Screw that!

Those last  posts have been real downers! I'm not going there again. It's late, I need my bed and hopefully tomorrow will be brighter and I'll have more positive things to share. It's not all bad at the Wildewood, just sometimes it feels that way.

Sorry guys.x


Edited to add: Feeling brighter already, lol!

a bit of an odd post!

This, I suppose is just a ramble through my thoughts at the moment. I've been thinking a lot about pets and their impact in our lives. When we lost Walley it was such a huge and sudden shock. He meant so much to all of us people and animals. I'm still grieving in a huge way and not a day goes by without a tear or two or more! I really thought that I could never have another dog but Manchee was so lost without his buddy and adopted brother. He was just so low and unhappy. The house was such a sad place to be.

I've come to the conclusion that there can be no rules and it's not fair for another person to say what's too soon and when the time is right to get another animal (or person in fact if that's the situation). There is no limit to grief and it is absolutely possible to love another while still grieving for the first. This is what I've found to be true for me.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw this sad, skinny and wounded little dog on FB. I scrolled on by but a couple of days later a friend posted his story. His name caught my attention as I'm pretty superstitious about names. He'd been renamed Merlin. My lovely Eriskay is Merlin and we took him under our wing after a dodgy start in life. I read the story about this little chap and a seed began to grow. The following day, I clicked on his picture and re-read the story. I won't go into details but he was horribly wounded and beaten by his previous owners. His face will always bear the scars and so will his ears and what's left of his tail.

I mentioned it to T but he was less than enthusiastic, of course, Walley was his baby. I left it for a while, but the picture popped up on FB and Merlin was to go to an open adoption day. Suddenly I didn't want that to happen. It was a huge surprise to find out that he was in a foster home 15minutes away from us. This is rare as the dogs are featured from all over Brittany. We went to meet him and he hid the entire time. We went back a few days later and took Manchee to see if there was any hope. He attacked Manchee and bit him a couple of times. I was ready to give up, but T suggested one more meeting with the dogs on neutral ground. We went to the woods and Merlin went for Manchee again. Manchee is Mr Mellow in just about all circumstances however, he was ready and turned and growled full in Merlin's face. It was a huge turning point and Merlin suddenly had this whole hero worship thing going on.

So, to fast forward to today, Merlin has been living with us for two weeks! I can't believe he's been here so long!!! His personality has blossomed and he's so eager to please that a simple snap of the fingers will bring him up short. He adores Manchee and has begun to overcome his fear aggression with very quiet but persistant commands.

He and Manchee have suddenly in the last few days really bonded, although Manchee does still do a lot of eye rolling!

 Merlin is probably half Jack Russell and we're convinced the other half is whippet from his body shape and love of blankets :D

 Today they both got matching lurcher/whippet collars embossed with celtic designs. I think that means he's staying. He's certainly cheered up the household a lot.

 This week in honour of Walley, I had a star added to the top of my Elen tattoo, which I finally had finished. The footsteps and tiny stars are a symbol of the winding path we all take, never fully glimpsing beyond the next turn.

 Despite a really bad back, I spent some time tidying and planting Walley's little garden with wildflowers and forget-me-nots.

 I didn't want a stone marker as it just didn't suit his personality so I inlaid some stones and crystals into cement then decorated the spaces with swirls and a few hearts. It took me forever as I smoothed it all with a small paintbrush. It was worth it though as it's dried out perfectly <3

I suppose what this post is really all about is that it's possible to feel love in an injured heart and  maybe Merlin is bringing healing to us as he finds healing of his own  <3

Let down.

Oh dear! That's about all I can say about the market on Saturday :(

I set up with high hopes, it was a lovely place but the forecast wasn't great for the day. I was optimistic! Several monsoons later, I phoned my love and asked him to bring me a huge jumper and food supplies!
 The soaps were admired

 and I even took along a basket of tie dye baby grows and childrens tee shirts! No interest at all. I did sell a print and a couple of soaps which covered my costs but on the day I felt very negative. I had hurt my back and the cold made my muscles complain and I was close to ending the venture.

After a good nights sleep, a day of housework and an evening with friends helped to cheer me up. Now my perspective is restored I'm going to rethink my business plans.
I've begun sketching again, but this is for me, for now. I may start painting again, if I have the time!
Blodeuwedd, from the Mabinogion.

Spam.

Sorry guys, I'm going to have to add a spam filter! I hate having to do that but some comments are just not welcome here!

Bread and pizza

I love my new kitchen and baking here is just such a happy event. I don't cook every day because my lovely T likes to do most of the cooking. I tend to mostly do the baking.

 My shelves are groaning under the weight of Spices, jars of flour, surgar and lentils and of course many eggs :D
With all those eggs, I've become very adept at making quiche or flans depending on the filling.

 Bread is always on the go and I have another seeded loaf proving as I type.

A couple of times a month, Friday is pizza night, my favourite. On the left is T's rather sensible pizza while on the right we have my zen pizza (one with everything)!!!

 They were truly delicious and the point of making such big pizzas is that Saturday's lunch, or sometimes breakfast is left overs :D

I'm slowly starting to get my blog mojo back, so thank you everyone for dropping by, leaving a comment and writing such inspirational blogs <3

Bringing in the wild.

Rewilding - I've been trying to do this so much and for so long, it's almost become an obsession. But you know what? Taking care of our land doesn't just extend to what it can provide for us, but what we can provide for the land and our animals.
Over winter I left the vegetable beds to go dormant. The weather was so mild that everything just kept on growing, so I let it grow so that I could harvest the seeds. That didn't happen. We had mountains of flowers from the rocket and the kale and the bees had a huge harvest but everything just grew and grew. Now I'm sick of it all and want to plant our food for this year. I have little seedlings waiting to go in but nowhere to put them. What a mistake! I've been pulling out the plants, minus some of the seed heads and pods and feeding them to the ponies/horses. I checked first that none of it was dodgy for them to eat and they seem to have their own opinions on the matter in any case!

So while I drag our garden back up to scratch, I'm still making things out of wool and wood for the house, but not nearly enough as I'm just one person who functions at half the rate of a normal, healthy person.

Meanwhile my beloved is creating the Gite from our little Cidercott, that will generate a bit of income for us and I'm constantly in awe of his abilities. My main rule for the Gite is that it's refurbished with wood and tiles and is totally in keeping with our area which is largely a slate quarry! I'll be making the furnishings for inside and of course using my own soaps to promote my micro business.

Talking of furnishings, have any of you come across fusion quilts??? This is yet another rabbit hole I'm diving into. My golly do I love the combination of quilting and crochet!

This was found on Pinterest and I highly recommend you take a look :D

So for now, life goes on, ponies need attention and I have photos of soaps to edit. It's a very mixed and emotional bag in our corner of the world.


Thank you dear friends for your lovely comments, it means a great deal to know that I'm not just talking to the void.x

A new start.

Oh May was a horrible month. I'm sure there were a few good days, but everything was overshadowed by the sudden death of our dear little Springer Walley. I can't say too much as I've cried so much and I don't want to start again.
We think he had a heart defect as he just died on a Sunday afternoon. He was only 6. We've been utterly heartbroken.

Somewhere during the month I launched my soap business at my first fair. I did ok and it was a big learning curve.

I have another booked for next week and hopefully I'll get more orders as I would prefer not to be setting this lot up every week. The stall was ok, but the gazeebo was a bugger, especially if I have to do that alone, eek!

That's all I have to say now, but I hope I can get back to blogging soon and back to whatever passes for normal in my weird little world <3