Hobbies and Crafts

Hello Ann, here I am and we are both ok here thank you.

We have had our lovely Granddaughter Katie for 10 days hobbling around on crutches with a broken foot needing help as well as her Grandpa........ plus, we have had a messy and noisy time having our long drive and patio levelled, cleaned and re-sanded. I have moved all tubs with plants away and they need to go back.

The workman came recommended but we won't be recommending him. Although we are both pleased with the work, I have needed to watch him like a hawk, provide tea and biscuits, coffee and cake as well as cleaning up after him each evening. pheww. He is a pleasant enough man, but totally disorganized and sooo messy!

Our daughter came and Katie is safely back home and the workman has left sand and a brush and disappeared so it looks like I may well be finishing the patio today?

Vera, you will be having a very happy get together today and I hope all goes well
for your son and partners wedding day tomorrow. The sun is meant to shine, so
that will be good for a happy family wedding day for you all. I bet you look amazing!!

Ann, I hope you have enjoyed your Happy Birthday today?

Yes thank you Kandj I have had a good day. Sounds like you need to sit in the garden in the promised good weather and rest for a couple of days. Glad you are ok though. :-) <3

Thanks for your concern Ann.

Today Vera is with the family for her son's wedding day. I think the sunshine is
around for us all and I hope that they are all having a wonderful happy time together.

I have been putting some of the pots/tubs back on to the patio. My back isn't great
today and so I will stop and take Ann's suggestion and sit in the garden and rest now.

Still got quite a painful back from moving the pots and tubs around. I have just
mopped the kitchen and bathroom floors and can feel the twinge in my back again, so
it will be a quiet day with perhaps a little gentle hoeing to keep the borders weedfree.

Have you got your breath back after your family get together and Son's wedding Vera?

Not too much hoeing Kandj, just enough to stretch your back gently.

My back's a lot better thanks Ann, the sand and soft brush are at the end of the patio
still waiting for the worker to return and complete the job..... 1, 2, 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,,10..!!!

Our gardener who has been coming since hubby stroke, has somehow managed to
burn both back and front lawns when he applied weed and feed treatment. I don't know whether to laugh or cry to be honest, but hey ho, worse things can happen.

We are not having much luck at present......... it can only get better (we hope).

Kandj my OH has done exactly the same thing to our lawn.

I have just been in the greenhouse (because it is shaded at this time of day by the shed), planting two dozen pansies into pots and baskets. Had to buy something to replace our summer pots and baskets which have sadly not survived the summer this year. Long dry periods followed by blustery winds and heavy rain have done them no good at all. Still have another 2 dozen to plant. :-D

Our gardener has just been to cut the grass..... well, the green bits between the
dead straw that he has burnt. He seemed as upset as I was initially and said there
would be no charge for the cutting until the grass had recovered.... fair enough.
He knocked at the door and expected to be paid but I reminded him that as he
had made such a mess that he wouldn't be getting any money.... he was not happy
BUT, then neither are we. Hubby stayed well away from this confrontation.. hmmm.

You have been busy Ann, your baskets will be a really pretty sight.

I am glad you are feeling better Kandj.

We solved all our grass problems by getting rid of the lawn :-D. I've just watered all the pots, troughs etc in the garden, including the two by the front door that OH always forgets. It's taken forever.

The garden is very overgrown at the moment but we don't seem to have had time to do any maintenance. Even my daily deadheading has not been done recently. The girls went back yesterday afternoon so I've spent today changing the bed linen, including the duvet covers, on four beds and getting it all washed with all the towels. I also cleaned all the bathrooms. I had to get on with it as we are out on Thursday and I have visitors arriving on Friday, needing beds for the night. Sometimes I think I am running a hotel.

Hope you are not all wilting in the heat. Perhaps it is a bit cooler where you are. Must go and chivvy up OH who promised to do dinner tonight. It is now 7.30 and no sign of activity in the kitchen....and I am hungry.

I am having to rake the old dead patches and will get some grass seed and fill
in all the large areas that the gardener has managed to burn with the weedkiller.
It is hard work and I have only done two sections and will try to do two in morning
but I feel I am doing something positive, rather than watering dead looking grass.

I began on the front lawn as I am actually very embarrassed as it looks a real mess,
and then I will rake the old burnt dead grass patches until they are all reseeded again
in the back garden and hopefully it might just begin to look a whole lot better then.

Vera, are you and your OH relaxing now that your granddaughters have gone home?

Our sunflowers are over 4' high now and we have three flowers open for the first
time today. I planted them near a tree and then the slugs or something else ate
all the healthy looking leaves but they came back and we now have the flowers!

We pulled our two plants up they were weedy and looked a mess so they have gone. :-D

The sunflowers are growing every day and we now have three sunflowers... beautiful.

I almost dug them up when the leaves were being eaten but I resisted and glad I did.

The two snapdragons that I spotted at 59p have flourished and one is a creamy yellow and the other is a pale pink. They are looking healthy now and at a bargain price too.

The snapdragons will self seed too if you are lucky. I love sunflowers so was very disappointed in mine. they were supposed to be a smaller variet, well the plants grew fairly tall and the dlowers were the size of daisies!

Nice morning here today but no gardening for me as I have to go into town for the chiropodist. I hate my feet/toes!

I have been very busy this afternoon raking and re-seeding the burnt patches on our
front lawn. There is still more to do and then I will need to do the same in back garden.

Couldn't have been out in our garden this afternoon it was too wet. Hope all your hard work pays off Kandj

Aww, loving the new photo of Inara Ann.

Rained all day today, so no more raking and reseeding done here. Not complaining
I did too much yesterday and feel weary today. See what tomorrow brings.

A few photos on the blog of todays visit to Highnam Court Gloucester and last weekends visit to Hampshire including the children.