Through my kitchen window..

Kitchen Container view!

Even a whole bunch of containers living (temporarily ) in my eye line could make me fed up with the view out of my long awaited kitchen window!

Pops is so lovely..He always makes sure I have some flowers on the windowsill..The orchid is the one from when Lyla was born and the Peace Lilly ( in need of some TLC or feed!) was a gift from our friend Hazel when she came to my Mum's ashes day almost 6 years ago.. I really must repot it!

I also have extra lovely light from 3 Velux and the glazed door panel.. not much chance of missing much ;-)

Happy 28th Ross!

It was Ross' birthday yesterday..28 years old.. I remember it like it was yesterday.... as you do!

We all got together for a slightly windy but sunny barbecue and as he had his proper (cappuccino) cake for his weekend friends event Jordan made this lovely blueberry and lemon fat free offering .. almost like a pudding and with fresh fruit ..awesome! 

It is also Lisa's birthday this week, Ross was 2 and 3 days when she was born.  She and Tom are having a couple of days away so look out for some picture heavy posts over the weekend!

My family : Girls and food!

The fabric of my life!?

It's a little bit sad when the posted of the blog prompt cannot get anything posted for the group!

But I do have excuses.. more of them later.. here is my fabric offering.. a floral dress I wore on Monday and lovely cotton pillowcases and my bedroom curtains.. the rest is history!

So.. what have we been up to here in the Big House (that's what Colin's Mum used to call our house and I noticed that Ken has it down on his key rings too.. awhhh.



We spent a lot of the bank holiday weekend decorating over at Pop's house, he was away and we got busy.. finishing the bathroom decorating and then a quick spruce before his new kitchen went in.. it was all hands to the pump.

Zac was home as he had no short course this week and he and Ross went to work outside while Kate, JB, April, Col and I were painting and staining anything which stood still..

I must a get a picture of how it looks now.. well, when pops has done the tiling!





This weekend was somewhat more recreational! Zac needed a suit for his final oral exams in July and Col needed a suit.. full stop! We are off to Zac's passing out evening late June and whilst he has formal wear (white naval type jacket and bow tie) Colin and I have to get done up as if it was a wedding or something.. they say it is a bit more than a graduation as once he is done there he is going to be a (Third) Officer on a cruise ship!

We had a few laughs in M&S as there was no-one offering any help.. so went to the very high ratio staff : customer Moss Bros and got suited and booted.. well suited and bow tied!

I shall no doubt have a big pic blog fest late June for my boy xx

I also seemed to be in St Ives again! Dropping off the crew for a night at the Rumn Shack.. not quite sure why we didn't go out as well.. oh yes, that's it, we are the oldies! ;-)
had to stop off and take this great Friday night sunset!

.. and yesterday we had a wander and went round the back of the harbour.. had to leave after a bit as a lad was there showing off and it made uncomfortable viewing worrying that he may fall off a chunk of wood he was balancing on!

But St Ives is always busy and has great photo opportunities..

I almost forgot!! Last Sunday Zac, Lisa and her husband and some of their pals went on a 12Km Tough Enough challenge, set by Marines it was under mud and over mud.. obstacles and even an open water swim out and back.. we had the children and went to see them turn the corner for the final mile..

Annabelle..16 months

Later there was another muddy party for the runners and despite it being horrible weather M&D cannot give up on a planned night without the babes!

.. so the girls slept over and in the morning we did some Nan & girlie selfies in bed!

 (If it had been fine I would be posting pics of the Penzance Pirate challenge.. but we were all pooped (on the poop deck maybe) so we have to admit we were the 7 of the 77 too short to make a world record!

Over to you Lynn.. did you go when Hastings got the World Record?

Spring field and drinks!

Well this evening was sunny but chilly and we had a walk round the building work. I was amazed at all the landscaping and digging out which has to be done. It is not just foots pace for two buildings it is gates and car parking area and lovely landscaped slopes which will be fantastic when all grassed.

