More reading

I have loved this book, unlike many garden books this is useful, I have read it cover to cover, and there are loads of tips, I won't use all the information, she doesn't expect you too, just clear good information. Book 53 read this year 

This is another book I almost gave up on, it was such a slow start, I picked it up not knowing the author at all, a woman is released from jail, her sentence for murder overturned, and she is back to the street where it all happened, in the end it was a good story. Book 54 read this year.

I have read another book by this author, so I was hoping for a good plot, set in UK,  most unlikely and improbable plot, but I could not put it down, I was hooked from the beginning, a clever story which kept growing right to the final pages. I totally recommend this book, book 55 read this year.

I got this book from a charity shop, I ran out of library books and the library was shut, I've not read this author before, the back cover synopsis was about a blogger asking for help about a missing friend. It was an interesting tale, which twist and turned, I found the lady telling the story to be very gullible, a few times I thought 'how can you believe that' it highlighted the difference between strong and weak needy people. Book 56 read this year.

 

I have for years recorded books I have read, I use a small address book, recording authors alphabetically, my book is messy, so I thought it would be great to get a new one, I have loads to transfer. It's a very handy size for popping in my handbag.

I love books, and for fun I got the book stamp, just for a few books, it's very handy if I loan a book, reminds the person who owns it. I got thinking of book plates, our girls used to make their own, their junior school had a really good way of adding books each year to the school library, they would publish a list of books and the prices, as parents of leavers we could chose and pay for a book, our child decorated the book plate and left the school a gift with their name.

I have done nothing to my 2023 book, I am further behind than I wanted to be, I'm outside as much as I can be, and giving support to daughter and her three little ones, 2022 is finished, I had hoped both would be done by November, when the best printing discounts are given.

I've been working in my back section behind the garage, I have moved my strawberry tower, it's tucked back until next spring, making the path by my greenhouse house door feel wider. I potted up my smaller dogwood to use in our garden, filling a bare corner.  I have also dug up loads of cana lilies, I had them in 3 spots around the garden, none of them looked good, so I will let them die back and pass on the bulbs.

I  full of bugs again, cold sore throat, with a horrible dry spot, I'm sleeping better, but just can rest enough, I don't think the little ones passed on these bugs, I'm really run down, I hope the bugs pass quickly, I'm not good at resting and relaxing, I'm not reading much, I'm fed up with myself. Ending on a higher note, it's not covid. 

Inside and out

This project is too big to show in one photo, so these two images show the bottom of the work. I am working back on the left side, I have stitched the one side of the third oblong box, just the internal design to fill, the flowers are from a design I used in the top half, I'm hoping it will again tie in top and bottom. I am enjoying stitching this mash up of designs.

My favourite view, it's a dull day, almost everything is growing, my metal table is bare, I have begonia's budding in pots in the greenhouse, they will come out in a few weeks. At the moment it's a waiting games, I am itching to get things in the ground. 

My tiny bedding plants are now huge, these cost me just £7 purchasing them in small strips and growing them on, I much prefer this way than planting seeds, my alpines are doing well, and loads of new growth in pots on the shelves. 

This is one of the best things in the garden, it is now permanently planted and should have blooms all through the year, it's in a sheltered spot so things are later than the main garden. I have a fuchsia at each end, different flowers, a peony in the middle, loads of spring bulbs and hyacinth bulbs along the front. There is an aquilegia in there as well, it's too small to have any winter displays. 

I stopped regularly purchasing magazines years ago, but I have kept all these and love to flip through at the beginning of each month, normally I might have 3 copies, I have 5 for May always an interesting month.

Wednesday was a stay at home day, we managed two local walks, which we both enjoy, hubby's back is improving and hopefully will be back to normal soon, he is walking much better. I was at daughters house for the bedtime routine, all three children had stories and went to bed and sleep well, Will and I had a lovely chat, he has been up our Spinnaker Tower and wanted to ask me about my abseil I did years ago, he wants a photo to take to school, I do enjoy our bedtime chats. 

Thursday we went into town on the bus, we wandered a bit, I am looking for plastic cubes like these, for our wardrobe, the back wall can get a bit of a dumping ground, Lekman cubes are perfect, but expensive and I can't find any second hand ones. We also collected our pottery we made in March, I will post next time with photo's. Later I went to my Pilates class which I am still enjoying. 

Today we have friends popping over for coffee, later I hope to stitch some more, BUT I have decided, this weekend coming I will finish my second cardi. 

Lovely bloggers

A beautiful hand made card

thank you Linda, you are very talented. 

 A book to read, when I asked for recommendations in a previous post, you had just finished this book and offered to send it to me. Often I have noticed we read the same authors, Edward Marston is new to me, so I am looking forward to another sunny afternoon to rest and read.  

