Quiet time

 Claire's story, she was abducted at the age of 15, and escaped 10 years later, the story follows two time lines, at the beginning and up to date, sounds horrendous but it's told in a positive way, I really enjoyed this book. Leah is a sequel, 3 years has passed, Claire witness a car crash, and saves the children, therefore becoming involved in the unfolding story, it's not as good as the first book, I still enjoyed it. Book's 57 and 58 read this year.

Another new author to me, it was a good plot but I did not truly enjoy, giving someone a special sight took away so much from the plot, it just wasn't great. Book 59 read this year.

A new author for me, I have seen loads of good things said about this book, once I started I was worried it centered around Peter Sutcliffe, The Yorkshire Ripper, but that soon became a backdrop and not the main story. I loved this book ordinary people living their lives, what goes on behind closed doors. A great book I did not want to put it down. Book 60 read this year.

We were given another 6 eggs this week, as a thank you I pulled a cauliflower which was going to seed for her chickens, the ladies enjoyed their treat, it's nice to be able to return kindness.

It's been a lazy week, hubby has worn various monitors this week, so many appointments to apply and remove them, thank you for your comments, his health is always on my mind, but we do try and get on with things, my main worry is to ensure he does not overdo things. I have been aching most of the week, all those lifts and cuddles with small people takes it toll, I'm not young anymore. 

Wednesday stayed cloudy all day, it got very muggy in the afternoon, we had a thunder storm, not much rain, it did not clear the air. Thursday was a cloudy start, then the blue skies returned, later I went to a local WI meeting, we have two groups in our village, I had been on the waiting list for a while, it was an enjoyable evening, first of many.

Friday we popped to The Range, not been there for a while, hubby is looking for an electric water feature, his barrel is OK, but he's not happy, nothing there we liked so the search continues. We had arranged to meet daughter and children at local beach for fish and chip supper, but it was too hot, so we postponed it until next week, in hope it will be cooler, we enjoyed fish and chips at home. Saturday was cloudy all day with a light breeze, so I spent time outside, I have photos in my next post.

Most evenings have been cooler, we do love to sit outside, by the evening we are in natural shade, whilst the sun still shines on the other side of the garden, often we can smell a BBQ or hear music, sometimes raised happy voices, neighbours enjoying their space, we don't have many young children close by, just the occasional sound of grandchildren visiting. 

Bags, buckets and pots

 I like to use different things in our garden, this container was purchased for a flower pot, but it works better as a water bowl, the birds love to land on the pebbles for a drink, I have other places they use for bathing.

This is another lovely spot, I'm using a square washing up bowl for my water plant, the old sink is my grass bed and the birdbath is now an alpine garden, with a couple metal chickens, it's a lovely view. The triple acers behind and the red and white flowers of the azalea make it colourful.

Hosta's when in the ground are decimated by slugs and snails, these live happily in the bucket and an old brass coal bucket, I have the extra copper ring around the plant, whilst these are in leaf they need to be away from walls as snails do try every trick to get to them.

In the greenhouse I have two buckets with carrots growing, they will be popped outside soon, two compost bags full ready for tomatoes, I know one has a cucumber pot resting on top for now, To the left is a BBQ bucket, re-purposed for my Aloe Vera, and on the right two huge plant saucers for my sphagnum moss.  

This year I am trying harder with veg, my new raised beds are great, but as always I want to grow more, so here on the path by the greenhouse and tucked behind the raised bed is a compost bag with some sweetpeas, the grey tub has a mock orange in, both of these should fill this back corner with colour. Two bags with second early potatoes and a big pot with some peas in, which is on an old water-but stand. 

The green square bowl has a cranberry plant in it, I got it last year, not sure what I am doing, along with trying to grow peanuts (Monkey nuts), I do like to try new things. 

The weather for most of the week has been dry, just one wet day on Monday, we have seen sunshine, but a rather cold northern wind has kept me inside, alongside another horrible dry cough, so another boring post. 

I've always used different containers for growing in and decoration around the flower section of the garden, now I have my veg section my containers don't need to be pretty, just practical, I am filling any space I have, luckily hubby does not come up around the greenhouse much, he hates having to step over pots and other things. I need to leave space for my tomato plants, I have grown them before in the greenhouse, they do get far to big for the space. 

