Monday 19 August 2013

Rhondda Cynon Taff, Wales: Mum grows best.

I have come home to Wales to find (not that I'm hugely surprised, like) that...


(after snooping around her potted plants and garden beds)


...my mum...


...is a MUCH better gardener than me.



She even has a CHRISTMAS tree growing...


And one from the Black Forest.


Hello little tiny Black Forest tree that I don't have.

 
Why wont you grow like this in Liverpool?


 
We have one tree in our back yard...


There it is!




I think it's holding up our house...


That's not my house, by the way...


 
(in case you wondered)
 

This seat is RESERVED.


Yes, it's reserved for me to watch and learn how to grow this...


...and this...


and THIS!


...like a pro 
(that's my mum behind me being a pro)


And, when all else fails, and things still don't look good in my tiny back yard in Liverpool...


It's time to start stealing.


Let me introduce you to my bag, young plant...


You're next.

Monday 5 August 2013

London, UK: Chalking all over my friend's house...

I stayed at my friend's house in London this weekend and discovered some cool things in her kitchen...

 
A chart about moustache types, framed neatly above the table...
 
 
A cup collection to rival my own... (this shelf goes on and on)
 
 
Nice pictures from faraway places on the fridge...
 
 And...

 
OH MY GIDDY AUNT.

 
A massive, smassive chalkboard.
 
 
Dear Sophie,
Please give me this massive chalkboard.
Love,
Helen
x

 
Please?
 
 
I'll take these too x
 
(Imagine the mess they would make if someone knocked them off that ledge?)
 
And while I'm here...
 
 
Let's see if I've grown...


My height is the lower end of that wonky line...
 
Have you decided whether I can take it yet, Soph?

 
I mean...
 
With front doors like this...

 
And phone boxes on your street that look like this...

 
I'm not really sure that you need more cool stuff down here in London...
 
 
***

Friday 2 August 2013

Liverpool, UK: Welcome back! But not you Kevin...

I know that everyone in the UK loves pets. I know that most people love cats.

But when you are trying to make your back yard look like The Eden Project, on a limited budget, cats can be a real problem.

This is what I want to say every day when I open the back door to check on my tiny little plants, but can't.

(I can't because our neighbours are actually really nice, and I don't want to tell them that I hate it when their cat, Kevin, poops between every flower I have planted...)

In my head though (and now on my walls), this is how the conversation would go if I did have the courage:

 
Hi neighbours, we need to talk about Kevin...

 
He keeps pooping in here...

 
Right there on my tiny, new plants...

 
See, look, aww.
 
They look so nice.

 
Oh, wait...

 
You can't see it, but I can smell it...
 
(Kevin has left us something evil to pick up)

 
I don't want to sound mean (and he probably climbs over the wall instead of using this handy cat hole anyway), but please have him use the loo at your house instead...

 
Unless he brings cakes and good conversation, he isn't welcome...

 
Ever.
 
(There wasn't a fairy cake behind that daisy)

Oh, yeah! My blog...

My friend Cory just sent me another chalk message from Canada and it reminded me that chalking is my mission, and that I best pick my game up before someone starts chalking about how slack I have been.

But, y'know, in my defence, I don't want to chalk about just ANYTHING.

It has to be about something I actually want to say.

And I think I have just found the perfect thing...


P.S. This is what Cory sent me...


"I do hope that chalking doesn't weaken structual pillars. My desk is right above this one!" he said.