Lisa and Tom came by and looked at it at the weekend and Lisa said my thoughts out loud..'What would Gran and Nan say?' It's so true..they were so supportive of our project, which back in 1997 was simply making a home for the 10 of us and surviving financially...supportive to the extent they lived in caravans whilst we did the house and converted barns for them.

Spring Field View

So this is my Spring view from below the containers.. and I will try and find the winter view to compare..I cannot imagine the summer and autumn changes.

Winter Field View

And as for drinks..well this is my lovely milky coffee .. my last drink before bed..

And this is my Thank Goodness It's Friday G&T. .yes I know it's Thursday but it IS the start of the weekend when you have had a busy week xx

Shapes : Trapezium

Well I am running a day late here but with good reason.. appointments, meeting with business guys and also getting our planning through...yay!  So there will be two lovely built for purpose factory units in our field by the end of the year and it is all green lights for us now for a bit... not sure we can fit in a holiday.. so probably good we have no choice as it is booked!

Trapeziums here on the roof and our lovely builder Ryan has painted. I was thinking the plinth would be black but he suggested magnolia as it looks less stark against the granite.

There are plenty of other shapes too.. and oh look a grid in the window and some 'H' shapes too methinks!   

Now to go find a star shape.. maybe a pic of my lovely husband as this week he has excelled himself in drive and determination to see a job through to completion.. ..

Inside : my house.

Well Jordan and I just got in from Pilates and April has been to Zumba..you can guess who is the most exhausted ..April!  Poor thing, she is finding it hard to raise an arm for a wave!

I almost forgot today's picture .. lucky Ross had been tidying ...see him in the mirror! He likes to organise our porch and shed, a degree of OCD there and he isn't keen to take on a cooking shift!  Jordan cooked some pasta early on so no need to make a supper .. ah ha I like Monday evenings!

Colin is out fetching Kate as her new call centre job is from 10 til 8pm on a Monday and the is no train after that for almost an hour! She did a weeks training last week and learnt a lot about debt and finance .. she is working hard and slept most of Saturday afternoon and evening as she gets up earlier than I have ever known..ahh, the beckoning finger of a pay packet..

..so that's a snippet of inside my house this winter Monday evening ...

Stop Press..Kate made her first sale and has earnt commission already..she even came home sporting her work cravat ..The school tie rarely lasted the journey home ..

Ticking boxes.

I love to get an imaginary list in my head and see the ticks in the boxes. I think I even create a list of things I know I will get done easily just to have that satisfaction!  There is currently quite a list as we leave home tomorrow for the 8am train to London and fly BA over the 'D.C.' to 'visit' with family and friends. I am getting quite excited though I have yet to pack..anything! (Again there is an imaginary list being written)

It's been a busy couple of weeks, Col away on big client visits, a night away for my birthday and several lovely calls from Zac as it was also his birthday on 5th.  He is doing good, looking forward to coming home in a week, meeting us as we land from our whistle stop trip to the States.


Kitchen-gate is almost over, the new one is just about there; carpet fitted yesterday so only some tiling to get done but that doesn't really make it any better or worse does it.  we have decided to re-plaster some of the rotten bits of the old kitchen so that bit has been left 'red' and is a job for October.














The carpet was a bit of a surprise, it's hard to carry in your head how the stripes on a a small rectangle will look in a 4m wide roll.. and we all thought we were in a visual illusion for a bit when it got laid  but a sofa and couple of drawer units will put that right.  I am also very happy that my huge table is now looking much more in proportion down the dining end and who knows it may survive to see another Christmas and another, complete with pva glue and glitter from the sticking and gluing we all plan to do once we are back on lazy mode.. and when IS that?

I shall try and post some of my news as we visit Uncle Bill and Deborah and our great pals Will & Michele in the USA. Well. although it is a break i should get access to some blog time, maybe even chance to share some more profound thoughts of life in a slower (not at home and working) lane!

Oh and I even managed to pre-schedule my challenge post for Monday over at Lucky Snappers.. hope you enjoy xx

PS Nicknames Anne.. ummm.. my best story is of Col's Mum who used to know a guy who worked with his dad as Louie the Lip because he was always in a fight and had a fat lip.  She brought him out a cup of tea whilst they were working and called 'Louie, your tea is here'. 
He didn't answer..she called agin, only to be hushed by ken... mainly because everyone else called him Louie the Lip but he didn't know!

