By Stephie, on Thursday 22nd September, 2011 at 22:43 pm
 Getting that summer feeling in Bath This post has taken so long to write. I started it about two weeks ago or more. I’ve just re-read it and it was long-winded and irrelevant, since it was about my birthday…which was in the middle of August. So I’ve deleted most of it. Here’s what’s left:
Kim and I went camping near Bath for a couple of nights.
It was the first birthday since I was 19 (trust me, that’s a bloody long time) without Kim’s dad there to celebrate. I survived. In fact, I had a great time.
The American Museum in Britain: go there, it’s awesome (and not just because of the fabulous quilt collection. Even Kim thought it was great fun. Probably had something to do with him beating me at ‘chequers’.)
We went to Kim’s favourite restaurant. Yes, Pizza Express. Again 
Don’t bother going to the Jane Austen Centre it’s total crap. In fact I went on for a very long paragraph about just how crap it was. Trust me it was disappointing. And totally crap. I may have already mentioned it, but it was c r a p: crap.
We found this little place called The Makery. It was in the street in the photo on the left. I bought fabric. Not much: I was broke (I’d spent precious pennies on a visit to a crap museum remember). 1m of Japanese linen/cotton mix print. Nice. Plans for it? No. Stash.
 Japanese fabrics We found a wonderful café full of beautiful, dainty-looking cake and pastries. It was my birthday, cake was seriously on my mind. There was bitter disappointment: the café was full. Didn’t they know it was my birthday? Call the police. They should be arrested.
 Oooh, which one should I choose? Well, don't bother actually. You can't come in. We spent an inordinately long time in a store we couldn’t afford to buy anything in. It’s Kim’s favourite store. Well, his favourite one that doesn’t stock Lego. It bears the name of a fruit. With a bite out of it. I like it there too. Sigh.
 Window shopping...wishful thinking. I kept seeing signs that I should be making stuff. And that made me feel guilty. Meh. And a bit excited. Woohoo.
 Signs... It was a day (or two) that I won’t forget. Just Kim and me. Special. Memorable. For all the right reasons.
 Thinking... Poulteney Bridge  Dusk. Bath Abbey  A grand entrance. Or exit. The Pump Rooms. Didn’t get time for a run though. Shame. I’ll have to go back soon. There’s always something to add to the list of things to do next time isn’t there?
Stephie x
By Stephie, on Sunday 21st August, 2011 at 16:11 pm
 Car Journey. Piglet still comes on holiday with us! Mountains of washing, an overly friendly cat, craving for a run, craving sleep… familiar stuff to everyone that’s just returned from holiday (well, the washing and sleep at least, Monica will know what I mean!). It’s been a 10 day whirlwind. Continue reading France
By Stephie, on Saturday 4th June, 2011 at 08:33 am
Half term. A week’s break from school, no money to go anywhere far from home, pretty grey, mizzly weather…it all stacked up to be a quiet, uneventful break. That doesn’t mean unenjoyable. We’ve had some lovely days walking with friends on their farm, picnicking with others down on the salt marsh, watering the allotment. I think these are the days happy childhoods are made of, the kind of memories that aren’t about one particular thing, but more about accumulated experience. Then today happened. It was pretty special and turned the week from ‘uneventful’ to unforgettable…
 Incredible  Precious  Exhausted  Kim and Dusty This little chick is the off-spring of Dusty our hybrid hen and Johnny our black Pekin bantam. Johnny is much smaller than Dusty and we thought she’d been seeing him off whenever he made advances. Obviously we were wrong! We know for sure because Dusty lays much larger eggs and this little chick began pushing its way out of one of them yesterday afternoon. It won’t think of Dusty as its mother though. No, Dusty’s too busy to sit around on a nest for three weeks, so she left that to Dolly, one of our very broody bantams.
Earlier in the week we’d asked a friend for advice on how to look after our two broody hens. Apparently we’d done it all wrong. We’d just left them to get on with it thinking instinct would take over and nature would take its course. They were sitting on their own eggs but they were also ‘stealing’ Dusty’s, rolling them onto their nests before we had a chance to collect them. We had no idea which ones were which or how long they’d been sat on. They could be there forever: each day Dusty laid an egg then the others would pinch it and add it to their clutch!
This was getting confusing so we were advised to start again. “Put the hens in separate boxes, collect the eggs everyday and store them at room temperature until you have enough. When you’re ready put them under the hen, wait 21 days and then they’ll all hatch at the same time. So we began making preparations and the first thing we did was to make a small nest box. We hunted around for bits of plywood and off-cuts of wood and I began cobbling something together something that resembles a small coop.
