Spring clean!

We're going to be getting all the fence panels replaced in the garden next month, so it seemed a good idea to make sure the garden was sort of tidy before the fence gets done. So we've hired a small skip.....

which, as you can see, is now full already! I went to my friends for a few hours and DH and DD managed to fill the skip and even take other bits to the tip! The garden looks so much better now.  We had bags of used compost down the side of the greenhouse, and bags of rubbish, bits of broken fence panels from the gales a few months ago and empty pots. You name it, it seemed to be there.

Not any more. 

This is my empty raised bed ready for my veggies when they're big enough - carrots and possibly lettuce and courgettes. My peas are doing ok too - just need to plant more of them! 

 

The tubs outside the house are looking good, as are some of the plants we have in tubs in the back garden. 

Roll on tomorrow as I want to pot up some of my tomato and cucumber seedlings so that they can get growing. 

And then there's the washing and ironing to do .............

Another windy walk!

I was up early this morning, thanks to Oscar being quite a fidget from about 7am. Not so good because it's Easter Sunday and none of us have to work so we were all looking forward to a lie-in (and DD had been out last night, rolling in at about 3.30am), but very good because it meant I could get food prepared to go in the oven for tea tonight (chicken in one pot, and layered cheesy potatoes in another dish).

DH appeared shortly after for coffee, breakfast, and then off we went, heading for Ambleside, leaving the dogs behind today knowing it would be busy (a nightmare for Oscar) and steep (too much for Molly now).

As predicted, Ambleside was extremely busy, so much so that the car park we usually use was already full. Thankfully there was another one just across the road which was half empty so we parked up, and headed on up the hill.

We had a fantastic walk (see my walks page for more details and photo's) and I hope we'll be able to do it again this year and maybe carry on a lot further. What stopped us staying out longer today was the wind - 30-40 mile an hour gusts as we were heading up the hill!! Not exactly good weather for walking on the tops! It was lovely just being the two of us too - normally we each have a dog and never get to walk side by side, so it was nice (albeit strange) with no dogs and actually being able to hold hands at times!

By the time we got home the chicken was nearly done and the potatoes were looking good. DH put together a lovely salad to go with it, and I made some coleslaw. DD even commented on how good tea was!

Time for a nice sit down tonight and rest our aching legs and feet ……….

It's going to be a few weeks before we can get out walking again with lots of other stuff going on at home. So chance to have a think about where we'll end up next….

Sun and swallows!

I spent the day at my friend's yesterday. She lives on a farm. Her son looks after the sheep and she runs a wholesale market garden, growing bedding plants and hanging baskets of various sizes.

There's a swallow that seems to arrive every year on her farm. She calls him Cheeky. He arrived back at the farm last weekend and seems to sit on exactly the same bit of wire every year! I eventually managed to get a photo of him yesterday. He's really cute but very noisy!

It was a lovely day and the lambs looked really cute in the field too! 

Then tonight, while taking Oscar for a walk, I managed to get a few shots of the different blossom that's appearing at the moment. 

It's all so beautiful. 

All we have to do now is decide where to go walking tomorrow .....

Gary Barlow!

Just got home with DD after going to see Gary Barlow in Manchester. Mere words cannot describe how talented and amazing that man is. From the start of the first song everyone was up on their feet. And it just carried on like that for the whole two hours he was on! 

His support act was Eliza Doolittle who was really good too. 

What a night!!! Fantastic! 

(Photo by DD)

A windy walk!

I didn't think we were going to get out for a walk today. The weather forecast wasn't very good, and knowing we didn't have a lot of time, I had visions of us staying at home and doing general housework jobs.

However, knowing that it wouldn't take us too long to get to Belmont and then to Anglezarke, DH made us some sandwiches, I made the hot chocolate, DD got ready for work, and then off we went!