Back to blogging in earnest!

So I am trying to get back into a routine with this.. and here I am today. Col just got back from a three day trip and we had lovely supper with Ross & April..I love the summer salad and strawberry season, easy but oh so healthy feeling food.













The new room has been sanded (thanks to SiL Tom) and has the first wet paint after April & Ross came 'home from school '.. (they both work at a local Secondary). We spent a couple of hours masking it up on Monday and I got my camera out....

Lilly had her first school Disco (not really a disco Mum, more a lot of games in the yard!) so Lisa called by with Lyla and Annabelle. It's been a lovely summer, Lyla is talking loads and is always asking where is the cat; she has a love/ hate feeling about him, wants to find him but is dead scared of him then!

Lyla loves to eat, she grazes all day and is so lean.. she must use up all the energy learning..

.. and Annabelle has found her feet, she is making all the usual noises but it is sooo cute when she is 'ours', where did the last six months go?

April views..

I am prolific blogger tonight..just shared a whole bunch of music nostalgia right here..... running a little behind, but here are my April views .. indoors is pretty untidy at the moment, all the porch junk is in the dining end, things like the ironing board and shopping bags litter the place.. you can just see the brickwork coming on outside the window.. next month should show the wall knocked down and maybe even the new room and all the light it promises.  I am really looking forward toa  good clean and tidy up in May when we are close to being sorted! 

The yard view for April is pretty huge.. Col likes to keep the work guys warm and busy, with no excuse that 'rain stopped play' so he has a roof put on the scaffolding, and sure enough there is no down time.. and hey, we found some fab builders.. yes, they do exist!

We are having three Velux and a sun light so I am not missing that summer evening sun which I covet so much...

Chasing my tail..Views and Laughs

Where did that week go.. STS was busy and I was running about with all kinds of family stuff..

Kate got herself a place for college next year, she is going to do beauty but may venture into Travel & Tourism later if she wants to go travel and work..ahh it all comes eventually. And of course we had to go do a bit of shopping afterwards.. 

Ross went to London on a school trip, he does good on these as he is the 'cool teacher' guy the kids like to have accompany them.  Yesterday I had the girls for Lisa to reorganise things at their house, little Lyla is still under the weather two weeks on from the start. She is perking up a bit but it's never easy having a babe that is poorly.

Col goes away for a few days next week but will manage tea with Zac tomorrow so that makes it seem much less like a trial!  He is sorting his van now while I write and we are going to have an hour in st Ives with a bite to eat to make the 'day before he goes' nicer.

I am so far back on the photos, I even forgot that I usually do a Mount view, but who knows, that may come later today..here for good measure are two of my owings..

Window view... can you see what I can see? Yes, a cement mixer just outside.. and you know what that means..

Ding dong the porch is dead! never to be seen again, our blimp on the back of our house is gone!  The builders are great , the concrete for the slab goes in this week and then some scaffolding up to allow them to work all weathers..haha, maybe that will give us good weather for six weeks because we are expecting rain to stop play!

If you compare the yard pictures you can also see the hard work Ross and his mate are putting into the trees and hedges, we are pretty overdue for a tidy up after ten years of letting everything just grow away..



Anne has challenged us to share some laughs this week..nice to lift the mood and share the things which tweak our own funny bones. 

When I think of laughs I had as a kid I remember being in a cafe in Babbacombe with my Mum, on a holiday staying at a B&B in Torquay. (I realise now that Mum must have worked hard, not only to save the money but to actually take a ten year old who was in between playing with dolls and being a teen on a week's holiday to the English Riviera in 1970!)