I have done some crafting, not much,

 we stay in the garden until late most evenings.

All planted up, I used hanging basket liners for each level and filled with hubby's favorite flowers French Marigolds, grown from seeds. Just waiting for flowers to form. 

I am living most of the day in our garden,

 it's as good as being on holiday, just no pool. 

 We are loving this lovely weather, and spend so much time in our garden, after all our hard work I think it's important to relax and enjoy the changes appearing at this time of year.
Chelsea flower show is on TV again, I enjoy seeing all the plants and flowers, all perfect, it is also interesting to watch what the nurserymen/women have to do to ensure everything is ready on time, I could not over see such a huge project. As for the gardens, some are strange, others lovely, but all give inspiration.
We are making plans, we are going to replace the decking this summer, it's loose in places and also looking worn, so whilst we can still do the work ourselves, we think/hope the base is still secure, we removed some of the decking in 2013, and the base was perfect at that point.
Will was very tired yesterday, we slept from 10-12 and again 13.30-15-30, we did get a walk to the local park and a lovely play time, but it was a strange day toys everywhere but no little man playing.
Today is again sign class, I was asked if I had a need for learning sign, no it's just something I want to do, it's enjoyable.
I love blogging, it's a record of my tiny spot on this earth, I use my blog to check back on things, when something bloomed, when hubby did the decking. But the best bit of blogging is other bloggers, people we never meet, who are now in our lives, we share happiness and sadness together, and the kindness I see. Linda sending me a book to read, others posting about gifts received, the help given in comments. Our world is often portrayed in negative ways, bloggers are neighbours we would chose in our lives.

This and that

I have shown this before,

it's a real shock to compare to what we really do eat.

Ali over at Less equals more has done her post on the subject. 

Like so many others we have been looking at our relationship with food, what we eat, where we get it from and of course how much we eat. One of the main things I have done is to use a smaller plate, my mum would call this a breakfast plate, as you can see it's a bit smaller than our normal plates.  I try and keep my portions to the center of the plate.

  I enjoyed all three books, Cake Shop in the Garden being the best one here. 

Still doing very little sewing, I have another project forming.

We have followed loads of sport from Rio, the cycling being both our favorites, followed by the diving and gymnastics, it's a proud time to see so many medals being won. I have watched TV most evenings in the past couple of weeks, we were really late to bed last night, watching the last cycle race, with it's 3rd start, then a quick switch over to see the last dives. 

Last week we booked our holiday, just over four weeks now, and I'm on a mission to lose a few pounds of flab, so we have cut carbs to a minimum, it is hard when every day there are cakes, biscuits in the office, I sit very close to our tuck shop, and at 11.30 each day the sandwich lady comes in with lovely cakes. I still walk each lunch time, but will all the sport on TV, we don't do enough after our evening meal. That will change once the Olympics are over, hubby has serviced my bike, so we can start local riding, we have a few lovely places to visit along our water edge. 
I have started using weights to help my upper body strength, now I no longer have to take the cancer drugs, I feel I want to try and gain strength. 
I don't get the exercise in our garden, every thing is looking good and does not require any hard work, it's time now to enjoy all the previous hard work.

Give away

My Amaryllis looks like something out of Alien.

 For the past week I have been living with a drip, every time we boil the kettle we find water around the base plate, today there was more water, and because the electrics are in the base plate hubby said we needed a new one. So we opened our jar, did loads of counting and this is what £133.00 looks like, we returned some back into the jar, I hate to see it empty. Hubby puts more in the me,  20p coins  made up the bulk, £58.00.

 We popped into town and got the matching set,

 our toaster was a bit past it's best £44.00 for both. 

£70 is set aside for when we are away at the end of the month. 

Not bad for coins we don't miss.

 Looking out the window, this sum's up the morning.

 I managed to look at all my books on my craft shelf, I have taken loads of project booklets and a few books to our charity shop. Before I get rid of these, 

I thought I might offer them on, I am happy to post anywhere in UK,

 if either, or both are what you are looking for please comment on this post. 

Yesterday was Fliss's birthday, so no stitching, we had a at home evening, doing a nice meal, all gluten free, with a nice bottle of pink Cava. Tonight Fliss is out with Su and David for a meal in town, we were invited, but prefer to stay at home.
I have sorted my food cupboards, and I'm pleased no out of date items, I just re arranged it so we could find everything.
I got for a £1.00 a book to read, The Peoples Queen by Vanora Bennett, I have not read in ages. Soon I will do some more to my cross stitch, I decided I would finish the panel before starting the new project which arrived today.
Tomorrow Josh and Sam will be with us, nothing planned, will have to see how the weather is, so loads of fun promised.

