Books and boats

This is the latest and 8th book in the Strike, private detective series, a huge book, 897 pages, she writes a really good plot, they are tasked with finding if a murdered man is their clients boyfriend, its a cold case and its complicated, as there are a few people who it could be, they already know it's not who the police decided it was. These books have been made into BBC series, so I already know the two main private detectives, to keep it real they also have other cases ongoing. This was one of the best stories, I really enjoyed joyed it, book 69 read this year.

I love this author, I have read most of her titles, this popped up on my kindle, its a great plot, two stories with a fantastic twist near the end and another later in the plot, I loved it. She does plan and draws out a deception, once revealed you immediately realise it was there in plain sight. Book 70 read this year.

My autumn display is out in my kitchen, I do love this little jug with seasonal displays, the colours are typical for this time of year, I did get just one new branch, with the smaller acorns on. There are conkers hubby picked for me for this little dish, the two china pumpkins are years old, I never aluminate them, they will be packed away in November, but the foliage will stay until I pop in Christmas themed bits.

Tuesday we met daughter at Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, it was another sunny bright day, she wanted to use her birthday money and used hubby's discount card to save a bit more. She helped us choose Will's Christmas gift from us, we got him new clothes, we had lunch together, a fresh baked Cornish pasty sat in a deck chair in the sunshine before we caught the bus home.

If you look past HMS Warrior, between the dockyard buildings you can see HMS Queen Elizabeth docked, its a huge aircraft carrier, the pale grey showing through. It's always fascinating being on The Hard, this is where the bus station is, so we often look out at Navy vessels along side historic and all the small private vessels. 

We are both loving these cold bright days, laundry has been dried outside, the garden task are being completed, housework has been done and time spent with our daughter, it's much easier to wrap up warm on dry days, our heating is not on yet, we have boosted a couple of times. 

Hubby has had his final results and they threw up a surprise for him, more hospital consultant appointments in the coming weeks, we will face them together, we have always had a united front on what life throws us, for now we are not saying much to our families, once the treatment is in place we will share it all.

We have both enjoyed getting out again, we never expected to get our first Christmas gift, but we did want to choose something special for Will. We did pop to the village yesterday, market day, I looked at plants and kept my purse in my bag, I really do have a full flower garden. Hubby wanted to pop to B&Q for some nice wire for the raspberries, I am banned from using chicken wire (which I already have), I'm going to wait until next spring in hope he forgets and I can use what I have.

Fruits sorted

 Back in May 2021 I got 5 of these arches off marketplace, I wanted them to make a structure for my blackberries to grow over in front of my shed. It looked good and worked well, until we decided to move all my gardening bits into the garage and dispose of the shed. I did toy with the idea of spreading them out forming a tunnel, but as a working space keeping it clear won out. 

For years the five arches have been along my back fence, unwilling to pass them on, I hoped they would add height to our low fence and as the plants grew and blocked out the back of our neighbours huge pub shed. The only decent photo is this one where you can see the height behind my smaller shed, hubby agreed tall poles would work as well, I got some half price recently. Just one for now will stay behind my shed, I don't require it.

So now they are back working as they should be, just 4 arches from the raspberry bed to the first raised veg bed, I'm pretty sure the poles won't be in my way in the veg bed, I will pop wire along the back side and up to the arch, this should support the canes and the fruits and stop them sagging, making each summer a fruit tunnel. I will also put more supports in the front section so the canes can be controlled and kept upright, the canes grow naturally toward the sun and veg beds, so this should be a lasting solution. 

The 5 arches were free, a young couple had just purchased their first home and was reclaiming their back garden, and passed all the unwanted bits on, they are really sturdy and strong and should last for years here. Hubby used tall poles along the back fence, he redid the spot where we think foxes were trying to get in, a couple of plants were cut back, hopefully they will grow back, the area is behind the garage and can't be seen. There is just one arch behind my tall shed, it can stay there, unless I find another use for it, to remove it would entail moving the shed to get to it.  

As with some of my previous posts, this one has been in pending for ages, I was really unhappy with the raspberry canes this summer they were all squashed together, I had already decided to move the blueberry tub and had a new spot sorted in my mind. So throughout August every time I went to pick raspberries I was thinking, how to sort it, I needed more room and higher support for the berry laden tops. I always look around the garden for what I have, originally the taller poles were for the raspberries, when hubby said he needed to redo the back fence, a plan immerged, and chatting to hubby he agreed it would work and not take too much effort to do and importantly would look good. 

