The Fairies are Staying, Birthdays and Burglaries

 It's been a quiet week for us, Imogen was away for the week in the Peak District having fun with the NCS (national citizen service), which I heartily recommend for any teenagers who are 15 to 17. Adam and his family were also on holiday for the week near Great Yarmouth, so no babysitting duties for us either.

We had a lovely day out during the week, went for a drive to Scarborough. We visited the most enormous fabric shop, which left me feeling very spoilt and went for a lovely stroll to breath in all that good for you salty sea air. The views are amazing in both directions.

We passed this rather large gentleman on a bench looking out to sea.

Andy posing for scale

I tried to take a photo of the information next to him, but you have to enlarge it to read it. It tells you a little of who Freddie was, born in a mining village, went to war and how he went into Belsen concentration camp on his 21st birthday and saw horrors that we can't even imagine, how every year he cried on his birthday as he remembered those poor souls and grieved for their dreadful suffering.

It's also been a big week for our little grandson, not only on his first holiday, but he also celebrated his first birthday... gosh that went quickly! I embroidered a bib for him to wear while eating his birthday meals, but we saved his presents for when he came home so parents wouldn't have to take them all the way there and back in the already packed car.

Little Zack had no idea of course that it was his birthday, but had a wonderful day playing with mummy, daddy and his big sister and was exhausted by bed time.

Unfortunately on Friday morning before leaving to come home, my son had a phone call to say they'd been burgled during the night. We're so upset for them, they came home to the whole house being upside down from all the cupboards and drawers being emptied out. All their electrical goods were stolen, but the worse thing was Holly's jewellery. It's probably worthless as it's mainly costume jewellery, but it's priceless to Holly as it belonged to her beloved nana who sadly died last year. What an awful end to their lovely family break, but they're going to remember it as the holiday that Zack turned 1 rather than the holiday when they were burgled.

I've had time to spend in my craft room and made a little toadstool house for the fairies to come and stay in when they visit. After baking the clay, I glued it on a large stone from the beach. I did enjoy making it and definitely want to experiment and make more.

Also a little seahorse (I do love seahorses), just need to thread some of my gorgeous velvet blue ribbon through it so it can be worn as a pendant.

 I'm so glad the weather has cooled down a bit and we've even had some rain which we badly needed. It's been a funny summer, but a good one.


Take care
xxx

Fairy Visitors on a Sunny Sunday.

Thank you for your lovely comments about my tear and share bread, it's a bit of a family favourite here.

After some warm, but muggy days, we have some lovely sunshine. It's been a busy week here so it was nice to go and sit in the garden with the dogs and a book, soaking up the sunshine, a gentle breeze and birds chatting away in the background.

  I bribed my companions to come and sit with me, a couple of gravy bones each.

They know the drill well, 'sit' then come when your name's called.

Everything in the garden's grown so much since I took photos a couple of weeks ago. I bought these handy little dead heading snippers, a bargain at 49p (excuse how dirty my gardening gloves are, I suppose it shows I'm using them).

They even have a handy little pocket to keep them in, which is good as they are rather sharp.

The garden is starting to bloom more, colours getting bigger and brighter

The flowers are growing in the old bird bath. I'm pleased as there isn't much room, not much depth for their roots.

 Here are some of our fairy visitors, they've set up home in the mini wheelbarrow

A cute little tree stump and a couple of hedgehogs...

Just need a little greenery in their garden.

What a lovely signpost, this way to happiness...

I plan to have some more fairy visitors, just need the right places for them to move into.

Courgettes are growing well, I think we'll be picking a couple soon

I wonder if any of you knowledgeable green fingered people can help me? We have a couple plants that we can't identify? The first is this long, thin one.I picked it up from the 'dying' shelf in a garden centre and it appears to be thriving... whatever it is!

It also seems to be getting ready to bloom?

We have no idea what this is either. I love the deep reddish, mahogany colour of the leaves, and again, it appears be thriving...

Thank you for taking the time to read andI'd love any information about the 2 unidentified plants, and if you don't know what they are either then just pop by and say hello.

Take care
xxx

Bars and Melody... and a Poor Fairy

My daughter has been very lucky to go to a school that encourages the top classes in year 8 to sit their GCSE English exam early. Imogen took it in her stride and we also reassured her that even though we hoped she would do her best, if she didn't pass it wouldn't matter and she could still be proud that she sat her GCSE at such a young age.

Well she aced it and we are so proud of her. We asked her if there was anything she'd like to do or go as a reward. The only thing Imogen wanted was to meet her idols Bars and Melody, 2 boys who were in Britain's got Talent, I think last year. She follows them on all the social media sites and loves their music, so knowing they were coming to Sheffield HMV to sign their newly released cds... well, you know where this is going!

We live about an hour from Sheffield, so set off to arrive an hour before they were due.

The queues... thank goodness it wasn't raining

We queued patiently for an hour waiting for them to arrive, Imogen clutching her cd for them to sign, she was so excited.

One of the security men came along the queue to let everyone know they were here and we were told we could go straight in and use the lift (because of my chair). To our surprise, the lovely security men took us straight to the front of the queue, Imogen was besides herself!

Just a few more minutes waiting for them to come in. The noise was quite deafening as hordes of teenage girls were shouting and chanting for them. Imogen even had a wave from Leo as she was at the front.

Leo and Charlie, they're lovely boys, very polite and made Imogen feel special even though it was only for a few seconds. It was their 3rd sitting that day so even if they were tired, they hid it well.

oops, sorry about the finger blur

Now for a complete change of subject, I've been playing with some felting wool and made a little fairy

She was my first attempt, so I was quite happy with her, just needs a few embellishments to finish her off.

I'm glad I took a photos of her because... arghhhhhhh...

The dogs wanted to play with her? I can't be cross with them, she shouldn't have been left where they could reach (they're only small dogs). I think it may have been a protest as we've been going out a lot. Poor fairy was unrecognisable!

Oh well, I'll have to try again.

Take care
xxx

Beautiful Summer Day

The sun has been shining today on my little piece of England. The most important job of the day was to sit in the garden and appreciate all the hard work that's been done in it recently!

I must have spent a good couple of hours breathing the fresh air, reading my book and just generally enjoying the garden while the washing dried on the line It was so quiet I could just sit back and listen to birds singing, which in turn made my heart sing.

We have a few hanging baskets dotted about, I love the bright splashes of colour from these Petunias and Pansies.

We built a raised planter with old railway sleepers earlier in the year and a little fairy garden too (a few weeks ago and now).

It's filled out so much in the last few weeks

a second bloom on the Lupin

I love the Dahlia, it's covered with flowers now, this photo really doesn't do it justice at all

Nice and cheerful around the dog's kennel too

The poor things don't enjoy the sun as much as we do, Alfie in particular doesn't cope very well and doesn't seem to grasp how staying in the shade can help cool you down, bless him.

Just outside the conservatory doors so we can see it from inside

A butterfly settled on the fence

My Sweetpeas have started flowering, though don't seem to have gown very tall

My gorgeous Daisies

Inside for now, but I can still appreciate my lovely Lilies that were in the bargain section in the supermarket, not bad for 99p!

Take care
xxx