A Rather Lovely Weekend

It's been a truly gorgeous spring weekend here, an unusually quiet one on the social front (apart from a visit to the theatre later tonight) and pretty much wall to wall to sunshine.

The garden is full of spring flowers

but my favourite has to be this white forsythia; 

it's still rather straggly but has more flowers each year, and smells rather nice too!

The seeds I sowed last weekend have germinated and the potatoes are starting to chit.

Yesterday I walked back from the market along the river (as I usually do) and noticed that the willows are starting to break buds.

For the first time this year I was able to eat lunch outside, twice!

Today I sat by the pond where the frogs were croaking - I always know it's really spring once they start!

I've enjoyed having a quiet, laid back weekend, I hope you've had a good one too.

A List of Pleasing Things

A little while ago, well a few months actually, I was passed this book by Gina at Fan My Flame.

It's about Loretta, a single mum living in a small Australian town.  At one point in the point there is a lovely moment where Loretta is attending a creative writing class and has to read out her list of pleasing things.  The 'deal' in being passed the book was that I had to make my own list of pleasing things and then pass the book on to someone else.

My List of Pleasing Things

1.  A cup of tea in the garden.  Simple I know, but quite a novelty this year!  I love escaping out there and listening to the birds.  When the weather isn't conducive to sitting outside I sometimes sit in my greenhouse.

 2.  Roses.  Any colour, but they have to be scented and preferably old fashioned looking.  This one's my favourite - Abraham Darby and it grows on the front of my house.

3.  A contented cat - even when she is using my clean washing as a pillow!

 4.  This combination of vibernum berries and an inherited purple clematis.  The vibernum belongs to my neighbour and there aren't any berries on her side.  Sometimes nature just makes a perfect match.

5.  My pond.  Not the prettiest pond in the world (I wish the liner didn't show), and with copious amounts of duck weed (which provides regular treats for next door's new ducks), but loved by wildlife.  At this time of year the damsel flies dance around it and the frogs sit and watch me watching them.  If you look closely you'll spot 'Mr Ginger Frog' on a rock on the right (yes I do know my frogs by name!!!).

6.  Aldeburgh.  My favourite seaside place.  A lovely little town on the Suffolk coast, with nice shops, great restaurents and an unspoilt shingle beach.  It's never heaving with people (unless you happen to try and go when it's the Carnival) and is perfect for watching the sea and the seagulls.  Just look at the blue sky and sea - perfect.

7.  Gin and Tonic!  And preferably Plymouth Gin and Fever Tree tonic (not that I'm fussy or anything!).  Can't beat a G & T in the garden on the summer evening :-)

The book is a good read - it's really quite funny in places.  If you'd like to read it next then please say so in your comment and I'll draw a name at random.  The deal is the same - once you've read it then post your own list of pleasing things and pass the book on.

If you don't want to read it then you can still comment - I'd be interested to know if any of the things on my list would be on yours?

Birthdays, Messes and Little Plays

Did you celebrate this weekend?  It was my birthday and I'd like to thank the nation for providing me with a weekend of bunting, pageants, concerts and flypasts - I'm sure the Queen doesn't mind sharing her jubilee with my birthday!  Three of the aircraft from the flypast flew right over my house this afternoon, they must have been on their way to line up. 

I don't really do big celebrations for birthdays, but I had a lovely meal on Sunday with some friends (whose husband also has the same birthday as me) and they bought me this little Victorian stool - isn't it just gorgeous? 

It's for sitting on down by the pond, so I don't have to sit on the mossy rock anymore (not the most comfortable of seats and often slightly damp!).

I had coffee on it on my birthday morning whilst watching the tadpoles - they have tiny back legs now.

But I'm afraid that for much of the rest of the weekend I've been ensconced in my study, as it had become rather untidy (that could possibly be a rather large understatement) and I couldn't actually work or sew in the space that was left!  This was it before I started to tidy up on Sunday afternoon (I do wish I was naturally tidy and that mess didn't accumulate around me!):

This was it by Monday afternoon (that awful "I wish I'd never started this" stage):

And this is it now - finished, and very organised!:

By throwing out loads of old paperwork I managed to clear enough space to put all my fabric on the shelves and not in piles on the floor.  It also gave me the chance to go through all the fabric I was fortunate enough to acquire via a friend of a friend on twitter the other week (but more of that another time).

Part of the reason for the tidy up was that I bought these Amy Butler fabrics from John Lewis on Saturday.

and now I actually have the space to make them into a dress and a skirt.

