A new beginning....

I was recently told that when one door closes, another opens - well I suppose that sums up the last month.  I was made redundant from my garden centre job two weeks ago, and tomorrow I start a new job at another garden centre.  I am so lucky to find another job so quickly, especially as its just round the corner and fits in with my morning job at the newsagents.

One of the great things about living in the countryside is the different birds which you see in the garden and locally.  This black and white pied blackbird draws quite a few glances!

There was plenty of activity in the field opposite when they finally took the sugar beet up.  Usually they would have taken it up months ago but I suppose the bad start to the winter delayed everything.

And finally... why does the cat always insist on sitting on the pile of neat freshly ironed clothes???

A real proper summer....

After the worst winter in years, we are having a real "proper" summer.  Three lovely weeks of warm temperatures and sunshine, surely a record for this part of the UK...!  Its too hot for working but great when you are out and about.

Yesterday Mum and I decided that housework could wait and we had lunch at Wroxham which is in the heart of the Norfolk Broads.

After a walk along the watersedge we then drove onto Ranworth and followed the boardwalk to the visitor centre at the end.  It was so warm! The geese and ducks were enjoying it.
The Mississippi style paddle steamer was also out, first time I've seen it in years.
It was lovely to just sit in the sun (Mum will have a fit that her photo is on the internet!).






We were on the look out for Swallowtail butterflies which apparently can be found in the area.  We didn't see any though.

Sunburn, vegetables and Prom.....

Yesterday was far too warm to be stuck indoors painting ceilings, so we were busy outside in the garden.  Lesson to be learnt for the future - don't do the gardening in shorts and bikini top unless you want to get bad sunburn on your back!!!  Ouch....


I collected another trug full of vegetables, and I had to pull up the rest of my Pak Choi as its all gone to seed (the chickens and rabbit are happy though). 

 Neil decided to dig the soakaway for the garage, crazy in the heat, and he also made me some brick ledges to put my pots on (I think he was fed up having to move all my pots when he wanted to cut the grass).  They look much tidier.

One of my birthday presents from my brother was a herb dryer, so no more trying to dry herbs in the oven (and leaving them in too long to incinerate...). So far I'm drying Oregano, Basil and Mint.

Michael had his School Prom on Thursday, he looked great in his tuxedo.  Here he is with his friends acting the fool as usual.  He is in the centre.

We have paint...... and huge potato plants.....

Yesterday we started painting upstairs at the new house now that the plaster has had a chance to dry out.

It was horrible watered down paint as it was the first coat, splashed everywhere, but the rooms look far better even just with one coat of wishy washy white.

The plasterers are back working again this week, but they still have all of the downstairs, plus the landing and stairs, so there is a lot left to do.


I left the men to paint yesterday so that I could work outside in the garden for a while.  My early crop potatoes are just coming into flower, but they are so tall, they obviously like the soil.... They are waist height already.
My pumpkin plants have baby pumpkins on them and in flower, plus my cucumbers and tomatoes are all flowering now.

And finally - any early birthday present from my eldest, a Trug, something I have always wanted.... Peas and lettuce picked yesterday.  They laughed when I took the photo, "what a surprise, she is taking a photo of it". Cheek!

Mad Bunny....

Ok so my youngest will kill me when he realises he has been featured on my blog.... he made me remove this photo from Facebook when he saw it....

There was a massive game of IT in Chapelfield Gardens, Norwich on Saturday to raise money for charity.   He went as a bunny....

Be careful what you ask for....!

Monday was my youngest sons 15th birthday. All he wanted from everybody was money so he could buy clothes and bits for his computer.

Well apart from when his dad asked him what he wanted and being the twit he is, he asked for a train set..... Unfortunately Michael has a strange sense of humour and is unable to give a straight answer to anything, and he gets it from his dad....


So apart from opening a chemist shop's amount of Lynx body spray and shower gels.... he got exactly what he asked for... money... and a train set.... We all had great fun playing with it..!

I can't make sponge cakes, they seem to either stick to the tin or collapse, so went for 15 chocolate buns... dairy free so I could eat them.. saves having to cut slices and no arguements about who gets the biggest slice of cake.