Most can be tucked away in the cooler months and give me back my space for other items, it's the best of both worlds, allowing me more growing room whilst I need it. 

Additions

 I got a few bits on our recent trip to Wales, I saw these lovely plant supports, which are just pushed into the ground, I have never seen these before, hubby picked up 2 for me. I have added the cost to my stash, which make my spend this month huge. We got them from Caerphilly garden Centre, which was a great place for good plants, and a nice café, I also got some plants which were superb quality.

Hubby's sister works in the local museum, she was working on Thursday, so we walked around to see loads of local history, we also got a tour of the overspill area, her role to to document all gifts, she was telling me about the items which they had far too many of, one being this shoe makers anvil, I remember seeing them being used as a child. It's quirky, just the thing I love, so I was given one, I could have had more or even an number of flat irons, but one will do, hubby has cleared the rust and painted it black, I will find a spot in the garden for it. The museum does has a policy of only keeping what they can use, this is always stated when accepting donations. 

I got this book whilst away, we read most evenings, again an author I have enjoyed before. From the first paragraph I was hooked, the style of writing was exactly what I love. The lady is a high class escort and sex worker, not normally someone I would be reading about, she is honest and amusing, she is telling you her story, dropping in her backstory along the way. The ending was good and sad as well, and totally unexpected. I really could not put this book down, book 24 read this year. 

I was very surprised on Monday afternoon,  home alone, sat drinking my coffee, watching the garden as I often do, when something different landed on our fence, I grabbed my phone and got just one photo before it flew off. It's not the best photo, taken through glass, I've pulled the image bigger, I have never seen a Hawk in our garden, it was very interested in something in nextdoors garden, we are a built-up area, a bit of excitement on a dull afternoon. 

This is Albuca bracteata pregnant onion, I saw it on another blog, I love an unusual plant and had a look online, I can't praise Mint plants enough, the plant was very well wrapped, in quality packing, the parcel arrived without damage. This plant is bigger than I expected, but that's OK, now I need to get it to grow it's babies. 

I want to start hardening off plants, some are big enough to go into the ground, but this cold wet spell is delaying everything, I'm not going to risk the plants, I have been growing them on for weeks, it is warm in the greenhouse, the window has automatically opened a few afternoons those days I also open the door. After a couple of dry days it's back to rain, the forecast have been slightly out, most mornings instead of waking to continuous rain, it arrives a few hours later, often the rain misses us completely, the winds change the direction of the clouds, but for now it keeps falling.

Tuesday the heavy rain arrived, we popped to Asda to get everything for the weekend, I may have purchased a small white jasmine for the garden, not sure where I can put it. I also got a small pot of sweet peas, I have a pot for them, I hope to get some blooms this summer, I chose the smallest pot, which I very carefully separated and potted them into tall root planters. 

I also remove the decorative stones and added good compost and popped back the stones in my pomegranate plant pot, it's full of buds, I don't think I will ever get any fruits, but it's a pretty plant and has earnt it's place in our garden. 

I am crafting this week, knitting, using my sewing machine and needle felting, photos soon, at this time of year I would rather be outside, but alas rain stopped play other than a short while where I can sort a few things, everything now is about new plants and seeds/seedlings.

Quiet weekend

1st sock is finished, I love making these colourway, having a plain top, heels and toes to pick out one shade in the main sock. I have some ends to sew in, I finished it last night I hope to start the 2nd this afternoon, I love simple knitting, I only check the pattern at the point where you shape the heel.

 I really enjoyed this book, which is strange as the story is of parts of their journey from Syria to UK, it is a gentle story of a couple's loss of their lives, and how little is thought of migrants fleeing from devastation and war. This is book 8 read this year. 

I have noticed loads of things to tidy outside in the garden, so I'm planning some time outside this week, I won't be cutting back too much, as its still to early. Loads of plants and the Magnolia tree are full of buds, far too early. Bulb shoots are popping up around the garden and in pots. New growth outside always fills my heart with joy, I always love this view of the garden, no matter what season it is. 

This ground bird feeder was a Christmas gift from me to hubby, he loves feeding and watching the birds in the garden, our local blackbirds love the food in here, which is mixed seeds, we pop sunflower hearts in the hanging feeders. I often see a small mouse feed from here, I am sure they are coming from under my shed, I have complained about rats in the bottom of the garden, but I don't mind mice. The squirrels eat from here as well, they throw the seeds everywhere, all the huge wood pigeons and collared doves can't take any food. This back area is really tidy, the black bin is full of leaves in hope to make mulch. 

