Been a 'diverse' sort of week!!!

At the moment I am certainly packing lots of things into a week. Last week ended with our bargain trip to Poland after it started with making some remembrance flowers for a friends Mums funeral. 

No one likes a funeral, its a sad time for everyone involved and I really think that the people who provide services around that end up charging the earth because generally people can't in their grief shop around or make other arrangements. My friend and I have now made several floral tributes and while we don't do them for a profit, it makes you realise just how much the mark up is on funeral flowers!! Because we don't have the whole sale accounts to buy the flowers we are at the whim of whatever is available at the time, so you have to be flexible. At the end when we added up the actual cost it came to around a third of the cost of shop bought ones.

We started with all of the flowers above, fifty roses, pink and White chrysanthemums, purple statice, white spray carnations and some gyp. Several hours later we turned them into these -

We were pleased with the flowers and I know that they were well received!

On Thursday just gone Tom and I flew to Warsaw, a short break that I had booked last September. We got an absolute deal £69 each including flights and bed and breakfast at a 4 star Hampton by Hilton hotel in Warsaw  city centre. We flew from Stansted Airport, after leaving early in the morning we arrived at the airport only to find the queues for bag drop and security were huge. We had planned on grabbing a magazine and a cup of tea but we cleared security with 15 minutes to spare!! So we went straight from there to boarding. Arrival in Warsaw was much easier, it was clearly a two plane sort of airport, we only saw one other plane there as we were getting off, so we sailed through passport control and collected our bags in minutes! I had arranged for a car to collect us as the airport we arrived at (Modlin) was described as Warsaw airport, but like London Luton airport it is quite a long way from Warsaw. So I had a fleeting moment of fame when I saw my name being held by a lady waiting in arrivals. This lovely lady took us to our hotel. 

We struck lucky with the hotel, it was a new one in very nice location. We were given a choice of floors so we took a high floor (12) the view was great!

We set off for the old town for a look around. It was an interesting place, recently designated a site of special interest by UNESCO. It is the newest 'old' town in Europe! During the second world war, the city was bombed out of existence and was rebuilt afterwards in the style of the original town. 

The town square looked very like Town Squares that I am familiar with in Holland, we could have been in Amsterdam or Delph, Pavement cafes and lots of restaurants with some interesting little shops. 

We walked around and headed back to the hotel later in the afternoon, we were tired from the early start and all the walking, my tracker on the phone said we had walked over five miles (which is good for me!!) We put our feet up for a bit. 

Right I am tired now, the loss of an hour for  British Summertime and the travelling is taking its toll!!

Come back for the next thrilling instalment!

Busy, Busy, Busy.........

So here we are very nearly at the end of the month and on the brink of summer (well I hope we are !!) We have had some lovely weather and a whole lot of rain and thunder!! the garden has gone mad and for the first time ever we have not got any annuals just a load of come again plants which will repeat flower from now on!

Just look at those Foxgloves!!! I didn't plant them, I had one very dark pink one last year but this year I have a dozen or more pale pink ones, they are so beautiful. I think feeding the birds has resulted in them naturally depositing seeds for me!!

I was given some Iris plants and they are going mad as well, a beautiful purple.

This rose called Pearl Wedding was bought by my friends Sue and Sandra for our 'pearl anniversary' last year. Its a patio rose so we planted in a pot and looked after it, its now going great guns and has loads of flowers!.

Last week we celebrated my number two God daughters 30th Birthday. Both Emma and her twin brother, Stuart invited us around for Sunday afternoon tea. The weather was rather too beautiful, I ended up with a very rosy glow.

Sitting in the sun

Stuart having his sun cream applied!!!

Thumbs up from Emma.

Tina made the cakes and they were lovely chocolate confections!! Before she presented them for the candle blowing session 'someone' leaned on the number three!!! I wonder which Bobbie that was ????