We dropped DD off at work and headed off towards Belmont, then took the turning for Rivington and Anglezarke. We had both dogs with us (not sure whether that was such a good idea looking back) and set off onto the moor. More details of the walk itself, with photos, are on my walks page, but lets just say the dogs got a little bit black, and we were all more than a little wind swept by the time we got back to the van 3 1/2 hours later! Oh my goodness, I don't think either of us realised just how windy it was going to get up on the moors. Thankfully I'd put my winter walking trousers on, but DH hadn't and was really feeling the cold. I had two pairs of gloves on for most of the walk as otherwise my hands were freezing. But we survived, and finally got back to the van for a nice cup of tea (no cake as I'd forgotten to cut a couple of slices of the remaining christmas cake).

But it was a good walk, and we'll probably go again at some point.

Back home for tea (chicken cooking in the oven smells lovely when you get home after a walk) and a quick chocolate cake made.

This is the basic cake, with multi-coloured chocolate drops in it.

And then I added buttercream and fudge pieces. And then DH had to sample it to make sure it tasted ok ……..

Please check out the book reviews too as I've updated that page too.

Not enough hours!

Yet another week has vanished, never to be seen again. Time seems to go so quickly. 

This week has seen Molly being trimmed so she can at least see where she's going now, a trip to my mum's for tea and doing some gardening. The seeds sown over a week ago are coming through now so hopefully we will have homegrown vegetables again this year. Usually by now they're a lot bigger, but I was late sowing this year - cucumber and tomatoes inside, and peas, carrots and beans in the greenhouse. 

I also managed to make a loaf this week, or should I say the bread maker mixed the dough and I put the dough into a standard loaf tin for the final bit. Very yummy! 

Homemade pizza for tea tonight. And now some much needed chill time ....

A drive out!

We went for a drive out today, just me and DH. The weather forecast was pretty bad for most of the day, but rather than staying in we opted to head out in the van - a drive and a stop for lunch. Although the weather stayed dry to start with, the rain soon came. And carried on. And so did the wind. 

We headed up to Windermere and the Kirkstone Pass. I'd like to be able to say that we saw some amazing views, but all we could see was a little bit of road and not much of the hills due to the mist!

We got to Brothers Water and parked up for lunch and a chance to make sure that the gas still works in the van and the kettle still whistles. Picnic time!!

Oscar wanted to join in too! 

After lunch it looked like the rain wasn't going to get any better so we set off for home, the long way round - driving up by the side of Ullswater then home using the main road rather than the motorway. It probably took twice as long as normal to get home by avoiding the motorway but it was a lovely drive despite the weather. 

And home to sun!! And some pretty flowers in the garden. 

A lovely day out. 

Spring?

So yesterday was a day off work. A day to try and get other stuff done that usually gets left. This week has been pretty hectic so far so it was nice to have a day to play catch up. 

After quite a lie-in (a rare occurance with Oscar) it was time to go shopping and then to head out to the garden centre to see if I could find any nice tubs for outside the house. And, of course, some plants to  put in them! So, here's the result ...... 

(There's 3 of them altogether) 

I also had chance to sow the first of my vegetable seeds today. Usually they're well under way by now so I'm a bit late starting this year. We now have tomato, chilli, cucumber, peas, leek, chives and salad leaves sown. So that's the bedroom window sill taken over for a few weeks now ......

 

And the highlight of the day was receiving my next Willoughby Book Club book! I think it's fantastic to have a book delivered each month - it's like having Christmas every month! 

Mothers Day

It was Mothers Day last Sunday. I thought this had posted but now I realise it hadn't, so this is what happened last Sunday!

I never know what DD might find to give me for Mothers Day, but she never ceases to surprise me. Take this year. No flowers. No coffee in bed. But look at this!!!!

How fabulous is that?! Not only did she get me the book I really wanted (I'd been holding out for the paperback later this year) but she also found this cute little message in a bottle gift. Ok, so it's really soppy, and it made me a bit teary, but it was such a lovely thought - the ribbon reads "30.03.14 - Thank you for teaching me to always be myself, being there for me, and for being my mum." How lovely. 

And then it was time to take DD to work, travel to see DH's mum and then travel to see my mum, and then back to pick DD up from work before heading home for tea. 

And I managed to take Oscar out for a full walk down by the canal because it was still light enough thanks to the clocks changing last night (just forget about the losing an hours sleep...). 

What a lovely day it's been today.