23rd May 2009, Jim Returns, Gardening Days

Jim came back tonight at 12.30am. I was out in the garden having a bonfire until about 12.15!

I'd been getting fed up with my hair lately. It's so long that I always had it up in a pony tail, so this morning I attacked it with a pair of scissors!! Actually it's not too bad. Jim noticed it through the window and was a bit surprised but thought it looked ok. I'll get him to take some photos tomorrow.


You can see it reasonably well from this one, which I took. Don't enlarge it, the wrinkles look dreadful.








Saved myself about £50 too!

I spent this morning inside tidying up for Jim. The snug looked particularly clean, so I took a sort of 'joiner' photo of it!It's a bit of a muddle. I popped a photo of the desk at the bottom as you can only see it's side in the main photo! The window on the right will become the doorway into the sun lounge, so our tiny sitting room will become a huge room but divided in half. I also took one of the fireplace in the snug:
It's all a bit wiggly, I didn't make the best job of it, but you get the general idea, I'm sure. The wicker chair is from the old conservatory so won't live in here when the work's done. But the dog sleeps on those chairs. The other one is in the kitchen/diner. He's asleep on it right now!

This morning it was raining hard but by the afternoon the sun was shining. I had to go outside of course. I've spent the afternoon clearing up the piles of garden rubbish I've made in the past few days to start with. Then I moved to the bottom of the fairy hill and did some serious weeding of stinging nettles, brambles, buttercups and sticky bob!! It was all round the back of the sleeping shed and I managed to get right along almost to the end! It was hard work pulling and cutting.
It's intended as a semi natural area but I don't want it overtaken by brambles and nettles in particular or it becomes impassable.

I did find time to take some photos of course. I hope you enjoy them:



BlackJack hiding behind the long grass on the Fairy Hill. The new phormium is behind him and doing well










Sandy on the bench at the top of the Fairy Hill













I moved in closer and he'd turned around











Then Sandy decided to move into the long grass ready for some serious hunting












This gorgeous broom has come out in the last day or so. It's at the top of the Fairy Hill too and when we first arrived was hidden under brambles and blackthorn








It stands above this lovely spirea and a perennial fuchsia bush. The contrasting colours are so pretty












I couldn't resist just one more










You can see this hawthorn behind the photo of Sandy on the bench. It's dripping with flowers















The laburnum has also just come out. I have never seen it so laden with flowers. Just think, when the barn has gone, (see the rusty red roof) I'll be able to see all this from my room. It's so exciting!












Aren't the flowers long?












The onion flowers are just coming out too
















The iris are about to burst - I love their clean lines at this stage










I went in to feed Buster and when I came out again, the sun was low in the sky and bathed the laburnum in a soft glowing light:







It is a little dark though















The magnolia has stopped flowering but the green is still pretty and contrasts well with the red acer behind. Jim's first job will be grass cutting!











Buster must have got bored waiting for me - this was a little brown teddy!






I walked up to the gate where the sun was still showing over the horizon and took this photo of Lough Graney, across Martin the farmer's field full of buttercups:


It is very small, so please take the time to click on it to enlarge it.

It's only 3 days until my new Granddaughter Kitty is born! As Sam is booked for a cesarean on that day, unless she goes into labour early. Her feet are all swollen up now, poor thing. Then I go and stay for a week from July 4th. I can't wait to see what she looks like.

Jim keeps ruffling my hair every time he walks past!!





This is Joe, admiring his work on the sun room wall. He's a master plasterer and it shows. They may be slow but their work is super










This is the sun room through the snug window, which will be the door into it.








Both gable ends are now rendered and finished in a 'stipple' effect. It's fabulous. The long wall will take them half a day so they need a good sunny day next week to finish it. The electrician was supposed to come on Friday. Guess what? He didn't turn up.

I think that's about it. Jim brought me back an enormous bar of Cadbury's Chocolate! It's 1kg. Then he told me I have to make it last. I told him that took away all the pleasure of eating it!! He also bought some begonia corms and some more seeds, so he's going to be busy too.

I made some bread pudding while Jim was away. It's a recipe given to me by Sam's mum Rene and it's just delicious. Even Jim liked it and he's not over keen on spices. I don't suppose it's very slimming though! Thanks Rene.