Sunday, September 20, 2026

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.
For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.
For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.
For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014) 

Saturday, September 19, 2026

A quiet week

image from Magnific.com

Adrian was down south for a few days this week, so I was "home alone" 😀  Well, I say "alone" but sadly for me, my inner Domestic Goddess decided to put in one of her extremely sporadic appearances, so any thoughts I might have had along the lines of lazing around on the sofa reading, whilst munching biscuits and/or chocolate (accompanied by copious cups of tea, of course 😉) went right out of the window 😏  I'm sure that had she been feeling better, Beverly would have come over and rescued me from the tyranny of my inner DG but alas, she was still recovering from a bout of Covid 😳  Is that the correct way to refer to Covid now, do you think ~ like a bout of flu?  Well, however we should be referring to it, it's still very firmly "out there" in the community isn't it *sigh*

I'm sorry to report that I have no photos to share with you ~ simply because I just didn't think to take any once the IDG got her claws into me!  The weather has been pretty crappy this week, so any ideas I might have had to get some more work done in the garden were firmly squashed.  Thinking about it, that's probably how the IDG was able to get her foot in the door ~ if only I'd been quick enough to escape to my craft room, she might have stayed hidden 😄  Oh well, at least I got a couple of jobs done that I'd been putting off for a very long time 😉

Mondays and Thursdays are usually somewhat "bitty" sorts of days, in the mornings at any rate, as that's when I have my bi-weekly Komp calls with my Dad.  I usually just potter about until we meet up at 11am, have an early lunch, then try to work up the enthusiasm to do something constructive in the afternoon LOL  This week, Monday was soon taken up with laundry, Komping, and doing my online Tesco shop.  I also thoroughly cleaned the fridge, inside and out.  When I saw the layer of sticky dust on the top, I felt it prudent to clean the top of the freezer too 😯  

Tuesday rolled around and the IDG decided she was definitely going to put in an appearance 😖  As I have told you many, many, times my lovelies, I am a slut when it comes to housework and I try to avoid it at all costs!  However, I'm sure that there comes a time in the life of even the most dedicated "housework slut" when she decides that something will have to be done about the dust and mess ~ and I'm no exception, it seems!  I've been meaning to tackle our bedroom for months now, although to be fair it wasn't too untidy although the dust was about an inch thick 😁  So I set-to, dusting, cleaning, and vacuuming every surface to within an inch of its life LOL  Actually, that's not entirely true as I didn't have the energy (nor the inclination to be fair) to haul the stepladder upstairs to clean the top of the wardrobes ~ that will just have to wait until my next bout of housework madness 😏

After the cleaning, I changed the by-now very dusty bedlinen (with the duvet cover as always a rather mammoth task to tackle when doing it alone!) and decided to slightly rearrange things in the room, although I left that for the following day.

I must confess that the top of my chest of drawers was very untidy, piled up with stuff that really needed a proper home.  I'd been thinking about sorting through my costume jewellery for quite some time, as I have quite a lot of it and wear very few of the pieces.  Most of my jewellery is cheap 'n' cheerful, even the stuff that I don't wear and just keep for sentimental reasons.  The chest of drawers has three fairly small drawers, two of which are very shallow and were stuffed with necklaces and brooches.  I decided to be ruthless and have now whittled that down to just one drawer of necklaces that I am likely to actually wear.  My earrings are kept on a metal carousel-type thing which sits on the chest of drawers and I weeded out a few pairs of those that I never wear.  I was then able to rearrange the other two drawers to hold things like hair brushes/combs, spare perfumes, make-up, etc.  

I moved my childhood teddies (that I've had since I was a baby) from the top of my shoe cabinet and across the landing into the guest bedroom.  This cleared a space for me to put a large wooden box there instead.  It belonged to my Great Aunt Mary and I suspect she may have used it as a sewing box, although I do have a smaller wooden box that was hers which actually does have sewing bits and bobs in it, as well as a "proper" sewing basket.  Perhaps she used the big box for storing papers ~ who knows 🤷  Anyhoo I'm now using it for the brooches I decided to keep, along with the "sentimental" jewellery.

