Thursday 18 June 2009

Half buried treasure, ahoy!

Living on the coast (well let's face it in Ireland the coast is never far away) we have the joy of going to the 'beaches' and watching the waves, looking in rock pools and getting our toes absolutely frozen by the Irish Sea whenever we feel like it. It also gives us seaweed after a storm and boy do we love that wonder stuff on the plot ~ rich fertiliser and the constant thoughts of chips when you walk around and smell the seaside in the fields.

Well of course another thing we have the benefit of is Jetsam - stuff washed ashore (as opposed to Flotsam which sinks) and boy did we strike it lucky on Tuesday night. We went to Brown's Bay, a little, popular cove not far from Carrickfergus which I am proud to say has just won a Keep Britain Tidy beach award. It was a lovely night and after a terrible day of depression, it was just the thing I needed to perk me up....seeing both my Hubby fall over on the sand and Maggie independently and very funnily tripping and getting a mouth full of sand had me in tears, this time due to laughter instead of being low. The sun as also beginning to set and it was quiet apart from the cows and sheep.

We, well I say we, it was Andrew, found this large barrel half buried in the sand. Was it half empty or half full of sand ~ you can decide. We saw and we wanted. It was bloomin' hard work but after scrapping some sand out and managing to get a little lever under the barnacled base we slowly got it out of its hole. Then Andrew had the fab idea of rolling it along the beach to loosen the sand inside and it just all poured out. Eh, Viola! We have a recycled carrot pot. Of course it smelt SO bad getting it home in the car but I reckon it will be worth it. It already has a place on 14b and the fun of getting it out will forever be associated with it. It was a good night.

Carrot fly can't fly very high so this will protect them and we may even get some of those ridiculously long specimens you see at village shows with the soil being so deep for them. Of course it can't stay in the state it's in for long. Yes I will keep the stenciled name on the side intact but it needs a few painted flowers and swirls on it and a darn good wash! But we are very happy with it - I love free things!!!!
P.S. Still working on that roar......

3 comments:

  1. Hmmm, never thought about using seaweed...might need to go up to our beach and harvest some! So cool about the barrel. It's so great to repurpose things!

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  2. Hello dear Carrie, thanks for the stroll along the sea shore....

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  3. Many thanks for making the difference between flotsam and jetsam - I learned something new today!

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