Double tagged!

I have been tagged by the crafty Vallen as one of her 5 favourite blogs and the photographic Anna. I am totally honoured as they both said how much they enjoyed reading my blog!!! Thank you!

Now I need to pick 5 of you ( all run and hide quick)so I will, but please don't feel obliged to do this I know some people have been tagged so many times or have so many readers if they answered all there tags they would not have time to blog!

With out fail I would always pick Lottie and Mrs Nesbitt Their blogs are so different from one another but are full of such info. I have already tagged them but fully understand if they don't/can't/won't do it!!! To this I would add a new blog I would always tag Ruth she is a person I have never met but who I feel drawn to! She has recently lost her husband so I certainly have no expectation of her doing the tag, I just wanted her to know I picked her!!

You must all pop over and visit Yolanda she keeps you up to date with gardening fashions and has the nost stunning garden, which I am going to pinch one day!

Then Petunias Garden from my photo a day blog she always has some useful info and beautiful pictures!

So what have I been up to today, well first off I went to the specialist and he is very pleased but has not signed me off, yet, I have to go back in 3 months!!! Then I spent 4 hours doing something I can't blog about because I don't want someone to know about it!!!

Then my neighbour but one, has a huge pile of wooden pallets that held his patio slabs which he was about to burn!!! I whizzed round at the weekend and persuaded him not to have a bonfire so my other neighbour and I are going to dismantle them, so I spent an hour today pulling some apart. I will have to keep going back this week! But they are really tough to part, well they did hold huge slabs!!

So what has happened in the garden today, nothing, zilch, zero!!!! Which is not good as I am so behind now. Provided none of my local friends phone up tomorrow as they haven't seen me for 2 weeks, I shall try and spend it 'outback'! But I have the builders coming in on Wednesday to fix the roof and I still haven't done any housework!! You see I have this problem, because I'm a 'big' lady I don't like people to think I'm fat & lazy!!! As you know I'm not, I just hate housework! So what do I do? The whole house needs hoovering and dustng, I have piles and piles of ironing, the bathroom and downstairs loo are OK, the kitchen floor needs sweeping and washing and in fact the whole kitchen needs a tidy up! But its sooooooo boring cos I'll only have to do it all again in a few days!!!!!! Aaaaargh!!!

I have a though!! (Only one a day aloud!) I could do the housework this evening or even the garden this evening!! Cunning! Must cook tea first then maybe a G & T whilst I think!!!!!!

Some Assemblance of Order Returns or Maybe Not!!

Well K & L are now back at Uni! T has done loads and loads of course work but not alot of studying as there was too much coursework to do to fit that in! Hubby is taking her to the cinema, as a treat, to see one of those films like 'House of Flying Daggers' with the Japenese actors in flying around and fighting (not my cup of tea). I shall be here playing!!

Quite a while back I made a bid on Ebay for a Paulownia tomentosa (Foxglove Tree)and won!! It was in Worcester and I had asked if I could pick it up, well yesterday I went and got it and was totally blown away by their garden................. full of jungle plants, bamboos, bird of paradise in flower, tracycarpus, tree ferns and loads more, I only wish I had taken my camera but I had no idea!! It has so inspired me, we have alot of similar plants but theirs are planted in the garden, I think I have been too protective of mine.
So once the veg are underway and whilst I am still sorting the bottom out,I am going to redo the jungle area (patio).
Anyway this is what I paid 99p for



its grown quite a bit since I bid for it but look what they gave me.......



3 foxglove plants, 2 palms and a papaya plant all home grown. Totally stunned I am, it was so lovely to meet people who had a passion for jungle plants like me, although they definately had more knowledge!

It has been so hot, and as you know I don't do heat, apart from the fact since, my upset tum earlier in the week I have been feeling decidedly odd!! Anyway totally and utterley inspired by my jungle plant friend I have been re-organising the patio to incorperate the load of jungle plants I have bought off Ebay!!!!!!! (Shhhhhhhh!)




Can you see what I'm planning????? No? Good! Then it will be a surprise to both of us!!!lol!!!
Anyway, Plan A finish the bottom of the garden, Plan B get planting veggies, Plan C lift some of patio slabs, plant tropical plants and move around etc, Plan D I can't say cos its a secret and it has nothing to do with the garden! Plan E, finish planting round the pond, Plan F, do something with the lawn! Plan G, go and see the neighbours as he has loads of timber he plans to burn that would do for edging the beds!!!!! Plan H, lay slabs around greenhouse that I took up from patio, Plan I, maybe I should get a gardener and not be so ambitious! Plan J, set the alarm really early so I can get some of this work done before it gets too hot!!!!!!!! I'm off for a lie down to gather strength!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Hat!!

Well here its is!



Just to prove I did buy one!! We had lots of trouble finding one as not many shops 'do' hats!! I'm not putting it on until the day and to be honest the pic doesn't do it justice. I could have done with a bigger brim, I'm lucky I can wear big hats!! but beggars can't be choosers!!!

Just a quicky today lots to do, people to return to Uni etc, etc. Catch up more tomorrow............. hopefully!!!!!

