Assimilation

Our fence has gotten an extra-ghetto makeover.

Granted, it was pretty ghetto to begin with:

From Briar Crescent

And then, the bushes grew up and the vine climbed over, and we more or less forgot about the poor, sad fence.

Until the fateful Saturday when we came home to find the neighbours had killed off our vine, leaving the both of us exposed.

From Briar Crescent

After a rather awkward morning breakfast outside, when the neighbours were also out in their garden, it was mutually decided that Something Must Be Done.

Affixing the bamboo screen:

From Briar Crescent

Final result:

From Briar Crescent

Fortunately, this is just a temporary final result, and we'll be putting up a new fence once the new lean-to is completed (more on that later)....But for now, we can enjoy our breakfast and the neighbours can feed their many, many birds in relative privacy.

£25 well spent?

There has been some debate about the wisdom of my latest charity shop purchase. In all honesty, I was a bit unsure about it myself, and ended up spending a good 10 minutes carefully pondering the item while two charity shop volunteers peered over my shoulder and offered advice. In the end, I decided that £25 was manageable for a (possibly photographic/possibly poster) print of Exeter's very own Cathedral.

From Briar Crescent

The main selling points were the frame:

From Briar Crescent

The bumpy glass:

From Briar Crescent

From Briar Crescent

And these three:

From Briar Crescent

A fellow shopper must have overheard my deliberations with the charity shop ladies ('I'm trying to figure out if it's actually a photograph', 'Eh, probably not, dear, but the frame's lovely' - at least they're honest), and mentioned to me as I walked out of the shop, 'It's a photograph. Also, that railing was removed in the 1930s. I would have bought it if you didn't.'

So, there's two of us who think it was a good deal. Other opinions?

When the before is better....

The house came with more curtains than even there were windows. While I couldn't bring myself to hang the ugly blue ones, I couldn't quite bring myself to throw them out. So, I decided to make use of them.

From july 10

From july 10

And then, since I wasn't too keen on the blue, and since we happened to have a bunch of inedible beets, I had a brilliant plan to dye the basket.

From july 10

Two hours, a bottle of vinegar (the setting agent), several boiling pots, and slightly burnt fingers later, and I have.....

From Briar Crescent

From Briar Crescent

....what looks like a very dirty basket and still smells very strongly of vinegar. C'est la vie!

This means war!

The snails and slugs have been insatiable.

From Briar Crescent

From Briar Crescent

So, advanced population control measures have now been put in place....in the form of my homemade snail trap.

From Briar Crescent

One Apetina carton plus a snail cocktail of a little yeast, a little sugar, a little water, and a splash of dry sherry (finally! a use for that Christmas mistake) and the snails bring themselves.

From Briar Crescent

Snail control, the lazy way!

From Briar Crescent

Sea glass

Washing up the dishes will be slightly more pleasant thanks to a combination of the sea and careless dumping of glass, which has produced a nice mountain of these:

From Briar Crescent

Yesterday, with a bit of string, gardening wire, and a desire to replace the small ornaments and (now slightly soggy) dried orange slices that have been hanging in the window since Christmas, this was created:

From Briar Crescent

From Briar Crescent

From Briar Crescent

Now, what to do with the rest of my collection......?

Flower defenders

By the raised beds in the garden, we have a mass of leaves that is mysteriously especially attractive to snails for their breeding and defecating. L. has long vowed to pull it up...however, recently, it has started to put on these amazing purple flowers, so I'm now petitioning for it to stay.

From july 10

From july 10

Unfortunately, it seems the flowers are also attractive to the legions of snails.

From july 10

From july 10

Armed with my clippers, I set about making the flowers less accessible by trimming back the leaves; L., on the other hand, had even more aggressive plans.

From july 10

From july 10

From july 10

The sound of snails dropping filled the Plant-Salter with glee, but clearly our frog was not amused.

From july 10

From july 10

Guests at play

Sister and I took a bit of a break to do a bit of sightseeing in the grand old village of Honiton.

From Briar Crescent

The tour included a visit to a lace museum (/ceramics/girl guides/war/local history museum) housed in the three rooms of the oldest chapel in Honiton, the documenting and tasting of a pasty:

From Briar Crescent

From Briar Crescent

A bit of touring:

From Briar Crescent

From Briar Crescent

And a cup of tea (whilst J. reviews her newly-purchased lace making equipment):

From Briar Crescent

Guests at work

The jungle has been tamed substantially by my visiting sister, who has managed to subdue the raised beds:

From Briar Crescent

And, in the process, add to the pile destined for the Recycling Centre:

From Briar Crescent

It looks great, but has had the questionable side effect of uncovering a few of the more creepy garden ornaments.

From Briar Crescent

From Briar Crescent

Creepy cat is watching you!

Around the house

After a few months of holiday, my love of fixing up the house has returned. I'm storing some of it up for a big wallpaper stripping and painting weekend later this month, but for now, a few nice little things have been changed.

Most notably, we finally put up a curtain in the hallway cupboard area.

Before:

From Briar Crescent

Now:

From Briar Crescent

And, perhaps not terribly spectacular, but I'm currently very happy with my framing efforts. About four months ago, I bought a few scientific prints off eBay. Three months ago, we finally found frames the right size for them at the Recycling Centre, but it wasn't until this past week that I've picked up the paper to back them and got them framed.
Mushrooms:

From Briar Crescent

From Briar Crescent

Rocks and minerals:

From Briar Crescent

(Still waiting to be hung)

From Briar Crescent

I'm considering painting the frames, but for now, I'm happy.