Well Mum, being a fisherman's widow knew there was rain coming before long so we headed for a cafe., and rain it did, stair-rods rain, you know the type. We sat and drank tea, watching the less weather-wise rush to get cover. One lady, I guess she was quite old, couldn't walk down the big stone steps with a flourish, she had to go one step at a time, you know, the way little old ladies do sometimes.. but imagine watching her do it, in a rush, as fast as she could to avoid the downpour which was well under way, one foot on step, next foot joins it, next step, next foot joins it.. sad but oh so funny when Mum and I realised we were both watching her.. we cried laughing but I think we didn't miss the point Mum said, that one day it would be her who would take those steps one at a time..awhh, we used to remind each other of it as the years went by.. lovely memories..

 As you know we love stand-up comedy and over the years we have seen lots of the more popular acts doing the circuit. With Dave showing Live at the Apollo almost on a loop and so many television shows having snippets of different routines there are some phrases which as a family we use now on a daily basis! 

Micky Flanagan does a piece about telling the careers teacher he wanted to drive a van.. to be told .. 'nah, no-one from this school ever left to drive a van, this school supplies people to carry stuff to the van...'  Col says this was like his school on the Wirral in the late 70's.

We love all his stuff about dating in the 80's, I guess because we were there...'if a girl wants a wine glass with a bed of lettuce with prawns on top, served with the sauce of a thousand island, then that's what she will get..a prawn cocktail'

I have tried to find a Micky Flanagan video you might like, but most of them include maybe bits you would cringe at.. so here is another classic sketch from Rhod Gilbert..we never tire of this story..he has ways of relating a story about the mundane and making it hilarious.

... oh and as I browse youtube, I just have to share this, Rhod Gilbert did 'Work Experience' as a farmer.. will surely appeal to Janice way up there on her farm..

... and lastly here is my Mount view for March, nice to see some people out and about.. and the pockets of blue sky..

Love Songs and latest!

Well I did get here again before February Week 3 was over..it's been a busy few days in trolley world and the Jones household! 

 The builders are coming! Currently next Wednesday is the most up-to-date arrival date, but my porch is empty and ready to be knocked down after 16 years, ready for our new space .. and hopefully before the year end, my new kitchen. It's not that it will take til December but we are thinking that maybe we will live with the space a little while til we decide how we want it.. lots of cupboards and storage but it is going to be our family space for the next 15 years so kind of a big deal.

Col has gone off today, he is seeing distributors in France and Belgium and I am going up to meet him and see Zac on Thursday, out to see Al Murray (the Pub landlord comedian) on Friday and then a lazy trip home by Sunday.  It always takes a bit of organising, in my head as much as logistically with the kids etc, but I am looking forward to it. As they say a change is almost as good  as a rest!

Ross, April, Pops and I were out in the garden a bit this weekend, it doesn't happen often but we were all pleased with what we did, we all like to see results, what with gardening not being 'our thing'.  Lots of weeding, removal of the detritus of many years and consequently some extreme barbering of the bushes! I am glad Ross isn't looking to have a career in hairdressing, everyone would be on a Number 1 short back & sides.

and this was just the start of it!



Clearing up.. for now!

The front garden has old walls and pathways hidden under many years of overgrown woody bushes, brambles and ivy so we have decided to tackle it, so a tidy up job turns out much larger, just hope we manage to see it through.

Needed to give you a couple of sunset shots Kate took in the car the other day, I was saying to her how you can understand seeing that why the pagans worshipped the sun. Imagine not really knowing how the world was but realising that this huge orb of warmth would disappear each night and reappear next morning, the days gradually getting longer and then shorter again.   In tropical countries when you are on holiday sunsets seem to take on a big significance too, maybe it's just the honeymoon romantics..
  

...talking of romance, here is mine and Col's 'love song'. It's really a little cheesy and not very well known, but it is probably the only single he ever gave me, I think it was on cassette.  He was a big fan of Feargal Sharkey, he was the lead for the Undertones (think Teenage Kicks, My Perfect Cousin .. Col's era, even if I was a bit of a Motown Girl!)

