Go Team GB?!!

Personally, I'm obsessed with the Olympics. There's just something about seeing sports you never get to see in your everyday normal life. Take the triple jump, for example. Or the pommel horse. Or fencing. Ping Pong. Archery. Synchronized Swimming. When else do you get a chance to see these kinds of things? I really can't wait until 2012, what a once in a lifetime experience to watch crazy fools cycle round a cereal bowl in the velodrome. I'm stoked.

The thing I don't really get is how blaze' the Brits are about the games. Take this opinion piece entitled Go on, admit it, Beijing is boring. Let's call off 2012 in this weekend's Observer - the paper I almost religiously read every Sunday. So far, I think this pretty accurately reflects the attitude I've come across here this first week of the Games. I'm excited, I try and talk to my co-workers, friends and even the check-out girl at the store and they simply shrug their shoulders and say something like, I'm not really bothered about it. What? You're not bothered? But it's the Olympics! I plead. TV coverage is limited to daytime (while everyone's at work) and live coverage in the wee hours overnight. There's only a one-hour recap in prime time on BBC1 - which simply shows the heats that Team GB were involved in and not much else. It's really disappointing for a big fan like myself.

What's Happening in the Kitchen Garden...

I've always had a thing for butterflies....

I've been threatening you for ages with the tour of our kitchen garden. It's my first attempt at raising vegetables, especially from seeds, (and smuggled back from the US no less!) and I have to admit I approached it a little unconventionally by planting all the veg in the borders mixed in with the more traditional flower beds. Feverfew among the marigolds

It's been super successful so far and we currently have courgettes (Zucchini) coming out of our ears.Looking toward the end of the garden. Courgettes, corn, then euphorbia, tomatoes, carrots, radishes, blackberries, cucumbers, and pumpkin. Whew.

Courgette (Zucchini) blossoms

And speaking of ears. Look at the corns bloom! Amazing that each of those little flowers will be a corn kernel when it grows up. Yummy.

These little ganzanias make me happy.

Look! There's some sugar snap peas among the nasturtiums and dahlias. Can you spot the swiss chard?Stargazer Lily.

My lilies were a complete disaster. I had red lily beetle pretty badly and they completely decimated the lily crop. I only got 2 flowers from about 8 plants!

Here's looking back at the house through the tomatillos and even more tomatoes. What on Earth am I going to do with all those tomatillos? Salsa verde, anyone?


This is looking back at the house. Note the inviting hammock complete with lap cat.I'm convinced that Warwickshire must be the slug capital of England. I've been trying to get lettuce leaves going for the past 7 or 8 months and only ever got a half eaten leaf or two. I've had much more luck planting leaves in pots, starting seeds every three weeks or so in order to always have some fresh lettuce on the go.
This is the potting shed and shady sitting area at the farthest end of the garden. You walk under this archway dripping with honeysuckle and climbing roses to enter, but for some reason I didn't take a picture of it.
We haven't really set up the sitting area yet, we only just moved in about a month ago.... But I did plant a sunflower garden along the wall. Here's a closer look at the first sunflower of the year!
And finally, a little taste of our daily bounty.

The best thing ever

He emerges from the study where he's been finishing a project for work all weekend.
Him: That band is the best thing ever.
Me: What band?
Him: This band, the one you've been playing on repeat all day.
Me: I thought I was the best thing ever.
Him: Who is this?
Me: Fleet Foxes. Zoe loaned me the CD. Dreamy, no?
Him: Like a cross between My Morning Jacket and Midlake, but more mature. Better.
Me: With a dash of CSN&Y style harmonies. More hymnal like.
Him: Yeah. Hymnal. The best thing ever.

Making stufff: the 'and her bird can sing... 'throw pillow

It was Zoe's birthday yesterday and to celebrate I threw together this little beauty. It's my first attempt at proper quilting - I mean with a traditional pattern - the log cabin. The results turned out to be anything but traditional.
I'm completely obsessed with the idea now and have already set about cutting up all the fabric I can get my hands on into these little 2 1/2 inch strips.
Oh and the embroidery on the back! I just love this little bird, inspired by one I saw in Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray- a book I've mentioned before here on the blog and another book I just can't help being inspired by. Go out and get it now, even if you've never embroidered before - it is positively overflowing with simple yet stunning designs that can be infinitely used over and over again in a hundred different contexts. Check out her latest work here.
(Tweet.)
And for dessert.....
There is nothing happier than birthday cupcakes, don't you think?