Rainy Saturday

MozzyMr came back from the allotment last night with news, it seems changes are afoot... not good changes.  Currently the parks and recreation part of the council run the allotments across the city but it's going to be taken over by car parks and as we all know car park departments like to scrape in as much money from residents and visitors as possible.  We're expecting rents to double which is an arse but not only that currently 51% of your plot has to be cultivated before they boot you off but that will be upped to 75% in September when car parks take over.  Now at the moment that will be fine, by September (when the proposed changes are likely to take place) we will be able to clear the grass and weeds from the quarter plot we took over earlier in the year but it has been a lot of work and I worry that we might struggle to keep up.  I would hate to think we would lose our allotment, it's one of the few places I feel contentment.

So what has that got to do with a rainy Saturday?  Well we were going to put in several hours digging and make the most of the rain we have had recently which with any luck will have created softer soil, but it keeps tipping it down!  So whilst we waited for the showers to pass we nipped into town to visit our friend Joe who has taken over as manager of the new RSPCA shop in Exeter, we dropped off a few donations and made a little purchase whilst we were there.  I expect under Joe's management the shop will become a haven for all things retro and fabulous!

So next we visited the Royal Albert Memorial Museum to see the Wasted Exhibition to quote their promotional blurb:

"This exhibition explores the life-giving potential of 'discarded' body parts and their relationship to myths, history, cutting edge stem cell research and notions of what constitutes informed consent."

Mmmmm sounds delicious... and actually it was a great exhibition!  Here are a few pictures:

Niiiiice chair!  The white portion of the seat cushion is made of donated human fat.  Yum.  You're not allowed to sit in the chair but you are invited to give the seat a squeeze, which of course we did and it was quite squishy and not too unpleasant.

I absolutely loved the wall of dental casts which I've always had a bit of a fascination with.  My brother had a cast of his teeth made when he was young which he still has, I never had to have it done so was a bit jealous.

I will never complain about my teeth again, some folks have a proper snaggly set of gnashers...

Baby teeth set within a resin sculpture... not my favourite piece but the lighting of the resin was ethereal, which was nice.

A trip to the museum isn't complete unless I go and see the bugs and the butterflies, they're so beautiful!

Money

So yeah, about a year ago I took the decision to stop reading fashion magazines, I thought their message was corrosive and just encouraged spending on the most frivolous nonsense.  Since then I've mostly read The Simple Things or Mollie Makes as well as reading lots of blogs.  The thing is, more and more blogs on my Bloglovin feed are sponsored and some of my favourite blogs are becoming like the magazines I chose not to read anymore.  I found myself wanting to buy stuff on a near daily basis and regularly made impulse purchases based on the stuff I was seeing on blogs, I was reverting back to my fashion magazine ways.  Now don't get me wrong I appreciate that I should exercise more self control and for many writers of blogs it is their primary income.  I just wonder how else the corporate will infiltrate the individual voice?  

For me (and for my purse) I am going to edit my Bloglovin feed and re-evaluate what I really should and need to be spending my money on.  Do the purchases I make really make me happy or are they a distraction from other things?  

Allotment geekery

1. The allotment is one of the few places in town where you get to see a big sky, with the clouds moving towards us it was looking particularly amazing today.
2. These cornflowers grew from seeds we had leftover from the wedding invitations, as you can see they're doing pretty well.  The bees love them and they supposedly help keep carrot flies off my lovely carrots!
3. The plum tree is settling in well, no sign of any fruit yet but, I guess that we'll have to wait until next year for fruit.
4. The red cabbage is doing ok, it had a few caterpillars munching away on them which we had to dispatch but I haven't seen any on there for the last few days.
5. Aubergine flower!
6. A bumble bee taking full advantage of the leeks that we let go to flower.
7. These borlotti beans look absolutely amazing!  I think I need to leave them on the plant a bit longer but it's a struggle resisting the temptation to pick them.
8. The same goes for the purple dwarf French beans, I don't know how big these actually get?
9. Successional beetroot planting is working well for us this year, think I might need to find a beetroot relish recipe...

10. The sunflowers aren't doing too badly this year :)

11. Hmm the peas aren't amazing this year I still haven't quite got the hang of them, next year I'm just going to plant absolutely loads of them!

12. Foolishly we planted courgette on the same patch we did last year (we were very quickly running out of usable space) and they haven't done so well.  We also need to give the soil some tlc in autumn and winter.

13. A spaghetti squash, when we first put these in the raised bed they withered and didn't look as if they would make a recovery but happily they have.  With the fab weather we've been having we have been going to the plot every day to water, it take about an hour between the two of us but is worth it.

14.  We have about five or six butternut squash plants that survived, this one is the smallest, most wilty but has the largest flower on it.  It may only produce one squash but I suspect it will be a good un.

15. Hmm the pear that I photographed a few weeks back really hasn't grown much.

16.  The apples are coming along a treat...

17.  MozzyMr watering his precious tomatoes! 

18.  The tomatoes are growing well but they're just not turning red, hopefully we will have some to eat soon.

Candy love

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 

Oooooh I do love a candy stripe and this beautiful, beautiful weather makes me want to host a party with everything above especially the fab straws and bags :D

Life lately

1. Taking inspiration from exhibits at the London Transport Museum.
2. Watching MozzyMr play with his nieces.
3. Hanging out with Missy Little whilst wearing rabbit ears.
4. Growing veg as ever!
5. Making the best jam I have ever tasted, seriously having to control the impulse to eat this with a spoon straight out of the jar.
6. Making elderflower cordial and champagne!
7. Making pesto, have become pesto obsessed but figure there are worse things to be obsessed with?
8. Doing a spot of travelling to France and enjoying some sunshine even if it was for a mere week!
9. Looking puffy and tired, like I am ready to curl up into a ball and sleep at a moments notice.

1. Buying MozzyMr prizes from my travels but actually wanting to keep them for myself...
2. Loving the jelly fish, the lights in their tank changed colour I liked them best when they were pink.
3. Suspicious penguin outside the London Aquarium is suspicious...
4. A remarkably cheery looking Easter Island head in a tank full of sharks.
5. Watching rays swim, seriously it's hypnotic I love it!
6. Being a tourist and going on the London Eye.
7. Hanging out with my brother.
8. BBQing like a pro.
9. Seriously my brother has special BBQ gauntlet glove thingys (!)

London: South Bank

London: London Eye

In addition to the aquarium my brother and I also visited the London Eye which was awesome!  The views were amazing and I would definitely recommend it if you haven't visited before but definitely book tickets in advance because the queues were epic!

London: the Aquarium

On Friday I went up to London for a work conference and took the opportunity to spend the weekend with my brother and do a few touristy bits.  The South Bank was packed, I have never seen it so busy, but there was a great buzz so we decided to go to the London Aquarium.  The queuing was a bit of an effort but the aquarium was great!  I think the jellyfish and the puffer fish were my favourites..