A finish and a trip out

 My heart is finished, I am going to sew this and another one I have into small hangings, Su has been given a small sewing machine which she wants me to try out for her, I will show you next time.

We popped out this morning, we wanted to stay local, so we visited Fort Nelson about 10 minutes drive from us, which is above Portsmouth on a huge hill, looking down over the bay. It has local history from both wars, and neither Kev or my self have been there, if you want to know more pop here
I am trying to find things to do at the weekend, I have had enough of the trip to town to trawl the shops buying things you don't need, just because you see them, our parents only shopped when some thing wore out or broke, when did this mass weekend shopping start, and with Christmas coming everybody just goes mad!!

 My third book I have read, the author was in our local bookstore so I decided to try her latest book, the ending was very predictable,  I would call this a coffee shop read, very light with a simple plot. I will not be buying another or her books not normally what I would read.
Below one of my orchids is still in full bloom, I brought a couple a  few weekends ago.

Nothing much planned for the rest of the afternoon, a bit of sewing. Later we are out to a pub with friends, twice in one weekend, we are always meeting friends in local pubs on a Friday evening. Should have done some gardening, but all the knelling and bending does not do my  joints any good.

This stitching is on white 32 count aider, my photo is very dark, but it is coming along nice, it's only a few inches across so another small piece, which will stitch into a padded heart.

I have also read another book, I am a book worm at heart, I did enjoy this one, I love most of the things Sue Johnston appear in, so I found her book very interesting.

My garden is looking good, we have had a bit of sunshine so my favorite flowers are blooming.

As is the strawberry plants above, I don't think I will have fruit on them, and below my chili peppers are doing well. Almost all my veg plot has finished, I have leeks and onion to go in soon.

Our picnic was rained off at the weekend but not until we have made all the food, so we had a mini picnic in our sitting room, which was good fun. Plus an expensive visit to the dentist, we also have been looking at art for our sitting room wall, more on that next time.

Work is very busy so the days are going quickly, as is the evenings, but tonight at eight, we will watch the great British bake off, both Kev and I love it, and we even have the last of the cup cakes to go with our coffee.

Paula. this pattern was from a magazine,  

but some of the others I have stitches have been my own design

Leftovers, a book and a WIP

I had been very busy and made the cup cakes as well as the anniversary cake, above is how they looked on the afternoon, below is all that is left, Kev loves fruit cake so he is very happy to have a slice each evening. We are going on a picnic on Sunday with both daughters and their children, so I will make more chocolate cup cakes, Josh will be very pleased.

After all the stitching of my family sampler, I wanted to read a book, I have had this one waiting for a while, it took me three days to read it, it's the best story I have read in ages, and you could never guess the plot, I have heard the film is not very good, but the book is great, Fliss is next to read it.

I am also stitching this week, I started this one in June, so it will be nice to get it finished, I will make it up for Fliss, she loves this style.

Su has been given a small sewing machine, which I hope we can use at the weekend, Su is not good at sewing, so it will be mum doing all the work.

With all the fun and games we have had this week with Blogger, I am so glad I copy all my post, my daughters have laughed at me, but I have a complete record for both of my blogs.

I keep my blogs in folders with clear sleeves, I have filled three folders for this blog and two for Somerset House, I post more here, but have longer post on my house. It's not cheap all these photo's. But I like to think I have a socal history, and you are all a part of it, at no other time in history have we, the people been able to leave our mark, on everyday things, I hope in the future they can look back on our records and under stand us.

We have not done much, it's been a weekend for us, no work required in the garden, every thing is green and lush.Still no stitching, I'm not looking for my mojo, it will find me when the right time is here.  But for now I am enjoying just pottering around the place.

A sunny evening

Its after 7pm here, I'm sat in my office looking out at the last of the days sunshine dancing on the roofs of the houses at the bottom of my garden. My daffodils are still looking bright from here, I am enjoying the last of their show, when I get closer I can see they are starting to fade. I have planted the hardier of my seeds, I have lots of exciting seeds waiting for the better weather to come, so I can plant them for a colourful show in the summer.

This week I have enjoyed a good book, The Other Boyeln Girl it is set in Henry 8th reign, I so love all about the king and have read various books. this one was passed to me by a friend, I so enjoyed reading it, even though I knew the end.


I have started The Boyeln Inheritance, in hope it is as good, it's by the same author Phillipa Gregory. I will let you know how I get on.

I have also cut out a shift dress pattern, I will sew it on Saturday, it's for my daughter Su and is in the most beautiful purple cotton.
Very 70's


The last thing for me to show you is a favorite picture, I have for many years collected silly cow's, pictures, models and soft toys, below is one of my favorite picture, I hope you like it.