An award

Wow - I received an award from    Sweetauburnlife.blogspot.ie.

Sweetauburnlife lives in Ireland and only started her blog in January of this year.  Do go and take a look.

The award is for a favourite blog with 200 followers,  or less.   There are some rules to follow:-

1 Each blogger should post 11 random facts about themselves
2 Answer the questions the tagger has set for you, and then create 11 new questions for the bloggers you pass the awards to.
3 Choose 11 new bloggers (with less than 200 followers) to pass the award to and link them to your post.
4 Go back to their page and tell them about the award
5 No tag backs

Here are 11 random facts about me:-

1. I have been Membership Secretary of the Pelargonium & Geranium Society for 4 years and before that for 5 years for one of the previous Society's before it merged.

2. I love to grow pelargoniums of all types, but in particular miniatures and Angels.

3. I love to garden ,but only when the weather is not cold.

4. I love to travel

5. My three sisters all live in Australia

6. I love to read, especially mystery novels.

7. With my husband I love to visit car boot sales, table top sales and charity shops searching for bargains.

8. I am hopeless at drawing

9 I love to cook, particularly desserts and cakes.

10 I am Show Secretary of my local Gardening club

11 I love to take photographs – mostly of flowers.

My answers to the questions set by Sweetauburnlife;

1. What was your first thought when you got this award?    

    How wonderful and how very very kind. 
2. Tell us something about your corner of the world?

    I live in a small village in Surrey, we have one Church, one village shop and Post          

    Office, two pubs and a village green on which cricket is played every summer and 

    has done for nearly 200 years.

3. Have you ever been to Ireland?

    My first visit to Ireland was last September.  I met my sister from Australia there                                                                      

when she was travelling around Europe with two friends.  We had a grand time and I loved  Ireland and really want to go back soon if I can. 

4. Why do you blog?   It's a sort of 'on-line' letter to friends, some of whom I have never met.
5. What is your favourite cuisine?   I love curries
6. What are you most afraid of?   Not much, but I don't like spiders.
7. What are you most grateful for?    That I have a lovely husband, two lovely sons and a daughter in-law, and three granddaughters and a grandson.
8. What is your favourite time of year?   Summer - definitely
9. Are you introverted or extroverted? I have to admit I am bit, but just a bit, introverted.
10. What is the worst job you ever had?   I've never had one - I've loved all my jobs. 

11. What have you learned today? That is was quite difficult to think up 11 random things about me!

My questions to my nominees:-

1  Do you have a favourite book?

2  What is your favourite food?

3  If you could choose, where would you like to work?

4 What places have you travelled to?

5. Are you a summer or a winter person?

6 What crafts do you enjoy?

7 What type of music do you like to listen to?

8 How long have you been writing your blog?

9. Do you have a favourite flower?

10 Do you have a treasured possession?

11 Do you have a pet?

My nominees are:

Ramblings of a Little Old Lady   Ladykis, who is, according to her youngest granddaughter, a little old lady (I really don’t believe that!)   She likes to scrapbook, take photographs and her family history, as well as knitting, sewing, quilting, embroider, cooking and keeping chickens. A busy lady.

Granny taught me to Crochet - Kate who loves to crochet, cook and keep chickens

Caroline Makes It  Caroline lives in Dorset and loves to knit, crochet and sew

Suzzie43   A blogger from Sydney, Austgralia who loves to bake, cook, garden and travel..

Kashi's Corner      Kashi loves to crochet, cook, sew, and read.

Hilly Town Blue Hariet is from Gloucestershire in the UK.  She blogs about crochet, knitting, sewing and life in the Cotswolds.

Cosy Times  Emma who loves crochet and all things cosy

Busy Busy BeeJay  Loves her family , knitting and reading

Clicky Needles  Aanother blogger from Gloucestershire UK who loves to knit, crochet, gardening and camping.  A busy lady who is also a teaching Assistant in a local school.

Lilley Stiches  Loves to crochet , knit and craft

Learning to Write  Jee is a Filipino married to a USA serviceman and living in Carolina and wants to improve her English.  She is also a fantastic crocheter

Busy two weeks

 The last couple of weeks have been pretty hectic, but brightening my days as I walk through the dining room is this Clivia.  It is about 5 years old and flowers each year, apart from last year when it just did not.  I was thrilled that it is flowering this year.   I love the brightness of the flower.

