Ups and downs

Mrs K is one of the few people who regularly comments here who doesn’t blog and a while back I found out why not when she made this comment. I always admire people like her who freely give their time and effort to do more than just donate to a charity.  As I promised in my reply to that comment I said that I would mention her good cause PMR-GCA UK North East.

With the clocks changing this weekend it starts to get colder and darker which means that I’ll feel my aches and pains more in the coming months.  One way of brightening up my days is looking at good blogs, and especially ones that put a smile on my face. Here are a few that have done just that over the past week.

Carrie’s post The Duality of Autumn really highlights the ups and downs of this time of year, whilst Daffy likes to go to the movies.

Perhaps you’d prefer to stay at home looking at Re’s lovely illustrated book, which would surely be accompanied by a cup of tea from the teapot wearing  Disgruntled’s snazzy gentleman’s tea cosy and a plate of The Homely Year’s delicious looking chocolate brownies or Allison’s pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

Our pets seem to be obvious to it all as you can see with Alison’s cat Kiki finding a suitable hot spot or like Uphilldowndale’s puppy Spud zonking out on the sofa!

If, like me,  you find that it all gets a bit too much some days do you wish that you could just do what the animal is doing in Nic’s terrific photo!

Some of you may wonder why I’ve not included a certain hilarious post that had me laughing out loud on Tuesday morning, however rest assured that I will do so,  probably in the post after next.

Have a good weekend!

What a good week…

it’s been thanks to the glorious sunny weather, so I’ve been on the plot most days making the best of it.

There’s been plenty of wildlife to be seen including butterflies such as this Painted Lady on Mondayand a Speckled Wood on Thursday

I saw a fox, presumably Digger, wandering down an adjacent path and yesterday a mob of magpies were being very raucous at times.

I’ve said several times that the flowers are all but finished but there’s still some to be seen including an annual mallow, some pot marigolds and a few sunflowers

Even the rose Valentine Heart is in leaf and bud again!

Happy gardening!

Next Wednesday 30th September is National Microcephaly Day and  Fraggle’s son Robin has asked that we wear something yellow in support of this good cause.  I don’t think I’ve got any yellow clothes but as I’m likely to be on the plot I’ll pick and wear one of the yellow flowers, probably a pot marigold. 

A good cause

I realise that supporting charities is a very personal act and this post shows a little of  what I, and others,  do to support a few of them.

The charity that I currently support on a regular basis is Thrive which is a horticultural charity which uses gardening to change lives. I have a link to it here under A Good Cause.

I tend not to keep many books so every now and again I have a sort out and take some to my local Barnardo’s bookshop. Needless to say that whilst there I always have a look round and never come home empty-handed!

I always buy some of my cards at one of the Cancer Research UK shops, and occasionally other items such as a snazzy waistcoat!

Last Sunday I sadly found a dead fox, not Fox Newton or Missy, on the allotments. It was in a really pitiful state and had clearly died from mange, which if untreated causes a  lingering death. The National Fox Welfare Society shows how they help treat this terrible condition.

Fellow bloggers are often great charity donors as shown by Veg Plotting with her Open Garden ‘Day’ which has so far raised over £1000 for WaterAid.

Charities have been hard-hit in recent months and suffered a dramatic decline in direct donations.   As you can see there a number of other ways in which we can all help with some of them, such as doing a blog like  Charity Shop Tourism,  costing little more than our goodwill and time.

Have a good weekend!