We also managed to get some free tickets for a visit to the cinema, so we went to see 'The love punch' The screening was in aid of the newly opened food bank. I can't believe that we are having to help people who do not have enough money to feed themselves, its an absolute disgrace that some people have had to rely on this in what is rather an affluent area of Hertfordshire. We took a bag of tins with us it was still cheaper 

than paying for two adult priced tickets!

The absolute high light of the whole week was attending my number one God daughters Wedding. I had known about it for a while and had plenty of time to prepare, in fact rather too much time, I was still uncertain what to wear right up until the night before the big day!! I have borrowed various accessories, searched out the shops for the perfect finishing touch. In the end I settled for 'classic' (well in my head) Black and White polka dots!!! The day started off well, despite leaving in torrential  rain we arrived in Bury St Edmund's in bright sunshine. We were a little early for our hotel room so we popped into town and had lunch. We checked into the hotel at 1.30 and chilled a bit before we got ready.

The  Hotel was very nice, with valet parking, although I expect the chap was expecting far more than the ancient Renault Megane with a very dodgy alarm that we arrived in!!

So we prepared ourselves for the big event, I had checked the location on my computer and printed it out so that we could walk there. Everyone we asked said '10 minutes' an easy walk. So I doubled the time and we set off in the direction of where we thought the Farmers Club was. We walked 20 minutes as per the map, no luck. We asked several locals, none had heard of it. I was starting to get a little panicky, when eventually a little old lady knew where it was. She sent us back the way we had come and we found it about five minutes from the hotel, in fact it was within sight of the UNISON building, a place I go every six weeks or so!!! So in future ignore the fantastic directions as supplied by Mr Google!!

We arrived with a few minutes to spare.

The Wedding was fantastic, a small intimate affair, just family and close friends. Rebecca looked gorgeous.

The Bride and Groom! Becca and Andy.

The brand new Mrs!!!!

We were very honoured to attend as her God parents!!

Becca takes after me, she is crafty, she can only have got it from me as her Mum isn't!!!! (sorry Fran)

The reception was a vintage afternoon tea affair, with hand made elements and gorgeous flowery mismatched crockery. 

In the evening there was dancing under bright coloured pom poms and fairy lights. The evening was finished off with a huge amount of cheese, crackers and wedding cake.

I really enjoyed myself, and I really appreciated trying out the local brew Aspinals cider!! It was very nice, just like drinking apple juice!!

So that is number one God daughter all married and happy, this fairy God mother just has to work her magic on the other two!! (I mean you Emma and Gracie!!!) And who knows perhaps one day one or two of my own children might get married, you never know!!!

Beautiful Flowers!

Since Tom has been a house husband he has been able to spend more time looking after the garden. He is gradually getting there, his weed identification skills are improving. His greatest success is the clematis planted against the side fence. He has spent ages nurturing them, trimming them and generally looking after them. He has been rewarded by a couple of stunning plants bearing beautiful blooms. If he keeps at it they should flower on and off throughout the summer!

I, on the other hand love roses. This year the front of the house is covered in roses. We have a fragrant bush of pink Roses that smell glorious. The bush has been there for a few years and I am not sure what it is called anymore. Growing along side is a purple clematis but this year that has been overtaken by the roses.

In the other corner growing up over the porch is a dark red Dublin Bay Rose. It is a glorious rose with almost luminous flowers. I am not usually a lover of red roses but this one is exceptional.....

It really stands out and I hope with careful dead heading we will have flowers all summer. We have lavender planted underneath, so I am looking forward to some warm weather and the fragrance hanging in the summer air!

To end with I would like to thank the low life who stole our planter from the front garden last night, they obviously didn't know what to do with it, so the needlessly smashed it on the pavement. We have rescued and replanted the plant. The pot is now safe in the back garden .

I hope that their collective fingers fall off and that they suffer from crabs for the rest of their life!!!!

