Thursday 28 June 2012

This and That


Just thought I would pop by, say hello and give you a little update on the gingercat household.  Life is as busy as ever, the weeks fly by in a whirl and I never seem to catch up with myself.  Is is just me or does time seem to go faster the older you get?


I have had a very busy week work wise and I must admit today I felt very tired indeed.  I could have stayed in bed this morning if I'm honest, as it was a struggle just to open my eyes.  I have been burning the candle at both ends, staying up far too late reading.  I am ashamed to admit I have been reading 50 shades of Grey and am half way through the second book - it's easy to read and the characters have a crafty way of getting under your skin, I just want to find out what happens to them!  Yes there is lots of sex and the number of orgasms is almost laughable, its not terribly well written either but there is just something about it, which makes it very readable.

I have definitely been trying to make the most of the sunshine over the last couple of weeks.  The Summer has been so patchy that I feel I have to be outside making the most of any rays of sunshine we have.

I love it when I drop the children at school, come back home have a quick tidy round and then take a nice cup of tea or coffee outside.  I enjoy the peace and quiet and love to sit and just take in the garden.  The garden is looking fabulous at the moment, it really is the best its been for years.  I have got back into the gardening grove which helps, I have really enjoyed tending to my garden and seeing all the plants thrive (well most of them).

Mr P had a mini garden revamp after the chickens moved down the road.  He soon sorted out the muddy mess at the end of the garden.  Turf was laid and the swing moved down behind our office.  The bench has also been moved down the end, so that's another of my favourite spots for an alfresco lunch or a mid morning cuppa.

I have almost finished a little lap blanket which I have been crocheting for months and months.  I bought the wool last October at the stitching and knitting show.  It was just enough to do a lap throw.  I choose my favourite ripple pattern.  I just love the ease of crocheting the ripple, so rythmic.  I just need to sew in the ends and then we are all done.



The pictures aren't great as I only used the little digital camera, and it was as very sunny morning. The colours are all very muted tones, very earthy colours.  I just have the big granny square blanket to finish off for Daisy's bed, although I still have a very long way to go.  I would like to finish it off by her birthday ideally so I definitely need to pull my finger out and get on with it.



Here was my mid morning snack on Monday, a nice cup of coffee and a slice of lemon drizzle cake.  Naughty but oh so nice. 

Here are a couple of garden pictures I took that same morning(again not great photos).  Our lupins have looked lovely this year, some have finished now and some are still in full bloom.

The fox gloves have looked magnificent this year also.  My delphiniums have been spectacular too, often they just get obliterated by slugs and snails but I have been on their case this year and managed to kill them before they did too much damage.   I do love cottage garden plants. 



For some odd reason I have downloaded a picture of bacon and pancakes!  I think Daisy must have photographed her breakfast last weekend.  We always try to have a family breakfast at the weekend.  In the week we tend to eat breakfast at different times and never all sit down to eat in the morning.  I like to make a bit more effort at the weekend and cook something a bit different to our normal weekday fayre.  Pancakes are often on the menu, ocassionaly we have bacon and eggs.  Our favoutie at the moment is bacon, pancakes and maple syrup.  I love the whole sweet and salty thing you get with it.


Last weekend I made a batch of elderflower cordial.  I left it a bit late really, as the elderflowers were coming to an end.  I find it incredibly difficult to get the citric acid.  A lot of chemists just don't sell it anymore.  I hate the smell of elderflowers when you make it, it smells like cats pee!  I love the finished result though, so refreshing.


I will leave you with a rather poor photo of the newly revamped end of garden.  It's hard to imagine this was were the chickens lived. Do you like our cheesy frog band.  Me and Mr P bought then from a sunday magazine about 15 years ago.  I keep threatening to get rid of them but Mr P refuses to throw them out!  My sunflowers in the trough have grown an awful lot since I took this picture.  I can see the green leaves of the plant when I am sat at my desk looking out of that window.


We are off to a 40th birthday party on Saturday night which should be fun.  I managed to find a new dress to wear to it today in the sales which is great., I do love a bargain!  It seems strange the shops selling off their Summer stuff, I don't even feel like we have had a Summer yet.  It will be Christmas at this rate - yikes!

Till next time, enjoy the weekend.

Alison
x

2 comments:

  1. Yes the summer sales always seem to start before summer does! Cottage garden plants are always a favourite.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a lovely garden and summer house you have there! I too am hooked with the Fifty books, I read all 3 in just over a week, read a different book and now gone back to them again! It still has the same pull the second time round, maybe it's just extreme escapism which I need right now?!
    :)

    ReplyDelete