Hello!

 Gosh it's been a long time. I got a bit lost for a while and wasn't being myself properly, but I think I pretty much am again and one of the things I used to really, really love was blogging. I'm not expecting anyone to read this particularly to be honest, but I enjoy waffling (as my blog name announces), so thought I do some waffle in with a bit of craft rather than the other way round (not that there's been much of the craft either!).

We've just had the most glorious weather haven't we? I've loveld every moment of it and spent the last 3 weeks outside in the garden taming the wilderness. We have a massive garden and usually I grow lots and lots of veg and flowers. There was no time/inclination at the start of the year and it was looking very sorry for itself, so I've really enjoyed having the time and being in the right frame of mind to get caught up. It's too late to plant too much but I've got some beans, peas, cucumbers, a pepper and lots of salad growing. Luckily I did weed out and manure the soft fruits a few months ago and they are rewarding us with wonderful jewels to eat. The joy of eating your fresh produce cannot be underestimated and I implore everyone to grow something - even a fresh herb on the window ledge is a source of infinate pleasure to me. The smell of it as you water it in the morning and the taste of it on your dinner in the evening is unsurpassed.

We finally got some rain a few days ago and I just had to go outside and revel in the smell - there's nothing like it! It has a fancy name, which I kept trying to tell Dave and then couldn't remember it but then I did, and here it is - isnt' it a wonderful word?

 

I've also got back into reading, one of my biggest loves. I really wasn't doing very much at all apart from the obligatory few pages at bedtime. I should have known things weren't right really by that alone. Anyway, normal service has been resumed and this is my current reading pile. Yes - I'm reading them all at once and more besides that are downstairs. Did I mention I love reading?

 

I've been listening to lots of Vaughan Williams compositions lately. His hopeful and Renaissance-style rather appeals to my mood at the moment. I used to have a bit of a thing for not liking him as I rather resented his fame for Greensleeves rather than MY Henry VIII. Of course, Henry didn't really write it either and Williams created one of his wonderful "Fantasia" around it (like the wonderful Tallis Fantasia). Silly how something can settle in your mind like a little seed. I do have a thing for listening myself sick of things once I discover or re-discover them so no doubt that will happen soon asn I'll be binge- listening to something else. 

I've been in the craft room and tentatively cleared a space in the chaos and made a couple of cards. This was this week's Cute Card Thursday challenge on a theme of "Ribbons and Bows". It was a joy to make actually and fell together really quickly thanks to a gift of 2 Stampin' Blend pens from Natalie O'Shea, my lovely Stampin' Up Demo. Everything was Stampin' Up except the little leaf charms which I made up myself. I really need to steel myself for a long overdue clear-out in the craft room. I have so much it's stiffling me and it's not a pleasure to be in there anymore. One step at a time though.

I've really been trying to take better care of my body recently as well as my mind, and I've joined Weight Watchers. There's plenty of blogs for that, so I won't be sharing too much except to say it really does work and I'm sure my lovely healthy food has contributed hugely to my new feeling of wellbeing. A word of warning though - a surfeit of beetroot will make you poop red! TMI but a public service announcement in case you have an panic attack every day for 4 days like I did! 

Think that's enough to be gettling along with. I'm going to get into my lovely freshly made bed with sheets that were dried outside today and then ironed and put back on - now that's heaven! 

Lynn xx