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lulu33

By lulu33

28 comments


Hello everybody, hope this finds you well and your gardens growing more and more beautiful as we move deeper into summer. It’s been over a year I think since last I blogged or posted pics! For those who know me, all is well at the cottage on the stud farm, the girls Prudence, Jazz and Slugpuppy our three English Pointers continue to bring us joy and lots of giggles…

Sluggy has a new friend, a beagle pup called Zena. She also has a new best friend, Cilla the Bad Bassett!!!


Love that photo of Cilla, she is hysterical. I have to remember if she and her friends come over NEVER to leave food unattended. Although Cilla has short legs, she is incredibly long when standing on her tippy toes using her chin to balance and stretching her long nose towards the Sunday roast! Bless all our animals….Millie puss is well too!

Local wildlife has been keeping me busy, I still enjoy my wildlife camera and even though I have been lax about putting it out the past few weeks, mainly due to huge excitement whilst waiting to see what I’ve captured, only to find that I have the back end of a deer or the nose of a fox! I have managed to put some into print in card form which I take to market along with my mosaics.


Hope you can get the gist of some of the photos on the cards, much easier to show them all together!

As for the garden, it’s looking great now, aquilegias abound everywhere, the clams are flowering, am waiting patiently on Prince Charles, a new edition this year to go over the beautiful arch my husband bought me for my 50th birthday last year.

Barbara Dibley looking wonderful. I also found Clematis Natasha, one of my very favourites but as yet haven’t taken a photo! I would be inclined to rush out now and take the photo but am grounded! On Friday I was scuppered by a snail!! Really scuppered..I stepped on one (it squished and died) but the shell cut my foot leading to infection and having to take horrid penicillin. Leading to an old May 2nd wound, (A horse stood up on my foot) to hurting again. It hurts to walk, hobble, drive and garden! So here I am at my computer!


Here, a pic of said mare and foal!

And so, back to the garden…A couple of years ago a few GoY friends came to visit….we planted one Bamboo which turned into a bamboo grove and which now has a pond sunk into one side of it, an arch and a bog garden. The reason for a bog garden being that I adore Lobelias and each year the slugs and snails get to them and munch them completely away! So I dug a hole, lined it, filled it with earth and gravel. Put an edging around it with copper tape and then a circle of soot! I still check each time it rains that no mollusc has dared to enter my ring of protection! I have planted Trollius ‘Golden Queen’ which is in flower now and looks superb..Planted also 3 small Bull rushes Typha Minima, 1 Mysotis Scorpiodes, 2 Houttuynia cordite ‘Chameleon’ which I might regret as I know they spread! 3 Lobelia Fan Scarlet. 1 Lythrum salicaria and 1 each of Lobelia vedrariensis and cardinals.

Here’s the stunning ‘Golden Queen’ aptly named I think!

Here’s the bog with it’s snail ring of fire!

Saxefrage, beautiful and abundant as always

Here a device apparently enabling bees to drink safely, I have yet to see a bee obliging only the dog!

Loving this, the bedroom early morning view of the bamboo grove which makes me smile each day.

Brian on Goy gifted me this beautiful Peony, I relish her when she flowers…thank you Brian!

Adore this daff, now over but worth a pic…can’t remember which bulb it was!

and just for fun, funky easter eggs to go with our BBQ around the fire pit! One way to use up food colouring which has been hanging around the cupboard for some years!

Summer is getting very busy indeed making mosaics and keeping up with the gardening! I have been taking the art to a stall in Cirencester every Thursday and some Saturdays. I never planned to become an artist, it’s fun, rewarding and hard work when I have a few sales and need to replenish my stock whilst keeping true to my art! Thank goodness I now have the cards alongside giving vent to my love of garden, flowers, nature and photography!

This little dragonfly winged it’s way to Texas!

The hare went to market at the start of Cirencester’s Festival of the Hare and sold pretty quick!

And this mosaic on slate because I want to make some garden proof is called ‘conversation with a Goldfish!’

So phew, that’s my news! I had forgotten how long it can take to write a blog!
It’s raining cats and dogs outside today nearly 20mm in 36 hours!

Love to all old mates on Goy and hello to new ones. x Lulu
ps did find that photo of Natasha!

More blog posts by lulu33

Previous post: Hello and garden update



Comments

 

ps! Sorry if I'm not dropping in on blogs/photos at the moment….Repetative strain syndrome due to too much working on computer!