Garden Day!

As promised off out into the garden....

Yolanda had me chuckling yesterday with her post on what the discerning gardener wears and uses so I thought you might like to see my gear!!!



Yes I know Yolanda, green wellies and knee pads, the problem is I don't have the storage space for a nice colourful pair, until I get holes in the green pair by which time fashion will have changed again and I will be out of fashion yet again wearing a colourful pair. So I think I will stick with what I have!!!!! But I do have a lovely pink bucket and I want to get a lilac one too, so I may not be a total loss!!!!!!!!!

First off I gave the chickens 'Eglu' a good scrub, this is before



the girls having a good scrub around



after



I am using the straw that I wrapped my bananas with over winter and the chooks love it they spend hours scratching around. When I give them their mixed corn in the afternoon, it keeps them so occupied!! I have had to put up shade netting for them as they where getting a bit hot. When they have scratched around for a couple of weeks on this I have been following 'Scarecrows' lead and using it as a mulch on my beds!!!! She is a mind of info!!!

But have you seen the new state of the art home for chickens, no bending required to clean it out, I want one in purple please.....



It houses 6 - 10 chickens and is the new 'Omlet Cube'. Costs lots of money but how cool, wheels as well. My Eglu is sooooooooo, easy to keep clean, that I should imagine this will be just as good if not better!!!

The path is laid, it so much better than the 'humpy dumpy' one we had before. Lots of plants have been planted, there is loads to go in from the greenhouse



and it still looks a mess!!!



as you can see I have put an edgeing in to keep the lawn and flower bed apart, I didn't like the bright green, so bought another bamboo one but need some more. It helps keep the straw mulch on the flower beds!! I shall have to get some more though!! Then I shall mow the green stuff (its not a lawn at the moment) spike it and I have loads of soil (from removing 'humpy dumps!!') which I shall riddle, and then spread around this part to even out the level then I will reseed, I probably should have done this a bit earlier but I think I still have time!!!



this is looking back up the garden, I shall have to paint the fence! It actually belongs to our neighbour and really needs replaceing, but we think, she thinks, we own it, we don't everyone owns the right hand boundary as you look out from your house, what is probably confusing her is our neighbours on the right and the one before him both replaced our right hand fence!!! So we believe now we own none!!!!

The tulips are just going over now



Oh dear! Senior moment has just occured!! Whilst I have been typing this I was waiting for the tea to brew. I have just gone to pour a cup mmmmmmmmmm! and out comes plain water, I forgot the teabags!!!!!!!!!!! oops just made a fresh pot, with teabags this time!!!!

The blossom is just blossoming!!!!!!!



Harebells...



I have lots of these but sadly no bluebells, something I think I will have to rectify!

Right I must go and beautify myself, I am off to Bath, hat shopping if you remember!!!! Not looking forward to it. On the way back we pass some garden centres so might pop in and see what they have! Tomorrow we take Kathryn and Lee back to Uni, thats when the weather will break because I will have sheets and towels to wash and dry. Mind you we need it, I have used 2 3/4 butts of my 6 already!!!

No Rest for the Wicked!!!

So I must be very wicked!!!!!! lol!!!!

Well I felt loads better yesterday and as I had been ill on the day I had promised to take the girls shopping for their wedding outfits, we went yesterday!!! Have you looked in the shops recently? My goodness just try and find an outfit for a teenager for a wedding!!! Nigh on impossible! Its all bright, 60's, Mary Quant, type styles (not that I remember of course!!) or very casual. Nothing smart, so it took us forever, but we where successful eventually. The girls won't let me post pics but K has a dress that will be fine for her summer ball as well and T is not wearing black!! but we still have to find shoes for her and she wants some opera length gloves to wear, which could be a challenge, bearing in mind the colour she is wearing so I think we will try good old Ebay!!!!
T has a drama exam coming up and she has to dress in a hippy type style, which fortunately was easy to accommodate bearing in mind the current styles and K found a top she really liked but what was really confusing is K chose black and T wore a colour and both liked there outfits so much, they where wearing them round the house which was very confusing for me because I kept calling K, T and T, K because they where wearing the wrong colours!!! I think I need a lie down!!!





They are so much fun to go shopping with and T is getting slightly adventurous, trying on clothes she would not normally look at, here she is in her hippy gear....



She asked me to buy a belt for her, I thought it was for her jeans, so was totally bowled over when she appeared wearing this....



Definately different for T who usually hides under big and baggy!!!!

I hope to spend today in the garden, which is coming along really well, I must remember to take the camera out with me!
Lee (K's boyfriend) is here and the car is now fixed so we probably won't see much of K over the next few days.
After our 'fashion show' of our wedding outfits hubby says I need a hat!!!!!!!!!!!
Gulp! so we are off hat shopping on Friday!!! Although I should probably go today as my hands are lovely and clean!!!!!!
I promise to post something about the garden tomorrow for the gardening buffs!! When the girls are off I'm always erratic about posting so normal service should be resumed next week!!!!!!