Four wettings and a funeral.

If you are here looking for sewing I'm afraid there's none in this post, so if you are new, you could try looking at this post, or this post or even this post. And I like this too.

Now if you don't mind boring, too many words, read on.

The only part of gardening I am good at is destruction, so when the front door was almost completely covered with growth I decided it was at last time for the chop. I cut off the branches that had held the goldfinch nest, and look!!!


There was another egg in the bottom.
There should have been 6 baby birds in that tiny nest. Isn't that incredible?

Look at the size of it. Beautiful.

Yesterday we went to Aberystwyth.
(For UK readers that big bright thing in the sky is the Sun)

It was to attend the funeral of the father of our friend G, who lived in a village nearby. He was the original owner of the little sausage dogs, Porky and Blodwen. We got hopelessly lost, but eventually found the Crematorium, Now I know funerals and crematoria (?) are not perhaps blog material but I have to tell you that I have never been in a more beautiful, spiritual crematorium chapel ever. The whole of the wall behind the altar was made of glass looking out over the Welsh countryside.
A perfect place from which to step off into eternity.

The day was eventful. I got soaked and dried off about 4 times in the rain. Its a very long way from our house to Aberystwyth. We had a very short break on the way in Llanidloes, a cup of tea in The Great Oak. Fantastic. We were in a hurry but I would love to visit again. We had to rush past a Quilt Exhibition without even looking!

We missed the start of the funeral service but it didn't matter too much.
Our friend G had spent the week in her late father's house, mourning him by painting his life and home on the coffin. It was beautiful. So much nicer the usual varnished wood veneer. The sea, his boat, and fish on one side, wild flowers, a fox, an otter and montbresia flowers on the other, and of course, Porky and Blodwen at his feet, like a medieval knight's tomb. I wish I had a picture to show.

When we got to the 'funeral tea' place I offered to take the dogs for a short walk. I had been walking for a minute or two when the heavens opened and it began to thunder. I was holding an umbrella and had no waterproof coat. I decided to turn back , and at that moment a car came up the lane and a man opened the door and said 'get in.' It was absolutely bucketing down, hailing by now so I got in, with the sodden dogs, wondering if this chap had actually been at the funeral. I had no bag, or phone and he continued to drive, although at one point the hail was so intense we couldn't see out.
We got on like a house on fire. He was indeed a guest at the funeral and was going home to get his mandolin to play some music while we had the tea. His home was in 'the back of beyond' with a fabulous garden, with nasturtiums and passion flowers cascading over the wall. His 'other half' is a herbalist, and the garden was full of beautiful useful plants, and the sound of bees.

By the time we got back to the funeral party both my husband and G had been out in separate cars looking for me. They just couldn't understand what had happened, so there was much rejoicing when I walked back in.

We had a scenic drive round Aberystwyth before setting off for home via Gayles Wine Bar in Llangollen, for food. I can't recommend it too highly. Good unfussy but delicious food and a great atmosphere.

That was all probably too much writing so I won't tell you how I had to take the one piece selected for the Platform Gallery Open textiles exhibition and decided to incorporate delivery of with an afternoon out with my Mum, but then delivered the wrong picture so had to go again today.

And I won't mention that I also, that very same morning, drove 20 miles North to Forton Services on the M6 near Lancaster to meet someone I had never met before, who had a spare key to the car of our friend in Aberystwyth, (who actually lives in Lancaster)because her car key had snapped off in the lock outside the Spar shop in the Welsh village. So we could take it to her at the funeral.
Oh. I just did.

Well if you've read this far I may as well burden you with the 'Google reader Syndrome'.

I spend hours 'catching up' on google reader, leaving comments on all my favourite blogs, so that 'unread items' is at '0'. I go to bed and when I look again in the morning its back up to 25, and if I leave it it gets up to 185.....
I can't cope!
Does anyone else suffer from the same syndrome?

I got this


from Genie's Art World. Thank you so much. I'll pass it on later.
I also discovered today that I have gone up to 83 on the Top Blogs by Crafters list.

Such a show off.
Sorry.
Also sorry about only having one prize in my giveaway. I feel bad.