Spring Again

I know I have recently taken photos of blossom, but you simply have to do it when the blossom is there to be appreciated. Today there is a fantastic display all over town, on bright sunny days I am thankful that I live in such a beautiful place. I am not really sure what this blossom is but it is really pretty and has a lovely scent!!

This one is local in fact its out the front of my house!! This blossom never disappoints deep pink and loads and loads of blooms. The only problem is that a slight breeze or a drop of rain will batter it to pieces. Its glorious at the moment though.

This lilac we planted in our front garden around 10 years ago. It started as a small bush which was a reject from the local garden centre. It didn't look very strong, it obviously likes where it is and has grown into a 20 foot high tree. The flowers are just starting to come out. Once they are fully out the fragrance is heady and a little sun and a slight breeze blows the scent into the house.



The Last Flowers of Summer.

Its hard to believe that we are already into October, We haven't had time to sort out the garden so the late summer flowers are struggling to hang on in the torrential rain that we have had in the past week. The lawn that we seeded in the spring, that struggled all the way through the hot summer, has finally come into its own. It is lush and green and in need of a cut. To do that we need it to be dry, I don't think that is going to happen for a while!!!

The Sunflowers have not been great this year, we haven't looked after them that well either. They seemed to do a fair bit of growing when we were away in August, then the wind caught them and since then it has been impossible to keep them upright.. This particular flower met a very unfortunate end, I moved the rotary washing line around and decapitated it! This obviously did something to the plant as it started to produce lots and lots of little flowers, there are still quite a few of them ready to flower!

I still love Sunflowers, even when they are past their best!!

Hanging Basket Extras!

Dad always makes the most fantastic hanging baskets, we have never let him forget the year that he 'supplied' cannabis plants to the whole of the neighbourhood. (He had put the baskets outside to harden off directly underneath a bird feeder, seems there were cannabis seeds in the feeder, the rest is history) We thought that was the end of exotic plants, the last few years have been a lot less exciting or illegal!!

We have two baskets by our front door, both are looking good. Both looked as if they just had your standard flowers in them, that was until the one in the above picture decided to swing around a bit in the breeze and reveal its secret.

It seems that this year dad is branching out into vegetable hanging baskets, we have a fine specimen of a potato plant hiding in the background!!! I have no idea how that has happened and on speaking to dad, neither has he!!

This afternoon I am waiting on the return of my son and heir, he has been camping with the scouts. I am expecting a whole load of muddy dirty washing plus tents and bedding all smelling of wood smoke and grass. I can't wait!!!

Don't you just LOVE summer???

Summer for me is usually all about rain and dodging the rain, this year however we finally have a summer, we finally have had a spell of dry and very hot weather. Its glorious I just wish I didn't have to work.

This year for the first time we have tried out these little bushy sunflowers, we have grown them in pots and they have been fantastic.They really add a splash of colour at ground level!! I hope to be able to collect some see for next year.

Dads hanging baskets this year are packed with begonias the colours are stunning. The strange thing is he had a mixed bunch of tubers but we have managed to end up with mostly red and he has mainly got all the yellow ones!!

Lobelia the beautiful blue plant, seems to attract a load of insects, mainly bees!

Lillies in a neighbours garden.

Finally TOMATOES!!! My favourite all time fruit/vegetable. I can't live without Tomatoes. It is the food of the Gods!! Although these are in dads green house, I have got the drop on him, mine growing in a basket outside are already red!!!

Perfect Peonies!

Mum and Dad bought me some beautiful flowers, peonies are one of those flowers that takes me back to my childhood. At our old house Dad always grew bushes of deep red peonies. They were stunning but the slightest breeze or rain fall would cause all the petals to fall. I had forgotten about that memory until I received these flowers.

They look like roses, I like the way they look so frilly!

We have been enjoying some wonderful weather, the flowers look fantastic against the bright blue sky.

This year I have been enjoying my garden, I have even planed a couple of extra perennial plants, I think they will add that little bit of extra interest when the bloom next year.