The Week So Far ...

Yesterday was a washout - it rained solidly all day. I read in the paper that in some parts of the country half of the average rainfall for July had occurred over the past 24 hours. That is how it felt here. Our Daughter has gone to stay with her Aunt for a few days. It had been arranged that she would just stay the one night but then she wanted to stay for two! Glad to be away from mum and dad! The house is strangely quiet without her only the odd bark from Charlie, the dog and the odd whining from George, the puppy.

As Our Daughter had only gone with spare clothes for a day we took some more clothes for her yesterday evening. The roads were treacherous - huge puddles of rainwater in unsuspecting places, leading to the creation of huge puddle waves which engulfed the car.

In the morning I had braved a gap in the inclement weather to take a few photos of the various flowers around the garden. This pelargonium I thought looked stunning with the raindrops on its petals.

Our Daughter planted some cornflower seeds in a container a few months ago and they have grown very well. "You must take photos of them, mum!" I did as I was told!

Another of the cornflowers from Our Daughters crop. There are also some of the blue variety but the rain had bashed them quite hard leaving not one decent one to photograph.

These little flowers trail from a pot on the patio.

I thought that this rose bush in the back garden wasn't going to flower this year.  For a long time it was devoid of any buds and then almost overnight all the buds came out at once. It is a lovely deep red colour.

This little chappie posed nicely on the patio on Sunday morning before the heavens opened.

I took two photos and couldn't decide which one to put on this post so I put them both here!

A final look at that pelargonium.

Our Daughter with her Aunt L. and Grandad - the Other Half's dad. They had a full evening planned as they were going to a concert where Aunt L. was going to be singing. Today they are meeting up with various other family members and going to a Chinese Restaurant.

The sun is trying to come out here today just as I'm about to go off to work - typical!

Until next time.

June.

The Small Patio is Laid

I haven't posted much this week as I've had my parents down to stay. My dad has helped the Other Half lay a small patio to the side of the shed in the back garden in an area that could only ever have been previously described as a bit tatty. You may recall me mentioning in an earlier post that I had been to the local garden centre and looked at some slabs but all the ones I liked were unavailable. It was therefore with some trepidation that on Monday I left work a bit early and with the Other Half we headed back to the same garden centre. This time I spotted some paving slabs that I had previously missed and these were in stock! My car was laden with 12 slabs and the Other Half followed in his car with another 12!

On Tuesday the Other Half and my dad cleared the area where the small patio was going to be positioned.   By Tuesday afternoon the cement mixer (borrowed from our neighbours) was on the go and the labourers were hard at work.

In the garden we have a small shed which is also used by Our Daughter as a playroom. She has an old dolls bed in it. Guess who took a fancy to that! George, the puppy, of course!

He initially behaved himself very well ...

He then succumbed to the traits of a puppy and pulled a teddy bear over before starting to chew it!

He was quickly escorted out of the shed and the door slammed shut!

That teddy with the blue ribbon used to be mine and was given to me when I was a baby. It has now been handed down to Our Daughter. If George hadn't been spotted it wouldn't have lasted another ten minutes let alone be passed on to the next generation! He is a bit of a terror at the moment. He rushes around all day and then by about eight o'clock each evening he lies down and goes to sleep looking to all the world as if butter wouldn't melt ...

We have had a few glorious days here but by this evening it had started to rain - just as we're heading into the week-end. 

The newly laid patio was finished by Wednesday afternoon. The cast iron bench we have had for some 15 years was moved into place. It needs a coat of hammerite and I'm not sure whether to paint it a similar green or to go for another colour - decisions, decisions ...

 Archie fast asleep under the bushes in the front garden. It's a hard life being a cat!

The small patio has now made the path from the back door to the garage look very tatty indeed and so that will be another project to be added to the "to do" list. Meanwhile, I'm off to look at the Amazon site to look at their range of hammerite!

Until next time.

June.

A Week-End in July

The weekend is nearly over. It always goes whizzing by. My parents arrived earlier today to spend the week with us. Yesterday we stayed at home - there wasn't much we could have done as it rained very heavily on and off throughout the day. School's now officially finished since lunch-time on Friday and the Summer holidays are here!

My mum asked me to take a photo of Our Daughter and the new puppy for her and I thought that I would share it with you. The puppy went up to the vets on Friday for his kennel cough and was weighed. Would you believe that he's more than doubled in weight in three weeks! He will need one further trip to the vets for his second jab and then we can have some fun buying him a collar and lead and, start to take him on walks. We're all really looking forward to it!

These flowers are out in abundance in the garden despite George doing his damnest to kill them off by sitting on them!

