Reading blogs from around the world and particularly prompted by Sarah’s post Finding Your Normal, makes me aware of just how differently we live. Your normal, ordinary day is my extraordinary. Sarah knits with a lamb by her side as she waits for her cheese to set; Glenda has bucket loads of passion fruit to deal with whereas I buy a few at 60 pence each to use sparingly; Jane deals with heat and looks across a red, dusty landscape; Sam gazes from her home across an ever changing seascape …
Here’s a glimpse of an ordinary week at Slamseys. Nothing exciting. Just the normal day to day. But possibly quite different to yours.
I walk past this field of oilseed rape each day and have watched it grow from tiny seeds, been grazed by marauding pigeons and finally it has burst into flower. The poles carry the high voltage power lines that make up the National Grid, which are a pesky nuisance for tractors to negotiate around when they’re in the middle of fields but remarkably handy when you want to turn on the lights.
I try to always have something on my knitting needles but am between projects at the moment since I finished this sweater (Miss Rachel’s Yoke from Kate Davies). This sweater was straighforward to make as it was knitted in the round and only needed real concentration for the patterning on the yoke.
The ducks waiting to be fed. Some days, they decide they can wait no longer and come to the kitchen window to chivvy me along. Before I kept ducks, I imagined they would spend most of their time on the pond, but instead they wander all over the place. Last week, I found them marching down the chase headed for the road and a few years ago they ended up sitting on the central reservation of the nearby dual carriageway.
Every day, when I shut up the ducks, I walk past a building with doorways that have been blocked with rusting metal panels. As I waited for one of the ducks, who was waddling particularly slowly that day, I noticed this little duck in the rust. How apt.
Drinking a tot of gin at the weekend seems a perfectly normal and sensible thing to do, especially when Beth needs tasters for some product development. This Slamseys Blackcurrant Cooler looks set to be my favourite during this spell of warm, sunny May weather.
Easy to make and oh so easy to sip.
Slamseys Blackcurrant Cooler
2 shots Slamseys Blackcurrant Gin
1 shot fresh lime juice
Ginger Beer
Drop some ice cubes into a highball glass and pour in the Slamseys Blackcurrant Gin and lime juice.
Top up with ginger ale and garnish with a wedge of lime or a sliver of cucumber.
Find a sunny spot in the garden and enjoy.
What’s your normal, ordinary? Do share.
If you want to know more about oilseed rape, you might be interested in Fields of Gold, which explains why it’s grown and what it’s used for.
LIFE IN MUD SPATTERED BOOTS 
That yoke is extraordinary and the rust duck is amazing!
The yoke is the same pattern repeated in different colours, which makes it relatively simple to cope with.
And the Slamseys Blackcurrant Gin Cooler is an inspiration too. I might try to concoct something like it with gin & creme de cassis & ginger beer this weekend when 80s return to our Blue Ridge
mountain side, after a chilly, windy, rainy week in the 40s. I admire your beautiful sweater. I have been creating collages for an art class. I love your Rusty Duck. We use to love a waterfront restaurant in Miami called The Rusty Pelican.
Gin, creme de cassis and ginger beer sounds as though it will work perfectly.
Yes a completely different week to mine. A lovely glimpse of your life. I love the jumper!
Quite moving, Anne. I think we all live extraordinary lives.
Your ducks look adventurous and inquisitive, I am not surprised they are exploring. I took notes about two days in my life recently, it made me realise how full my life is. Not sure if it is much different from many families with full time working parents but I don’t really know of course. Enjoy the gin tasting. I don’t have any Slamseys blackcurrant gin handy but I do have some raspberry vodka that might do.
If you go to the Slamseys website there are some raspberry gin cocktail ideas that would probably work just as well with raspberry vodka.
I read your post about your days – it made me realise how busy life was when my children were at school, yet it was just normal then.
I like this idea Anne…I think I might jump on board! Your ducks are adorable and that rust duck is amazing! Cheers, that gin looks very tempting!
My ducks are slightly less adorable when they dig up the garden!
I had thought that keeping a few chickens would be nice but I think I’d prefer ducks – yours look like great characters. Brilliant rusted duck – well spotted. I’m also admiring your knitting… Other people’s lives are always fascinating and I love reading about life on your farm (with the added bonus of gin-tasting).
I prefer my ducks to the hens until it comes to cleaning them out! The ducks are great characters but they are incredibly messy.
Hmm, we looked after our neighbour’s hens once and clearing them out was bad enough…
How could I not love a rusty duck! But the real thing is even nicer, I have to say. Ordinary weeks are the best sort. I must be getting old.
I thought of you when I saw that little rusty duck 🙂
I love your rusty duck!! As for what is normal, well, I have no idea. Nothing ever seems to be the same, so I guess normal is constant change!
How cool is that little rusty duck? Well spotted!
Thanks so much for linking to my post Anne. Everyone’s lives are so very different, aren’t they? It makes me wonder how any of us can have a “normal” to aspire or compare ourselves too 🙂
The knitting on your jumper is just perfect. I love colourwork!
Happy weekend,
Sarah x
Appreciating the difference in everyone’s life is one of the things I most enjoy about reading blogs. I love the way the colours for the jumper combine – I don’t usually keep to the suggested colours when I follow patterns, but this proved an exception.
Absolutely loved your photos and your post. It really is interesting to have blogging friends around the world whose everyday lives are so different from our own. Your sweater may have been straightforward to you but I’d say it is beautifully done.
nothing like my normal, though I could become accustomed to drinking lots of gin on the weekend 🙂
your jumper looks extraordinary – so pretty and to me looks very complicated. I hope it will be worn with much love and appreciation.
Many years ago a tractor driver who worked with me fell asleep rolling a grass field and crashed into a telegraph pole. That was not a normal day!
Oh, dear! Falling asleep while rolling is a bit of an occupational hazard isn’t it?
Ok, now that I’ve seen your fair isle yoke, I understand why the kids were laughing at you for knitting dishcloths! That’s beautiful, intricate knitting! Love the little rusty duck. Thanks for sharing your normal. Maybe one day I’ll get to your barn and you can teach me how to drink gin without weeping.. 🙂
You bring the bread and cheese and I’ll supply the gin.
Wish we could get your lovely Slamsey’s over here in the U.S.! Your Fair Isle sweater is gorgeous, and the ducks are adorable. We had ducks for a year or two and I couldn’t take the mess! We deal with chickens and Guinea fowl much better than the ducks, and the goats are our precious ones.
I think blogging has been such a lovely development of the internet. It is so nice to join so many people in their ordinary lives that are quite different from our own. I love it!