A First Outing.

Our first trip out on the Mermaid today; here she sits in all her slightly grubby, slightly dishevelled beauty waiting for us to come aboard. Please excuse the not-so-very-good photos; I'm afraid I just clicked away rather than actually considering what the outcome was!



Miss Isabella had a slight twinge of nerves as the reality of a rocking boat sank in as we clambered onto our bench and insisted she needed to go home...didn't last more than about a minute and the rest of the time was pretty much as you can see here!



I, of course, was away with the fairies dreaming of all the coves we can explore (once we get a little outboard engine as rowing is not the quickest way to cross the harbour and sails don't appeal when it is as busy as it was today) and all the picnics on tucked away beaches.



Dear Mr Davey, was in his element



I feel I may have some competition here...hmm, that wasn't on the agenda. Luckily, Dave isn't one of those people who wants to talk endlessly about the ins and outs of boating or wants to spend forever tinkering about with the blooming thing leaving me at home all weekend because 'it has to be done'.



No for us Mermaid, though lovely, is intended for fun: sailing with the children, rowing around our beautiful rivers, going on picnics in new, hidden places and generally having a good time.



And I do truly promise not to bore you with endless talk of her either, but for now please indulge me!



Isabella found the sea air gave her an appetite.



And Lucy-Lu has a big smile on her face throughout despite a pounding headache that the fresh air could only help a little.



We pootled around the harbour searching out all the names of the other boats and watching the cows in the fields bordering the water from a different angle to usual.



Yes, all in all, it was a good first outing.



A hungry child waiting to row home for tea.



Off to eat the enormous stew & dumplings I made ready for our return and to spend the evening knitting by the fire, glass of wine to hand. Till next time, dear Mermaid



Oh and before I go, look what arrived here on Friday: a fantastic gift from our fabulous, lovely, just brilliant friend Diana. She is such a thoughtful person and we were both very touched by this gift. The River Cottage Handbooks are so well written and even the introduction by the god that is Hugh was enough to make me want to get going, thoughts of delicious meals making my mouth water as I read. Fishing is such great fun (well, we think so anyway). Thank you sweetie and looking forward to taking you fishing some time soon! x



What did you get up to today? x

New Pipany products!

Oh I am so excited! I have finally, after sooo much procrastination and uhmming and ahhing and basically doing anything I could to avoid it, put my new stationery range onto my pipany website. At last!



It was a job and a half I must say, but I am so thrilled with the look of them in all their cheeriness that I can't quite think why I didn't get them done much sooner.



The range contains both cards & postcards and are all taken from my photographic images of the things I see around my Cornish home. These are the things which inspire me and feed into many of my designs for my products. Things such as this..



and this..



The cards are available to buy either individually or in sets of three and have been left blank inside for you to add your own message. The cards come in four sets: autumn Fruits, Seeds & Grasses, Skies and River Views



while the postcards have an additional two themes - Cornwall and Seashore - and come in sets of 5.



And of course, as with everything else in my shop, postage is free to the UK! Oh dear, I sound like a very bad salesman..



I will be changing the range fairly frequently as my camera finds new things to grab me on my travels, things I want to share in the hope that you may love them too.



I won't show all the range here as it would spoil the fun, but I would love it if you could pop over and let me know what you think (please be gentle!).



Now I need a strong cup of tea and a biscuit! Have a great day x

(P.s. Kate, Diana has booted me up the proverbial and there will be an email full of mortification winging its way to you later today...sigh x)

A New Addition.

Now, before you start thinking baby thoughts and sending me links to knitting patterns of the bootee type, I must let you know that the new addition is not one of the baby variety. It is in fact one of these...



Her name is Mermaid and she has come home to Cornwall after some adventures elsewhere to live with us!



We are so very excited at the thought of sailing trips to little coves which are only accessible from the sea, where the sands are golden and free from footprints, ours alone to have fun for the day.



Mermaid means we can also sail to our favourite camping spot, a wooded quay that banks the prettiest of rivers on the Lizard Peninsula, where campfires are made and no shops, showers or other utilities exist. It is camping as camping should be and where we - er, actually that should say Dave- and the children usually arrive via a long and beautiful hike through fields and woodland following the river's winding path; now we can all get there with relative ease as Mermaid transports both us and the camping gear.



Having this boat also means we will be doing a lot of fishing, something we all enjoy even though our success rate is so poor. The fish must laugh their fins off when they see us coming!



I am so excited at the thought of Dave teaching those of the children who can't already how to sail. Good lord, my grammar.



So, the weekends will no doubt consist of sailing Mermaid, her pretty red sail catching the light as we scud across the bay. Hmm, I suspect it will consist more for now of tending to her every need as she could do with a little loving care to make her shine once more.



So much for the house getting all those pending jobs done then...ah well, at least there are new adventures in the offing .



Can't wait to show you the hidden bits of this beautiful, magical county, some of which I have never seen myself.



And as for Mr Davey, his childhood dream has finally come true. Here's to you My lovely and welcome 'home' Mermaid x



Any new additions to your weekend? x

A Mixed Batch.

The week so far has been good. Dave and Lucy are back at school; Isabella starts part-time tomorrow. In the midst of all this it has been good to begin to get back to normality for, much as I love the holidays, I do eventually need a little order to actually achieve anything. Bella and I spent this morning beginning the big garden clear up after the disappointing summer weather reduced it to a woodland of green and little else.



We brought in the last of our tomatoes to ripen, a disappointing crop thanks to blight which is so prevalent in our damp summers here. Next year we will only grow blight resistant varieties in the hope of some fruit worth eating.



Our peppers however have been wonderful, though we can't remember what variety they are. Sweet ones for sure, but not so sure whether they will turn red.



We found this little cutie ambling nonchalantly over the squidgy seedheads of the marguerites just before I cut them back.



And we also found this not-so-cutie. Actually, it is very odd but I don't mind spiders in the garden; it's in the house they give me the creeps. They just seem so menacing in the corners of the bathroom compared to gleaming softly in the autumn sunlight against jewel-stranded webs.



Having cleared buckets worth of weeds, cut back most of the overblown herbaceous perennials and generally brought some order to it all, I really felt we were getting somewhere. I can't tell you how good it has been to actually cross things off my list of 'things to do' this week instead of writing them into the following week's in my usual way.



It felt even better to cross out 'finish knitting Dave's sleeve', a chore which I have been writing for the past goodness knows how many months (yes, I know Diana, it is a LOT of months!).



I have blogged about this jumper - do you say pullover or jumper? Can't bear sweater because of the connotations! - frequently since I began it, but it really is quite a basic knit. It is just the sheer number of balls which make it so slow (14 in case you need reminding. 14!!!)



So, now I just have to start the next sleeve and I can begin the process of writing 'finish knitting Dave's sleeve' all over again. Oh the joy.



Right, now I must off to eat this rather delicious, very beautiful, velvety-soft and juicily over-ripe fig with some salty shavings of Parmesan cheese and a walnut or two.



What are you up to today? x

Fun in the Sun.

Grey and dull in my bit of Cornwall today, so I thought a reminder of a recent sunny day would be good. Isabella brought her kite with her. She has had a thing about kites just lately and has made one for each of us. This is her one though and it is very lovely.



She spent forever racing up and down the sand, the pretty tails flying in the breeze and her little legs pounding along the shore. such simple pleasures.



As the sun beat down cool pools of water were found for some quiet contemplation.



There were pretty girls



and a Jackie O look-alike!



Sparkly waters



Nothing like sitting in the frothy surf



Oops! Still smiling though, our water baby.



A warm robe and sandcastles to make.



And finally, it was time to come home.



Hope you have a good day today x,