Cattapilla Dreaming

It seems I was a bit previous  calling my last post ‘Autumn’!  We are now into summer again. 

The cats are happy, the fuschia is humming with bees, the hebes are alive with butterflies and the sea has a mid-summer haze to it.

On a day spent shopping off the island yesterday – shopping for spring bulbs – two things caught my eye.  This beautiful ship moored in Bantry Bay. 

   The Training Ship Danmark

Then coming home through Glengarrif this house made me stop.  What is it about certain colour combinations that make you smile and feel comfortable?  This one is stunning, as are  the blue and yellow of bluebells and primroses, the pink and blue of a red-sky-at-night, the edible shades of rhubarb and custard and the crispness of navy and scarlet.  Yummy!

And today I shall be deciding where to put all those bulbs.  It’s a task as pleasurable as matching fabrics, one of those garden treats of imagining todays planting in six months time.  I have pink and white aliums, pale Pheasant’s Eye narcissus  and dwarf yellow tete a tete daffodils.  And then there’s the ten blue hydrangeas waiting to be planted and a ground covering of baby alchemillas which have to be collected from around the garden and planted where I want them, not to mention the salad beds which need clearing, the  hedges that  need trimming and the broad beans which have to be planted.  Think I’d better get on with it before autumn really does set in!!   

Visited a long established woollen mill in  County Kerry last week and found the most beautiful tweeds and blankets for Gorgeous Wool Cushions and Gorgeous Wool Bags.  I wanted to buy one of everything but was very restrained and only bought for the business.  I think you’re going to love them and I’m sewing madly to get some up on the website as soon as possible.

The drive was wet and windy and on our return the sun shone briefly,  highlighting the foaming white torrents of water cascading down the hillsides.  It’s certainly getting autumnal now.   I keep thinking our family of swallows have left and then they reappear for yet another fly past and disapear again.  But it’s all gone very quiet this afternoon so I think they may finally have left.  I shall miss them, as I always do, and look forward to their return.

The blackberries this year are suprisingly good considering the rain we’ve had lately so T and I take ourselves for a walk every fine afternoon armed with bags to collect as many as possible .  Cauldrons bubble away on the stove producing pounds of blackberry and apple jam.  Nothing tastes quite as good and it makes a welcome  addition to the range of marmalades.

Back to the sewing machine and those gorgeous wools!  I shall be adding the new collection of Gorgeous Wool Bags this weekend so keep looking at the website.  Gorgeous Wool Cushions and new winter Vintage Print Cushions will follow soon.