Cocktail Times - The Gallery

I love a cocktail. Many of my happiest, fuzziest memories of nights out involve a cocktail or several. They are so ridiculously easy to drink aren't they? Sweet, colourful, fun, with extra twiddly bits and an umbrella if you're lucky. What's not to like?

I remember working through all the different daiquiris; all the ones with crazy names; finding out what was in a Long Island Iced Tea (thought it was just rum and coke..); 2-4-1 nights; delicious Bloody Marys, and a memorable Blue Lagoon that was so huge you could've sailed a small toy dinghy across it.
All a long time ago now... before you start thinking I'm some kind of old lush, and I haven't had one for ages. Sooo, the Gallery's 'Drink' theme seemed like a perfect excuse to make one...and I went for a Sea Breeze...because it's easy and I had some cranberry juice.
It's a sharper tasting cocktail, but I don't tend to like them as sweet as I used to, and fancied something refreshing. Should really have sand and crashing waves behind it, but sitting on our wall looking out over the fields will always do for me.

I mixed 40ml of vodka with 30ml of grapefruit juice and 120ml of cranberry juice, lots of ice and a slice of lime, well, lemon in this case - then waited till the kids were asleep, sneaked out to the wall, enjoyed the peace as the day faded, and raised a glass to happy memories.

So what's yours? Do you have a favourite cocktail? 

The Drinks are lining up over at The Gallery this week. 

Chasing Butterflies

Always lovely to see the butterflies back, fluttering among the flowers; but they haven't had the best start, which is worrying, because 2012 was the worst on record for butterflies. Not a great surprise, seeing as last summer was such a wash out.

We took part in the Big Butterfly Count - between the showers - along with thousands of other volunteers, and the dismal results show numbers have fallen for nearly all the species monitored in the nationwide survey.

And it's not just the rarer ones either; the more common species like Tortoiseshells and the Large and Small Whites are struggling as well.
To raise awareness about this, lots of events are being held across the country from the 18th to the 24th of May - all part of Save Our Butterflies Week. If you'd like to find out about any guided walks or talk sessions happening near you, do have a look at the Butterfly Conservation website.
Keeping track of the butterfly population has wider implications too, because it's seen as a really good indicator of the state of our countryside.

I know I'm more conscious of them since the BB Count last year, and was pretty excited the other day when I spotted a not so common, Common Blue fluttering by a road in Hereford. I haven't seen one of these bright little beauties for ages, and got a few funny looks as I clambered up a grassy bank after it...

So, as the weather seems to have picked up a bit, I thought we'd have a go at butterfly hunting in the garden, to see what we could find.

A slow start - loads of bees, no butterflies - then suddenly there were 3 Orange Tips floating around us. It was at this point I grabbed the cat and chucked her inside because she thought butterfly hunting was BRILLIANT...and looked like she might be a little too good at it...

Apart from removing the cat, one simple way to entice butterflies and caterpillars into your garden is to leave a patch of wildflowers - and they're very fond of nettles, which is perfect, because that's something we're definitely not short of.

After a fair bit of chasing....

....and not a single butterfly photo to show for it, my luck changed, and I managed to zoom in on this Small White (I think - several different white ones) on a dock leaf.

Then we spotted an Orange Tip, landing on a daisy. Amazingly it rested there for a while, so I snapped away..

But the icing on the cake was this rare sighting of a lesser spotted chocolate button butterfly... apparently only appears on birthdays...and it's never around for long..

Linking up with Country Kids from Coombe Mill

Silent Sunday - 19/5/13

A giraffe and a zebra roll up to the Zoo

I'm back on the animal loo roll trail - this time my mini maker fancied a zebra and a giraffe to add to the lions we've already made for our zoo. The challenge really was to come with suitable animal legs, that wouldn't drop out or fall off.. and think I've cracked it...

All you'll need is 3 loo roll middles, an empty cereal packet, paint/felt tips and glue.

Cut one of the tubes lengthwise into 4 equal pieces, then fold each one as tightly as you can.

Shorten a tube by a few cms, then make two small slits at each end for the legs - nail scissors are great for this - and push one of the folded pieces of card up through one hole and down through the other. (better if the holes are fairly close together - too far apart and your giraffe/zebra will look legless...) Repeat at the other end and that's the body and legs done.

