Lovely Things from Blogging Friends

I have been fortunate to either win or buy lots of lovely things from bloggers over the years.  I have featured just a few of them above (which were in easy reach).  The latest gift received was from Ann - a lovingly made wooden heart with pyrographic detail that remains in its glassine envelope because I love glassine envelopes so much!  She has some pretty crocheted daffodil brooches on her blog at the moment which she is selling to raise money for the Marie Curie charity.  Please do go and have a look here.  She makes beautiful things.

Now on to the mini celebration kit giveaway.  I cut out equal sized pieces of paper and wrote down each name of the readers that wanted to participate.  I folded the papers over twice and then threw them over my left shoulder.  I had predetermined that the one fallen closest to me would be the winner........and the winner is.........magsmcc. 

Magsmcc, would you please forward your address details to me at simone.lindengrove@gmail.com and I will get your prize posted off to you.  Thank you to everyone that participated and letting me know what you enjoyed about reading my blog

A Garden View No. 2

This is my garden shown from the far end looking towards the house.  Behind me is an unkempt patio area, a workshop/shed (dumping ground) and a greenhouse.  It will all be lovely when I get around to tidying it up!

I've recently been lamenting my days spent at capel manor doing my gardening course.  Learning about working as a gardener was a bonus but for me I really enjoyed meeting different people.  Our breaks and lunch times were hardly spent talking about gardening and we had all kinds of discussions from Monsanto to modern art, being bi-polar and bread making, self-sufficiency and soap making and teaching one young man the art of dating!

Home made lemon pickled chutney and bread was shared among the group and a health and fitness enthusiast used to share his tropical fruits with us. On the last day we had a picnic - a wonderful feast of home made rolls and biscuits, Victoria sandwich cake, rice dishes, samosas, scones, cream and jam, a selection of cheeses and crackers etc.  There really was something for everyone.  As a thank you and as a memory, the tutor gave each of us a Lavender Lavandula Angustifolia plant to take away.  I hope the plant will live as long as my memories.

If gardening is your thing, then please do visit my gardening blog sybil's plot and see how my tomatoes are doing!