Well in 1991 I was 30 years old, married, not particularly unhappily, but kind of treading water with two young children.  I spent a lot of time alone with the children as their Dad worked away and when he was home family-time was not the easiest option for him, being not a very relaxed or emotionally settled kind of person, often I would tell him to go scuba-diving or something if he needed to get his head straight after being away, after all I was operating pretty much as a single parent most of the time in any case.. (he was a saturation / deep-sea diver which involved living in a chamber for several weeks at a time, and it wasn't an easy transition for him when he came home) 

Add to this the fact that I had been 18 when we started out, ended up being 30 years old and not exactly the person he wanted 'in the box' he had allocated me ( ;-) )  I think I wanted more children, a full family and this wasn't on his agenda, he always wanted 'this phase' to be over so we could do one or other of the wonderful things which would be on the greener side of life, you know over the hedge, where everyone else appeared to be living.

Well we had a few close friends, one of them was a lady who I knew he liked, this made me see things more clearly, she was nothing like me, I was never going to fit in the box was I ? (Nor was she as it happened..)  The other pal was Col. He had known us since he moved to Cornwall around the time we got married. He used to go sport diving with my husband and then come home and hang out with us, often chatting to me about this and that while 'he' had his head in a book..I think it suited him to have someone to amuse me and we were a happy band of pals.  Col helped out a lot, house moves, looking after stuff if we were away, he even saw Lisa first and collected her Dad from the airport when he got home...

As time passed I tried to find Col a girlfriend amongst my pals, usually they had a ready made family, but I wanted him to find someone amongst our crew.  We talked a lot and it emerged that his ideal girl was .. well.. very like me.  Now my self-esteem wasn't so great and I didn't quite get it, but I did eventually. You see, I had to fill the space I had been trying to fill with some of my pals! We talked loads, Col was really honourable but it was clear to him I wasn't getting the care I needed (nor were the children in my friend's opinions afterwards, which was interesting).  I examined my current existence (and to be fair it wasn't much more, school, toddlers, mumsy chat and the domestic routine..) and I wasn't really 'looked after' in the way I wanted, emotionally..

One thing led to another, many hours of soul searching, putting it right in my head, justifying that this was going to be an okay decision for others as well as me..   Until this point we had never been together, despite some people thinking it was odd how friendly we were, but within four months it was done and dusted, I moved out with the children and into a rented house.  Col joined us and it seemed auspicious that even the first day the kids didn't bat an eyelid about me having him there. I think the fact that Col also worked away and I was the constant parent, things didn't really upset them too much.

Well ... it was a little more complicated, and to be truthful, quite hard at times, but we were meant to be together...one day before I left I was having a real tough time making sense of the potential anguish everyone would suffer, Col even suggested I stay put for a few months to be sure it was the right call for me, but I was anxious that we never had bad history, you know, when you look back and there is a period you wish was more positive and no room for recrimination..he told me that whilst we might not always have lots of money, might not always have it settled and easy, might have some ups and some downs,  he would always look after me and put me first..( I did ask a few times in the first ten years when the ups were coming .. but they did, we worked hard together and I think that working together for the same aims if the best way to grow together in the same direction)

This is the song he bought me in the first few months we were together.. 

..I think that's all for now!

Impossible?...yes, on reflection!

Well over at Lucky Snapping Anne has asked us to reflect on something which seemed like an impossible task.. Just over here!

I was a little late getting my views posted for week 1 of February and you may have missed it, I'm not sure, but it is here, I promise.. oh, yes, well.. it's here..! 

And now here I am on Thursday wondering about 'the impossible' .. but worrying that I am starting to be late with my posts all the time... ahh being late!...can you see the thoughts growing?....that's me.... always almost late.... and consequently that makes 'being on time'.. impossible!    Maybe it was because I was over two weeks late being born, it continued then when I had all my brood, Ross was two weeks late and the others all a good few days.  The concept of having a baby early did not come into it.

It's not that I am very late, in fact sometimes I am even running on time, or perhaps a little comfortably early.. but that means there is an extra few minutes to ... dry my hair, nip back indoors to collect something, do the dishes before I leave.. or most probably just lie in bed the extra few moments which will start off the lateness before the chance of a rogue moment of earliness is even allowed to peek..