Another weekend with just hubby and myself, youngest daughter was unwell, so we did not get to see her family, just a tummy upset, both George and Molly have colds. I have a sore throat and my tummy has been a bit off, nothing too bad. I took another Covid test this morning, again negative. 

My steps averaged just under 6,000 last week, I am doing more steps each week, I aim to get to between 7 and 10k daily, our portion sizes have shrunk back to where they should be, we still have treats but not so many, I hope to be back to Chocolate only 1 day at the weekends. 

Today is sign class, it is more social then sign, we have been shown most of the signs we would use, and are now repeating things we have already done, half the group struggle to remember signs, and the rest of us like the repetition as it helps us improve on our skills. 

Some of the things not growing in our garden.

I love signs in our garden, metal birds and loads of other stuff. As a woman of a certain age, I have lights along the back fence which twinkle at me most evenings. My garden is always about growing things, but I do like to see a few (humm, OK alot of other bits). 

At this moment I love the 1st 3 photo's, the shelf along the wall, it holds most of my birds. 

Yesterday I purchased the large slate 'things to do in the garden', I got it for £5 off a local Facebook page, 2nd hand and no attached plastic.
As yet we do not have a water feature, we had one when we moved in, but used the space for my water butt, as yet we have not seen anything we can agree on. I would like a reflection pool, but with young grandsons, who all love water, I might have to wait for it a bit longer. We have loads of water in the garden for wild birds.
I have done a post on this subject before, many of the things are the same, I have just moved them around, I still have loads which I did not include in these photo's.

A perfect finish

A perfect solution to an eyesore, our new neighbour had the fence done, we don't mind as we are now private, but as with so many things her grounds workers did, they only cared about the look within her garden.
The wall has pillars to hold it up, the post were attached to the pillars, so a huge gap was formed between the wall and fence, it looked ugly.
Using 4 of our decking planks, hubby and my brother created this shelf, the boards are cut around the post, so the gap is gone, it looks so good.
My metal birds can sit here, with just a couple of tealights, and my twigs.
I'm a really happy lady, it was hard work, but it's now neat and tidy.
Today we are having a family lunch, and an egg hunt for Will  so resting and fun day.

Harvest

My few Olives are turning colour

maybe this year a harvest

Chillies drying in the greenhouse

 Blackberry runners along the garage

 This hedge in front of my greenhouse

is a full larder for the birds. 

 This tiny grass is growing well in front of the hedgehog pot

they still visit the garden, but not as often. 

My garden is surviving all the winds, we have had huge amounts of rain, everywhere is looking good.
We do have two fence panel breaking on our horrible neighbours side, which is going to be hard to do anything with, in the past we would write to them suggesting they get their handy man in to replace the panels and we pay him half.  But their garden is so overgrown, they can't see the fence, so we don't feel it's worth sending a letter until the panels completely break. We can't do anything ourselves without their consent, can't get anyone in to do the work, they become abusive to anyone working along the boundary, I wish we could build a huge brick wall.
I am now preparing the garden for winter, I have dug up my geraniums and a few other plants, they live in pots in the greenhouse all winter. All the bulbs and primroses have not  been planted, maybe a job to do later today, I require a few pansies for the tubs along the side of the house, but I will get them next Wednesday. The Dahlias  are still looking really good, so loads of colour everywhere.
Our main task is picking up leaves, they are dropping early this year.

The Solent

 Closer view of fort and shipping

 Delivery at second fort

Vessels heading for Southampton in the background,
Portsmouth in front and Isle of Wright

 Cross channel ferry going into port

 Local birds

Hubby and I went back to Southsea, this time I took my big camera with the longer lens. I wanted better shots of the two forts (there is a 3rd further along the coast).
The Solent, which is the water between Isle of Wight and the mainland, fascinates me, the water is always busy, all the large vessels have to pass in-front of the Isle of Wight, to get into the ports of Southampton and Portsmouth. Watching the huge vessels as they all sailed past was interesting, two cross channel ferries as well as freight.
We had another lovely walk, not as far as the previous day, but we stayed dry, had a later fish and chip lunch, we must remember to do this more often.