Purple haze

We found ourselves in a garden centre at the weekend and were taken with how laden their flowers were with bees and hoverflies. It was so refreshing to see and prompted us to buy some colour for the green shady patch we lovingly call our garden. Sadly we couldn't take the honey bees with us - for they would have been mightily confused - but we did fill up the boot with purple and yellow loveliness.

I find the sound of bees going about their day incredibly calming. My grandfather was a bee keeper and kept hives in the garden. There was always a gentle hum in their garden. It's almost hypnotic watching a bee making its way around a flower laden plant.

We're relatively low on honey bees here, but have miner bees, hoverflies and big, lazy bumbles. Not quite as buzzing as the garden centre but certainly encouraging to see. I can't wait to have a sunny garden with bee friendly plants like verbena, scabious and lavender.

Spring

It really does feel like it's here, doesn't it? The warming sun, the high blue sky, the nesting birds and the longer days. Beautiful pink and red primroses now happily potted up in an old sundae dish on the window sill.

And so it begins

We've had a lovely productive weekend in the garden - tidying the beds, uncovering early shoots, planting out new things and digging in mulch. I ache. A lot.

I spotted a beautiful crocus on Saturday - the first in the garden, merrily growing under cover - and joked with Mr M that it would probably be proud for only a couple of hours.

How right I was. Not only did they get that beautiful specimen but they munched their way through the ones that hadn't even made it to full bud.

It's rather early in the year for war to be declared, but declared it has been.

Hope you had a lovely one. Rather nice seeing the temperature in double figures (sorry Scotland).

What a whopper!

Our butternut squash plant has responded marvellously to Mr M's anecdotes and gentle nurturing. May I introduce butternut squash number two. The first one got a little shy and started to turn, so we cut the squishy bits off and roasted the rest. We have high hopes for this one. Every time I leave the flat I can't help but plot just how we should savour it. I'm currently favouring stuffing.

On a completely different note, I've just started a new book - The Piano Teacher. It's a jolly good read so far. A nice little bit of escapism.

Lichen

Intricate and beautiful. It's often overlooked.
The organic equivalent of a snowflake.
Someone once said that it was a tragedy to disturb Lichen because it puts so much effort into growing - just 1mm a year for some.

Purple

Good morning! The sun is out, a gentle breeze is tickling the leaves up high, I have had my morning coffee and have another long list to work through.

My arms have that pleasant ache from exercise and I'm wondering whether I can actually go another month without a swim. I may have to resort to cycling to the leisure centre a couple of miles away.

Aren't the purple flowers at the top heavenly? For £1.99, I thought I would treat myself to a bunch of British Brodiaea. They reminded me of my long lost Agapanthus - lots of leaves but no flowers. Our garden just isn't sunny enough.

There is a lot of purple and blue in the garden right now - Acanthus, Hydrangea and Lobelia are all in full bloom.
The cornflowers are long finished and I spent a happy hour on Sunday collecting the seeds.
Such crispy heads, with a wisp of blue here and there. The fronds protecting the seeds were as soft as Miss P's paws.
I managed to get quite a few - they have been tucked away in little envelopes until next year. Happy days.

Spring fresh

We went to our lovely soon-to-be-wed friends for dinner on Friday night and I made a little posy for them from our garden. Oregano, mint, wild garlic flowers and lilac. It smelt heavenly. What's more, it's multi-purpose!

The colour purple

Purple seems to be the current hue du jour. The lilac bobbing about on its slender stems outside the sitting room window, the almost black Queen of the Night tulips grown long and leggy and the little delicate violas that are dotted about the garden. On Monday, in the drizzle, I planted two clumps of dark purple gladioli bulbs - so there will be more purple to come.

The purple sensation allium buds are just waiting to go pop at Wisley. I was thrilled to spot that all of the allium bulbs that we planted earlier this year have sent up flower heads - fingers crossed the grey mafia won't notice them.
And it isn't just limited to the great outdoors. Our new storage ottoman adds a delicious dash of purple to our bedroom. Fabric from John Lewis. All credit for covering it so beautifully goes to The Dormy House (there was a fab special offer in the March issue of Country Homes and Interiors). It makes my heart skip a beat when I look at it.