Just a simple mornings work had everything sorted, whilst I sorted the veg beds and placed the arches, hubby did the back fence, I also took away the big nets from my brassicas. Sunday was a breezy, cloudy dry day, perfect weather to get outside, plus we both were fed up sat inside fighting bugs. When we shopped in Sainsbury's we got a cook in the bag chicken crown, just £6.50, daughter cooked one recently,  neither of us like the brown meat on a chicken, there was enough meat for our roast dinner and another meal each, making it a great bargain.

Fired

 I always have difficulty choosing what to paint and then how to decorate it, I am not a artist in any form, I decided to make this mushroom into a home with flowers growing up, all very simplistic. I streaked the underside of the roof (top), the top should have been red with some glitter, I still like it.

Molly decorated this coaster for me.

Molly wanted to paint a cat this time I love the way she has blended colours, it looked a mess on the day, now it's very pretty.

Daughter painted this jar, its blue with the star openings black and glitter, it looks lovely, she loves simple designs. 

I do like things to be useful, I can't stand clutter any more, this is placed in a dark corner and looks good all lit up, I've used battery operated lights.

 

I do love these painting cafés, its a fun space for everyone, messy play at its best, we have taken all 3 little ones at different times, hubby even came and enjoyed one session.  It's not cheap, and each time you get a nice hand painted item, it's took a bit longer for me to collect these, I did not receive my text stating they were ready for collection. We painted these in early September, most of the choice of items were for Halloween, which I did not want. I probably won't go again, unless it's with the children, my painting is not that great. I have found sets for each of the children for home, I got them for Christmas, but we will gift them in half term, something nice for them to do. 

We have had a quiet few days together, both hubby and I are feeling better, I'm mainly tired all the time, we have only been out once, we popped to Sainsbury's, got a few bits for the weekend. I have found a puzzle game I like, and I've  been reading. 

We had our first homemade tomato soup, using homegrown tomatoes, we are warm and dry, no heating on as yet, watching the garden, little birds on the feeders, the storm centre was in northern UK, but we still had loads of wind and rain, our garden was OK. Daughter wanted to come and check on us, but we wanted her to stay at home with children, we have all we need and plenty of facetime, keeps us chatting with them.

Fruits

 The raspberry canes have been cut down, they produced a bumper harvest this year, but the whole area was cramped, just not enough space, we have lifted the blueberry tub out from here. This is not finished, I want a strong frame for the canes to grow up and plenty of space for harvesting the fruit. Stage 2 will be sorted soon.

The blueberry tub will now sit in the corner of the fruit bed, it fits next to the rhubarb, it will grow above the rhubarb, I have cut it back, it looked very straggly, so I'm not expecting much of a harvest next year, berries grow on the second years growth, which is OK. There are flowers in front of the tub.

The big tub has been moved to the back fence, its a bit crowded here, only I work in this section, I don't know what I will plant here next year the tub bottom is broke so it does drain well.

As always one job leads to another in a small garden, add in Lilly checking everything we do, and there's not alot of space. I always leave the raspberry canes on top of the bed to rot down, feeding the soil. Lots of pots have been sorted, the butternut squash plant was going yellow, so I cut it back. Hubby cut down the height on my two obelisk, they will be used for the tomato plants, the tops can be used in the flower beds, nothing is wasted. 

I have packed away loads of my grow bags, they worked well, I now have space on the path in front of the greenhouse, I still have a couple tubs of potatoes and carrots. I do like the fruit and veg sections to be tidy, the flower beds I don't cut back, as it's a good habitat for the wildlife in cooler months. My greenhouse works hard this time of year, it's still nice and warm inside, good for small plants and cuttings. 

Daughter shared her germs this week, I have had a bad cold, sore throat and ear ache, feeling quite yuck, spent a couple lazy mornings in bed, sometimes you just need to give in and let the bugs run their course. Hubby has picked them up as well, so a lazy week at home, we rebooked our dentist as we were not well enough to go today, we have no plans, storm Amy is due, most will miss the south, we have already had a stormy night.