Whatcha doing?

These socks have been in my kitting work bag for over a year unfinished, pure laziness, they were not alone I had two other pairs there, all three pairs are now finished and these this week will be winging their way to a new home. The design is mine, I have used left over yarn from other hand made socks, using 4 different shades and the multi coloured

Another good book, a simple task leads to a discovery, you know you are adopted, but now you have a huge new family, with secrets, should you dig deeper. A plot with a double time line which worked well. Book 6 read this year.

I have often said the buds on an amaryllis when opening look alien, this bloom is dark red, I can't wait for these loud blooms to show themselves, my hyacinth is in circle photo, I do not know what colour these blooms will be, they are forming. January is a good month for inside bulbs, I do love to watch their growth, the hyacinth bulbs will go outside in garden once finished. 

I spent some time outside, my main job was to cutback the fleabane daisies in this bed, I did the same last year, keeps them at a tidy size, you can see lots green new growth at the base of the plants. Now I can see the spring bulbs shooting, I also removed 3 clumps of primroses, which were completely hidden, they are now in new spots, they fell apart so I had 5 plants.

Saturday was dry, sunny and not too cold, an hour in the garden pleased me, I managed to weed my side bed, the weeds are tiny and easier to pull, soon spring bulbs will cover the bed. The bed above is looking a bit ragged, my two snowberry plants are doing well, I will cut back the right hand side to allow the other newer plant to grow so they match size. Hubby renewed the wooden perch on my fork handle, I've never seen a bird on it, but I do like to see it. It's a bit like Triggers broom (Only Fools and Horses), the handle was replace a while ago and now a new perch, it belonged to my mum, so it is years old. 

Molly brought home a reading book with words in on Friday, already she knows them, she was very excited to read to us, all three children have a love of books, just like their mummy and me, Will has been unwell this week, he rarely has time off school sick, so they had a lazy weekend at home, George is happy to be together with them all. 

Not forgotten

I do like this author, another great book, just a mum collecting her daughter from university, only she is not there, she has dropped out and told no-one. Mum tries to track her down with surprising results, a brilliant read, Book 3 read this year. 

A new author to me, this was set in USA, two girls are taken, one escapes quickly, it's a year later, one girl is still getting to much attention, the other is forgotten. A series of events sends the older sister of the missing girl on a path, she is collecting information, can she find what happened to her little sister, this book kept me in the dark until almost the end, brilliant read. Book 4 read this year.

I enjoyed the previous book so I stuck with the same author, as a documentary creator you help innocent people to be freed from jail, its noble to go through evidence and have experts find errors in court cases. This book walks you through a perfect case, it's all going great until it isn't, what next. Book 5 read this year. 

A while ago I had this pebble painted, it's my Grace, the artist has made a perfect image of her, just a small simple thing placed beside my desk, I smile every time I see it. I recently asked the same artist if she would create Frankie for daughter, again it's a perfect image, daughter loves hers as much as I love mine. Oh to have the talent to paint such beautiful lifelike images. 

My 1st amaryllis bud is about to open, the second bud on the same bulb has started to grow taller, the 2nd bulb has a tiny shoot forming, as does one of last years I have back inside, so these huge blooms will give me joy, the red one should open first. 

We did pop out once this week to daughters side of town, met her in Dunelm for a coffee, nice treat, hubby got the couple of bits he wanted, then on to B&M, not my favourite shop but a few bits we needed including cat food. In both shops we saw, Christmas items on sale, January sale items, Valentines day bits and Easter eggs, what a mixture, we walked by it all, I did get a pair of wire brushes, which I can use for my needle felting, I am planning a new project. 

Once again I have asked hubby for smaller portions, they were creeping up again, he is now cutting back on what he cooks, in our last food shop I did not get any treats, chocolate, biscuits or crisp, hubby has made his first homemade cake of the year, this time a lemon drizzle using the lemons we already had. I have already shifted the few pounds I put on in the final weeks of December. I hope to be able to walk more, but at this time it's just so wet and I really don't want to be out getting cold and wet. 

January blues

 More weird things happening here, firstly the strange inside tree has gone, she spent a day packing everything away, I still have no idea what it was for. I did have a new toy which was under it with other colourful things. This is my favourite place to be inside.

Something mad happened this month, we had white cold stuff falling from the sky, not like rain which I hate, it did not last long, I loved it, I don't feel the cold, so I played outside for ages, the squirrels were running around everywhere, I sat in the tree watching them.

They got me this new toy, I do love a ball, this one has a mouse inside, which I can't get, BUT it makes a strange squeak when I play with it, I don't like the squeak, she keeps trying to encourage me, I hope she can make the squeak go away.

The little ones on their visit were sad earlier in the month, I could tell, I played close to them, they wanted to stroke and cuddle me, I'm not good at cuddles, but I let them. Molly drew me a picture of my brother Frankie, I did sit on their mum's lap, I've never done that before. 

I found a brilliant new game, every night he gets his clean clothes out of the walk-in wardrobe, so one night I snuck in waited a short while, the light went off, THEN I pounced out of the doors, great fun, sadly they did not enjoy it as much as me. He now checks every time to ensure I'm not hiding. 

Recently it has been non stop rain, so I sit on a rug by the patio doors looking out at the garden, often she stands beside and agrees that she is missing being outside as well, she has promised me the lovely sunny days will return.

A garden year 2025

 Hellebores gave early colour, these were my blooms in January, I adore the dark red almost black bloom, so many different shades.

Spring bulbs in pots were a success in February, I have loads of vintage clay pots, the cyclamen were still blooming. 

March and my triple acer was in full leaf, it's in a shady spot and looked glorious, plus my azalea below, so many things in bud. 

It's April and there were so many different flowers in bloom, loads of colours for late spring. 

The first picking of fruits, strawberries, it's May and summer was on its way, it was to become the best year for berries, with bumper strawberries, raspberries and blackberries. 

My first successful year with sweet peas, sown way back in beginning of the year, plenty to pick here in June, again I had a bumper crop, picking blooms most days. 

July is begonia time, I adore these blooms, they produced flowers until the frost arrived, most are grown in pots off the ground. 

 

These fleabane daisies had bloomed for months and look really good, they will stay green the whole year, August the garden is full of so many different flowers. 

Zinnias and asters are the stars in September, so many different styles and colours, plus my favourite begonia, full of orange blooms.

I always think of primroses as a spring flower but every October they bloom in our garden, I have them in 6 different spots. 

I grow veg all year round in the two raised beds and loads of bags and buckets, November had all the over winter veg looking good.

In December you can see the skeleton of the garden, bare trees, and shrubs, our fake grass gives the impression of everything tidy, this is the time when I am thinking of any changes.

Just 12 views from my garden year last year, I choose mainly flowers for their beauty, I did grow plenty of fruit and veg, I hope for another great harvest year, can you feel the sunshine on this wet grey day.

I love every part of our garden, any tasks are made easy by the layout, not too much stretching and bending, most of the flower beds have shrubs for structure and perennials filling with colour. The fruit beds are sorted and require little work other than cutting back and collecting harvest. The veg beds and bags keep me busy, if I am not working in them I am planning what will follow, no space is left empty for long. My herbs are all grown in pots, I don't have so many ornamental pots, as they break (most are terracotta), I don't replace them. 

I hope you enjoyed my little look back at my garden in 2025. There were many more photo's I could have added but I did not want this post too long. Just a break from all this cold weather, with loads of colour, now time to think of seeds, firstly sweet-peas.