23 May, 2014

 

How lovely to see you have returned, Lulu....one of my "old" (taken in the best possible way!!) GOY friends.Often wondered where you were.Great art work as usual.ljx

23 May, 2014

 

Hi again, Lulu. Have just 'spoken' to you on Mama Fox picture, if that makes sense. I asked about all the things you've featured in this lovely blog. I LOVE your bog garden idea and am wondering if I could create something similar. It's lovely to see the bamboo grove again and renew acquaintance with old friends and new from the animal world. Your cards look wonderful, as do the mosaics - as ever. Not surprising that the hare was so quickly snapped up at the festival. I love the conversation with a goldfish too; recalls something to mind but I can't quite pinpoint it, as yet. It will come to me. You are one very talented girl, Lulu. I hope you recover from your scuppering by snail and equine asap - sounds horribly painful! How is David's arm these days? Wonderful to see you again. X

23 May, 2014

 

Good to see you back Lulu !!!!, those cards and mosaics are stunning no wonder they sell so quickly, and your eggs what a great idea, your garden looks lovely as well.
Hope your foot gets better soon sounds nasty, those snails are out to get us now then not just our plants!!! ;-)

23 May, 2014

 

Hi Meadowland and Tuesdaybear….Good to 'see' you two too!
Oh my goodness yes, poor Davids arm! That was awful. It did eventually get better. At present he is joining me limping, he has a swollen knee due to too much cricket!!

I had so many photos I wanted to include in the blog but not the patience to do it!!

I will keep an eye on the bog garden, hope i've made it correctly and that the plants survive! Have so many ideas for the garden but all include some kind of digging, annoying because I can't do that at the moment. So, as I can't do much am spending time updating Facebook art pages and trying to keep interest in mosaics and photos alive and kicking!
Lots of love to you both..xx

23 May, 2014

 

I love your art and mosaics very nice . bye the way bassets were used for catching and chasing hares believe it or not . I love your dogs but I love all dogs realy . great blog bye for now xx .

23 May, 2014

 

Hi Simbad and NP…foot really, really sore! Got to set up a big stall tomorrow and walk quite a bit :( And goodness knows how much work there is in the garden!
Amazing how a Bassett gets anywhere near a hare! This Bassett only hunts sausages!

23 May, 2014

 

Nice to see its all lookin good
The Bamboo grove is lookin mighty fine, its seared on my brain having dug it on the hottest day of the year ; )
Not on much myself (due to sueing my ISP), but nice of you to come on...(due to injury ; )

Love the cards and the new mosaics, hope they are a seller for you and that ring of snail fire seems a very good idea
How are my clems I gave you doin?

23 May, 2014

 

lol lulu its all in the nose . you must of herd about the tortoise and the hare . its very relevant . I wonder what hed do for hare sausages lol x .

23 May, 2014

 

Um…Stevie….Pixie gone to the great clematis heaven in the sky where she is flourishing and not getting cold or wind blown! Sorry mate! I've lost loads..if one more gets wilt I'm going to find a new favourite plant!
As for hare sausages (god forbid) Don't say it too loudly or a Bad Bassett might hear!
And darn it…I forgot to post my goat mosaic…it's a hoot!

23 May, 2014

 

How lovely to hear from you again Lulu. The dogs are wonderful as ever ....love the new addition. Great to see you are still making your beautiful mosaics and working in your garden. We are all a bit down here as you probably noticed in the news that the Glasgow School of Art went on fire today. It has been a sad day for the art community here. Anyway.....glad you are back. :0)

23 May, 2014

bjs
Bjs
 

lovely to see your blog updates try and stay in touch a bit more often.
B

24 May, 2014

 

So sorry to hear about your poor old foot Lulu. Hope you're running around again really soon. I love the pics of the dogs and the mare with foal. As for the garden, what can I say that hasn't already been said, other than beautiful?

24 May, 2014

 

It's lovely to hear from you again Lou - I hope your foot heals well and love your cards, mosaics, garden and well, just about everything in your blog really! :o)

24 May, 2014

 

hay lulu what is that in your mosaics ? it looks like glass . do you think in little squares it would hold up to foot traffic mixed among other broken floor tiles . I realy love your work . I was thinking the more tedious roman idea . I have done crazy paving with big bits of different broken floor tiles on my living room ,hall and kitchen floor about ten years ago now with like a path of whole tiles as a path going threw the broken tiles round the edge . im now thinking to do the flower parts of my Mexican skull with glass perhaps . if not I guess I could just buy shiny colourfull tiles . what do you think ? regards leigh x .