But I'd hate you to think that I've just been tidying - I've also been playing.  With this little lady, and her brother and sister.

Don't panic she's not mine, my neighbour breeds Abyssinian cats, and they need to get used to being handled and played with before they can be sold - it's a tough job, but someone has to do it!

Pond Life

When I moved here I wasn't bothered about a pond at all - now I think I'd cry if I lost it.  It has given me hours of pleasure and I'll often be found kneeling quietly beside it watching the wildlife.

It's only small and is very much a wildlife pond (apart from the inherited goldfish and his friend), and has lots of rocks and ivy around it where the frogs, and probably other creatures, like to hide.

The tadpoles hatched several weeks ago and were really lively in the warmth of the sunshine today - I love how they twist as they come to the surface (sad I know!)

(I'm not sure why the video ended up so small, it's probably because I took it and edited it on my ipad and then had to transfer it to the pc to upload it, it all gets very complicated at times!)

But the star of the show at the moment is Mrs Newt who appeared a month ago.  I was getting rather worried that she'd left but I saw her again today (she's rather camera shy but can just be seen relaxing on the weeds)

 

It doesn't look as if she's laid any eggs in the newly planted water forget-me-not, but I'm hopeful that she's decided to take up permanent residence so we might have newt babies in the future!

The sun has come out here today, but sadly I seem to have hurt my back rather badly this afternoon so gardening is out of the question - I think I'll take a cuppa back to the pond instead.  Enjoy the sunshine if you have it!

There's a Newt in the Pond!

I'm so excited - I have a newt in my pond!  Some of you will probably now think that I've lost the plot but I've wanted them for ages, and now I have them, well one!

I'm not sure what type it is (it's about 8cm long) but I'm guessing it's female as it's pale, but as it has some small spots on it I'm not really sure (sorry about the quality of the pictures, it's hard to focus through the water without dropping the phone in!)

If anyone can tell me what type it is and if it's definitely female I'd appreciate it.

I've just ordered some water forget-me-not in the hope it'll stay and we might have some babies! (Sadly I had to order it as a trawl of the local garden centres and nurseries proved to be fruitless).

Waterlily

Today my waterlily opened.  Back in April I blogged about how I was hoping to avoid the thick green soup type of pond water and had bought a minature waterlily last year to try and provide the necessary shade.  The water is very clear this year so I'm guessing the waterlily shade has helped, although I suspect that the duckweed is also providing some necessary shade too!  I do skim it off regularly but it's a never completed job!  There are more buds, so I'm looking forward to many more weeks of blooms.

Nymphaea Walter Pagels

Sadly Dora died last week, but Nemo and Chilli are still happily enjoying each other's company and are swimming around under the lilypads.

Nemo Finds Some Friends

When I moved here I inherited a pond, and after several weeks I discovered I'd inherited a fish too!  This fish, named Nemo because of his colouring, had obviously escaped the net when the previous owners removed the rest of the fish, and had survived without any attention whilst the house was rented for 3 years.

For the last couple of years I've been thinking about getting some more fish to keep him company, but I was worried that I'd have to feed them (I've never fed Nemo as he'd survived on the natural food in the pond for 3 years and was perfectly ok).  Two weeks I asked the man in the Aquatics part of Mill Race Garden Centre if I'd need to feed any new ones and he said I wouldn't as the pond was big enough.  So Chilli and Dora came home with me and took up residence with Nemo.

 Nemo (top) Dora (middle) Chilli (bottom)

Since I introduced them they've all been swimming round together.  Initially I felt mean that I'd kept Nemo on his own for 2 years, but as someone said to me the other day "he doesn't remember that he was on his own, all he knows is that he now has friends!".

About my garden - part 2

When I bought this garden it also came with a pond, (as well as a large shed, a dog run and a small greenhouse, which I'll blog about another time). In spring the pond has suffered from "green soup" syndrome for the last 2 years, which although the frogs and fish don't seem to mind, doesn't look very nice.

Look closely - there's a frog lurking in the rushes

I'm hoping to avoid some of the "green soup" this spring as last year I bought a small waterlily  to provide some shade -  Nymphaea Walter Pagels.  I bought it from Waterside Nursery.  I was slightly concerned about buying pond plants by mail order, but as I couldn't find this particular water lily locally I decided to risk it.  I needn't have worried as it arrived in perfect condition and even flowered once last year - this year I'm expecting many more blooms.

 Walter Pagels in flower last September