springtime

A beautiful morning - our tour round the garden brings more new growth each day!

this morning: cloudless apart from a little cap on The Mournes

the hawthorn hedge - about to burst!

Cherry trees are ahead of the pack!

Vincent

7 weeks ago today we planted trees. 

A wonderful day with friends, looking to the future, to this spring with the leaves starting to appear, and the years beyond as they grow tall.

Little did we know that this week we would lose our dear friend Vincent, who, with Liz, planted the first tree: an Oak.

Always an optimist,we will miss you dearly Vincent. 

But your Oak and the 50 more that you planted will live on. 

Vincent's Oak gets its new home 28 January 2012

We will not forget you.

Have a Good One!

Hope everyone around the globe is taking the opportunity to lift a glass and have good cheer on this St Patrick's Day

Felt Workshop dates

Spring Dates for our Felt Workshops

You can book by email: info@turniphouse.com or by phone 028 4065 0848

or through Down Arts and Ards Arts for their venues

Look forward to seeing you!

Woodworm!

There's a lot of it about here, and in the wrong places it's a real problem!

But it struck me this morning, as I was cutting firewood, that it can produce a very beautiful effect

Faces from the Past

Thanks to David and Ellen (and their Dad) from Derryneill who visited today bringing priceless pictures of their Great-grandparents, who lived in this house some 80 years ago up to the 1970's.

Scott & Annie Stevenson on their Wedding Day

Scott on a fine horse

another formal photo of Annie & Scott

Scott & Annie in their house - this one.
The curtains, wallpaper, sideboard and mirror are still here!

 It is really important to us to hear the stories of those times, to see the faces of the people, and to meet their ancestors today!

GEOMAGNETIC STORM WARNING:

GEOMAGNETIC STORM WARNING: A CME propelled toward Earth by yesterday's X5-class solar flare is expected to reach our planet on March 8th at 0625 UT (+/- 7 hr). Analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, who prepared the CME's forecast track, say the impact could spark a strong geomagnetic storm. Sky watchers at all latitudes should be alert for auroras.


from Spaceweather.com

A Year Ago Today

An occasional series where we look at what we've done over the last  year.
Early March 2011 saw us getting ready to open the New Turnip House for Easter (in April that year) 
The windows were in, and we were beginning to get tidied up outside.

March 2011 the path down to the piggeries; stones everywhere you dig!

March 2012

March 2011 rubble everywhere

March 2012 - not much colour, but the pots are bursting with growth! It's cold like last year but now the fire is lit

The Windy Gap

It's official, it is windy here - our weather station anemometer broke down! The bearings seized, no doubt due to over use.


Many thanks to Kate and the tech guys at Maplins in Cambridge who supplied me with a replacement in a speedy and friendly manner!

looking up to the Windy Gap, with the new anemometer

You can still download weather data for the area (without all the wind data!) HERE

Saturday's Work!

Thanks again to Caroline and Paul who gave up their Saturday to help us with the gallery.


Caroline and Elaine painted, and Paul and John cleared what will be the 'Zen Garden' outside

The team - complete with evidence of painting!

The fireplace looking great

all we need are windows

Excellent work - Charlie approves!

afternoon sun streams in

space cleared nicely. some day, this will be the Zen Garden

Mowing in March!

It's 1st March 2012 and we've mowed the lawn - amazing!


We were out most of the day in Downpatrick, playing tourists mainly! our car was having it's dashboard panel replaced as it kept on blacking out - not fun!


Thanks to Renault and Mckibbin Motors of Clough, a job that should have costs around £600 cost us £150. Not what we had budgeted for, but still, a bright new instrument panel that won't let us down is worth it - and they cleaned the car too!


When we got back, the sun was still shining so we mowed the lawn, it's been dry and mild for a few days, and the grass was long. Hopefully, we'll have good (but no too dry) weather up to Easter!

the picnic lawn rises again!

Charlie checks out the shorter grass and entertains himself chewing a plastic bottle!

As the evening was so good, Elaine worked on preparing our latest flower bed - the old water tank -

Elaine hard at work with the compost.

 It now sits in a place of glory, ready for the Acidanthera 150 bulbs that we ordered from J Parker's, 

should give a brilliant display July to September: will keep you posted! 

the last rays of sunlight catches Luke's Mountain

the moon is up tonight

Springtime?

We have a small host of yellow daffodils - and the're quite small too! (tête-à-tête)

glowering clouds belie the spring like air!

A Message from the Past: 29 February 1952

On another leap year, exactly 60 years ago, the 
Drumlee Presbyterian Church Quotation Calendar 
said:

Thou, by whom the birds are fed,Give to me my daily bread;And Thy Holy Spirit Give,Without whom I cannot live.

submitted by Ian McLeod of Drumlee

Not how we might put it today; but it speaks to the universality of hope don't you think?


We found this Calendar in the House:

and this is a snapshot from the actual page for 29th February 1952:

Butterfly Metamorphosis

We're moving some of our buddleia bushes today, hoping to create more butterfly hotspots in the summer

Coincidently, there was a link to this amazing metamorphosis explanation form BBC nature on the butterfly conservation Facebook page:

Cambridge

Hard to pull myself away from a fantastic weekend with Kate & Eleanor, still, many happy memories!

Charlie

As always, Charlie comes (even more) to like when people come, I think he gets bored with the same old two of us. So you can imagine what a time he had on our tree planting day!

This Sunday we were given some beautiful pictures of him 

taken that day - many thanks Paul!

Snow on the mountains

My mother had a saying that ' as long as there's snow on the mountains, there's more snow to come!'

Fresh dusting of snow today

remnants of the snow in January taken last week

A day at the 'office'

Bit of a murky day today, so a spell in the Turnip house is welcome.


We are making orders, stock for the gallery and experimenting with felt hats, all great fun!

stage one of a sweater - the front

hills and parts of mountain - the view from the 'desk'!

Elaine making a felt hat

definitely a day for the fire

ready for the windows

Final measurements were taken of the holes that we've made - so the windows are on their way (2-3 weeks) There will be great excitement that day!

the south east side - there will be 2 windows and a door here. You can see right through to the other side now

looking through the central arch

one of the original window openings

looking north west; three windows and a door here

through the central arch the other way

It's very scruffy outside, but now the structure is right, we can start to tidy things up: