we've moved

we've moved

no, don't get excited, not into the new house, just our blog........

We've changed our name and host

please come and visit us, we'd love you to follow us, we're hoping staying in touch will be easier

this is where we are:

www.ourlifehandmade.wordpress.com

hope to see you soon

spring is coming, honest

it's hard to believe, especially when it does what it did today, but spring is on it's way.....

honest it is, I promise

No, seriously, it is

If you listen carefully and look beneath the piles of sodden leaves, mud, relentlessly grey and weeping skies there are springy things happening everywhere

a small peek under their winter covers reveals fruit on all the citrus trees, some are bearing fruit that have never borne fruit before

  

we've only had one landslide this year (so far!!) and luckily the local council are friends, so they happily removed this boulder which Woody tried to shove out of the way....bless

slowly, slowly everything will dry out and before you know it, it'll be scorchio again and the rivers will have run dry and we'll all be dreaming of rain and the winter will seem like an age ago

hard to imagine, but true

happy christmas and all that

happy christmas to all our readers and followers, thanks for supporting us throughout the year, it's been another roller-coaster ride and it's not over, so please continue to send us comments or just check in and make sure we are still ok and haven't killed each other!!!!!

what autumn means to me

misty mornings

and fantastic sunsets

butterflies on sun warmed rocks

grasses like sparklers

magical birches

old dogs in fine fettle

evening snacks are free and plentiful

seeds with tree potential

and food for birds

lichen that only grows where the air is clean

dappled leafy light

long shadows

and mushrooms

  none of which are edible

strawberry fruits scattered amongst the brown hues

toffee apples for halloween

cake is always available

beans are planted

and new puppies chew everything

what does autumn mean to you?

teapot glue

right, a while back I posted about our teapot, and as I am sure most of you figured out that whilst the spout did fall off the teapot I wasn't necessarily talking about the teapot, it's been a while, I've been away and come back and been away and come back, I've had an amazing time in Canada and the UK, I have searched high and low for teapot glue, I've looked in all the difficult to find it in places, searched the internet, read lots of books and I can categorically say that it doesn't exist.....thank god

Why would you want to stick an old leaky spout back on anyway, sometimes if things don't work well, they need replacing, everyone knows that chipped and stuck back together crockery doesn't work well after a while anyway, so let the cracks appear, let the leaks continue, maybe the solution lies within the cracks and leaks, that is what they are there for, to show you the way, the way back to what it is you want and who you were meant to be, not as a couple but as an individual.....

Yes it's obvious, but sometimes when you are stuck in the middle of something, something that is broken it's hard to see anything clearly, as they say a change is as good as a rest and I have had both

Now that I have got this entry out of the way I can continue to blog about food and gardening and dogs....from my home in Portugal

thanks for sticking (!!) with us/me/him

home, sweet smelling home

hope springs

spring is everywhere

and with it brings hope (and oranges)

 it's moving through the land

and finds it way in to the house

Hope of new things to come

wonderful willow

Last year I starting learning how to weave baskets with willow, I cut all the willow back so that I would have fresh willow for this year. 

As chance would have it my dear friend Leen was holding a workshop yesterday, so we cut our willow the day before 

and went off for a day together (what, an actual day off, together!!) and sat in the sun (miracle), I made a basket which I donated to a new friend 

and Rick prepped willow, sharpened secateurs and made some new friends

and it was all very pleasant indeed.