I take my hat off…

…to all the gardeners of this world.  It is hard work!  I don’t do a lot of it, my husband is the gardener around here, but every so often I get stuck in and do some drastic pruning.  This morning I got stuck in and did just that, I drastically pruned back some overgrown and ugly looking ivy which was strangling the life out of  the honeysuckle and clematis with which it shared the same tubs.  Not now though, I got rid of it all and I feel a lot better for it.  I should have taken some before and after pictures but I didn’t even think about taking any, that’s how determined I was to get the job done.

This beautiful azalea owes it’s life to my drastic pruning skills. I saved it and it’s neighbour from horrible ugly ivy last year.  It has produced at  least three times as many flowers this year.

Anyway, before I’d even thought about doing the above I took my breakfast into the garden to enjoy the early morning peace and quiet which was broken only by birdsong. It was heavenly. I looked over into the field behind us and the cows were still lying down.

This Gazing Globe is one of the things I love most in our garden.  I bought it in Arkansas, USA while on holiday at my sister’s.  Maureen had one in her garden and I really liked it so decided to bring one home.  It’s made of glass and about the size of a football, the plinth it sits on came with it.  How we got it home, as hand luggage, without shattering it I do not know.

This week has been school half term and luckily the sun has shone everyday.In the middle of the week Victoria and I (poor Caroline was at home feeling unwell) took the boys for a little walk in the fields behind us where a little stream flows.  We took along their fishing nets to see if they could catch any tiddlers.  Unfortunately there were no tiddlers to be found but messing about in water is always good fun, even a titchy little bit of water like this.  Look at them, what a motley crew.  You wouldn’t think they’d just been having a good time would you?  It was a very hot afternoon though and they’d had enough sun.  I think we all needed a cold drink and some shade.  Imagine that in England!

TTFN

Quotes.

I like to read quotes.  I have a copy of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, I bought it years ago from one of those bookstalls that used to be on Canon Street in Manchester. I love it. Also, you know those calendars where you rip off a page each day and each day has a quote, I love those too. Anyway here is a quote I found just recently.

It made me smile.

Enjoy your day.

TTFN

When I came back...

…from a trip to T K Maxx this morning, a shop I’ve not been to for ages and one I really like to have a good old mooch in, there was a huge box waiting for me in the kitchen. Inside it were these beautiful, beautiful flowers and the pink jug to put them in.

They really are gorgeous.  I’ve played around in Photoshop and put a Shadow House texture on the picture above.

These are the true colours.  I probably wouldn’t think to put pink and yellow together but these delicate pink roses and deep yellow gerberas look amazing side by side in and amongst the greenery.

Who are they from? you might well ask.  Well, they are a thank you from Caroline for looking after Charlie tonight while she and Trev are spending the night in a nice hotel in Leeds. It’s their first wedding anniversary a week today and Trev booked the night away as a surprise.  How sweet of him and how sweet of her to send me the flowers.  Thank you Caroline, I love both the flowers and the vase, I couldn’t have chosen better myself! xx

Whit Friday Band Contest

Since the earliest recorded contest in 1884 a Whit Friday Brass Band Contest has taken place every year in and around the towns and villages on the edge of the west Pennines. Last year over 100 bands took part.  We love these contests and have been many times over the years.  Today Caroline, Charlie and I went over to Uppermill to the contest there.

Hearing a brass band always make me feel nostalgic.  It takes me back to the Whit Walks of my childhood when every year along with my brothers and sisters we would walk in our parish procession through the streets of our local town.  I do have a couple of pictures and I’ll post them another day. Brass bands were always a feature of those processions playing the hymns that we sang every day in school and in church on Sundays.  Then fast forward to when Caroline was in the band all the way through high school and took part in the very same Whit Friday Contest we witnessed today.  No wonder they fill me with nostalgia, I have so many happy memories of them.
Mounted police lead the bands as they play marching up the main street.

Uppermill is a pretty place, you’ll find pictures of it dotted around this blog and here are some more. 

I like this picture with the train going over the aqua-duct and the barge waiting to go under it. 

I hadn’t ever noticed the picnic tables up there on the canal-side before but I’ve made a mental note and I hope to be sat there with my flask and sandwiches in the not too distant future.

We left the car at the garden centre where we had had a coffee sitting in the sunshine and then walked along the canal bank to Uppermill centre.  It was a beautiful day and of course the sunshine made it so much more fun.  That’s Caroline pushing Charlie in the buggy.  It really was a very pleasant walk, very peaceful.
By the way, Charlie loved the bands and pretended to play the big bass drum most of the way home in the car.  He’s so cute!

I’m joining Outdoor Wednesday at http://www.asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/ please go over and have a look at all the other great Outdoor Wednesday posts, it’s fun.

TTFN

Thatched Cottages

Today I’m linking up to Mosaic Monday over at Little Red House.  It’s a great blog and I love looking at all the different Mosaics, if you’d like to take a look you’ll find it here. 

My mosaic shows some of the beautiful thatched cottages I snapped pictures of a couple of weeks ago when we had a week’s holiday down in Devon. 

I’ve seen many thatched cottages over the years but I never cease to tire of them and of course they don’t build them, at least not very often, any more.  If you should ever be down that way and are interested these particular cottages are in the hamlet of Harcombe near Sidmouth.

TTFN

Oh, to be in England ..

..now that April’s here or May in this case.  Recently I’ve been very glad to be in England the weather is great and that together with our beautiful scenery is hard to beat. Shame about the greenfly plague we’re having at the minute though, I’ve never known anything like it before in my entire life.  Apparently it’s due to the sudden rise in temperature and not enough ladybirds around to eat the little pests.
Anyway, to continue.  William and I took advantage of the weather this weekend and yesterday morning we drove over Blackstone Edge to Hebden Bridge, a little mill town about 20 minutes away from here.
We checked out a few of the charity shops, which is one of my favourite things to do and something I haven’t done a lot of lately so I really enjoyed it.  I mainly buy my books in charity shops and just so as you know hospice shops are the cheapest. We had a morning coffee sitting outside a coffee shop overlooking this unusually low river. Very pleasant except for all the sticky sap that had fallen from the trees on to the benches and which in turn left stains on our trousers! We mooched around for some time after that and decided before we headed home to have a cold drink outside the Shoulder of Mutton.  Actually we each had a very, very cold glass of draught Guinness, it was so good in the sunshine!
Today brought more sunshine and what better way to spend the day than at the seaside.  Along with Victoria, Gary and boys we set off for Cleveleys over on the west coast of Lancashire. We parked alongside the prom wall toward the Bispham end of Cleveleys and took our picnic down onto the beach. The boys loved it.     William read the paper.  I read my book. Gary found himself  somewhere to rest his head! 
We had a lovely day and to top it all off I don’t think the greenfly were as bad today, maybe the plague is on the way out (fingers crossed).

I'm linking this post to Outdoor Wednesday over at http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/  Go over and have a look at some more Outdoor posts from all over the world.

TTFN

Charlie is two today.

I can’t believe it but Charlie my youngest grandson is two years old today.  He’s a very cute little character and after opening all his presents this morning Caroline and I took him and Nicholas to an indoor play area for a couple of hours. I took this picture of him back at home this afternoon.  He was painting out on the deck with Nicholas.  Naturally I took tons of photos, this is one of my favourites though. It was such a beautiful day that later on, when Victoria brought George home from school and the men came home from work,  Charlie’s tea party turned into an impromptu picnic party on the decking.  Happy Birthday Charlie! xx