What a week that was.....

This has been a great week helped in no small part by the fantastic weather.Alan choose the right week to have off and he has enjoyed spending every day in the garden,however this has been no lounging around week,he was a man with a mission and never one to give less than 100% this is what he achieved in a little over 5 days.

This was the before picture looking from the side of the house around a month ago



Here is a similar view from the side showing the new table area and the border that has been cleared to make way for more veg to be planted.The fence has another rung on it as we wanted to make sure Beauty couldn't leap over at all, there is an area of the side garden that is not fenced and she has escaped over there once before when the gate was left open,and "surprised" a lovely couple and their Bishon frise....



How it used to look,a view from the shed across to the border.



Here it is now,there is Jasmine climbing up the tripods, parsley growing in the pots alongside lavender.Coriander and basil seeds freshly planted today in the silver planters.in the beds there are red onions,I will be sowing spring onions in between the rows, cut and come again lettuce,broccoli,parsnips and leaf beet.Netting over the top to stop my cat and others from"visiting".



This is what the view from the fence up into the garden used to look like.



Here it is now.The raised bed has beetroot and carrots in with space left to sow a few more in a couple of weeks.In the large bed( Alan had so many stones to dig out and had to barrow in 15 loads of compost/soil to get it looking like that) we will have peas,sugar snap peas.Green beans,a nice yellow bean my brother in law gave me to try,squash,sweetcorn,courgette,cucumber and aubergine,which are all at present doing great in my sun room.



And last but not least my rhubarb in a cosy spot at the top of the garden.



This all looks fabulous and Alan has been amazing to get this landscaping done.I have thoroughly enjoyed planting and sowing but the test will be exactly what will be produced by this novice gardener by the end of the growing season????
Fingers crossed;-))

Alongside this major job life has gone on at a frantic pace and Emily and I have been busier than ever.I will try to be brief but you may need to stock up with tea and biscuits if you are keen to read on;-))

Saturday,
Milly and I got the bus into Cockermouth to go to the Georgian Fair that's held every year.We used to travel by bus all the time before I started to drive again and we used to really enjoy our journeys,on this occasion I got off at the other end green and non too well.We had to nip in to our favourite pub for a rest and to order a bar meal,which I really enjoyed once I had had time to get over the bumpy ride.

Quite a few people dressed in the period and dancing and acting sketches going on in various parts of the town were quite interesting but overall I found it a little disappointing this year.

Sunday,
A lovely day at home with Alan,some gardening and Al and Emily took Beauty for a good walk.

Monday,
My sister and husband were away in Lanzarote and had asked us if we could spend some time with Meg as she was finding things tough without Strudle around,we jumped at the chance and decided we would go over to Carlisle and visit Tullie House Museum and go to the Spring fair in the park as well before going to see Meg and stay at my sisters overnight. Fabulous time in Tullie house, we went to lunch first and Emily choose to sit near the open french doors and was just in time to have a go at holding Meg the Harris Hawk.



We spent ages in the museum and enjoyed the natural history and animals(stuffed obviously,but very life like displays)in the section on the water life in Cumbrian rivers and other wildlife displays.We didn't have much time left to see the exhibition about Carlisle history and the roman display amongst many others so we had to rush around a bit so we could get to the park before the time was up on the car and my time was up in the energy dept...
We will have to visit again,yeah a museum Emily wants to spend time in!!!
On to the park and we missed going to the spring show as at the play park, the water park and huge sandpit took preference......

When we got to my sisters Meg looked so sad and she just went wherever we did and when we sat on the bench in her field she just stayed with us:-( We gave her far too many carrots and Emily groomed her to within an inch of her life:-)) Meg loved the attention, even the chickens seemed to sense her loneliness and never strayed far from her side.There were three sheep in the field with her that their farmer friend had put in for company as well. Luckily the weather was fabulous.We spent the night and then the next day the vet came to take some blood from Meg and Emily was fascinated to see the process and the lovely young lady vet talked her through what was happening.Meg is getting a new buddy on Monday, a sprightly 19 year old male called buttons is travelling up from the donkey sanctuary in Devon on Monday,fingers crossed they like each other...

Tuesday
Back home in the afternoon for a visit to Rezwanna for Emily.She had a Massage and reflexology,along with some Angel healing and fell in love with Rezwanna.I was also shown some massage techniques to help clear Emily's sinus's, she is having a lot of headaches because of the congestion.
Nice to be home and relax...

Wednesday
Got up in the morning and was having a leisurely breakfast at nine thinking about getting things ready to go to home ed group at 12 when I suddenly remembered we were going with the group to a clay workshop over near Keswick and would have to be there around 11!!! I had not received an e mail with the directions though so had to contact a friend, who was luckily still at home, and got them then set about throwing a picnic together and heading off.
Great place, making things with clay outside under the shade of some trees, picnic in the field near a river where the kids played,fabulous and we get to go back in June to glaze them :-))

Thursday
Usual day today helping at the food coop,Emily and two other home eddded friends had a great time playing in the sunshine and then home in the garden for the afternoon.

Friday
Alan and Emily went off for a picnic to Mirehouse which has great gardens with a play area with assault course type equipment and lots of lovely gardens and walks.Back home for tea and play with best friend A,whilst I went shopping.

saturday
We had a family day out to Muncaster castle and had a picnic and a walk,I did some of the walk and then sat out in front of the Castle with fantastic views and Heron flying around, it was very relaxing.

Sunday
We were due to go off to Rannerdale to see the Bluebells but I was exhausted and we decided to stay home and after a lazy start set too on the last little bit of gardening to finish in the side garden.Emily was a little under the weather and subdued and found it hard to find things to keep herself amused so I would read to her for a bit then head off and give Al instructions before reading a little more.I got to do a little sunbathing as I was reading and I was lying on the lounger so can't complain too much;-))

Phew back on track,not keen on marathon post writing so will attempt to post as usual each day but realy did not have any time or inclination last week.........