Just rain

With so many negative things happening in our world today, 

I though I should pop this back up.

We did have a huge sort out under our stairs, which is accessed from our office, before there were toys tubs, wine and shoe racks and coats hung up. Now we have sorted and removed all the toys, these seen here are for the charity shop in the village, most are not played with anymore, I sorted the shelves in our sitting room behind our sofa, it now contains all the books, puzzles and toys the little ones love. Now is a very good time to donate toys and unwanted gifts.

I am so pleased the buds have not fallen off this cactus, and are opening.

My new Amaryllis is grown loads in it's glass pot, the Paperwhite Grandiflora narcissus are shooting in the second glass pot, not a perfect fit, I'm just so glad I already had a glass pot, the Amaryllis in the white pot is a bulb from last year, I repotted 7, this is the only one showing life, a few have already died, it does look as if they are only leaves, normally the flower stalk is the first to show. 

Hubby's eye is much improved, he can see much better, which makes me happy, his eye still aches with all the things he had done, he's improving which is the bonus, his older brother is still in hospital, he had another huge operation on his leg and hip, in hope this time everything will heal, which in turn will allow him home. The funeral of his BIL has happened, his sister is doing well, it was very small, due to the distance and so many having aliments and unable to travel. 

My sister went home on Saturday, allowing her partner to have Sunday resting, before he's back to work on Monday, we had loads of time together, lots of chatter, not much crafting, we love different crafts these days. 

Nothing much is happening here, I'm not reading, just busy with my brothers lap blanket, we did all the laundry over the weekend, Monday we popped to town for fruit and veg, got a few more Christmas gifts, it rained in the afternoon, not heavy, at least it's not snow, just a heavy frost overnight. I've started giving my Christmas cakes their drink of brandy, two get 4 drinks, daughters cake only has two, the little people love my cake, so I prefer not to have it too boozy. I have watched all the first series of Wolf Hall and loved it, we are now watching Ludwig, again another good show, it's a very clever storyline. Zoe Ball is finishing radio 2 breakfast show in December, with Scott Mills taken over in January, we are both happy with that, Zoe has done a brilliant job for 6 years, PS, I have a sore throat and sniffles, I'm hoping it passes quickly.

We received our first Christmas card through the post, it can stay in its envelope until December 1st, far to early.

Additions

This cactus is in full bloom and looks stunning in our bathroom, it loves this spot, I look forward each year to see it bloom once more.

I've been adding to my house plants, I have purchased an Amaryllis bulb in a glass before, it grows well, this should bloom white, once it's finished I will use the glass for candles in the garden. I did not have a white blooming cactus, so I've put that right, the cyclamen is very unusual blooms.  

A yellow rose outside.

I have cyclamen outside, I do love these plants, these can be seen from my chair, giving me colour in my view. I do dead head them often to keep the blooms coming.

These are the last two pots, the top pot is brilliant, the lower pot has pansies in, I have had a few blooms, but the plant is now growing rather then blooming, which is OK, colour to come. 

These sunny blue sky days are such a joy, it's much colder, but I don't mind it at all, you can always wrap up warm, cold and wet is a different matter. I did get outside for a while yesterday, I got the bark I wanted to go around the Olive tree, the rest went on the square garden, not really deep enough, but as they say every little helps. 

I took my sister to our favourite garden centre an got a few things from their inside food shop, we went to B&Q for the bark, I got an half price plant, just £3.50, spotted the till over charged me £5 on the bag of bark, which was put right and then to Home Bargains, nice shopping trip. The plant, Saxifrage, dancing pixies thea, with a lovely white flower are late season blooms, which will help with colour at this time of year.

Des res

 This is a group project, hubby did the building, I did the collecting, Molly helped with the filling, we have solitary bee holes in three levels, and a butterfly box at the top, the holes or shelves are filled with different stuff with hay added, I used hay as I thought it might be beneficial to the bugs, who I hope will move in. 

My plan was to pop it infront of the raised garden by the pond, hubby made it the same height, but there is just not enough room and I did not want it to go over the water, it could go on the side behind the blood red grass, I'm sure it would just fit in there. For now outside the greenhouse in this corner, where we don't often go, it's on a concrete base, so it's stable, it's also a sunny spot and the raised bed will protect it from some of the rain. 

We have corks from wine bottle, pinecones, bark and wood which is going soft, twigs, I have also popped a few broken clay pots in the hay for extra homes, everything is natural and untreated. The butterfly house I have had for years, I've never seen a butterfly close to it.

I have had this in mind and been working on it since the summer, it's bigger than I first thought, hubby decided the size, the frame is old decking boards, which should stay good for years, our only purchase was the front wire grid, it came in a bigger roll, I shall make a few cloches in the spring with the rest of it. 

Now as it's getting cooler is the perfect time to have it in place, another completed job outside, there is very little to do, I added half a bag of mushroom compost to my tiny broad bean shoots, I'm sure it will be better on the garden than in a bag all winter. I'm still picking up leaves, most drifting in from neighbours garden, I have a pile over my rhubarb crown, in hope it will help the crown grow next year.

I am really enjoying these sunny dry days, my mood has improved so much, it's good to be out in the sunshine, with nothing to do, I can spend ages outside. We have my sister and her partner here for a few days, so going to a garden centre later.

What are you doing?

 I saw it far too late, after a row of 12 squares and 3 grey squares of the next row, I noticed for some strange reason I used the wrong shade of pink, pale instead of rose, it did not look out of place, my brother would never notice, but I knew it was wrong. So 15 squares ripped out and rose pink used, I'm happy again.

This is Lilly, she is beautiful, I love grey cats, so she is perfect, daughter took kittens and mum cat to vets for a check up, all are OK. She is the smallest of the litter, which is OK. I had my first cuddle, which I hope to regularly do, so she gets used to us, daughter has one on our cat baskets, so when we we bring her home she will already be happy in her basket. Daughter has found homes for all five kittens, everyone is sharing the vet cost, to help out. 

I missed Wolf Hall the first time round, I watched the first episode of the second series on Sunday evening, it was so good, I decided to go back and watch the 6 episodes from series 1. I am watching every day, something I never do, it's made so well, even though I know what happens,  I can't wait for the next episode on Sunday. 

Our Spanish friends are OK, their small town is almost back to normal, the lower section was flooded, most of the homes there have garages on the ground floor, so not too much damage was done. Other friend in Valencia have a much harder task, the mud stuck to everything, once that is cleared they need an architect to check their homes, Spanish house bricks are very different to ours, they are hollow and much lighter, so many building now need checking. There is so much anger in the city, the centre, which was not hit so bad looks back to normal, main roads are open, but still many places need lots of work.

Hubby had his cataract removed and a lens put in place on Monday, a very different process than he had a few years ago, our eye hospital is away from the main hospital, it's very modern and very efficient. Hubby saw the optician only 3 weeks ago, and it's all been sorted, last time he had a few months to wait, this new unit has completely cut waiting times. Sadly his brother in Wales is getting near the end of a two year wait, he is still in hospital, due another operation on his leg, this time the hope is to have him home soon, he's been stuck in there for months. 

My back is much better, I've been doing small bits most days, I picked up leaves in the back garden on Monday, and a bit of weeding. I need to raise my netting over my broad beans, the shoots are getting big. We have had rain twice both times overnight, and lovely blue skies next morning, it is getting colder, which does not bother me.