Just Too Hot

Hello and welcome back to this small corner, or indeed welcome if it is your first visit here. It is lovely that you are visiting.

This week, like many other parts of the UK, it has been so, so hot. By midday, it had been impossible to be outside until late in the evening, and even then, restful and comfortable sleep was difficult. However, being true to British weather, the coming week looks much cooler with the possibility of a few showers. 😊

 

Monday was probably the coolest day of the week, and hubby decided it was time to trim most of our hedge. He had started it a few days earlier, but there was quite a lot to deal with. Normally, we can fill at least two enormous rubble sacks with stones and sand delivered by the builders' merchant. There is always the problem of what to do with all the cuttings, and there is far too much to keep in the garden. 

We used to have a shredder, but it wasn't very good and didn't do much to reduce the debris. The question was whether to buy a bigger, more powerful, and, of course, more expensive shredder. Then I had a light-bulb moment and a flashback to something I had read about dealing with hedge pruning. I suggested to hubby that he spread out the cuttings across the lawn, then use the lawn mower to chop them and vacuum up the debris. It worked a treat and left us with the equivalent of less than half a bag of chopped leaves. We are using the leaves as a mulch around the rest of the garden. 

No waste and no trip to the tip - happy days!

Now that we have finished picking the rhubarb for the year, it has been gooseberry-picking time. I have one very old bush that belonged to my dad, and it has produced tons of fruit. The only problem is that it fights back with thorns, and I have sore fingers to prove who won the battle. Still, it was worth it for the fruit. I managed to pick the fruit late in the day, after the sun had grown less intense.

Yesterday we travelled down to Devon, not far from Taunton, for some 60th birthday celebrations for my sister-in-Law. We had a wonderful afternoon outside, with plenty of shade. There was an abundance of food, drink, laughter and happy memories shared. The house looks out onto fields and hills beyond its boundaries, and the garden is a real picture. 

This afternoon, hubby dug up the rest of our potato crop, which we will use over the next few weeks. Sorry, I forgot to take the photo before I put them in the bag.

While it has mostly been too hot to be outside for long, these two puzzles have been completed. My favourite is the butterfly one, but the other is lovely too.

Wherever you are in the world, I hope the next week is a good one for you and that you remain safe and well.

Bev 

Indoors and Outdoors

Hello everyone.

The day after we returned from our holiday, we had a special delivery. The very early morning arrival meant we had little time to remove the old sofa and chair before the new one arrived. 

We had spent a long time trying to decide on the best seating arrangement to suit our needs. This one has recliners on both ends, along with the single chair. Strangely, at the start of looking, we were sure we didn't want a corner sofa and absolutely no recliners. 

It just goes to show how we can change our minds. We are delighted with the furniture and the colour. It is now a fun game to see who drifts off to sleep first.

Meanwhile, in the garden, there has been a lot of hammering, nailing, and sawing long lengths of wood. We have lived in our current house for 23 years, and although the garden is quite large, the paved patio is small in comparison. 

We have just never got round to changing the area until a month or two ago. Hubby ordered all the necessary parts, and slowly the decking emerged. It covers a larger area than before, making it a more useful place to eat outside. The other job hubby did was to disguise the pipework on the house's walls behind some wire-mesh fencing. 

Since it's finished, we've been eating outside quite a lot! We only have a small table at the moment ( you can see it in the background of pictures 4 and 5, along with a bit of D). We are looking to get a larger table and benches there before the end of the summer. 

You can also see a couple of my pots and the raised beds, which have tomatoes, sunflowers, broad beans, and peas, all at various stages of growth. I have lots of planting plans for next year.

And after a lovely meal, somewhere to relax and chill out is required. Just to the left of the decking is our space to do that. Our garden is always very sunny, with very little shade. Hence, the latest shopping trip was to buy the parasol. I think there will be a lot more time spent outside from now on.

I'm picking Sweet Peas most days, and it is lovely to enjoy their scent in the house.

This will be the last crop of rhubarb for this year. I try not to pull any more stalks after Midsummer's Day to allow the plants time to recover for next year. The scales are not very clear, but it shows 1.4 kg of rhubarb.

That's all for now. I hope you have a lovely week ahead, wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

B x

Holiday in the Sun

Hello everyone. I hope you have had a good few weeks since we last met here. 

Thank you for all your kind wishes while hubby and I were away on holiday. Your messages that D posted were very welcome and appreciated. 

This holiday, we spent it in Rhodes, and it was much more relaxing than our last trip. 

It was very hot during our stay, so we made the most of the hotel facilities and the sunny weather.

This photo made me smile as it's not often that you see an empty poolside like this. To be fair, this photo was taken after 6pm when the pool is closed. It was also the view from our balcony.

This was the other view from our balcony.

We took a stroll along the beach front and admired some of the harbour sights.

The hop-on/hop-off bus allowed us to see more of the island and enjoy better views from some of its higher points.

The beach across the road from the hotel was pebbly but the sea water was warm and inviting.

Mandraki harbour is the historic port where the legendary Colossus once stood. Today, two toering stone columns are topped with a stag and doe.

We also visited the Old Town of Rhodes and wandered around the cobbled streets. The Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has a wonderful mix of cultures: Byzantine, Crusader, Ottoman and Italian architecture.

Sitting in the hotel restaurant enjoying our meals each evening, we were treated to the most spectacular sunsets.

It was a wonderful, relaxed holiday that both hubby and I enjoyed, and when we finally arrived home and had some sleep, I ventured back into my garden to see how things had been growing. This is just a little of the food bounty I found.

Wherever you are, I hope you are well and that you will have a good week ahead. 

Take care x