When Col & I married we drove in our car to the Registry Office, we got there after our friends.. and that's not really fashionable at that kind of wedding. The children have grown to expect it, they have a kind of 'Mum's timing' thing going on, take the time I said and add ten minutes, so you see, it's not that late, not hours, just fashionably not on time!  ;-)

Going back to 'impossible' I have given this a little thought. I don't think I think of things happening that had 'impossible' feelings at the outset, I guess I wouldn't even embark on something if I felt like that about it... oh, but when it's done, when I am sitting here pondering back over things, so so many things we have done look NOW like they must have seemed impossible.

In 1997 we were parents to five children under 12, the baby (Kate) was three months old and we had been quietly thinking of moving house. Col was working on civils dive work which had become very weather sensitive and every job had to be a success, he was looking to do something else...we needed somewhere he could have workshops and have some scope..

Col's folks were interested in buying somewhere with us, a place of their own but alongside us, to be good for us at that time and good for them later when maybe they would need us.  We had looked at one place, a farm with farmshop on quite a busy road, it was okay, food for thought, but it was digested and spat out as not the one!  

A few weeks later I saw the details of a old ivy covered farmhouse with lots of outbuildings and 9 acres of land.  We went out to drive past it, we had only been through the village a few times before, but we were pleased to see it was at the start of a lane just on the edge of the village, so it was good for a wander to the shop, but not too far for the kids that they couldn't go on their own.  It was only five miles from where we were and we ... well I.. fell in love. I think Col saw the potential too of course, probably from a getting away from the crowds point of view (the place we lived in at the time was getting a bit built up)... so we showed some friends and our folks.. 

Gran's annexe will go here!

The front garden with it's very mature rose bushes and monkey puzzle tree was just fabulous, many a child could be reared there ... little did I know that the front path would be dug up for new water and power supplies, that the roses would be taken up as they were so mature the thorns were like wooden spears, not child friendly at all!  Only that monkey puzzle really survived the practical ideas Col had to make the place easy to maintain, gone were my secluded Victorian pathways and overgrown hedges.. but I'm cool..

The house was.. a disaster.. wallpaper peeling off the walls, asbestos panels to remove, a fire damaged floor, no plumbing or heating in the main house and that was just the obvious stuff!

But we quite fancied it.. there were two barns, one for his folks... and.. hey wait a minute.. if we move I will still spend a lot of time toing and froing to my own Mum.. lets get her to come too!! So she did! To be fair she had a nice bungalow in our old village and would probably have been fine there for a few more years, but it was going to be easier if she came along....

.. so they came along.. us 7, Col's M&D and my Mum. We sold our houses and rented a 4-bed bungalow for three months while we did a gut and make-liveable job on the 'big house' as Col's Mum named it.  Ahhh and here's the rub.. Mum and his folks got caravans and lived in them in the field alongside the barn for up to two years before they moved into their places...summer 2000 Mum moved into her annexe and we were finally all sorted, ...well it's still a work in progress but aren't most homes. 

Where the workshop joined the barn (his folk's house!)

The story goes that Jean and my Mum used to sit in the caravans over in the field, looking back at the delapidated farm buildings, big digger trucks, old farm detritis and so much work that needed doing and they would ask each other just what we had done..!! 

I think they thought it was an impossble task.. but like us they must have not really thought so because they came on the journey too.. takes quite a person to live in a caravan for almost two years when you are in your 70's, especially by choice! 



Caravans just on the right in the field!

But those days of kids playing in building sand and Kate (with two bottles, one in her mouth and one in her pocket) crawling across the wooden planks to Jean's caravan are all the things memories are made of.. just like the impossible tasks!

I must just add here one of Colin's favourite quotes ..

'If at first you don't succeed.. get bigger kit!'

We were storing this big swingshovel at the time and got to use it for the demolition work.. only trouble was it had some faults, it had an inclination to swing to the left, so you had to be careful you didn't wipe out a building when just trying to make 'improvements' !!!

365/282 Overgrown.

There's only one picture I need to show you today (well maybe two).. our house about 15 and half years ago when we first caught sight of it.  We had in mind to buy a place with Col's folks so we could have more space and they could grow old with us, after they had helped us raise the family of course!  I spotted the place in the paper, it was in a village five miles from where we then lived, but not somewhere I knew very well.  We couldn't believe our luck that whilst being on the outskirts of a village (perfect for the social side of things for the oldies) it was also not way down a lane in the middle of nowhere..

