Soggibottom EATABLES, sea horses, August Bank holiday.

The season is coming to an end, we have a full freezer, we are now giving vegetables away. You only have to knock at the door or ask............

There are other ways of keeping plums and tomato's....... I know I should have included a recipe or two here......

Our plum tree outdid itself this year. "One of us", lost count after a time as to how many plums the tree had.
Freya can't count, but they looked interesting. It was my fault, I had left something beside the coffee table, Freya has Cavalier climbing genes.

August Bank Holiday started with a walk along the beach at Babbacombe. It's a windy road to reach the car park, one of our favorite haunts to watch suba divers in the clear water. My suba diving days are long over, the English Channel is also too cold for me, no matter what dry suit or wet suit. I'm a kind of snorkel and flipper girl anyway. Flipper as in one. One always fell off.

Even with cloudy views along our South Devon Coastline, it's always a good place to spend an evening.

There really are sea horses down there, I promise you.

It's not so long since we were here, the land slide is a part of the ever eroding coast line. Notice the house at the top. You might have to double click to get a bigger picture.

Where ever you are during August Bank Holiday, have a great time, most of all keep safe, I know of Typhoons in Tiawan and we all know in the Northern part of the World we are all watching a certain hurricane.

Freya is growing into a beautiful little dog, you can catch up with her on her blog, THE CAT FLAP CAVALIER. 

Top CAT

If your wondering who Freya's new friend is, he is my version of Shaun the sheep. At one time there were lots of these Soggibottom little guys scattered around a certain South West University. There was one Shaun left that had been hiding away upstairs. This little guy seems to be shocked to be out of the cupboard, or maybe it's because Freya  has given him a good chew.

We found ourselves in Cornwall last Friday, it was one of those times when wearing Black was defiantly out of place around visiting tourists.
Mew wasn't the only one we said goodbye to last week. I am still trying to catch up after our busy weekend, thank you to everyone who left beautiful endearing comments on our post about Mew. She really is, right beside her very best friend Amie.

This is my uncle Ron. Looking very young in his Navy uniform. Ron was a true Londoner, I never saw him without a smile.

When he left school he became a cobbler, unknown to me until last Friday he was always known as Ron the Boot. That made me smile straight away. We will miss Ron. Here he is at work in his own shop just before he retired. He always had so many stories to tell, he was part of history.
Ron was at Scapa Flow in Scotland, when the remaining German Fleet were scuttled at the end of the second world war.My aunt and Ron left London to retire to Cornwall a few years ago. My closest relatives down here in the South West of England.

We will still hop over to Cornwall from Devon to see my aunt.

We will still take photo's of the stunning Cornish Coast line.

We also had a visit from George and his mum and Dad last Saturday.

Unknown to Ray,  Tony and I had a bet about who wouldn't put Freya down,

Love at first sight.
"Don't put your fingers in her mouth as her teeth are sharp".

Great to see you all last week guys.

Freya visitied Stonehenge last week, although she didn't see it from the same angle that everyone else sees it.

It's still there, in exactly the same place as it was last time, if it ever moves I promise to let you all know. 

There is still a bit of a power struggle going on at the cottage. Frank does this on purpose. I don't think he need worry about who is top cat.

What else was Freya up to last weekend ?
You can see Freya on her blog CATFLAP CAVALIER.

Our MEW CAT

We always wondered how either Mew or Amie would manage when it was time for one of them to part.
They were always inseparable, even sharing visits to the vet.

Mew was about three weeks old when she was found on a very wet June day, on her own in the middle of a sports field. No one will know if Mother cat was moving her kittens or Mew had been put there to fend for herself by some uncaring owner. How ever she managed to be there, lucky for Mew she was found by a dog walker and taken to a cat rescue run by my friend. My friend, knowing that we already had two new kittens, asked if we would hand feed her until she could find a new home when Mew was old enough. We didn't only have two new kittens, Frank and Hannah, we had a new pup at the time, Amie Soto Blossom.

Amie and Mew spent their puppy and kitten hood playing together, chasing each other up and down stairs or around the garden and house. Where ever Mew was, you could always find Amie.

Mew and Amie were always a very big part of Soggibottom Cottage..There will always be a certain spot in front of the fire Mew used to warm her paws that will always be hers.  Mew was a gentle, loving and beautiful friend who now lies beside Amie again beneath our apple tree.

Colour around the cottage.

This photo is especially for my friend Caroline.
I know she will forgive me eventually, I just couldn't help it...
Our tomato challenge didn't go well for Caroline.
We keep picking and giving them away because we have so many. Caroline and I live in different parts of the country, so maybe that's the reason why Caroline's tomato's decided to be shy and not crop so well this year. What ever the reason, next year I know I am going to start our tomato crop early.

