Potato fest

Mike's been harvesting the early potato crop, and boy are they good!

With home grown mint and butter they're so perfect we've even been having them fried for breakfast :-)

But for lunch we do have a healthy side salad.

I've added a small bit to my garden too, by adding some recycled roof tiles to make an end for the new path of stones.

  

And I saved the best till last....... I had mentioned to Mike that I'd like some wooden planters like the ones I'd seen in the chateau in Villandry, in France and when I got down to the plot the other day this was waiting for me.....he'd made it in my absence, pretty clever eh! Thank you :-)

It will go on the fence line with a cordon fruit tree inside. It's so smart that I would like at least another 2 :-)

Lettuces, radishes , spring onions and spinach

The title says it all.... For the past 3 weeks we've been harvesting all these lovely vegetables in enough quantities to share with our family and neighbours, all of whom are delighted with the wonderful fresh flavour of freshly grown produce.

Mike has worked extremely hard, 7/8 hours a day on the plots 5-7 days a week!!

You can see more here, where he keeps a lovely blog record of the plots.

My roll is more of support team, providing tea/coffee meals, yes cooked meals of varying varieties, including all day breakfasts at teatime :-)

I do a bit of planting in my plot, but mainly decorative.

This is my new brick path, made from reclaimed bricks from the plot, it's just waiting for a dressing of sharp sand to fill in the gaps. I am a bit proud of this as I never would have thought I could make one. The levelling took a bit of time but it was worth it to get it right.

And you can also see our latest acquisition, the rocker, for those most important relaxing moments, a great spot by Mike at our local charity shop. It will need posh new cushions, but it's still way too comfortable as it is.

We've also added a few other pieces just to personalise the garden.

A vintage seat complete with moss, and a bird bath which will eventually have another brick path in the centre of the beds leading up to it.

I was very lucky to be given this lovely little shelving unit by another plot holder so couldn't wait to put it up, despite the fact that I haven't finished painting the walls or the ceiling.

And last of all, we got to dog sit our favourite lille chap on Monday and he spent the day on the plot with us having a wonderful time.

(yes children, I know a paint job is badly needed on the table and chairs!)

Any lunch for me then?

More pics from Dungeness and Rye

Home again, and if our local weather is anything to go by, just in time, there's a howling gale outside, well maybe not that bad.... but it's too cold and wet for June.

So to more pics of sunshine and a knitting extravaganza in Rye.

And crochet....

Panoramas in Dungeness

Shadow play

Oh look I'm on TV....

Flower power.....

And hole lot more going on over here 

It was a great trip as always..... looking forward to the next visit already.

Enjoying the sunshine

We're away again in the Nomad wagon, this time to our favourite retreat of Dungeness.

It's been a beautiful day just chilling out.

Watching the tide roll in and out.

And admiring the flowers, standing proud against the wind.

"When (now) I'm Sixty Four"

Yesterday was my birthday, and what a glorious one it was too. I can remember Ringo singing "When I'm sixty Four" so clearly and thinking how ancient that was, so it's hard to quite believe I've arrived! 

In some ways I feel as if I've finally grown up but then again maybe not :-)

We had a lovely picnic in the beautiful Petworth Park and the sun was really kind to us.

I was showered with lots of very thoughtful presents and cards......

I seem to have a garden and doggy theme in the cards.....

This plaque was a totally unexpected gift from one of my grandsons, Alfie, who is 12 and made this at school. Isn't he gorgeous and as he's the summerhouse colours too so he will be living in the garden.

After overeating cake, scones and savoury goodies we went for a walk in the sun through the park.

It was a splendid day and I couldn't have asked for a better birthday, thanks to all my wonderful family. 

Swansea City:The Fall and Rise

I just wanted to share a proud moment with you.

Last night we watched a wonderful documentary on BBC Wales which is now showing here on iPlayer for the next five days, if you want to watch a truly inspirational program.

It tells the remarkable story of the journey of Swansea City football club from imminent closure to winning the League cup. It is a beautifully made documentary, and had me on the edge of my seat with  a lump in my throat (and I know nothing about football), but I found myself willing this courageous club on to win, despite all the setbacks.

Our son, Dan, edited the documentary and had previously filled us in with details of the way they worked the story telling. They paid so much attention to small details, which has paid off in full, it's an amazing achievement, very well done to all the team.

Too busy to retire

I've had a such a busy week I'm beginning to wonder how I had time to work, a familiar refrain I'm sure, but as you can imagine, with this slight upturn in the weather, there's been lots of activity on our allotment plots.

Not least the arrival of this beautiful bureau that my daughter Pru gave me as an early birthday present.

And look at these lovely compartments and a drawer.

Just perfect for that book I've always wanted to write.

So needless to say the race is on to wash the floor ( and get rid of all the remnants of chicken poo), can't have my beautiful bureau getting contaminated. Then there's the painting of the furniture.

Remember this, it was left by the previous tenant, now it's ready for new cushions.

And my daughter Nicola's old school desk on the left , and look what I found on the underneath. 

BTW the summerhouse hasn't got chickenpox, my DH said I had to paint each wood knot with a stain covering paint before I paint the walls. I thought it was one of those jokes when you send the apprentice to the shop to get a pound of rubber nails, apparently not....

And then there was another early birthday present from my DH, theses lovely plants and grit to make an alpine garden, another thing on my bucket list, it looks so beautiful.....

......sitting in front of our summerhouse in her new colours.

I had a lovely little visitor for a few hours on Thursday who kept me amused with lots of activity and cuddles, I can't wait for the next time I get to dog sit.