My Mum lived near us and came in on it too, probably just as well, I may have been driving to and fro to hers for the next ten years otherwise, and she was an integral part of what we were doing.  She and Col's folks were going to have new accomodation in converted barns and stuff and we were going to live in the house.. we all moved into a 4 bedroom bungalow for ten weeks until the house was gutted and made just about liveable .. oh and the two caravans were ready for the elders to settle into!  What great sports they were, settled into it pretty well but Col's Mum did let on in later years that she and my Mum often sat and wondered out loud if we knew what we were doing!

I just loved the garden, it was overgrown and real old fashioned, little pathways and very mature bushes... oh and ivy a foot deep on the walls and trees with roots pushing up inside the floors.   My heart wanted to maintain it all, cut it back and nurture it but we had five kids under 12 and over the years I understood that making things easy to manage is sometimes the most aesthically pleasing option after all... and the rose bushes were so mature the thorns were an inch ong, not great for kids Hide & Seek!

The place probably looked its best in 2008 when Col's folks had their Golden Wedding and we were sporting a new roof and a grit blasted front...not quite so romantic a look but way less bugs from the ivy and the rooms weren't dark from foliage at the windows! But the monkey tree still stands as you know!

Sad when you think of how our lives have changed since then, but the memories of late nights outside with fires in the barbecues and children playing in building sand and wheelbarrows while we made houses for our Mums, it was all worth it and despite what I sometimes say.. I do realise how much we have done since we saw the lost garden and house above in 1997!

365/240 Free choice..

... well what else would you wish for on a wet Bank Holiday!  I had a nice day!  I did stay in bed a little too long, then I got up with a headache but only til I got going (!), even though I had been up to chat with JB before she left for work at 8am, poor honey.. but she is back to college soon so it's not for much longer these 12 hour kitchen shifts.. she's loving it though, except of course when she hates it!!!!

Col and I worked Ikea magic and finally took a couple of hours to put the wardrobe doors together, so that's nice.. and especially when you look outside and it's not nice enough to be out.  Then, interspersed with making food and drinks I did the finishing touches to a layout which has been developing the past week or so.  

It began with some small pics of Zac being accosted on the grass by the girls, on a rare sunny day in May... I had some gorgeous K&Co papers for my birthday last year and a scrap of it alongside the pictures just begged to be scrapped.. I picked out some pink and orange as well and my old faithful border punch and some other scraps of metal, chipboard and flowers from my every growing scrap pile and there we have it..

Just for the Record..

A couple of before and during pictures of our front garden. It is currently in a 'during'state as we have dug out some of the grass to make a bigger eating & sitting area.. always popular with us.. eating and sitting!

This is how it looked about three years ago, at its peak I'd say. all spruced up before a big family gathering; the result of several days intensive tidying on the part of the menfolk!

And here's how it looks today.. a lot less green but not actually as bad as it feels.. you just have to imagine the digger scars in the grass and large areas of gravel!  But as they say 'a work in progress..'

For my sins I have taken ownership of the flower beds and it's not a bad job at the minute, no weeds, just planting and everything at waist height: the idea is I take a cup of tea out there every few days and give it the once over with my weeding fingers!

So far I have planted a few hydrangeas & fuschias so they can spread and take care of most of the space and also some primroses / polyanthus which are one of my favourite flowers, so hardy and always appearing with the promise of spring.  Admittedly they won't look much right now but once rested they should come back to welcome Spring 2012!  I think next stop will be the plant stalls for some lobelia and those untidy freinds of theirs, just to edge the area and make it look like I'm some kind of great gardener... mind you the lovely wall topped with slates must be credited to Ross and Pops, my resident builders!

 You'll notice the very fetching oil tanks  in the background, well they're gong to be fenced off and the woody planks mark the spot where Ross is planning to set up his 'cabin' as the summer progresses.  Did I hear someone say'Swiss Family Jones'? x