Articles by Jenny McIntyre

In a way I should say - I refer to my last blog - what on earth is going on with our weather? Today I woke up to a white covering on the lawn - oooh I thought - snow! Nope it was hailstones.... While I was taking some pictures of the hailstones, I noticed an orange flash below my window - there was a mombretia flowering in January!!!!!!!!!!! They normally flower in July/August and last through to October/November. So either it's just woken up or it hasn't gone to sleep yet!!!! Then an incr…

Hiya folks, well I firstly want to say a massive thankyou to all of you who commented on my daughter's photos. She was so taken with them and was very touched. She hadn't realised that she has an eye for photos, and even though I've said it many times, she didn't believe me because I'm her mum and therefore biased!!!! So with perfect strangers saying it - she believes it!!! She has said, however, that maybe she'll get a better phone with a great camera, because she never goes anywhere withou…

Mandi was surprised when I told her that quite a few people loved her photos and she asked if you would give your opinions on some of her work. She's taking her photos with her phone and if the response here is positive, she will probably go out and buy herself a decent camera. She says that living in Turkey has certainly encouraged her to take photos, probably because I always ask her to take pictures of where she goes, so that she doesn't seem so far away from me. I miss her terribly, but i…

Yesterday the doorbell rang and after working out that it wasn't the neighbour's announcing their arrival (they ring the bell to say they're coming in and use the spare key to let themselves in), I went to the door and there was a lovely lady standing there with a bouquet of flowers in her arms. I did ask her if she was sure it was for me, - as you can gather bouquets are not a regular feature in my house!!! She read out the name and it was for me!!!! I asked who it was from and she told me…

Apparently not a lot of people know this plant and so I thought I'd show you some photos of it. It's an amazing plant - it is a sort of climber, so I've had to put bamboo sticks in the pot, for it to wind it's way around them. The stalk sends out weird little shoots every now and then and on the end of them little bits look like mini fingers.... Then they become a bunch of blooms, but they look plastic.... They stay like this for about a week or so then one minute they're like th…

I do hope you all had a great time, of some sort or other. I enjoyed Christmas Day because I was on my own and it was lovely and quiet and it meant I had an extra day to get ready for the visit of my son and grandchildren. Mandi and Dogan celebrated their 6th wedding anniversary on Christmas Day and unfortunately Dogan had to work on that day, but he took the next day off and they went shopping and he treated her to a lovely meal out. It was 23C - hmmm not that they were gloating or anything…

Well the tree is up and the presents wrapped. I have been very fortunate to have the tree decorated by Emily. I wrapped the presents up, thankfully I can still do that. There are presents for my neighbours and for the family. As I'm not going anywhere on Christmas day, I have an extra day to prepare the meal for Boxing Day. I'm going to try and make mini lemon meringue pies. As I'm on my own, I don't make normal sized pies, because they tend to hang around for days or else I end up…

I think I mentioned that I'm making presents for my neighbours, I've already got them chocolates, wine, scarves etc, have finished the necklaces, but now I'm making the girls tote bags!!! I've never made these bags before - and I'm relying on tutorials on YouTube to get them right. I've finished one....... I've still got to put the magnetic clasps on it, but it's come out better than I'd hoped. I think I went a bit wrong on making the bottom flat - but I'll get better at it I hope. Now a…

As I've already mentioned - today is my son's 49th birthday! I don't feel old enough to have a son who's almost 50!!!!!! I know I am - because the memory of his birth is still strong in my mind. I can remember being ready to give birth for 17 hours and really just wanted a cup of tea and a sleep!!! Eventually at 01.15am on December 13th 1969, my son made his appearance. I also remember the nurses saying how he was born with his eyes open and he was watching everyone, and it was rather disconcert…

I'm sorry I've been so lax in writing here lately - but I'm busy making presents for Christmas and I've been trying new skills. I'm making tote bags for my neighbours - well the female ones!!! - I've never made bags before - so this is a new venture for me - I've almost finished one and that's looking okay - so only 2 more!!!! At the same time, I'm making resin jewellry.... I saw a tutorial the other day and I thought I'd have a go. I tried out by putting some glitter in the resin and the…

I thought I'd make a little chick for the baby, so he/she can hold it while he/she is tiny. I do so enjoy making soft toys, but apparently my grandchildren are too old to want soft toys!!!!!!! It's small enough for the baby to hold whilst he/she is tiny, then the larger frog can come into its own. Over the last few days Turkey has been deluged with heavy rain and storms. Luckily where Mandi lives, it's pretty flat and not very built up, so the water has got somewhere to go. Howev…

Well this afternoon I was sitting on my couch, doing some more sewing when a movement outside caught my eye. I realised that a squirrel was out in my garden - now this is quite a rare treat so I watched it for all of 20 seconds when it shot off into the undergrowth!! Oh well, at least it was a little surprise and a very pleasant one at that. I had no idea that a squirrel was around these parts. Pippin came over onto my table to get some strokes, when he suddenly stiffened and stared out the w…

The other day Ann, my neighbour, told me that her her son's wife, Rhiannon, was due to give birth to their first child any day now. Well you know how I feel about making soft toys? Lately I haven't had my mojo going, to encourage me to start sewing again, but as soon as I got the toy pattern out, I was off! The frog is around 16" x 17" and I'd made it out of very soft plush material for the top and it's white felt for its underneath. I do hope the new baby likes it. Now I've got my mojo bac…

Bideford new bridge from the quayside. Thought you might like this Pam.

Where Mandi lives in Turkey, is full of tourists in the summer, but then it's just the villagers at the rest of the time. Mandi and Dogan are well known for being cat friendly in the village, so someone decided to leave a tiny kitten for them!!!! It's little mews alerted Mandi and she had to look for him - eventually finding him all alone in the long grass. In case the mama cat was around, Mandi left him for a while but after 3 hours and no-one had come for him and he was getting weaker - Mandi…

The other day I looked up and saw this beautiful kitty looking in..... Not seen it before and I just loved its markings. I've decided it's a "she" because she is too pretty to be a "he" cat. I told it I wasn't going to open the window and he just stayed there, silently miaowing to me!! As I said - it's a very pretty cat - soft fluffy coat and lovely markings. Funnily enough just after this, I went into the kitchen and I heard the cat flap go and she walked in and wh…

Ann, my neighbour/friend, took me to the dentist yesterday for a check-up and when I came out, she suggested we went for a quick run just to see how things are. I was shocked when we went to Westward Ho! - I hadn't been there for many months and the amount of apartment blocks and housing going up is scary. There has to be around 500 new homes going up - and it had been such a quiet little village. Now it's going for broke - cramming in as many apartment blocks as possible - they all have amazing…

While I was sorting out things yesterday, I came across a piece of paper with some very interesting (well I thought they were) facts - I'd obviously thought they were good enough to write down on the paper!!! 1) The pressure exerted by a rat's jaw is some 24,000 lbs and it can chew through plastic, dry wall and cinder block!! 2) In the 1960's the CIA implanted a microphone and radio transmitter into a cats skull, but just before it went on its mission - it got run over by a car!! 3) Th…