow
Sue