Friday, September 17, 2010

Catch Up - Mixed Bloggy Post - 17th September 2010


Poppy - aged 2 in December. She is still very tiny for her age.


At last I've managed to increase my photo storage with Google. It's taken about 4 days in all. Now I can download some photos. Hurrah!


Taken at the Scariff Show, luckily on that day we didn't need an umbrella, but we have had plenty of rainy days.

Just one photo of Ben and Hayley as the rest are on Facebook. Here they all all dressed up and ready to go to the wedding:


Don't they look smart? It was so lovely to have them here for a few days.

Jim's UK Trip

On Thursday 9th September, Jim went to the UK for a few days to visit his children and Grandchildren there. Jenny, Matt and Sonny were heading off to the Isle of Wight for a holiday but Jim still managed to get to see them for a while. Sonny was very taken with Jim and put his arms up each time Grandad appeared!


Here's Sonny bouncing on the trampoline we had bought him for his 1st birthday. He loves it!


He still pulls some great faces! The engine was also from us and has Sonny's name on it. He liked it.

On the Friday night they all went for an Italian meal to celebrate Russell's 30th birthday. There was Russell and Caz, Matt and Jenny and Ali and Jim. Ali's husband Joe had a prior band engagement so couldn't make it.

Russell had threatened anyone with death who ever bought him a 'photo' cake or 30th balloon, so of course they had to get him both!


He loved it really!


Russ's beautiful wife Caz.


Sonny's Mummy Jenny - Jim's younger daughter.

With Jenny and family gone on holiday, Ali came with Poppy to take Dad out for a walk to Burpham - a favourite walk they used to go on when Ali was a child.


She is still adorable and now has a great vocabulary too.


Poppy decided the 'here' is where she wanted her picnic, but Ali and Jim had other ideas! Eventually she followed them.



Grandad had bought custard tarts. Mmmm.


The walk ends at a little park. Poppy fed the 'horse' some grass!

I can't wait to see both Poppy and Sonny just after Christmas when Jim and I are travelling the country on a 'Deens on tour'.

My Birthday


Here I am in my office with the new screen/now Jim's! (Bea, can you see one of your post cards on the wall by the door?)

My birthday's been a funny one this year. Jim bought me a new screen for my computer, which I didn't like, so he swapped it for his - which I love!

A few days later a present from K, Rachel and Lu arrived. A marvellous mobile made by Rachel out of a knife handle, a fork and 4 twisted spoons. I must take a photo of it, it's lovely and makes a delightful tinkling noise too.

I've had cards arriving for days then I thought yesterday that I hadn't had a present from my son Jason, Sam, Jack and Kitty. Very strange as Sam is so on the ball with birthdays. It turns out Jason had brought my presents with him on their visit and they were in Jim's office on a shelf!! So I had another birthday yesterday. Such lovely things too, a card chosen by and written by Jack from him and Kitty. 2 Art Deco pens, a little jewel encrusted notebook for my handbag with matching pen. Some blank cards for the insertion of photos. A pretty little shaker style wooden box with 'Special Mum' on the top. Some chocolate of course! And a little art deco card plus some 'backing' A4 size card with super patterns on them. Wow, what a lucky girl.

Jim still felt he hadn't really brought me anything for my birthday and bought me a new 'everyday' watch from the UK as mine had broken. It has big numbers on it so I can see it! Then today he went shopping and bought me a huge Black stemmed bamboo. It's enormous and quite lovely. Now all I have to do is decide where to plant it to display it at its best. I wonder whether anything else will turn up??


Some of my presents and cards. Jim's prizewinning vase of flowers from Scariff show are on the table too.

Garden Progress

The new wall Jim and I are building is almost finished. Today I filled the completed part with soil and planted one plant! I do have some more to put in but it was getting dark.


Ben took this rather lovely photo of the arboretum and the new flower bed all bursting with colour. You can see how glorious the weather was for their visit.