We made two - my 6 year old painted one yellow and the other white.

Don't forget to paint pieces of a cereal packet at the same time.

Once these are dry, draw a head shape for your zebra/giraffe on the back (non-painted side) of the cereal packet, and remember at the bottom of the neck to continue the lines down for a few cms - this extra bit forms the tab that slots into the tube body.

Use your cut out to draw another one the same on the front, but make sure you draw round it with the wrong side facing up, so when the head pieces are eventually glued together both sides are painted.

Working on the zebra first, cut a thin strip of black paper (colour in some paper if you haven't got any) This is going to be the mane and needs to be a little bit longer than the neck.
Then carefully cut a fringe along the strip. Use some brown paper for the giraffe's mane.

Spread glue over the wrong side of one of the head pieces, stick the mane down, with the extra bit in front of the ears, and sandwich the other side on top. Leave it to dry with something heavy on top and when it's ready, draw a face.

We used felt tips for the body, but paint the stripes/splodges if you prefer. I put a few pencil lines on the zebra for guidance, after the first attempt ended up looking a little like black beauty!

Cut a slot near one end for the head and push it through. Finish off with a swishy tail.

So our zoo so far....and we've added a rare white Bengal tiger, made like the lion, to pull in the crowds..
Next on the list, an elephant.

Linking with For the Kids Friday

and Red Ted Art's Kids Get Crafty

The Gallery - New

About this time every year we get new neighbours...

The farmer puts a few of his ewes and their lambs in the paddock next to us, and it's lovely having them so close: new life, right there - a real sign of spring, even if the weather doesn't quite match at the moment.

Seeing them every day reminds me of the sheep we had for a spell when I was growing up. Only six, but boy were they a handful!  Excellent at keeping the grass and weeds down in our small field...also excellent at escaping, like fluffy houdinis - especially the ram, on the lookout for ladies...

We often got calls from neighbours about them being out on the road. And everyone knew they were ours because they were Jacob sheep, and hard to miss with their distinctive piebald black and white fleece.

Mum taught herself to spin the wool on a lovely old spinning wheel, and the yarn was beautiful; but knitted into a jumper I remember it being scratchy, and so thick and stiff I couldn't put my arms down flat by my sides...
I know, way back then, mum dreamt about having a smallholding, but that idea seemed to lose some of its sparkle after the sheep!
Funny, I was talking to her about the Jacob sheep the other day, and she remembers them so fondly now...

The Photo Gallery theme this week is New

It's the way you sell them...

We took Betty to the car boot on sunday - a bit of a selling ploy to help shift some of our cupboard clobber.  She proved quite a draw last time, did old Betty!

My husband came too, which meant no being at the end of the queue, or getting stuck in the overflow field away from all the action. He's as good at being early as I am at being late...think it's an army thing..
Though no need to be up at the crack of dawn for our local car boot - it starts at 2. Well, that's the advertised time, but if you turn up at 2 you'd be pretty disappointed as most of the good stuff has gone by then. The regulars are doing the rounds at one.

Anyway, we were really early to set up, and the other bonus of having my husband there is he loves selling stuff. Honestly, he's like a charming, tat-selling Arthur Daley. Absolutely in his element. So, as he was very happy to get on with it, I slinked off for a wander; though didn't manage a solo slink, because the youngest wanted to come too, darn it!
Actually having her with me turned out to be quite a good thing, because she was able to try on this lovely Boden coat. Probably could have haggled it down from £4, but know how much they go for on ebay, so I was happy enough.

Not sure which of us was more excited about finding Angelina Ballerina and her sweet collection of clothes. Only a pound - just need to mend a ballet shoe.

In among the trestle tables packed with clothes and toys I spied this lovely vintage pyrex type casserole dish, also £1.  I've a smaller one in the same pattern, so obviously had to buy it.. (though I've nowhere to put it..)

This was my favourite find - seven painted wooden clown skittles for 50p. They were one of those don't-hesitate-for-a-second buys. Always seems to be vintage/oldish toys with me! Or something with a fish on it.

When we eventually got back to Betty, my other half was in full flow, persuading some poor mum that her son really needed all three books of Match Attax cards...

Linking up with marvellous Magpie Monday over at Liz's shiny new place!

Silent Sunday - 12/5/13