Eating shrubs

It’s been a funny few weeks when real life has had to take priority over blogging and other forms of social media. But this week with the weather so lovely (most of the time cold, but sunny) Les and I have been busy in the garden.

Willis (our Border terrier), named so my husband can say' Willis is barking' (apologies to Charles Dickens Great Expectations and any reference to ‘Barkers is willing’) is now 10 months old. He is a really sweet chap and full of fun - however he has some very bad habits - he is a dog after all. He likes digging up Les's lovely lawn, obviously not looking for buried treasure more likely bones, but also has found my lovely new shrubs.
I hated taking down the window boxes and putting all the trailing geraniums on the compost heap. They don’t over winter well and we have given up trying, although we do have more success with the standard geraniums in the greenhouse. Normally we go the winter pansy route and have for the hanging baskets but this year we opted for miniature cyclamens and little shrubs for the window boxes and tubs. They do look lovely – clean and fresh.
Willis obviously thinks so too as he has taken to eating the shrubs out of the tubs – the little beast. I must put something on them that will deter him. We have heard that Lions urine works but as there aren’t many in Carmel I hope the local pet shop has something suitable.

Apples and more apples

I am all appled out. Eating apples, cooking apples, freezing apples and making apple jelly. If that wasn’t enough Les and I went to the Apple Festival at Erddig yesterday. What a glorious sunny day it was(unlike last night’s deluge) perfect for a wonder around this annual event which attracts 100’s of people every year. It was lovely to see families enjoying a good old fashioned day out. The Morris Dancers were fantastic and Les particularly enjoyed the CAMRA Cider Tent. Lots of wood work and handmade crafts for sale. I particularly love the renewed interest of handmade crafts and there were some lovely things. The Owls from North Wales Owl Sanctuary were incredible and I got the chance to hold one (with the big glove). There was a cider press demonstration, storytelling, jazz as well as cookery demonstrations with local produce. Oh I also had a go at the longest apple peel competition and failed miserably. Erddig is lovely any time but with the Autumn colours and the smell of apples is very special. My favourite though was the chocolate brownie from Veggie Fayre – would love the recipe for the chilli ones – think I need to practice a bit.