A busy Bank Holiday and 2 new books

Morning all.  I hope you had an enjoyable Bank Holiday weekend as we did here.  The boys are following the sun and I have 3 of the 4 up here in my office with me.  Little Whale and Theo just about fit on the window ledge, whilst Ghengis has a sunny spot by the door.

We have had a busy but enjoyable Bank Holiday weekend.  On Friday we were working, and I spent several hours over the weekend working on my vegetable plantings.  At Sunday's car boot sale I found a couple of squat square planters for £1 each so those were quickly planted up with more beans - the Flat sort this time - as these freeze well.  A long narrow planter I got from the shops is planted up with Chantenay carrots.  Yesterday I bought Thomson and Morgan deep red Mange Tout "Shiraz", new to the market this year.  Those will be lovely in my stir fries.  I also got a little pack of Ridge Cucumbers ready to get planted out today and a pack of Telegraph Cucumbers for a very overdue sowing to grow in the greenhouse.  Better late than never. 

At a car boot sale a couple of weeks back I came across these two books, which had my name on them, and they came home with me (50 p each).  Just my cup of tea, as a couple of pages below will demonstrate.

I always grow a variety of Nasturtiums here and Pot Marigolds too.  The latter have just burst through the soil in a little triangle of what used to be the veg plot.  The triangle came about because of some drainage pipe cutting across the plot, so I normally sow it with annuals (flowers).  I broadcast a selection there a couple of weeks back.

My garden is alive with bees - the plant I have LOTS of (gosh, it spreads!) is the Geranium (Cranesbill) phaeum "Mourning Widow" (I know it as Weeping Widow.)  It is prolific, but because the bees love it I let it grow where it likes, though that said, one bed needs de-Cranesbilling so I will let it flower, cut it back and move those plants to a spot beneath the eating apple tree which is a bit bare.  I treated myself to a couple of well-grown Lupins this weekend, a purple and a deep pink, and a pretty Verbena in a sort of tan and mauve, and a pink Salvia.  The pinks will go in the bed with the Roserie de l'Hay I'm thinking, along with a couple of matching deep pink Aquilegias which I had potted up to sale at a car boot sale (but the world and his wife are doing the same and so I may as well put these to good use).  You can never have too many Aquilegias . . .

Last week I had a lovely craft meet up day with localish friends.  We played around with freestyle  machine embroidery, chatted lots, had a lovely lunch, and learned about tatting (thank you Dawn, Sue and Sianfor such a lovely day out). I came home and decided to start crocheting a winter beanie hat with the lovely home-spun/died wool I bought at Hay recently.  The first try got ripped back as I managed to ADD stitches somehow and it went ripply.  The 2nd try didn't get quite as far as it got too big in the next colour band.  The third try for some reason was too huge from the start (tension), so I have ripped it all back, rewound the balls and have started off a cushion cover in a white Aran . . . have lost heart a bit as let's face it, a cushion cover ISN'T a beanie hat!!


The new stray cat, a big black tom we have called Whitby (because he is jet black), just absolutely REFUSED to go away, and since he isn't aggressive, has been tolerated although Theo and Alfie have tried to see him off a few times. He likes to sit on the window ledge and look in the window, very intently.  He looks at me in the same way, like he is trying to put his thoughts across.  ("Feed me" I dare say!)  He has been someone's pet as he knows about houses and catflaps.  I am nearly at the point of touching him.  When he can be handled he will be off to the vet for neutering.

Yesterday was the big Bank Holiday Malvern Flea and of course we got up in the middle of the night and drove for 2 3/4 hours to get there.  I do all the driving now as K because he has a frozen shoulder and finds driving painful.  He's seeing the physio but it's a long slow process getting it right again.

We had a lovely day out, bought well - some interesting and unusual pieces - and look forward to our next big Fair at the Botanic Gardens in July.

I hope you all had a pleasant weekend too.