There was a small side table in front of the window which had been downstairs.  I brought it up to our bedroom as I thought it might be useful but we have never put anything on it in all the time it's been there.  It was actually a tad annoying, to be honest, as it made closing the curtains a little difficult.  I decided that since it was just standing there empty, it could go ~ so it's now in the guest bedroom too!  I also repotted my beloved aspidistra.  It didn't need to go into a larger pot but the compost had shrunk down quite considerably.  I tipped out the old stuff and replanted it into some lovely fresh compost.  I suppose I shouldn't really have favourites, but the aspidistra, along with the monstera which lives in the dining room, are my most beloved plants in my little houseplant collection 😊

Wednesday can also be a rather fragmented sort of day, as we usually have our Tesco delivery in the early afternoon, but the interruption didn't stop me from finishing in the bedroom.  It doesn't seem like I did very much, really, now that it's written down but it's surprising just how long all this took to get done 😳

I was already feeling a bit fed-up with the IDG by the time Thursday rolled around, but allowed myself to be persuaded to tackle the guest bedroom.  Again, it's amazing just how long it took me to dust, clean, and vacuum in there!  I did some furniture/picture rearranging and picked up all the yarn that had been piled on the floor ~ sadly it's now piled up on the bed but I totally ran out of steam to sort through it, as I found it rather overwhelming to be honest.  Beverly has agreed to help me be ruthless with it when she next comes over.  I also repotted the two houseplants that live in the room.  One did need a larger pot but I was able to simply replant the other one into fresh compost in its original container.

By Friday I decided to tell the IDG to bugger off and spent the day just pootling about, not doing much of anything in particular, although I did get the hems taken up on a new pair of trousers that Adrian had bought quite some time back.  It's not a job that I particularly enjoy and I always procrastinate about getting it done.....which is a tad unfortunate, really, as virtually every pair of trousers he buys has to be shortened!  The daft part about it, though, is that once I "gird me loins" and get on with it, the task really doesn't take that long to do 😏

I was rather hoping to get out in the garden today but alas the weather gods are not smiling kindly down upon us.  I did manage to dig out some potatoes this morning during a very brief respite from the rain, which wasn't the most pleasant of jobs with the soil being so cold and claggy!  Since then, though, it's been absolutely chucking it down out there so goodness knows when we'll be able to get any garden work done.  I just hope my IDG doesn't decide that I can fill my time with more housework instead 😬

Sunday, September 13, 2026

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.
For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.
For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.
For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014) 

Thursday, September 10, 2026

Flexing our muscles

image from Magnific.com

Although I suppose to be more accurate, Adrian has been flexing his muscles somewhat more than I have 😉


We got most of what needed to be shifted out of this front wall border.  The hypericum has gone into the latest of the raised beds that we recently got in place.  It was planted much too close to the climbing rose (Claire Austin), which was suffering somewhat as a result.  Hopefully it will feel better now that it isn't being crowded out!  The rosa rugosa beside the hypericum has been dug out completely.  It really had turned into a terrible thug, spreading across as well as out of the border 😒  I fully expect to be pulling up shoots for sometime yet to come 😳

There was another, much more well-behaved, rose to the left of the buddleia which has been relocated.  The buddleia itself will be left in the border until we've got the last raised bed in place, which won't be until next year now methinks.  In the meantime, much as I really like it, the alchemilla mollis has also been dug out.  I have more plants in other parts of both the front and back gardens, so I'm not getting rid of it entirely 😊

The weigela (between the buddleia and escallonia) is staying put, even though I planted it a little too close to the latter really.  I just don't think it's worth all the effort involved to get poor Adrian to dig it out and then me replant it just a little further along from its original spot!  I have another two weigelas in other parts of the front garden that will be dug up and moved to this border in due course.  We can get one moved as soon as we feel like it, as it will be going near to the climbing rose ~ although not too close, obviously 😉  The other one will have to wait until we've been able to move the buddleia.

  Once the weigelas are all in their new home I will probably relocate a couple more shrubs from elsewhere in the front garden to join them.  I don't intend to have any other plants in this border, although there are spring bulbs in there that I'm happy to leave in situ and I will probably add more over time.  I'm just going to top it with a good layer of bark chippings to finish it off.  I'm still not sure what to do with the little area on the other side of the climbing rose.  It's full of crocosmia at the moment and I'm contemplating digging it all out as the bloody stuff does tend to take over.  I might replace it with something low-growing and, if possible, evergreen.


