Years ago, Himself and I were watching some mindless American sitcom (the name and story line have deservedly faded into history) but we do remember one sentence the main protagonist said and it was.....
I am very tired - but it is a good tired!
Any way, in the spirit being on hols, I shall do a July round up in a trio of montages!!
Firstly - a mix-up of garden and garden festival pictures, the garden - despite my work-induced neglect - looked good but not good enough to win anything, but the boys did well both winning a second place in their catagories.
Our knit and natter group took over a huge area in the local church and we displayed both flowers and our work and received loads of lovely lovely comments.
We managed to squeeze in a lot of family and friends time in between work and sleep - Youngest finished junior school (a mixture of sadness and glee) and won the Technical Cup which took us all by surprise and delight!!
Our blondies (young hens) are growing both in size and friendliness - they don't get much choice with the friendliness as they are regularly seen firmly tucked under a boy's armpit (poor chooks).
A tree house has been built and now is the centre of many a boy-game or just gentle contemplating of life as they lie on their backs and watch the sky.
My Dad celebrated his birthday (from last year!!) with a helicopter flight and we went along to watch and share, we also took a picnic and spent a lovely day enjoying the sunshine and family.
Poor old giddy dog has had more than her fair share (as she thinks) of baths recently as the boys have discovered the 'delights' of washing her in the wheelbarrow.....they fill it up with tepid water and she hops in (well she is instructed to jump in and she so well trained she does, despite really really not wanting to!) then she is lathered up until she looks like a meringue, rinsed and dried and then all three of them play up and down the lane until she is dry.
Youngest has rediscovered his camera (strangely it 'appeared' in the greenhouse....) and has been taking photos of EVERYTHING!
Our veg garden is doing us proud, we are harvesting a goodly amount for such a small space. Yesterday I lifted all the garlic and they are now drying.
The black kale and the Chinese mustard have been featuring heavily in our 'garden soups' and the onions are excellent and won't be long before I have to lift those too.
Our peas, although only a few plants - gamely gave us just enough to have as mange tout initially then peas in salads latterly while the butter beans have been delish raw as well as being chucked in soups.
The potatoes are still quietly growing and I haven't had an investigation yet but the tomatoes and courgettes in the greenhouse are the best we have had so far. We've picked tomatoes every second day and have them in lunch boxes, in salads and on picnics. The beetroot have been a bit of an experiment - usually I plant them individually and allow to swell, but this year somebody on television (for the life of me I can't remember if it was a chef who gardened or a gardener who cooked) said to leave them in little bunches and lift a whole bunch at a time and they are sweeter and cook quicker. They do cook quicker, but they are definitely fiddly to deal with - so the jury is still out.
Leeks are growing nicely and the rhubarb is now resting after providing it's first good crop - it is still a young plant and I didn't want to frighten it too much!
Eldest's wheel barrow entry to the garden festival is providing us with salad and herbs on a daily basis - it has been so so successful that I will encourage him to do it again as it has turned out to be so productive!
Well, that's just a little taster of our July - not a lot was done, but so much happened!
Tomorrow is the 1st of August - can you believe it?? This year has flown by - it will be Youngest birthday at the end of the month - it doesn't seem so long ago he was just a tot :).
Tomorrow we are celebrating our day by going off to the local tea rooms for the obligatory carrot cake and tea then for a walk to return for the boys to wallow indulgently in the huge paddling pool Himself bought for them today - we may have to crack the ice of the top first and beat back a polar bear or two....!
Right I am off to bed! G'night!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
ooh it's lovely to be back :)
Those vegetables look fabulous. Oh, afternoon tea, lovely. Have a beautiful day. xx
ReplyDeleteWow! No wonder you feel tired!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a full blog. Definitely making up for all the blogless days!!! Vegetables doing you proud! :>) xx
ReplyDeleteWelcome back; I am tired just reading your catch-up of activities. I too can vouch for the joys of veg from the garden - soon I will be suffering from a bean overdose!
ReplyDelete