Landlocked Mermaid

With the end of summer fast approaching and autumn on its way, the brambles are sporting a wonderful crop of blackberries. On our evening walks, we are often taking tupperware pots and coming home with a juicy bounty of blackberries (and purple fingers!). For me this means only one thing: Crumble time! I love me a good crumble. Apple and blackberry is my favourite. Especially when there is some spare fudge lying around to liberally sprinkle through the topping AND filling. But when is there ever spare fudge? I love crumble hot, cold, plain, with ice cream, for pudding, for breakfast - it is a diverse dish. After going for a forage last night and liberating some apples from a family garden (our family, I assure you), it was time to crumble! I had some fun making this crumble and not for the usual reasons. A thunderstorm was coming in as I made it, high winds and distant flashes of lightning. I love watching lightning and the wind kept blowing the sugar I was pouring out of the bowl! I ...

Guys. Guys! We have another draw! So prepare to wrap your noodles around two more famous fish. Although, once again, not really fish. Marine Creature of the Month Famous Fish Paul the Octopus and The Loneliest Whale Paul is a common octopus and the Loneliest Whale is believed to be a hybrid of whales. Paul shot to fame in 2010 after accurately predicting the World Cup results, all the way to the final, while we have been picking up the Loneliest Whale's odd frequency since the eighties. A LITTLE ABOUT PAUL... Our footie mad octopus belongs to the species octopus vulgaris and hatched in 2008 at the Weymouth Sea Life Centre. He only lived for two years, but rocketed to fame during the 2010 World Cup with his predictions. At the time, he was living in a German Sea Life Centre and his predictions were made with the help of his handlers. They placed two baited boxes in his tank, bearing the flags of countries set to play one another, and waited for Paul to pick his preference! Out of t...

I have said it before and I will no doubt say it again: I am not the biggest girl-girl that ever did girly-girl. That said, I do - on occasion - like to wear make up or paint my nails. I'm actually sporting a garish mix of orange and blue nails as we type. While I am not exactly in the market for any new make-up right now, my box is over flowing and I don't rightly have the money to spend on it presently, there is absolutely no harm in doing some research into some more eco-friendly options. This way, I'll be ready to spring straight into shopping when I am looking to replenish and revive my make-up collection. I think the last time I bought a lot of make-up was for my sister's wedding three years ago. I'm sure there are make-up experts balking at the fact that some of my make-up is three years old and still in circulation. I won't tell them about the items I have had since university... I've bought a couple bits and pieces since then - largely dark lipstic...

Final Friday Top Five Board Games Ok - so this theme is not so watery, but has anyone else's board game play increased exponentially over lockdown? Mine certainly has. Thanks to Table Top Simulator and Board Game Arena I have not only been able to learn new games but stay in touch with fellow gamers. While the rest of the world may be chomping at the bit to return to "normal", I have actually quite enjoyed my time in lockdown. Sure, it has been difficult in some ways and the never ending anxiety fueled by death tolls has been terrifying. But having the chance to connect online and further my love of board games has been something I have cherished. Because of the online medium, some of the games I am choosing have not actually been played "in the flesh" but that has not diminished my love for them. So, without further waffle, here are my top five board games! (Just a note before I start: "board game" is being used as a general term for table top games...

We all know I am a massive advocate of the tote bag. They are a staple of my life and I'm sure of yours too. They are practical, hardy, and oftentimes pretty! I have covered a few pros and cons to tote bags on my podcast , but I figured I could go a little deeper on here. Crumpled = Well loved For my first point: They are reusable . Seems a little obvious, right? But these bags are designed to be used again and again and again. Think about it. Every food shop, you would have been grabbing 5+ bags every single time . That's twenty plastic bags every month, just going in the drawer or cupboard to be used as bin liners or some other single use. Speaking from experience, I never once reused the plastic bags I'd hoarded for shopping. When I moved out of my flat, I ended up chucking most of them. So much waste! With totes, however, I am completely bypassing that void of waste and bad habits. Purely because they are advertised as reusable. I'm not buying bags every food shop. ...

Anyone else been using lockdown and all this extra time at home as an excuse to get crafty for presents? I have. My big box of clothes too pretty to throw out is slowly dwindling! But that is a good thing. As is the fact that I have been doing a lot of sewing. I am slowly getting better, stitches getting straighter, and projects more adventurous! Seriously, I made a dinosaur tail belt. I may have forgotten how circles work in the process, but it actually looks like a dinosaur tail. This craft post is not about the tail though. Sorry, I genuinely have no idea how I managed to make it and very much used the shape of the trousers I made it from to my advantage! Instead, I am sharing how to made a cute dice bag. I only call it a "dice bag" because two of the three people who received these are likely to use them to hold their dice collections. Due to the nature of the fabrics I used, I ended up making these three different ways. But the core principles remained the same. Plus, fr...

Marine Creature of the Month Famous Fish Made on Canva Scuttle and The Walrus We have a draw! For the first time ever on MCotM, a draw! I figure it is only fair that you get a post covering both of them. Instead of an in-depth profile on both, I am going to throw some fun facts about both of them your way. Scuttle the Seagull Kingdom: Animalia Class: Aves Conservation Status: Certain species are endangered (EN), like the herring gull. Picture from Varment Guard Seagulls are one of the few creatures which can drink sea water. They can drink salt water because of the glands above the eyes which flush salt out of their system, via holes in their bills. While Scuttle may not know the names for human objects, seagulls are actually very intelligent. They display learned behaviours like stamping their feet on the ground to mimic the rain and trick worms out of the ground. Not only do they show such intelligence but they pass the knowledge on. The oldest known gull is forty-nine years old. I...