The "well behaved" rose from the border has gone into this large pot, which used to stand near the dining room window.  We were lazy and moved it without emptying out the soil!  It was pretty damn heavy but we managed to shift it nevertheless, and it saved some time and effort not to have to dig out all the soil and then refill it again.  Thankfully it didn't have to go far across the stone chippings 😏

The rose is The King's Rose (again, from David Austin).  It only has a light scent when I would normally go for something stronger, but it has such a pretty pink and white striped flower that I couldn't resist it!  I now have matching pots either side of this long bed, both with roses.  The pink blooms you can see in the photo are on the rose in the tub behind: Eustacia Vye.


I've also managed to get the second planter finished.  The rose in the centre is Desdemona, the second of my recent new purchases from David Austin.  As with the other planter, I dug up some more of the London Pride plants from one of the borders to set along the back, with the two little alpine plants I'd put aside planted either side of the rose.

We're both pretty pleased with how much we've managed to achieve so far this year, a lot more than we thought we would to be honest.  If we continue to get some good days, then hopefully we'll get a bit more done before we have to stop for the winter 🤞

Tuesday, September 8, 2026

Dodging the downpours


"Mr Grumpy" from next-door, looking down his nose at us when we spotted him from the living room window the other day 😏  I think he's a bit annoyed that we are altering "his" garden 😉

We got some more work done last week but it really was a case of having to do bits here and there between the showers ~ some of which were actually rather bloody heavy!  Of course all the rain is also making the soil pretty damn heavy and claggy, so even when it wasn't raining it wasn't particularly nice to dig in the stuff 😳 


I had to make an effort, though, as the plants I'd ordered from Shire Plants arrived and I really needed to get them in the garden.  I started with the new little herb bed that I had finally managed to get cleared out.  We don't use a lot of fresh herbs in the kitchen, so the few I have now planted are ample for our needs.  I already had the chives, which came out of the planter which matches the one now on the new patio.  I added rosemary, oregano, two different varieties of thyme, and mint ~ the latter (hopefully!) safely ensconced in a pot, obviously 😏


The second planter from the kitchen courtyard has now been beefed up, given a few more coats of wood stain, and put in its new position on the patio.  Adrian made inroads into the soil mountain in the back garden when he filled up the planter; he then moved the soil that was left and dumped it into the empty raised bed in the front garden had been used as a holding bed for the plants I had dug up and wanted to keep.

He's very pleased to get the soil shifted, even though it will have to be moved onto a tarpaulin next year so that we can dismantle the bed to re-use it.  He really wanted to clear the area in the back garden so that he can easily access our second log-store over the coming months.  With the weather being so changeable there doesn't seem to be much point in trying to get the last raised bed in position in the front garden, not least because it will need a few coats of wood stain.  We may just get the new sleepers ordered and set them in place on the days when it isn't bucketing down with rain 😏


I finished off the first planter on the patio by adding an alpine-type plant either side of the rose.  I had already put in some London Pride plants along the back ~ there were a lot of them in the garden when we bought the house so I dig 'em up and use them to fill in gaps where needed!


I've saved two of the little alpine plants for the second planter and used the rest of them to make a little rock garden in the old wheelbarrow.  I made use of some of the fine stone chippings we had originally used for the paths between the old kitchen garden beds, both to mix in with the compost to help it drain more freely and to top off around the plants.  The pebbles and cobblestones were a mix of some we'd brought with us when we moved, and some we'd found in the garden here.

It's a simple little display but I am very pleased with how it's turned out 😊

Sunday, September 6, 2026

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.
For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.
For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.
For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014) 

Thursday, September 3, 2026

Reading round-up: August 2026

image from Freepik


Featherstone Hall Hotel: A Dolls House Story: Julie Jackson

Watch and Prey (The Hidden Norfolk Murder Mystery Series Book 15): JM Dalgliesh

When Death Calls (The Hidden Norfolk Murder Mystery Series Book 16): JM Dalgliesh

