Friday – An on the croft day. I had some bread to make for an order so I did that. We tracked down another broody duck – that’s three now sitting one eggs, at least one of which is surely due to hatch in the next few days. Ady secured the trampoline down with various things. In huge winter winds we will probably still take off the bed but it is much less vulnerable now. I removed nails from a load of pallet wood ready to make more pens, Ady put up a hammock I had bought last year but we’d never used and we all spent some time lounging in that or bouncing on the trampoline. Out the back of the caravan is becoming like a huge back garden! We took down the bell tent and scythed the area, trimmed the area around the tent pegs with hand shears and bought some old carpet tiles up from where we were storing them in the Pajero to put down to create a more solid base underneath it. I scrubbed at a bit of the inside with soapy water and the dirt came off ready easily so the plan is to clean it like that once it’s back up again – almost impossible to clean while it’s down as you end up sitting on / standing on / draping in the mud the very bits you have just cleaned.
Later we went down to the shop for a few beers. The kids elected to stay home. We had a nice couple of hours with Neil, Lesley, Jinty, Jed, Trudi and Jenn, a volunteer who is here for SNH for a few weeks then home for pizza and Lost.
Saturday – Ady worked in the morning, I messed about with a friendship bracelet kit which I’d got from The Works and had arrived the day before to learn how to make letters in the braiding with a view to making them to sell in the shop. Easy enough but quite time consuming. I’ve made a few and will price them up and see how they sell but not much of a money spinner really…
Ady was home early. We had lunch, I painted some more glasses and a slate sign for them then took them down to the shed. That meant a bit of a change around in the shop to accommodate new stuff which Ady and Scarlett came and helped with a bit. We need to make some more candles, more scarves and more feathery stuff to bulk out those sections but have decent stocks now of postcards, bath fizzers, jam and glasses.
It was our 23rd anniversary of being a couple which feels like such a very long time. Ady cooked a HUGE curry with all sorts of side dishes and extras. It was delicious and more than enough for another meal later in the week.
Sunday – I slept in way later than I had planned to, must have  been a big catch up from the week of early mornings – I had gotten into the habit of waking around 7 / 730am and struggling to go back to sleep. Feel much better for a good lie in though. We just about had time to put the tent back up before it started properly raining around lunch time and it has not stopped yet! Ady cooked dinner – roast beef, we all rang my parents, I’ve made several more bracelets and painted some more glasses, glued Made on Croft 3 labels onto tags and listened to about 5 Desert Island Discs. The kids both made fab cards for Ady for Fathers Day and as his choice of film we watched Close Encounters of the 3rd kind which he has been desperate to share with the kids for ages.