An illustration of the Brewer clan

via jabberworks.livejournal.com

Our friend Sarah did a marvellous illustration of us at the weekend. I think she captures the chaotic joyous nature of my clan really well. I really love her stuff and she is now really in demand which is great. Check out her blog and her books ... Morris is genius and is done with the "purple ronnie" chap.

Comdey snow video

This video was taken during a walk after the massive amount of snow fall that we got in Feb. The thaw is in full effect.

Snow!

Look how much snow we have had!

Alice is pregnant

12 weeks gone!
Great news.

The great hedge massacre

We've finally got the back hedge cut back to a decent size (with some professional help in the end). This has the advantage that:
1) We can see the lovely trees on the common.
2) Dan can cut the thing
3) The garden feels bigger

Bon

Crazy Crow in Burgess Park

This is insane footage of crow behaviour in Burgess Park. It kept doing this but we only caught it on film once. When I first saw it I went all cold thinking someone had actually hung a crow. Turns out it was doing it itself. Weird.

Anneli Bijou Brewer

At last the wee beastie has arrived and shall be hereafter known as
Anneli Bijou Brewer

Here are the vital stats for your top trump card:

date of birth - 7/1/08
time of birth - 16:08
sex - Female
hair - Quite a lot of Strawberry blond
weight - 7lb 13oz
Length - ? But long

Labour and pre-labour were very long and torturous but we managed to
get there in the end using virtually all the painkillers known to
mankind

Alice and Anneli are doing well and are currently recovering in hospital.

PS if you want to see more photos, try this going to
http://picasaweb.google.com/weebeastie.brewer in a couple of days.

Wee Beastie's first Christmas

If this weird undulating belly doesn't freak you out I don't know what will.

Christmas tree

Christmas is almost here and Alice looks like she is ready to pop.

Happy Christmas everyone!

The wee beastie's room

Dramatically, a couple of weeks ago we converted the spare room into a baby room of sorts. Here are the results.

Flooded!

Well it must be almost unheard of, but whilst in Abingdon this weekend we nearly got flooded in. My parents house was fine, but the Ock flooded (usually this is a yearly occurrence with no effect on the houses, as the only house in danger is on stilts and quite used to it). This year however the little river obviously couldn't cope with the vast quantity of water coming down in such a short time. We had 76mm in 9 hours on Friday, and by Sunday this was the result.

Had to jump in the car to get out and to Epsom before we got stuck there!!! Pleased we don't live on a river!

Garden, 6 months on

At last we have some flowerbeds with something in them! Thankfully the laylandii don't seem to have sucked all the water out of the soil (maybe that is just because it has been so wet this year), and everything seems to be growing really well.




My favourite plants of the year have to be the phlox "twinkle stars" which have flowered for ages, have brilliant colours all the way from white to purple to red. I'll certainly do them again next year. The dianthus I planted are also great, as are the sweet peas and dahlia that Dan's Dad gave us.

Vegetable patch, 3 months on

Thought I'd do an update of the vegetable patch, and the garden (see above). 3 months on, we have harvested our early potatoes, and have a crop of King Edward's well on the way. We have carrots, onions, mange tout (two varieties), sweetcorn, courgettes, squash, and pumpkins all doing well. Here's a photo of the site:


And some produce:




We also have the greenhouse just about full of things as well! Two varieties of chillis, peppers, and tomatoes. I ate the first tomato today, but the chillis are huge! I am wondering how long it is going to take them to turn red, but experience of growing them inside is that it takes years!

Introducing the wee beastie

Well guess what?  we are having a baby!  Yay!  Due on the 8th Jan if all goes to plan.  So far I have been sick as a dog, but now the first trimester is over I fully expect this to stop (here's hoping!).

Best birthday card of the year

Just like to share with you the best birthday card I received this year. I am thinking of changing my profile picture in facebook to this one:

Veg patch day:1

At last I have dug the veg patch! What an effort it was to get rid of all the roots from the old hedge. My back feels mighty sore I must say, but Dan couldn't help as he has a real back problem. Here's a pic:

I can also report that after only 3 hours Harold has already been and made his mark.

Currently in situ are sweetcorn, squash, pumpkin, sweet peas, onions and a new carrot variety I am testing for Gardening Which?

Mysterious flowers

Does anyone know what these are? I must have planted them as I did this bed from scratch, but I have no memory of them!!!! the are very prolific, and I like them a lot. They're between 6 and 12 inches tall, once long single stem, with multiple flowers coming off at different places. They are really varied in colour, from completely dark red up to white, with most being an orangy red with yellow and black in the centre. I know they are from a bulb....

Any indentifications welcome!!!

Easter weekend

For the Easter weekend we went down to Thanet and had a really great time. Unusually loads of my friends were all down at the same time and it was marvellous to see everyone. It was also great to get the whole family together.

Ahh if only every weekend could be like that!

Hedge gone!

We had a local tree surgeon take outpart of our laylandii hedge that was is a right old state. He came while we were at work yesterday and did a marvellous job! I must say it is surprising how much space it took up. It is great to have it out though; there is quite a big gap now at the back where we will have to grow something, but I am thinking of putitng in an elder (after hearing Dad talk about how they make good hedging). That would give us greenery, keep the birds happy, and maybe a little elderberry wine too! Dan hates elderflower flavour, but I love it, so maybe some of that too.

The great thing is that there is a lot more sun coming in to that part of the garden (but it is noisier). We intend to grow vegetables there this year (as there are 12 people on the waiting list for our local allotments).

Chionodoxa Forbesii

These are my new favourate plants! I bought the bulbs last year from Eurobulbs UK, and they are so beautiful. I had thought that there weren't going to be any flowers this year as they were advertised as one of the earliest bloomers in the Spring. As it has been so hot this year I expected them early but they have only just come out. Apparently they will self seed and naturalise, but we shall see. They look quite big in the photos, but they are actually tiny, just about 3 or 4 inches tall.