Amigurumi...a playmate

I said yesterday that I thought I felt the bug biting and that I would be making another Amigurumi before long...

Here he is

He's much more low maintenance than yesterday's Parisian looking one, and definitely more chilled!

Something of the Huckleberry Finn about him...

Definitely a holiday vibe.

Cute!
For past Amigurumi including Super Mario and Gru with Minions, checkout past blogs from ages back http://socklet-world.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/super-mario-amigurumi.html
or  http://socklet-world.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/despicable-amigurumi.html
The ones I'm making now just make themselves up as I go along.


For future ones including a flying Superhero Bear... stay tuned and watch this space!

Amigurumi Strikes Back!

I have Amigurumi-ed in the past and always knew the bug would bite again.

Thankfully I still had the original book that started me off, because I had completely forgotten how to begin a creature. After that it was plain sailing. I'm not a neat crochet-er like my talented friend B
( see  www.facebook.com/HambalsAndFriends ), but I like to muck about with it for my own benefit.

Here are the bits I crocheted...

Here's what they look like when tidied up a bit...

And here is the finished cutie, posing for the camera!

I  think I feel another one coming on!

Giant Poppies as Big as Your Hand!

I'm not joking nor is it trick photography. About 16 years ago I bought a plastic bag with three white roots in a little soil from a garden trader at a market stall and every winter they die down to nothing and every spring they come up again and by the middle of June, flower with heads as big as your hand (or in my case, bigger).

Here is a photo of them with my hand so you can see

Standby for landing : bee approaching.

Close up the centre looks like some alien fairground ride.

You can play 'Spot the bee' with these two pics.

The bees come out covered in purple dust from the flower centre.
Soon there will be pods and seeds galore but they never seem to make any more bushes nearby... maybe that's why they sold me the roots to grow them from.

Father's Day Thoughts

No pictures today but I thought I'd share with you the musings of an eleven year old boy on Father's Day.

We were driving to the supermarket to buy multi-packs of small chocolate bars to be given away to fathers during the Father's day parade service at the local church. On arriving, he mused that we should buy a few packets of mints as well because not all fathers like chocolate, then noticed that the packets of mints were bigger than the packets of chocolate. The dialogue follows thus:

T:    If I were a child I would choose the mints because they are much bigger than the chocolate.

Me: Yes, but its not for you, its for the dad.

T:    I know but I think he would want the bigger one too. It would be worth being a father just to get given the mints.

Me: You think it would be worth all the year round hassle of being a dad just to get a packet of mints?

T:    Yeah, you get them every year.

Me:  Don't you think it would be easier not to be a dad and just buy your own mints?

T:     But this way you don't have to spend any money.

Me:  You do know it costs money to bring up kids?

T:     Yeah but they will bring you mints for the rest of your life, they only cost you money when they are little.

Me:  Do you know how long your kids need you to be around for?

T:     I'm not sure but I think its till they're 18 then they go off by themselves and only come back every so often for a visit

Me:  More likely they stay with you for years after they're 18 because they can't afford a flat or a mortgage or they can carry on being lazy at home without having to look after themselves. Or they go off to university then come home every holiday to live, bringing all their dirty washing. If they get married they phone up for help every time something needs fixing. If their relationship goes wrong then they come back to live with you 'cos they can't afford a place of their own all over again.

T:     Oh yeah and you have to keep sorting out their love life.

Me:   True, Do you really think that's worth one packet of mints a year?

T:      Well you could have 2 kids then you could get TWO packets a year!

Dark Skies

I don't know what it's like where you are, but here... it's been suddenly pouring bucket-loads of rain.
So I thought I'd show you some dramatic local skies taken right by my house and threatening another downpour!

I assure you, these are un-tweaked and showing their true colours... very dramatic!

The gap between heavy showers was about 20 minutes, during which time the clouds re-grouped and began again.

You can see where the sky has lightened as the rain finished, but is marshalling its forces for the next attack!

I rushed out in the car  to a lovely hilly green near us where I knew I could get a wider view.

And these two pictures are taken there.
Enjoy them from the warmth and safety of indoors!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

As in the old nursery song:

Mary Mary Quite Contrary
How does your garden grow
with silver bells and cockle shells
and pretty maids all in a row.

I'm assuming they are flower names, 'cos otherwise its a an unusual mix of things to put in a garden.

A few blogs ago I showed you my deeply-dug good intentions, (http://socklet-world.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/gardening-essentials.html ) so now I thought I'd let you know how things are getting on in this incredibly dry spring (as I sit here typing my trouser-legs and sleeves are gently drying out from an attack from a wayward hosepipe while I watered!).

This is the new bit that I likened to a grave... now fully sprouting with onions, potatoes and a rhubarb (stage right). It's rather shady so the potatoes are leaning out over everything to reach more light.

In the background are two spindly beans and in the foreground the raspberries, which have been in for several years but this year seem to be happy and lush.

The replacement courgette (yellow) as 2 of the original greens have been slug-lunch already!

and the other onions, which seem to have decided to grow laying down to save energy.

Geese and Goslings

I went for a walk to our local pond and the Geese were on guard with their new goslings. Its lucky the camera can get quite close 'cos the people certainly can't. Quite right too. Protect your little ones, a very natural instinct.

As you can see, it was nearing sunset so the light was a beautiful purple slant through the trees.

The family were on the move.

Close up of parent at the back, looking very pleased with themselves.

And a cluster of cute little fluff-lings among the cotton wool-type blossoms that had fallen from the surrounding trees onto the grass.

Funking Fabulous Trees

I was always envious of my husband's i-phone. Not that I wanted one as a phone: it always seemed to be out of battery  when it was needed. But the photos it took were lovely, sharp and it could do so much on the spot with them.

Now that he's moved on to a new device, I have the phone purely as a camera, with built in editor (and occasional audiobook deliverer).

Here are some of the tree pictures it took and what it can do with them...

This is the reflection of a small tree in a pond, with the image then turned upside-down (or in fact the right way round as the reflection was already upside-down in the water) and then the colours altered.

 

Here is just the edge of a tree branch on a clear sky but the effects make it really misty and ethereal.

This seemingly beautiful place is in fact called "The Moggy Pond" and is a rather small body of water but somehow looks huge and serene at twilight taken on this device.  The council have done a great deal to clear it of weeds and the kind of rubbish people throw in small local ponds when they have nothing better to do and no creative skills to occupy them.

 

 

What are YOU Looking at?

This sounds exactly what the grubby seagull looks like its thinking in the photo I was about to take of the Houses of Parliament. It was not my intention to include it but it was very determined!

It then decided to give me the picturesque profile instead!