It's Raining...Again.

I know - it's July - this is what it does in July. Musn't grumble too much as the garden is loving it, so much so that the poor excuse for lawn that we have out the back is actually looking very lush and green...and in desperate need of a mow. I just hope it dries out fairly soon before it gets too long for the little hover mower and I have to beg/borrow/steal a strimmer.

More Pics from Tewkesbury Medieval Fayre...

A few more piccies from the day! Just click on a pic if you want to see it bigger.

All the fun of the Fayre.

We had a lovely day yesterday at the annual Tewkesbury Medieval Fayre - complete with battle of Tewkesbury re-enactment, pig roasts, ale tents, kiddies play area and lots and lots and lots of great shopping!! Riley got let off the leash for the first time, running us all ragged trying to keep up with him and obviously loving it. He particularly enjoyed the Morris dancers, taking it all in and shaking his little handmade wooden rattle along with the music.

Unfortunately we didn't get to see much of the battle itself as there were so many people turned out to watch but the noise was quite something!

Loads of artisans selling their wares; gorgeous hand blown Medieval style Glassware from Germany, little wooden drums, pipes and rattles for kids, jewellery, leatherwork, sheepskins, pottery and hand woven willow baskets from Greenwood Futures who also make gorgeous cradles and environmentally sound coffins (http://www.greenwoodfutures.moonfruit.com/). I'm afraid I splashed out and treated myself to a lovely willow washing basket. The cat hasn't discovered it yet...but it is only a matter of time!

Rain doesn't stop play!

Well it's raining again! But never one to let a little bit of water get in the way, Riley has been out in the garden getting damp while I did a quick check round the greenery for the other big fans of rain; slugs and snails! This chappy was clinging on for dear life and, as he wasn't really doing any harm I decided to leave him where he was (the ones on the veggies/fruit were not so lucky!)

The rain is getting worse though, so it looks like an afternoon indoors - I am knitting a cute little bag for the other half's sister's birthday in a couple of weeks so I will probably do a bit of that - as long as Riley doesn't have other ideas!

Summer is here...and gone again!

Love this time of year! The garden is starting to look half decent as the plants lap up the alternating sunshine and (heavy) showers.

This is the first year I have had any time to spend in the garden and it shows with the newly added border running down the side fence brimming with lavendar, sage and chamomile and smelling heavenly in the hot sunshine whenever I walk past.

I am growing tomatoes outside for the first time and so far every plant has set at least one truss of fruit. My single courgette plant is also producing like its going out of fashion. We have a couple of raspberry canes and a forgotten about strawberyy plant that has the biggest flowers I have ever seen - can't wait to see what fruit that produces!

Unfortunately the pea plant (kindly donated by a friend as a seedling) has not faired well in the strong winds that hit us over the weekend and broke clean in half - we salvaged half a dozen almost full grown pods, which were very tasty. Definately want to grow more of those next summer!

Riley is enjoying being helpful in the garden - although more mud seems to end up in his mouth than in the pots! But it is so nice sharing freshly picked raspberries on a warm, sunny morning with an appreciative person (the other half doesn't 'do' fruit!). At 14 months he is already showing signs of being a proper little outdoor bunny - when the weather is dry he is in and out the backdoor all day and when it's raining he sits by the door pointing and obviously wanting to be out there!

My own little cabbage patch kid in Grandma's bean patch

What to blog?

I was lying in bed last night trying to get to sleep whilst a million and one ideas for blogs buzzed around my head. One recurring thought was 'Why bother spending a good hour or so every day constructing a few paragraphs on nothing in particular that no-one is going to read?'
Well, I could say something about how I always wanted to be a writer and that the best way to be a writer is to write.
Perhaps it is a subconscious effort to keep the grey matter from turning to mush (it happens, apparently, once you have kids! All intellectual thought is replaced by the IgglePiggle song.)
Actually what it boils down too is that there is absolutely nothing of any value on daytime TV to watch and I've got to fill the little man's nap time with something or I will just eat biscuits and that is not good.

Obviously if anyone else does read this and gets some degree of enjoyment from it then that IS good and proves that this is not a complete waste of time.

A woman's work is never done...

When I were a lass the decorating was always done by the man of the house. My Grandad spent most of his retirement repainting the kitchen and Mum always had a grand redecorating plan for my poor Dad whenever he was lucky enough to get a few days off work.
Unfortunately in these post-feminist days of equal opportunities that traditional way of doing things has fallen by the wayside.
Or at least it has in my house.
Don't get me wrong - I don't begrudge this. I actually enjoy slapping a bit of paint on the walls and transforming a room. I get bored looking at the same colour on the walls for too long and I lived on my own long for so long that I had to do these things myself. The problem is now I have so much else to do, and, unlike my partner who, admittedly, goes out to work six days a week but has Sunday 'off' complete with lie-in, I am up at 6am and still 'working' at 9pm pretty much every day of the week (anyone with young kids will know what I mean). I know I could poke and prod and get my dearly beloved to have a go but, honestly, he is to DIY what Jeremy Clarkson is to environmentalism. If I want these things done I have to do them myself or they will simply never get done.
A case in point is our hallway. Actually 'hallway' is a generous term - 'lobby' would be more accurate, 'A bit of space connecting the front door to the living room and kitchen' is about as close as I can get. When we moved into the house about four and a half years ago it was decorated in dark. DARK grey and silver wallpaper in a kind of Art Deco fan pattern - actually quite nice in the right place but sadly this was not the right place. So this came down and the scrappy bit of carpet on the floor came up revealing ...mmm nice pockmarked concrete. I bought some flooring (just cheap, sticky backed 'wood effect' planks) and somehow managed to find a million other better things to do...
Four years down the line and with a very mobile one year old on the loose, I have decided that enough is enough and the flooring is going down - I hate it now but that is beside the point - it is better than bare concrete and we can't afford to get anything else. Of course that means I will have to repaint the walls and skirting and keep my little darling entertained at the same time, not to mention all the other jobs that have to be done to keep things ticking over so please excuse me if I seem a little crotchety over the next few days...