The Sun Came Out

The sun came out today and the hemerocallis almost shone.

I'm not a big fan of orange plants, but I have to admit to being rather fond of this double flowered Day Lily.  I have no idea its of its name but it flowers its little socks off for weeks and weeks on end.

In contrast the shasta daisies looked almost serene.

 

I picked some of the daisies 10 days ago and they're still going strong in a vase.  They were grown years ago by some ancestors of mine for just that purpose - an excellent cut flower!

Hope the sun has been shining for you 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?

What a Lovely Week - and it's only Wednesday!

I've had a few days off this week and they've been really lovely days too.  One day was spent with a friend doing some family/local history research in Essex and then yesterday I was interviewed on Radio Suffolk about The Treasure Tree.  This is a business I'm involved with where we create animated stories and interactive resources for primary aged children.  If you want to hear the interview you can listen to it here until the 31.07.12, it starts at 1:34. 

I was really nervous waiting for the interview and couldn't bring myself to listen to it until tonight - but I have to say I'm quite pleased with how it turned out :-)

As it was a really hot day we decided to have a Treasure Tree outing after the interview.  We went here, some of you might recognise it?

It's Aldeburgh, on the Suffolk coast, one of my very favourite places.

I loved this old boat on the beach, with its peeling paint and rusty metal.

How plants can grow in the shingle always amazes me, there's no soil there at all.

 The red valerian looked stunning against the summer sky.

It was a beautiful evening and after we'd sipped gin and tonics in the hotel garden overlooking the sea, we had a lovely meal at The Wentworth Hotel.

Today has been less glamorous, but still lovely, as I decided to tackle my shed which looked like this at 9am this morning:

But several bin bags later (mainly of flower pots I have to admit!) it now looks like this:

As well as being able to see the floor and reach the shredder, I now have a drawer full of every different size of nails and screws that you could ever imagine, so if you ever need one you know where to come!

Raindrops Are Still Falling

It seems as though every time I go out in the garden at the moment I get wet.  If it's not actually raining then the masses of jungle-like plant growth soaks me as I pass.  So far I've sheltered in the greenhouse, next door's shed and yesterday in next door's chicken house!

But raindrops on plants do look beautiful:

Sweetpea Cupani

Agapanthus

The agapanthus was bought new this year to replace one I lost over the winter.  It was sold as a white one, but is looking suspiciously blue!

Rosocea

But every so often the sun comes out, albeit briefly:

Clematis Blue Angel and Rosa Felicia

White Lightning Passion Flower

And when it does the plants seem to smile and sing 'look at me!'

I gather summer is supposed to arrive here in East Anglia at the weekend - I hope so!

Look What I Won!

Back in June (on my birthday actually!) I commented on a post on The Cottage Smallholder blog about a luxury hamper from Hampergifts.  This entered me into a draw to win it, which I then promptly forgot about. You can imagine how surprised I was a week later to receive a tweet from Fiona saying I'd won it!

A few days later I came home to find a delivery card saying that a parcel was waiting for me round the corner at my local post office.  As at this stage I assumed that the waiting parcel was an order of Mary Portas knickers that I was waiting for from Libertys not this very large box, so I walked round to pick it up.

After staggering home I unpacked it.

Carefully packed inside were all kinds of goodies:  jams, chocolates, nibbles, pickles, biscuits, etc etc.  And china plates, mugs and proper cutlery.

I had some help with the unpacking

But eventually they left it alone so I could get a decent photo!

Where had they gone? 

To play with the packaging of course!

Thanks Fiona for a lovely prize -I'm imagining using it in some lovely weather later on this summer!

A Four Year Wait

For the four years since I moved here, I've been wondering what this plant was that I inherited.

It's planted next to my pond, in dry shade, and the leaves have appeared each year.   Every year I've hoped that a flower might appear - and today I spotted one!

 

It's some kind of arum I'm sure, but beyond that I don't know.  Maybe one of you will know, but even if I never know its exact name I'll still like it!

Also looking stunning today was Clematis Romantika growing through the rose Adelaide d'Orleans.

 Let's hope we all get to enjoy some more sunshine this weekend.

Hope you all have good weekends - I'll be back soon to show you what I won in a blog draw a few weeks ago.

A Holey Cuff.

A few weeks ago I was intrigued by a cuff that Iz showed on her blog that she'd made on water soluble fabric so I decided to buy the book she'd mentioned (Dissolvable Delights by Maggie Grey) and have a go myself. 

I used a thread pack from Stef Francis and randomly machine stitched velour ribbon onto the surface, wrapped pipe cleaners with a rayon ribbon and stitched them on before adding beads, lots of beads (far more than I'd intended!)

Ready to have the background fabric dissolved.

It was a nervous experience dissolving the fabric as I wasn't sure it would all hold together, I was half expecting a pile of bits in the bottom of the bowl, but all was ok.

After dissolving the background fabric.

I think it probably should have had more pipe cleaners on it going across the short way as it hasn't held its shape brilliantly, but I'm quite pleased with it as a first attempt stitching on dissolvable fabric

As well as being unique it reflects my fascination with holes and the shapes they create (I'm not sure what that says about me though!).

Who'd have thought that pipe cleaners could end up so pretty!