Alien table gets a new life

Last year, we bought the most adorable little table from the Recycling Centre. However, while it's general structure was undeniably cute, the top, unfortunately, had seen much better days. So, this past weekend, I decided to try my hand at refinishing it.

The first few scrapes with the sandpaper were truly horrible - what if I'd made a terrible mistake?! But fortunately the varnish came off incredibly easily.

Both kittens were very excited to have a new place to sit, so I spent a rather pleasant Sunday afternoon painting coats of varnish and guarding the table.

And, behold, it was all worth it.

I was worried about sanding off the lovely veneer, so the table ended up looking pleasantly antique-y, I think.

Most importantly, it's much better protected....and looks considerably less like it's just been brought home from the dump - alien table success!

Garden update, August edition

I'm sure you're desperate to know what the status of our garden is.

I'm happy to report, it remains productive, with an explosion of both growth....

And (finally) tomatoes:

...peppers (L. is particularly pleased about these):

...strawberries:

....and the ever-growing pears:

We had a major problem with a white mildew that took over the courgettes, so drastic pruning was necessary.

It seems to have stopped the spread and has had the additional benefits of spurring the plants to create even more courgettes....and to encourage the newly-uncovered pumpkins to ripen.

With no less than four pumpkins in the making, I'm already having visions of delicious pumpkin pie in the fall.

A blanket finished

I'm pleased that I managed to finish the blanket before our friends' baby arrived.

The final product:

In the end, I opted to sew the backing to it inside out, which made for a nice, simple edge.

The back was made with the left overs from the front.

This was a great project - simple, easy, relatively cheap (1/2 metre fleece, 3 fat quarters of cute fabric, a little bit of ribbon, some white scraps from another project). The hardest part was cutting and pressing all the little flags (not such a big task, really). Other friends with babies on the way, be warned!

A very pleasant summer

I'm a little ashamed to keep putting up blog posts as most of what I have to blog about is just the state of the garden (which, with a little weeding and a little watering is mostly taking care of itself).

L. and I haven't done too much on the house lately - we've been busy sporting, socialising, and, in my case, sewing.

This is my latest work in progress (for a friend who hopefully doesn't read here).

I still haven't decided how I want to finish the edges off (so, friend of mine who is expecting a little one soon and likes this type of fabric and tea - if you are reading this, do let me know your preference :) ).

And now, back to the usual garden report.

Most of the suspicious 'weeds' have proven their worth by producing some lovely flowers.

The tiny seedling tomatoes that the parents kindly gave us in May have turned into water-sucking monsters.

And the peppers have taken off too -- though still no fruit from either.

Lukas harvested the first of the beetroots today.

A few more lovely-and-fiery radishes have been eaten.

And the courgettes....oh, the courgettes! I love courgettes normally, but I'm a little worried I won't be able to appreciate grocery store courgettes now that I've tasted truly fresh courgettes.

From vine....

to documentation.....

...to dinner in under half an hour. Oh, the deliciousness!

We'll have to wait a bit longer for the pumpkins, though they certainly are coming on nicely.

Production!

After an exceptionally dry spring, the rain has returned. Oddly enough, L. and I applauded the wetness as we were getting rather concerned about the amount of water we were suddenly having to spend keeping the veggies alive.

With the rain came a big boost of productivity and (hurray!) colour.

Our attempt to re-seeding the lawn in the back seems to be something of a success (albeit a bit patchy).

And the courgettes have really started to thrive.

Fortunately, we have Lilith on scarecrow duty.

In which I become a supplier

When we first started planting things for the garden, we decided it would be interesting to plant some cat nip for the kittens.

Well, it has finally grown to a state when we can start introducing it to them.

Happy Esme is a fan.

Sooooo happy.

.....but she is possibly too enthusiastic.

From May 2011

So, we've had to resort to keeping it hidden.

Meanwhile, Lilith is not nearly as excited about the cat nip.

Apparently, she prefers fattier fare.

The first fruits!

Our battles against snails, mold, aphids and (shockingly enough) drought have resulted in a number of casualties on both sides. However, when gazing at our rapidly growing garden, it [mostly] seems all worth it.

The surviving courgettes and pumpkins.

The veggie patch.

My beloved lupins.

This is supposed to be a charming collection of English wild flowers...but even I admit that it looks suspiciously like a well-watered patch of weeds. Time will tell....

Even more exciting than the growth of leaves is the arrival of the fruits of our labour, mainly the pears!

The currants!

The gooseberries (though, as you can see, they've been brutally savaged)

And, from the veggies, the first of our peas (which have so far proven to be very tasty)

And our first (and, sadly, only) radish.

We shared the lovely thing and I can attest that my half was delicious.