24 May, 2014

 

Lulu, great to see you back here. The garden is looking lovely as always - love the bamboo grove, very pretty.

Ouch your poor foot, I always knew the snails would fight back one way or another. Hope your foot (and David's knee) heal soon and your running round at your normal speed again.

24 May, 2014

 

Hi Lulu :)
This site has gone very quiet, so it's nice to hear from you.
Sometimes I wonder if it's worth bothering :( Although I did miss a few month myself recently ...

Your garden looks lovely .. and I like your mosaics. Glad to know you're still doing them :o)

24 May, 2014

 

Bless you all , thanks for your comments. I know it's been a long time but I find GoY a bit too time consuming with all the work that's in my life at the moment. I do miss it though. I'm just back from the art stall and it's nearly 10 pm and I was up at 5…so it's time for bed really!
Foot er feet are really really sore, not quite sure what to do about it. I suppose it's no cartwheels for me at the moment!
I do however have a whole garden day planned for tomorrow!
Hywel, I know how you feel xx
Brian….Hello! How is Jamie and the mrs? I hope all is well.
Sam, D's knee is better then my feet! He is playing cricket tomorrow and I am mowing the lawn, gardening and then trying to get into the studio!
Hey Leigh…we just gotta chew the fat over these mosaics! x
Thank you Waddy, I love to share my garden with you guys….It will be even better this time next year with far less creeping buttercup and grass weaving their way through my flower beds.
Shirley….helloxx
Linda, I don't watch the news if I can help it. So sorry that there has been that dreadful fire…x

Thank you so much everybody for commenting, I have missed you all. I have been thinking about deleting my Goy account because I just can't reach everybody's blogs and photos and it doesn't seem fair that I only do one and not get involved with anyone else's beautiful gardens, ideas and dreams.

Not quite sure what to do except it is definitely time for bed as 3x 5am I am a little sleepy and now I have watched Chelsea flower show I am creating in my mind a mini garden like the help for heroes with those square blocks with soft planting in-between thinking that maybe my dogs won't trash the long grasses because they would keep knocking into those blocks Haha LOL! naughty dogs!
My snail injury is causing total gyp this eve..not quote sure what to do with said snail injury..except go to bed and hope it's better in the morning!
Night all and so good to chat to you all. x

24 May, 2014

 

No don't delete your account. Sometimes is better than not at all :) x

24 May, 2014

 

I agree don't delete . id soak your sore foot in a bowl of hot salty water for a while and if you have
to garden do something

wear your kneeling instead of walking . sweet dreams xx .

24 May, 2014

 

Lu I hope you don't delete your account as Hywel says we'd rather see you occasionally than not at all.

I have bouts of being so busy or so tired I don't get on GoY at all, then find about 9 pages of blogs to catch up on. Rainy days are handy for catching up (also good excuse not to do housework lol)

Glad Davids knee is better. Hope you foot is better soon.

25 May, 2014

 

Lol, on rainy days I go to the studio! But thank you.

David's knee is better enough for him to be playing cricket!!

Hi Hywell…your pulminaria is healthy and flowered well..lost all shade in the garden, we had to cut down the vast sycamore near the patio as it was too close to the power lines. We are now flooded with sunshine!

I did manage to plant the plants which had been in pots for nearly a year, this morning. Now am trying to decide wether to mow the lawn, go into the studio (I could manage both!) Or go for a kip…..

25 May, 2014

 

Please don't delete your account, Lulu. As others said, we'd rather see you occasionally than not at all. We all have times when we can't be here; I was away for ages with family problems. Just pop in when you can to say 'hi' and let us know when your poor feet are better. Glad to hear that David's knee will allow him to play cricket!

25 May, 2014

 

Glad to hear about the Pulmonaria. It likes sun or shade :)

25 May, 2014

 

Sometimes I get really busy Lulu and I don't manage to put pictures on the site but I try to comment on others beautiful gardens instead.

26 May, 2014

 

Lol, it's finding time to comment on others that gets me! And then I feel bad about it..

26 May, 2014

 

I'm trying to find the patience to do another blog. have uploaded pictures to laptop - well my youngest son did - but can't be bothered to put it all together this evening. It takes soooo long to do!! So, admiring other gardens, as ever.

26 May, 2014

 

Hi lulu your gardens looking lovely and the craft items too, all beautiful, and of course your pets, my sister is the same she has a mini farm, horses, dogs, cats, ducks, chickens, birds lol she only rents a field, she loves it :))

28 May, 2014

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