This plant also seems to be on the hit list as he sits on it, chews it and drags bits of it round the garden!

The back garden!

Another photo of Our Daughter with George who wasn't being very co-operative!

How are the cats getting on with George? Poppy hides in the study behind the curtain! Oscar, Millie and Archie stay outside! Three mice left as presents the other day! I wonder if they think that by leaving presents we'll relent and the puppy will be re-homed! Only Ruby seems to comprehend that no matter how much sulking there is the puppy is here to stay. Ruby sits on the fence or shed roof watching Charlie and George in the back garden. Before George arrived she used to be on very friendly terms with Charlie - he used to let her sleep in his bed and you can tell that she really wants to join them both in the garden. I think it's only a matter of time. Watch this space!

There are many wasps in the back garden and no bees. In the front garden there are many bees but no wasps!

George in the back garden earlier today. His ears seem to have grown a lot and become much curlier!

On the last day of term Our Daughter and other children from her school year went to a local pub with a play area. The children had some lunch before running out to play on the slides etc. One of the girls fell over backwards on the slide and had to be rushed off to the doctor's surgery with a suspected broken nose. Not a very good start to the Summer holidays.

You can see from the childrens faces that they had a good time despite one of them being absent at the GP's surgery!

This evening Our Daughter went for a bike ride whilst the Other Half walked the dog. I caught her on the bike with my camera just as she was about to come in through the front gate.

She was all excited telling me that she had met a very nice lady by the tennis courts who had said that if she joined the tennis club for £25 she could have as much access to the nearby tennis courts as she wanted for a year. I think that we will be pestered for this - the only problem is it will also entail buying a racket etc. However, she did love the tennis lessons she recently had at school. I purposefully did not buy a racket then in case she did not like it. Now I know that she does I suppose that a racket will be on the list of things to get as she can't borrow the ones from school as it's shut for Summer! Children are a drain on resources!

Hope you've all had a lovely week-end and that you're refreshed ready to face another week before the week-end comes around again.

Until next time.

June.

Bugs in the Garden!

Earlier today our cat Ruby ventured into the back garden. I didn't think that this was a particularly wise move when I saw her being chased by the two dogs. However, she is quite a clever cat as all she did was run towards the fence and leaped onto it - hasn't she got a smug look on her face. "You can't catch me!"

In the garden today there were many ladybirds.

Archie waiting for his next victim!

A wasp on one of the flowers.

Here he is again.

And then he closed his wings.

Since the puppy has arrived not many of the cats have dared to come into the lounge. Late yesterday afternoon this brave soul came slyly in and then immediately jumped onto the window sill. What you can't see is the puppy trying his best to scramble up the radiator to get at the cat! Is the cat saying "Can't someone tell him its mission impossible!"

"I'm not even going to look at you, you stupid pup!"

Not much else to report it's been quite a quiet day here - went to work, came home at lunchtime, did some ironing, collected Our Daughter from school, cooked tea and then the Other Half came home having stopped in a greengrocers en route and purchased some fresh strawberries! No photo of those as we've eaten them all!

Until next time.

June.

Garden Creatures!

The weather has been glorious this weekend - not humidly hot just nice.

Today we relaxed in the garden reading and played with the dogs.

We have had a few hectic weeks and sometimes it is just good to sit back and while away the time and to re-charge the batteries.

Our Daughter will be finishing school on Friday at lunch-time and there are quite a few school events to attend to before then.

I saw this wasp like creature in the garden. I don't know if it's a wasp or not but the patterns on its body are amazing.

A flower in the garden.

The same black and white creature - he posed very nicely.

Aren't the wings just beautiful. Reflected in the shiny black shield on the back of the creatures head you can just about make out our house and back garden!

I loved the body colour against the fuschia of this flower.

In a hovering mode.

Before landing again on the flower.

Archie was lying on his back in the garden with his legs in the air - looking to all the world as if he was anything but the lean, mean killing machine that he is. A dead bird was left as a gift this week. I love all animals and would love to be able to entice birds into the garden but not whilst this chappie is around.

The rose in our front garden.

Another photo of the climbing rose. I wondered whether this rose would survive and am pleased that it has. Earlier in the year when we had some high wind, I heard a crack from the front of the house and went out to investigate to see that the strong wind had pulled the trellis supporting the rose off the wall and that the rose looked pretty sorry for itself. A few months later and its spruced itself right up.

A bee on the lavender.

Bee or wasp on the lavender.

There we have it a post about the creatures in our garden today.

Hope you all had a good weekend and that you have an enjoyable week ahead.

Until next time.

June.