Caramel

The jury is out on the caramel magnum and Kate Atkinson book...two more to go before the official verdict can be made, on both counts.

New shoes and shoots

Nine West shoes that were on sale. Dwarf purple bean shoot saying hello.

Mr M update: He's checked in online, flight leaves at 8pm PST...fingers crossed!

Tulips!

We've got tulips! It shouldn't be that much of a surprise considering Mr M and I spent a jolly afternoon a couple of months ago planting the bulbs. It's just very exciting that they've managed to beat the grey army and flower! Hoorah, hoorah, hoorah!

Quick garden update for Mr M - 1#

The yellow tulips under the bay tree have almost, almost flowered, but the geranium is staying tightly budded for now. The cats have been made to sit on the naughty bench for fighting in the tulip bed.
The peas and beans have survived the mice. Pea top salad. Yum.
Onions and beetroots are rather enjoying the warmth and protection of the cloches. Miss P looks longingly through the plastic sensing the warmer climes.
The trays of lettuce have exploded. Nearly wiped out by the black cat jumping up to have a look Crisis narrowly averted. Miss P looked on in disdain.
Only one casualty in the garden so far. The tulip head has been taken by you-know-who. You can see their paw marks on the stem. I will be posting Miss P in the patch until they have all flowered.
That's it for now. All will be watered this afternoon. xxx

A tale of naughtiness

A cry of dismay from Mr M outside
A quick check on plasters before braving said outside
A sudden realisation that plasters won't help this mini massacre

At all
A moment to marvel at the vivid colour that has been exposed

Before agreeing, that yes, the 2010 war on the furry grey squirrels has begun and a cup of coffee would be lovely.

p.s. I am a little behind with emails and comments, please bear with. Sorry.

Colourtime

Primrose, egg yolk, tangerine, lime, cobalt blue with a dusting of purple - just some of the colours that are starting to appear. This weekend felt as though Spring was almost within our reach as the sun cast its rays on our crocus and daffodils lifting their heavy heads towards the light.

Willow or wild thyme?

Oh, how I love tester pots. Give me a brush and some paint and I'm off. Mr M rather wisely marked out where I was allowed to paint and off I went. I only went over the lines a couple of times. So, what do you think? The colours, rather than the ability...*
Our DIY weekend was a roaring success. Tasks were crossed off the list. The weather held for the important parts. The wind didn't gust when the sheets of polystyrene were waiting to be cut to shape. The rain held when the contents of the workshop was on the lawn. The sun shone just as we were starting to feel the chill. And when we started to flag, the flapjacks (that were left...ahem!) were just the tonic - I hadn't realised just how much Mr M likes them - especially with a steaming mug of coffee.
We were exhausted and frozen by the time we downed tools last night. But it was so worth it. The summerhouse is now insulated and has a fantastic workbench cobbled together from a surplus door (thanks Mr and Mrs R), a couple of posts and a whole lot of brackets. It will look fab when it's painted.

*We decided that the wild thyme was too blue. Mr M will be dispatched this week to pick up a tin or two of willow so that we can paint the summerhouse next weekend - weather permitting.

p.s. thank you for your flapjack comments. I tested rather a few - sugar levels were running quite high when Mr M got in from work on Friday. I'm proud to say that we still have some left for tomorrow. Only just...

Flapjacks for a Friday

We have a weekend of DIY ahead of us in the new summerhouse. We will be insulating it and, hopefully, agreeing on an external colour. The summerhouse is going to be Mr M's workshop. He did a couple of woodworking courses last year during his sabbatical and really needed somewhere sheltered to work. There is a patch in front of it which we're going to turn into a little seating area/patio with a cafe table and chairs. His 40m all-weather extension cord does have 4 socket holes, so I might just slip in there with my sewing machine when he's not looking...

As we will be on our DIY quest, we didn't want to lose any time tomorrow by popping to the shops to pick up something for lunch/dinner so I stocked up on everything this morning.

Bread - check
Ham - check
Beer - check
Crisps - check
Bits for dinner - check
Something tasty for elevenses - ah...