We are currently working on the back yard - the part most affected by the builders and where the new wall is. We are aiming to grass it soon, having removed all the surface stone and sorted out the levels. I will take some photos tomorrow!

In the front, we had a huge pile of gravel delivered and I have been spreading it around. Jason and Jack did some for us too (I think I mentioned this in my last catch up post). It's all looking much smarter too. Ben took rather a good photo of the front:


Jim is coming up the steps and I think Hayley's on the phone! It's been a good Summer for the garden and Jim's produce in particular. We now have courgettes by the ton - well, they're marrows now! Also carrots, beetroot and parsnips. The sweet corn is doing very well too, although we have had a couple of very windy days and they had blown over. Yesterday Jim and I staked them up again. I love corn on the cob.

Ben just loved the garden and took lots of photos. It's super that he enjoys photography as much as I do and K and Jason love it too.

I think that's enough for today. I will take some up to date photos of the back yard and the new wall. It's so good to be able to post photos again.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Happy Belated Birthday. I loved seeing all the photos of the family and your lovely yard and office. Have a great weekend.

BT said...

Thank you Mildred. Glad you enjoyed the photos. I think it's going to pour with rain on Saturday so I'll be able to play in my office!

Adrian Tritschler said...

Always great to read your catchups!

The umbrellas look like the Melbourne soccer stadium, or is it the other way around? http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaycee/4539736723/

Lynn Cohen said...

Happy Happy birthday!!! Nice to get so many thoughtful gifts and cards. Nice to have family all around you.
enjoy it to the hilt.

Rachel Green said...

Good to catch up. What a splendid haul you had :) The garden looks fabulous.

Sue Guiney said...

What a wonderful catch up. Everyone looks great -- Poppy's adorable! And happy belated birthday!

Heather said...

Lovely family pics and Happy Birthday to you, if a bit late. Poppy and Sonny are both so sweet. Your garden is looking lovely as usual - that's a huge expanse of gravel but it sets everything off so beautifully.

DK said...

Super catchy uppy entry! The yard and garden look fabulous, look forward to seeing it again very much.

LOL'd at your screen (now Jim's!).

Glad you liked your card and mobile :-) xxx

ooh and Poppy and Sonny look smashing!!

Bea said...

Well, it's great to see the photos again. Sorry you had to go through such a hassle to get more room. Love the garden shots, wow what a lot of work you guys have done this year. What fun to see your office space and yeah, I see the monkeys hanging out in your office. :) Happy Belated Birthday to you and may you have many, many more. :)Bea

The Weaver of Grass said...

Happy Birthday Gina - how your garden is coming along - it looks absolutely stunning. Your pressies all sound good too.

BT said...

Hiya ADrian! Glad you enjoyed the catch ups. I must go and look at your photo.

Thank you so much Lynn.

I did indeed Rachel. Thank you re the garden.

Thanks Sue, I've been Happy Birthdayed to death! Lovely. xxx

Hello Heather. Thanks for your lovely comment, as always. It is a large expanse of gravel (you can only see about half of it) but it was like that when we came!

thanks K, Poppy and Sonny do look lovely don't they. Perhaps you'll even get to meet them some day! The garden's getting better by the day.

Bea, I've emailed you. xxx

Thank you so much Pat. The garden is gradually losing it's battle with us! It's lovely to be getting it straight after the builders at last.

Bella Sinclair said...

GINA!

Oh wow, what a grand and FUN summer you've had! Isn't it so wonderful to be surrounded by family and friends. You've been here and there, and laughing all the way. All the kids look GREAT!

And your garden! It's really coming along fantastically. The new rock wall, all the gravel... and the flowers! Flowers galore! How I would love to stroll through your garden.

Happy happy HAPPY birthday to you! Sounds like you had some wonderful surprises and gifts. May all your birthday wishes come true, dear Gina.

SO wonderful to catch up with you again!

BT said...

~hugs~ Bella, I've emailed you.

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