Deciphering Garden Lingo!

 

 

 

Today has been a very normal kind of Sunday...you will know the routine by now.

It started with church first thing...

 

...followed by a roast dinner....

 

 

 

...followed by a game of Rummikub ( sorry Teen Two...you lost your crown to me today!)

 

 

Then not one, but two games of Scrabble....

 



 

To ring the changes, we did a crossword together

 

 

Our lawn is in a bad way at the moment, a lot of moss, and I was interested to read this article in the People's Friend....but need to decipher it first!

In all my 53 years I have never heard of  "scarify" "springbok rake" "autumn top dressing"

Its probably why our lawn is so bad!

Oh yes...and are we really supposed to clean the lawnmower for winter storage??

We clearly are slovenly people!

 

 

An old lady passes the People's Friend on to me and I was wishing I had read this issue a bit earlier than this afternoon....these would have been great snacks for Firework night!

 

 

By the side of me all afternoon as been this little pile of sewing, but what with entertaining Grandma, kitchen duties, and a niggly headache, I haven't been in the mood...and I showed such promise yesterday!

 

 

Having braved the cold and rain for church tonight, I am glad to be home for the evening, with the woodburner keeping us toastie warm.

 

 

 

 

 

From Fig Leaves To Bay Leaves!

 

This morning started in the ideal way, waking up to no alarm clock, no responsibilities for the day and of course a cuppa and ginger biccie ( or two!)

 

 

With the promise of a dry day, Hubby started to tackle a job which in truth has needed doing for a few years!

A large climbing hydrangea tree has become very over grown and needed some serious pruning.

Also the fence running along side on garden wall is rotting, but before it can be replaced, the numerous bushes in front needed cutting back more than they have ever been done before!

 

 

The bunnies were very interested in the ever growing pile of new foliage arriving on the ground!

 

 

Pretty soon the pile was filling the garden and about 5' high!

Teen Two went out to cut up the big branches and bag them up ready for a dump trip

 

 

Whilst Hubby went to the dump with the car loaded up, Teen Two whittled away on one of the branches he had cut up earlier.

 

 

 

 

 

Whilst the boys were out working hard, I sat and watched them, armed with some needle, thread and bay leaves....

 

 

 

As I was sewing up the leaves, I couldn't help thinking of our first parents, Adam and Eve and the clothes they sewed for themselves.

 

 

Next up was ironing some fabric...the middle fabric is over 35years old! I bought a quarter of a metre at a lovely shop in Hampstead called the Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat as an 18yr old working as a nanny in Golders Green, I have made several things with it but amazingly enough still have a little left, I liked it all those years ago and still love it.

Sadly I cant share with you what I am making...it would spoil the surprise at Christmas!

 

 

 



 

I then got on with making some pumpkin soup, adding lentils, onion and potato...

 

 

...pretty soon it was ready to eat...but not for now...I was saving it for later this evening.

Teen One had gone out for lunch with some friends she hadn't seen in a while, so we had our main meal lunch time instead, which was a very odd feeling!

 

 

When Teen One was home, we packed up our tea, ready to take up to a local hill, to enjoy the fireworks.

As well as the slow cooker full of soup, I took a flask of chocolate Horlicks...and some marshmallows of course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed our soup and hot Horlicks as the sun set and before long Teen Two's gloves were coming into their own!

 

 

They really did make some mesmerising patterns!

 

They were a lot of fun for sure!

 

 

The Teens are not too old for sparklers it seems!

 

We spent an enjoyable couple of hours, watching everyone else's fireworks for free!

Despite the hot drink and soup, it was still pretty chilly up there and I am glad to be home and in front of the fire!

 

 

 

 

Fifty Days To Christmas!

 

This morning started way too early, thanks to the builder who is working next door, coming round at 5.30am to collect tools, and noisily packing them into his van.

Sleep just would not return so in the end I got up soon after 6am.

Once everyone was out to work/college/uni, I went round to church to collect the fly tipping I  had bagged up yesterday and went straight to the recycling centre, which for a change was very quiet.

 

 

From there I went to the nearby Hobbycraft where I was able to buy a stack of ceramic money boxes half price ....only £2.50 with paint included too.

 

 

I then had to pay a visit to the Range to exchange some LED gloves Teen Two had bought the other week, sadly they didn't work.

He had a pair of these a few Christmas's ago, but like most gloves and socks, one went missing!

Having waited what seemed like forever to get served, the pair I had picked up to exchange didn't work either... to cut a long story short, I went back to get 8 pairs ( finally picking up a whole bunch!) before we found a pair that worked...and that was from two different pairs as well!

Goodness knows what the assistant is going to do with the mountain of gloves I left behind!

Needless to say, Teen Two was delighted with his gloves and very grateful for all the hassle I had gone to.

 

 

 

It was then time to get the weekend shopping done....Lidl's today, I don't know why, they weren't give stuff away today, but you would have thought so, the car park was full!

I did however manage to get a space just as I was about to give up.