I had my morning at the IT place and now I think I am up to speed on how to manage the database.   All seems to be moving much more smoothly now.   Last week I had to send out Society magazines to those members who had not renewed.  The printer usually does them, but this edition has to have a show schedule in, but not to those who have not renewed.  They just get a note reminding them to renew, and it was simpler for me to do them.    This week many of those have renewed, so I have been kept pretty busy.   

My phone line is at last with BT.  I am giving serious thought to writing a letter of complaint as the whole episode was quite stressful.

One day last week Brian and I popped into our nearest village, which is larger than ours.  There was a Table Top Sale in the Village Hall.   Sadly it was not very well supported by sellers,  so we left to take a look at the Charity shops (we are great charity shoppers Brian and I).  I found a folding foot stool which I quickly snapped up.  I have one (another charity shop bargain) and when my cousin was visiting she liked it.  So I have my visiting gift for her.  She doesn’t read my blog, not being very interested in computers, so not worry about her knowing I have a present for her.

On our shopping trip we called in at Lidl and I picked up this lovely bunch of mixed chrysanths for half price - £1.50 - they are still flowering well.  We called also at Morrisons - the same bunch of flowers there was priced at £5.00 and not reduced!

Last Saturday was beautiful so we went down to Bognor Regis for the day and had a lovely walk along the front before venturing into town and a look round the charity shops.  I found a lovely book on crochet baby items which seems to have some lovely items in it.   I also found the crochet magazine Inside Crochet which I have been looking for for ages.  All shops had sold out round here.   It had this sweet owl hook gauge inside.  I’m not sure I will subscribe to the magazine, but if I see it in the newsagents I will get it if there is something inside I like the look of.

On Sunday we had a lovely lunch with Brian’s cousin and her family.  There are a lot of them so they hire a room in a pub.  This works out brilliantly as we order our food in advance.  The children, six of them, can play by themselves after our meal without worrying us or other guests.

The Blue Jug has been filled with greenery and flowers every day.  Just now it has viburnum again, plus another shrub that has slightly variegated leaves and a hellebore flower – just the one flower out at the time I picked it, but there are more out now in the garden.  The viburnum has the most deliciously scent that wafts out every time I pass by.

The challenges of January

January was a challenging month, to say the least.

 I am still dealing with memberships for The Pelargonium & Geranium Society (PAGS).   The membership section of the website continues to baffle me at times, but I am told there will be hitches to begin with until the site settles.  I am going on Monday for an update on how to do more with the site.    For those of you who don’t know, I am membership secretary of The Pelargonium & Geranium Society.  I've held this post for over ten years now, but with the new database it has become a challenge.      

My other challenge is that since the beginning of October I have been trying to transfer my Broadband and telephone from one supplier to another.  It should be simple.   No!! The Broadband went over without a hitch, but not the telephone line.  Who has been holding up things I don’t know – each supplier tells me it is the other one.  The fifth attempt will be on 12^th February, so everything is crossed the line is transferred this time.

 Saturday last week we went into town and I bought myself some of these lovely narcissus to cheer myself up.  They are still going strong and fill the room with such a lovely fragrance.   And on Thursday we got these lovely daffodils,.  They were in tight bud, but this morning when I came downstairs they had all opened.  Beautiful!

I finished off the crochet navy blue wrist warmers, and I love them.  My granddaughters were pretty impressed as well, but did not want me to make them a pair!

Yesterday, as the day was sunny, Brian and I went over to Wisley Gardens, and then went out to lunch at a local Harvester restaurant.  Thank you Brian!     I love Wisley!   I am so lucky that it is only 20 minutes away so able to visit often.   I took quite a few pictures, but it was not easy as the wind was quite strong.  I was anxious to try out my new 55-200 zoom lens that I had for Christmas.  And to use my new wrist warmers, which worked a treat, keeping my hands warm whilst leaving my fingers free to use the camera.

Alpine House

Alpine House

In the wonderful garden centre at Wisley I bought these Dahlia tubers and seeds, garlic bulbs and shallots.  I wasn't going to grow garlic or onions this year, but have weakened.   I really don't want to grow onions, but love growing shallots – so satisfying seeing all those little bulbs clustering around the one planted.   Just need a fine day next week to get planting and sowing.     You can't see in the photo, but the single dahlia tubers are call Pooh, and the dahlia seeds are called Yankee Doodle Dandy.  Silly names that I thought would appeal to my cheeky 6-years old  grandson.