June round up

 Very little on craft, I have not included the cost of the tunic material to make the cushions, hubby paid for it. I have credits shown on my garden list it's for the raised bed and metal table and chairs I sold, I managed to get new hurdles for my raised veg beds and a couple low metal fence edging panels. 

I got more new clothes, 2 pair of shorts and 4 T shirts, all on sale.

My half year figures are better than expected, selling two items helped bring my spend back to where I wanted it. I have loads of nice clothes, I don't need sandals, so again I'm happy with the half year figure. 

3 Books read this month. 

We managed to turn a 'no spend month' into another expensive one, we did sell both our wooden and metal furniture sets for a decent price and we got 10% discount off the new set, it was always planed to get new, just not yet. Plus a few things inside.

We are eating small harvest, a few bits have gone into the freezer in order not to waste anything, we have been enjoying the strawberries this year, they are huge and so many of them.

My weight has settled at the lower end, still too high, I am more active and tired most evenings. 

Herbs and flower's

 More plants, both my sage and thyme have gone very woody in my huge herb pot, I have cut them back many times, now is a good time to replace them. I got another Gaura, this one pink as I love their flowers, I've never grown these before. I also got two low metal fences to replace some flimsy ones, for under the Magnolia tree.

As you can see Friday was a cloudy day, here locally at Garson's garden centre, Titchfield, which is my favourite plant place, we treated everyone (daughter and her 3 children) to a drink and cake, loads of happy faces.

Another small bunch of cut flowers from the garden, including a big daisy as well as my fleabane ones, the zinnias are starting to bloom. I am enjoying having real flowers inside, the sweet peas are in a lull, loads of buds still to come.

Anyone who has ripped their nail this low will know it hurts, I have really weak nails which I try to keep tidy, I went to turn a pot without putting on my gloves, and caught myself, lesson learnt. 

I am struggling reading The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling, I'm on page 201, at the start of part two of the book, it's really slow going, I am hoping it rises up to the spiel on the back of the cover.

Saturday was another cloudy start, no rain just grey skies, the blues skies and heat arrived, it stayed windy all day, we sat in the shade for ages. We had homemade pizza for tea with red wine and chocolate, living life to the full here, I did give the garden a good soak before we settled down to our evening.

Today hubby is making a roast dinner, from my garden we have new potatoes, broad beans and cabbage, sadly no carrots yet. I have lettuce, and salad leaves as well, my runner beans are flowering, tomatoes are really behind and my cucumber plants have died. Strawberries are almost finished, now picking blueberries and a final pull of rhubarb, the raspberries are beginning to turn red.

Today is another day at home together, depending on the heat I may get my sewing machine out, I have cushions to make for hubby. 

And home

We spent Tuesday morning walking around Saville gardens on the edge of Windsor great park, which also has loads of woodland areas, some of the gardens were past their prime, the rose garden was going over, still pretty.

Lots of lovely high hedges hiding beautiful gardens

This menace was stealing bits from plates, there were 5 of them in the outside cafe area. 

I could not resist the plant section, these are already planted after a good soak, nice strong plants at a very cheap price £17.50 for all five of these.

It was a lovely morning before driving home, we picked up a very happy Lilly, she leaped into her cat carrier, and once home did a couple tours of our garden, it does feel good to be home.

I watered my garden on Tuesday evening, I enjoyed being outside after a few hours in the car. Wednesday was a lazy day at home, I finished the book for my brother, it will be here within 2 weeks, I always use the same publisher, I like the quality of the books. 

Thursday we had a plumber here, we have a damp spot in one corner of our downstairs bathroom, which was worse last winter, it was suggested we replace the small towel radiator for a tall thin radiator, to help heat the wall, it's an internal wall, the corner is by the outside wall. Most of the day was wet and dull, not huge amounts of rain, and very windy.

Friday we got up to a wet garden, a bit more rain overnight, not so windy, we went to our favourite garden centre and met daughter and her three, George had an inset day from school and Will whilst feeling a bit better was not at school, he was sent home on Monday feeling unwell. Plants were purchased, of course, they will be in the ground soon. 

Windsor

We spent Monday afternoon and early evening in Windsor, we did not visit the castle, on our last visit we spent the day in the castle, post here. 

We decided to walk around the town enjoying the views and catching different glimpses of the castle above the rooftops. 

Loads of union jacks everywhere 

A walk along the river Thames 

The weather was very kind, not so hot and a lovely breeze, we parked the car at our hotel and took a bus into Windsor, I love how easy it is to find bus routes on my phone. It was packed with tourists, we sat people watching for ages, so many different languages, tour guides everywhere. It was much quieter along the river bank and in the huge park, a break from the noise.

Our hotel room had the air-conditioning on, so our room was nice and cool, it was noisy through the night, but that's expected when staying in a urban place.