By this time it was raining and I was very thankful I had got the dump trip out of the way early!

 

 

For those of you who are rodent phobic...look away... I just had to smile at the gerbils, enjoying the loo roll inner together!

They can't resist shredding things and their daily treat is the inside of the loo roll.

They looked so sweet all lined up.

Teen Two had an hours play with them after college and they were pretty worn out by the time they went back into their cage.

 

 

He then felt sorry for the bunnies out in the rain ( they do have the option to be dry of course!)
and snuggled one up in his hoodie.

We really are going to miss these guys....although there is no sign of them going so maybe we will never have to say goodbye after all!

 

 

All too soon it was time to get dinner sorted, tonight was one of our favourites, roasted veggies and sausages.

I threw in some kurly kale a few minutes towards the end....yum!

 

 

Our Friday Club activity was a leaf making kit...nothing at all to do with the Bible story!

A friend had given me 18 of these little kits last year and I had kept them in a safe place waiting for the right time to do them!

Amazingly enough I remembered where I had put them too!

It will be very soon that we start Christmas crafts, so I really needed to get this one out of the way, there are no guarantees I would have remembered where they were in another years time!

The kids enjoyed doing them, it was rather like a jigsaw puzzle, some had no clue whatsoever, some just put the shapes on randomly and some persevered and made a lovely job.

A neighbour has an electronic countdown in her front window every year...and today it came out for the first time this year.....50 days to go apparently!

 

 

 

"Have faith in God"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrating A "W" Anniversary!

 

 

Today started very early!

Teen One's car share friend is unfortunately unwell, so Teen One had to take the bus to Uni today.

A 45 minute car journey becomes a 2 hour bus trip!

Her bus left at 7am so it meant leaving home soon after 6.30am to ensure she got there in good time.

The upside to being up so early meant I got oodles done before heading off to Mother and Toddlers.

Our 86 year old  lady did the craft today and she hand made these lovely dolphins.

I love the flippers!

 

 

Before heading home, I did the final clear up of the rear of our little church hall.

This had been used as a dumping ground by the neighbouring snooker hall, I am hoping, having cleared it and had a friendly word with them, this won't happen again, especially as our local tip are now charging for certain items.

Tomorrow I will take my old car back to church and load up all the rubbish and take it to the tip.

 

 

This afternoon I was flagging after the early start and decided a sitting down job was in order!

With the sewing bug still more active than the crochet bug, it was time to get cracking with another Christmas present.

It was a pleasant hour or so.

 

 

 

Mid afternoon I had to collect Teen Two from college for a hospital appointment.

In recent years he has suffered with blocked ears, which initially we had to pay privately for microsuction.

Thankfully our local hospital now has someone trained to use their micro suction machine, so we are on the regular treatment list.

We were in and out very quickly, which was most unexpected and appreciated!

 

 

 

The main event today was....

our 23rd wedding anniversary.

We have always followed the wedding present list (Year one Paper, year 20 China etc)

but after 20 there is a five year gap, so we have been using the corresponding letter of the alphabet for the last few years.

Today therefore makes it a "W" anniversary.

 

 

Now you have to use your imagination for this one from me to Hubby!

Its "WHITE" lego cufflinks.

Teen One and I saw these adorable little Scrabble Lego pieces last week and as Hubby is a keen Scrabble player I couldn't leave them.

But what to do with them??

We had seen some Lego cufflinks at the show, and at a family wedding a few years ago the groom and best man had Lego cufflinks...so it didn't seem such a silly idea.

I just needed to incorporate a W in there somehow...and finally thought White Lego.

Teen Two looked through his stash of Lego and came up with the perfect blocks for me.

I ordered the cufflinks findings on Ebay and ( remembering to delete all emails that came through confirming order/delivery etc) they arrived two days later.

Great!

 

 

Since he isn't going to use the cufflinks regularly I thought he deserved another pressie...so making the most of the WHITE theme I bought one of his favourite chocolate bars.

 

 

 

Hubby's present to me was a Wicker basket and White heart.

 

 

 

The heart is now taking pride of place in the kitchen.

 

 

Grandma always keeps up with the "game" and, as well as the lovely cross stitched card, gave us a packet of Wispa biscuits....

 

 

...and a Waterstones gift card.

 

 

 

Hubby also got very clever with the wording in his card!

 

 

For a variety of reasons, tonight's dinner was proving a real pain to organise, so I finally opted for a real treat....a takeaway delivered to the door!

Believe it or not, this is a meal for two!

We all had several portions and there was still some left over!

As dinner was late we were able to enjoy eating together, another rare mid week treat!

 

 

 

 

After dinner Teen Two introduced us to an online guess who I am game

called akinator which was great fun and has got us all hooked, trying to come up with the most random person we can think of to catch the genie out!

We almost did it with Johnny Morris!

 

Teen One has quietly cleared away all the dinner things, whilst I have been blogging...what a good girl!

Its been a lovely family evening, one we could not have dreamt of 23 years ago today!

 

 

"Be still and know that I am God"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking Through Rose Tinted Glasses!