 Not quite a palace, still under construction! At this point Kim decided he’d remove the eggs the hens were sitting on. I heard squeals of delight coming from the chicken run: he’d discovered an egg that had begun to hatch. We put them back pronto and I decided the new coup would have to do for now, even though I hadn’t finished the small run section. We moved Dolly and her clutch to her new abode and she seemed to settle in very quickly. We waited. And waited. We left them overnight. In the morning the chick still hadn’t fully hatched and it was obvious the membrane was stuck to its feathers and it was having a great deal of difficulty getting out. I helped it along, peeling back a tiny bit of shell and membrane every 15 minutes or so. It seemed to take forever, but eventually it was free, cheeping away and trying to stand on its tiny little legs. We were over the moon, our first little chick had survived the trauma of birth!!! We tucked it up with its surrogate mum and headed off out to see friends.
By the time we got home they seemed to be doing fine. Then I thought I heard something coming from the other coup so I went to investigate thinking I’d find another egg beginning to hatch. I lifted the hen and found…
 Chick no 2!. A fully fledged 100% black Pekin bantam.  Gorgeous! Beat that for a half term holiday to remember At this stage we don’t know if they’re male or female and we won’t be able to tell for a while, so they haven’t been named yet. We’ve got a bit of a theme going with the rest of the flock – Tammy, Dusty, Dolly and Johnny, but maybe you could come up with some names for the chicks! Let us have your suggestions and when we can sex them, we’ll select the best ones – and there might even be a small prize in it for you!
By the way, I forgot to mention that the day the chicks were born was the first day of the holiday that the sun began to shine and it really felt like summer had arrived!
Back soon
love Stephie x
By Stephie, on Sunday 29th August, 2010 at 13:02 pm
Hello my lovelies! Not been here for a while have I? Computer problems and a week in Norfolk are to blame – not me obviously! I’m still in Norfolk as it happens, and I happen to have found a computer that works, if you’re one of the few people that consider Windows Vista as something that works…
We’re here in the east of England visiting family. Heavy rain and blustering winds have been battering this part of the coastline for days now, so we’ve spent a lot of time inside (not having thought to bring a jaunty sou’wester and Norfolk gansey!). Kim’s been running around with his cousins, one’s the same age and has the same passion for Star Wars and Lego as Kim does. Two of them in the house? Not good for the sanity. I lost my train tickets before we came and had to buy new ones (I think I must have thrown them out with some old tickets to St Ives), but admist all the self-imposed stress I did manage to remember to bring some sewing and a sketchbook, so I’ve been happily keeping myself busy despite being stuck indoors for lack of warm and waterproof clothing.
 All piled up and ready to go I’ve been working on a quilt top I started some time ago now. I rashly decided to make it entirely by hand, but it turned out to be a good decision. It’s something I can easily carry around with me and get on with whenever the mood takes me, or I’m sitting in a waiting room somewhere. I’ve finished all the nine patch squares now and have started on the sashings with the fussy cut squares. Even though I’ve been doing this for a year or more, I still love the fabrics I chose and it surprises me how quickly it builds up when I get going. I think I’ll be doing a lot more sewing this afternoon; I’m sat in my mother’s conservatory and it sounds like I might need an ark by nightfall! I think I’ll forget about the 8 mile run I need to do and the walks I’d planned at Brancaster. You never know, I might have a finished quilt top by the time I get home.
If you’re one of my keen-eyed readers you may have noticed that my From The Loft shop images have disappeared from the column on the right. I haven’t closed it down, just shut it for the week I’m away. I’ve got some more items to list when I get back, so keep an eye out for them. ‘Til then I’ll love you and leave you and hope that where ever you are, you’re not getting too wet!
love Stephie x
By Stephie, on Wednesday 30th December, 2009 at 17:42 pm
I’ve shown you a lot of the presents I’ve given this year and I thought you might like a peek at some of the lovely ones I’ve received too – I’ve got friends and family with such good taste!
 Oooh, just look at this little lot! And that's not to say that other gifts I received weren't equally as gorgeous as these.  How lucky am I to have these additions to my library shelves? Er, very! I wonder if you’ve noticed the eggy theme going on? You have? Clever you! Well, lets just say it’s all because of this…
 A very extravagant gift; one that I'm VERY excited about!  The troops put the coop together on Boxing Day for me It’s big enough for a couple of hens, but I haven’t got them ordered yet – that’s a major excitement to come! I’m still researching what sort would be most suitable. Probably some bantams, but there are so many breeds it’s difficult to know where to start. If you have any advice for me I’d love to hear it!
By Stephie, on Friday 25th December, 2009 at 13:09 pm
 Warmest wishes and a very merry time to all my readers! With love Stephie xxx
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I'm running a 28 mile marathon in memory of Josie this February. Come and find out why.
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