What better treat for our endeavours than some flapjack fingers. I found a basic recipe in this fabulous WI book and before I knew it the flat had been filled with a wonderful sweet caramel aroma. They are still cooling as I type. I obviously had to test one with my cup of tea - just to check. The jury is still out. It's probably best if I check one at 4 o'clock with another cup of tea. Just to be sure. I wouldn't want to give Mr M flapjack poisoning...

Two buses later...

...and I was here.
Now, I was rather excited about my trip - triggered by a conversation with my mother on Wednesday, and encouraged by numerous recommendations, written reviews and the beautiful pictures in this book. As the bus entered Ham, the houses got bigger and bigger as did my eyes. And they kept growing as the road wound into Petersham. And all of them apparently private residences. Not carved into flats. Oh no. Single houses! With such dwellings it would be rude not to hold balls each week, if only to have an excuse to swirl and twirl around in a beautiful dress, and take tea on the sweeping lawns on a Saturday afternoon with cucumber sandwiches and slabs of cake to aid the hangover.

I digress. I followed the signs along the little pot-holed lane, past the little church and was finally at my long-awaited destination.
If I'm truthful, I was expecting a 'WOW' and got an 'oh'.
I'm not too sure what I was expecting. I thought it would be bigger. That there would be more of, well, everything. The staff seemed rather preoccupied and I felt as though I was trespassing. The displays were lovely. The beautiful shop, and it is indeed full of the most beautiful things, was obviously playing ball with Liberty on it's pricing. The shabby french chic made me smile - so very like one of the B&B's from our trip to Provence. I was hoping to grab a coffee, but the cafe was packed with a class and seemed rather imposing. To tell you the truth, I didn't find it the most enjoyable of trips. I will go back again with Mr M, perhaps when it's a little busier and full of life, and have another go. I didn't leave empty handed. I fell in love with this.
A pretty little gold lace primula.
And it looks very happy in this old terracotta pot.

P is for...

...Pretty pink primroses from my parents - which are currently soaking up the sun on this fine spring morning.

Have a lovely weekend!

Spring has started to sprung!

It's a heart warming sight to see the spring bulbs in our garden getting ready to flower and the more established plants starting to once again show signs of life. Our lawn has a delicate smattering of pretty lilac crocuses which the squirrels have dined out on, there are clumps of daffodils and snowdrops appearing in the borders and one of the hellebore's that we planted last year survived the animal highway, squirrels and snow to put on a little show. I couldn't help but drool over the wonderful hellebore display at Wisley on Sunday - there are some truly stunning dark purple varieties.

Winter wonderland

Childishly excited - we watched the snow fall in the yellow light last night with our grubby noses pressed to the glass and woke up to this.
Any thoughts I'd had of making my 9:30 appointment in Central London were quickly lost when I turned on BBC1 Breakfast - no trains, buses or tube. All systems down. Curses for trying to be clever and buying my travel card a day early. So, with the email cancelling said appointment sent, smart clothes were replaced with jeans and warm layers and we were ready to hit the garden. The snow was 'over the boot' deep - which is unheard of. And brilliant. I spent rather a lot of time laughing at one of the cats wading across the garden. I laughed even more as she walked past our back door flashing some rather unfortunate snow clumps attached to her furry derriere. Mr M refused to make a snow angel so we cleared the snow off the veranda and bird feeders, and had a brief snow fight.

Well, it would have been rude not to.
Still soggy round the edges, I braved the big white world to get provisions - bright white snow until I got to the main road and discovered the sludge. Yuck. With provisions bagged, I made my way home. There's a park at the end of our road so I took a slight detour to take in the snowy scene - children being pulled on sledges, dogs chasing snowballs, family groups out for a stroll, a snowman army in the making - it was just like The Snowman by Helen Bradley. Oh, to be Miss Carter. What a holiday feel. It should be declared National Snow Day. Apparently it's the most snow we've seen down here for 18 years.
Happy snowday!

To quote Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, on the London roads and bus situation - "We gritted, we grat, we grut." It made me snort with laughter!!