 

This morning was an early start for me.

Today was Teen One's first placement at school and I had promised to take her in.

She will have placements at various schools during the three years and today's was in the centre of town, in the middle of a large renowned council estate....it can only get better!

Today is more observing than anything, then next week she will be in for three days and assigned specific tasks.

 

 

When I arrived back home, I got on with bottling the plums I had cooked yesterday.

I always count how many plums I cook...so I know how many stones to look for....but needless to say I had forgotten overnight...so will have to eat the compote very carefully!

 

 

I then peeled some more of the apples, making sauce with some of it.

I wanted to take something in to an elderly couple up the road...by way of introducing a slightly delicate subject and thought a jar of cooked apple, which they could have with custard, might be just the thing.

They are a lovely couple who walk past my house most days and if I am out the front then they always stop for a chat.

She used to have a village of dolls houses in her front room, which she had decorated and furnished herself, mostly with hand made items.

She loved writing stories, so would write stories about the goings on in her village.

She had open days where she would provide a cup of tea and cake, read a village story, and in return left out a basket for visitors to make a donation to our local hospice.

Teen One loved going there and as a result wanted her own dolls house and intended writing her own stories too...not sure how far she got with that all those years ago!

The lady also wrote her autobiography, I bought a copy many years ago and it was hilarious!

I have re read it since and want to read it yet again soon.

Sadly, a few years ago she was diagnosed with dementia and he has had a tough old time of it.

I think things have come to a head as I haven't seen them out for a week or so, and when walking past their house last week in the early evening, I noticed the front room light was on, the curtains open and I could clearly see the bed had been brought down and a nurse was in there getting the lady ready for bed.

This was the delicate matter I wanted to raise....to remind the carers/nurses to draw the curtains in future.

When I called this morning their son, who lives out of town, answered and said dad was with the social worker, so clearly things really are moving at a pace.

I left the jar of apple and said I would call another time.

I will have to be careful though....one of her "things" was accusing him of having affairs, any female who passed the time of day with him in recent years, was always, in her mind, "the other woman!"

 

Having had the privilege of living in New England, I can honestly say, there really is no place like it in the Fall.

As Hubby and I were driving up to Birmingham last weekend, we noticed how lovely our foliage was looking, here in Old England!

However, it was missing something...we realised it was the beautiful bright blue skies and sunshine, which really enhanced the amazing autumnal shades.

This morning Hubby sent a text to say the blue skies we were enjoying today were really bringing out the beauty of the trees.

As I drove into town I had to agree with him.

The colours were stunning, I really think autumn colours are my favourite, both to wear and also for home furnishings, I am always drawn to them somehow.

I do of course love other colours, but these ones just always catch my eye.

As I drove into Sainsbury's car park I noticed an amazing array of bright red leaves cascading down a wall.

How amazing I thought!

If only I had brought my camera, I could then share it with you all today.

After my business in town was finished I then took extra special note of all the beautiful trees on my journey home...they really were the best I can remember seeing them.

Oh to have brought my camera!

It was only when I arrived home that I realised something....I had my (brown) sunglasses on!

It was amazing the difference it made to the colouring of the leaves!

Talk about looking at life through rose tinted glasses!

Mind you, the colours were still amazing...but not quite as amazing as my eyes were fooled into believing!

 

 

"To everything there is a season....."

 

 

 

 

A Little Light Reading

 

My first job this morning was to try and get as many apples  peeled and made ready for the freezer, this is how the box looked like when I started, and this is what it looked like two hours later....

 

 

 

...its going to be another mega peeling job tomorrow by the looks of it!

But it will be lovely to have the freezer full of scrummy apples, there are just so many things you can do with them, and at short notice too!

I must admit, I rather enjoyed my morning of daytime TV...I saw an interesting programme on a nun who tries to make a difference in communities....never seen it before but really enjoyed it, and I had forgotten how interesting Homes Under the Hammer could be...although it did take me back to post op days on the sofa....not a happy memory!

 

 

I also peeled one of the pumpkins, ready for soup making, and cooked up some plums I bought cheap the other day.....I really do love cooked fruit and thought if I am to try and stick to a diet, I need to have something around that I like, to munch on when that peckish feeling comes!

 

 

 

Teen One only has two exams throughout her Uni course, the rest is course work and assessments.

Her first exam was today, and anyone who fails it, gets one more go at it, then is off the course if its another fail...so no pressure!

The student who usually takes her in wasn't well, so as she only had to be in Uni for a couple of hours, I took her, and had a couple of hours wandering round the local shops.

It got a bit chilly at one point and it wasn't the most pleasant of high streets, so I headed back to the car, intending to listen to radio four and do some crochet, when I saw there was a library nearby.

So I spent a pleasant 45 mins sitting in the warm, in a comfy chair.

The first book I saw that looked vaguely interesting was Ann Widdecombe's biography, and very interesting it proved to be...I may have to go to my local one and get it out to read more!

 

Jesus said "I am the Way the Truth and the Life"