I'm notorious for not labelling seedlings, these were supposed to be pumpkins.
Gourds.. I don't mind, as they always give colour around the cottage, even if they aren't eatable. Pumpkins are growing, I never mixed all my seeds up. .

Chillies. I don't eat them, but I love colour in the kitchen. Especially at this time of year. This is only a first pick, so I should have loads of colour around in a few weeks.

The first plums from our tree this year.
The tree is hanging in them, "one of us" hadn't counted properly. Or maybe they did.............. not often he gets his sums wrong.
Probably already worked out how many pots of jam there are from the plums on the tree.....

Freya has been out and about.

Frank hasn't !
He is however, starting to be more tolerant of our new cottage friend. It takes time and patience to introduce four new paws, no matter who they are or how cute they are.  I have to admit, she is cute............

You can see for yourself on Freya's blog CATFLAP CAVALIER.... no one has told her how to use the catflap yet... shhhhhhhhhh....... 

Crabs and rock pools around Torquay.

I seem to repeat myself at this time of year when I say the year is passing very quickly.
Swallows and Swifts circle the sky. I'm not quick enough to catch them with the camera, but at least you can enjoy this evenings sky.

My view from the cottage window. To the West........

Our week has been packed with days of pup socialising.

Places to go and people and views of our countryside to see. Golden fields that have been harvested.

Most of our week has been spent around noise, people and dogs. We even found a beach that we haven't found before. To get to it we passed a few crabs.....

We have been exploring rock pools. Although you wouldn't find these guys in a rock pool around here. They are crabs that are normally found about 25 miles off shore. One of our fishy friends once brought us two crabs from a fishing trawler he had been working on. Bigger than the ones you see here. As it was a few years ago, I suppose I can now tell the truth and be honest, we let them go back into the sea. Not just because we couldn't find a pot big enough for them, but we thought they deserved a second chance. For all those that eat crab. That's fine. But you won't find me boiling anything alive.......

This guy, ah, bless. He was really funny, I just snapped him at the wrong moment.. He was trying to think of an answer. To my quip of "a nice pair of crabs"..... DO NOT COMMENT ON THAT PLEASE. I only noticed his fishy friend in the background when we got home.

As I said, we have been around the rock pools.

Not a crab to be seen. DO NOT DRINK SEA WATER comes to mind.... Freya..... she is learning and growing so very fast.

A very, very big hug and thank you to my friend Michele Beesley. The Artist behind Amie Soto Blossom's portrait. We have never had a welcome to your new pup card before. All our friends are so special. This card made us smile, it made me slightly sad too, but then..... just like the year, days go by.

Freya is learning to share the cottage window. I have never known such a nosy pup...

Frank is really pleased......

No snoring yet !

Freya, meaning NOBLE LADY..................... ho ho ho.
Not digging in that sand she isn't. You can see Freya on her blog CATFLAP CAVALIER

The little old dear from Wendy.

 The postman never has to wait long when our door bell rings, especially when he carries a parcel and I have spotted him by the gate. Total surprise this morning, a gift from WENDY.

A while ago, Wendy and I  had a discussion about our favorite colours. Although I probably had more to say about the colour green and why we hardly ever have green around the cottage. Only in plants and always the colour green comes in at Christmas. The reason why the colour green is banned most of the year is because when we first arrived Soggibottom had been painted very darkly in green paint. Every door and wall. I love the colour green, but not in the cottage.
This beautifully hand made little old dear has been made by Wendy especially for the cottage. In my favorite giving colours. Every layer of the dolls outfit made with care, it must have taken ages.

It took a while to eventually unwrap and read the very sweet letter enclosed.  Freya thinks everything is chewable at the moment. She's getting used to the words "MINE", "yours".
This is MINE, you can look.

Eventually this little old dear will have a permenant home beside the fire place, for obvious reasons she will live with the cottage bear in  a puppy safe window for the time being. 

She is made from a Magic Threads pattern "Secret Keeper". At the moment I haven't any secrets to tell, but when I do, she will be the first to know. I've named her Phoebe, I was out  voted years ago when the family voted on a pup name for Amie. Out voted again with our new pup Freya. I will have a Phoebe after all.

All beautifully made in my favorite colours. Thank you so very much Wendy, she will always be in a very prominate place for everyone to see.
Wendy's blog.....is from the heart. It also has the added antics of Tia the cat.. 

As you see, Phoebe fits in well with the other new cottage feature. Freya wasn't chosen especially for her colour, she is a Ruby Cavalier, as she grows her colouring will darken, different from Tri Colour Amie Soto Blossom.  I'm sure Amie would have approved. Freya is a loving and giving little dog. Her colouring will suit her.

Freya has her own blog.

You can trot along yourself and see what Freya has been up to on Catflap Cavalier
Have a great weekend, we are off to the beach again tomorrow, mixing and socializing while the good weather lasts.