Gardeners delight

Gardeners delight

charity family garden growing flowers

Hello. And what a lovely morning it is, I shall be off outside soon. I arrived yesterday at Auntie Pat's for her plant sale, it was in full swing, plenty of people about. She is a member of the local Soroptimist group, and the plant sale was to raise funds to help women all over the world. Auntie Lyn (pale blue jacket), was busy flogging the potted plants. She ducked down when she saw my camera, but I got her. Lyn has been a keen gardener for the whole of her life, and worked in a Garden Centre. She knows a lot about plants. 

Plenty to choose from, all donated by the ladies of the group.

I made my choice, I shall be planting them in my beds this afternoon.

Raffle prizes all donated. Boohoo, I didn't win, but I was a bit cheeky and bought the cushion you can see, a cat wearing a pink dress, before they had the draw. It's for a special friend.  

Cakes to buy. There were more cakes in the kitchen but I forgot to take a photo of those.

Pat's late husband, my Uncle Stan, was immensely proud of his garden, and Pat has worked hard to keep it in pristine condition. He would be proud of her. Take a stroll through the beautiful colours.

Auntie Pat, far left, taking a break with two friends. The event was a great success, lots of money raised for a good cause, and a lovely social occasion for getting together with friends.

I had a couple of hours visiting my sister afterwards, and timed my journey home to pop into Tesco at 7pm. Sadly the yellow stickers had not had their final markdown, and I decided not to hang around and wait because everything looked a bit wilted, and I wanted to get home. I still spent £30 on food I needed, and filled my car up as well.

It was a smashing day. The weather is predicted to be sunny for the next four weeks, so it looks like I might be having a few trips out.

Today is the last day of the month, so this is a call out to the Walking Group. I hope you are keeping up with our 1000 mile challenge. Please come back tomorrow and let us know how you are doing. Don't be sad if you haven't done as much as you would like, every step you take is one in the right direction. I know some of you are steaming ahead, so lets get those numbers logged on tomorrow's post.

Thanks for popping in, enjoy your Bank Holiday weekend. We'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip

Visit to a hedgehog hospital

Visit to a hedgehog hospital

charity

Hello. Here is the hedgehog story I mentioned. Last week I went with Helen to a local hedgehog rescue, she is writing an article about it for her village newsletter. It is in the countryside surrounded by woods and fields, a lovely location, and run by Frank and Veronica from their bungalow, with their volunteers to help out as well. Their passion began when they took in three baby hedgehogs and contacted Elaine Drewry from Hedgehog Care, who explained how to look after them. They had to be fed every three hours.

Frank and veronica moved to Appleby and kept in touch with Elaine. Their dedication and passion for hedgehogs continued to grow. They now have two intensive care wards, which are the kitchen and spare room, an A & E department which is a shed donated to them, and the outdoor facility is where the hedgehogs go when they have made good progress to get them ready for release. 

While we were there a hedgehog was delivered to the rescue. It had been found wandering on a busy road. They are not supposed to be out during daylight hours, so if any are found it means they are often poorly and need taking care of. If you find one check with your local vet for the best place to take it.  

This one was given the name Alan, it's a boy, he was weighed, and put into a clean pen with bedding and covered up. Food and water was put in for him.

Frank showed us around, first the A & E department. The patients in here are checked regularly.

 This one had a lot of poo stuck to it, Frank carefully removed it with a piece of kitchen towel.

The storage shed.

New hutches which are full with residents at the moment, all asleep.

 The outdoor area where the hedgehogs get acclimatized to the weather before being released. There are several different sites around the country which are used. After being transported in cat boxes to the location they are put into the wood during daylight hours and later on when it is dark food is put outside and the doors opened. Hedgehogs come out, eat, then hopefully wander off into the woods and freedom.

Alan in the kitchen has come out from his under his blanket to explore and is curious about what is in his food dish.

The hospital is named after Andrew, a hedgehog which was found on a hot summers day in a car park. After a check up by a vet, he was found to be blind, and so will live out his life in care at the hospital.

Here is a link to the web site. Frank and Veronica are coming towards the time they want to retire, Frank is nearly eighty. They have plans for a brand new hospital and are working towards the time when they can hand it over to the next generation of carers. Frank is keen to keep it going, and to be honest I can see him always looking after hedgehogs, even on a foster carer basis.

This is one charity that I am going to keep my eye on, and help in any small way I can.

Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip

Sewing, cheap food and collecting stuff.

Sewing, cheap food and collecting stuff.

charity dogs free fundraising make a bag recycle sewing

Hello. I did my three miles earlier today while it was still light. It was surprisingly warm, I needn't have put a jacket on. I'm up to 148 miles for Jan and Feb, but I know there are people who have done more than that. Keep going peeps, only another ten months and ten days left to do. 

I am getting a reputation in this village as someone who is collecting fabric for crafting purposes. A friend of a friend rang last week and offered me a bag of mixed pieces that she didn't think she would ever use. I went and picked them up. There are some nice colours. I promised her I would make her a shopping bag.

Today I delivered two shopping bags, but she wasn't in, so I folded them carefully and pushed them through the letter box. I hope she enjoyed the surprise.

I called in at the Cash and Carry on my way to town yesterday, I haven't been for ages, so I wondered if they had anything new in. I found these porridge in a mug sachet's, £1 for three boxes, 15 sachet's. Not quite as cheap as a 1kg bag of oats at 75p, but I thought they would make a nice change because they are apple and blueberry flavour.  They have a best before date of 27th Feb, which is fine.  

I already have some of these Vegetable Granules in my cupboard, they are handy to add to all sorts of meals. I picked up five more jars at 20p each. They were out of date in April 2015, I don't care.

These noodles were priced up at four bags for £1. There are four separate servings in one bag. I thought four bags would be too much for me, so I bought one bag for 30p. That's 7.5p per serving. The date is best before today, 20th Feb 2016.

And my fourth bargain is a 500grm slab of mature cheese, priced at £2.50. I usually buy a 350 grm pack of cheese for £1.59 from Aldi. The date on this is 25th March 2016, so well in date. I can't find this on the Tesco web site, but they have Cathedral which is similar at £3.50 for 350grm, so I think this was a good buy.

As well as people wanting to give me fabric, it seems I am also the drop off point for friends who are de cluttering. They know that I help with the fundraising for the cat rescue, and anything we can't sell I will take to the charity shop. A bin bag of stuff was delivered to me today, some of which we can sell. Set of new glasses in a box, white ceramic bowls, a money box, and other bits and bobs.  

Rocky wasn't too impressed with his Santa's hat which was in a bag of Christmas decorations, ha ha. 

I think it's time we went out for a last bimble before bed time, so I'll say cheerio for now. Thanks for popping in. Catch you soon. Toodle pip.