The Killing Code (DCI Jack Logan Crime Thrillers Book 3): JD Kirk

Blood And Treachery (DCI Jack Logan Crime Thrillers Book 4): JD Kirk

The Last Bloody Straw (DCI Jack Logan Crime Thrillers Book 5): JD Kirk

A Whisper Of Sorrows (DCI Jack Logan Crime Thrillers Book 6): JD Kirk

The Big Man Upstairs (DCI Jack Logan Crime Thrillers Book 7): JD Kirk

A Death Most Monumental (DCI Jack Logan Crime Thrillers Book 8): JD Kirk

A Snowball's Chance In Hell (DCI Jack Logan Crime Thrillers Book 9): JD Kirk

Ahead Of The Game (DCI Jack Logan Crime Thrillers Book 10): JD Kirk

An Isolated Incident (DCI Jack Logan Crime Thrillers Book 11): JD Kirk

Colder Than The Grave (DCI Jack Logan Crime Thrillers Book 12): JD Kirk

Come Hell Or High Water(DCI Jack Logan Crime Thrillers Book 13): JD Kirk

City of Scars (DCI Jack Logan Crime Thrillers Book 14): JD Kirk 

Here Lie The Dead (DCI Jack Logan Crime Thrillers Book 15): JD Kirk

One For The Ages (DCI Jack Logan Crime Thrillers Book 16): JD Kirk


August was a very productive month for reading, no doubt helped by the fact that I had a fair bit of time on my hands whilst we travelled to and from Norfolk for Dad's 90th birthday holiday 😏

As you can see I did read another couple of the Hidden Norfolk Murder Mysteries but I've been very much side-tracked by the DCI Logan books, which I am enjoying immensely.  Despite his gruff and fierce manner, there is just something so very appealing about Jack Logan!  I will get back to the Hidden Norfolk books in due course, though 😉

I came across the Featherstone Hall Hotel book quite by accident whilst I was doing one of my favourite things: surfing dolls house-related stuff on the internet 😃  I vaguely remembered it being serialised in the now-defunct Dolls House & Miniature Scene magazine and whilst I really don't think I shall ever make a dolls house hotel, I thought it was nevertheless a nice book to add to my collection.  

No magazines were caught up with this month, alas, but that is something I really need to get stuck into before they pile up too much!  

Tuesday, September 1, 2026

Rhubarb and roses...


and a whole load of weeds, too!  This photo of stuff for the dump was taken way back at the beginning of July, and it was actually cleared away.  Sadly for us, we very quickly gathered up just as many more  bags full of weeds ~ which I, of course, forgot to photograph 😏~ but let me assure you that it was as bad as the pile above!  What is a teensy wee bit disheartening, despite the latest load having gone to the dump last week, is the sure and certain knowledge that we will have many more such piles to clear away before we've finished all the garden alterations 😒 


You may remember that we got the rhubarb bed from the front garden emptied out a few weeks ago.  We were able to move it round to the new, very much smaller, kitchen garden area in the back garden fairly easily and Adrian gave it a few coats of wood stain before setting it in its new position.  He then wheelbarrowed the rest of the rubbly soil that was left from the last bed we relocated in the front garden ~ which means there is now one less place out there for the cats to poop in 😉

He was hoping to make more of a dent in the little soil mountain to the right of the bed, but in the end not much was needed to top up the bed.  This was because he had to empty out the soil from second black wooden planter that was to be moved from the kitchen courtyard to the new patio.  By the time I'd put the rhubarb plants back into the bed, I didn't really need much more soil to fill in around them.  Still the mountain is further away from the stone chippings area now so that's some progress, and I shall need a fair bit of it to refill the wooden planter once it's been stained and is in position on the patio.


I needed "something" for said wooden planters, and there just wasn't anything I liked the look of that I could shop from the garden.  And, to be honest, what I really wanted was more roses ~ I do love roses 😍  So I treated myself to a couple more from David Austin, my go-to rose supplier.  I've had a number of plants from them over the years and can honestly say that I have never been disappointed.  


The three that I planted in the wooden barrels to the left of the wheelbarrow are doing very well, and so I thought I'd fill the patio with more beautiful roses 😊  I've only been able to get one of my new purchases planted but the other should be fine in its pot until the second wooden planter is ready for it.  The one in the photo above is The Poet's Wife, which has rich yellow flowers and a strong, fruity, scent.  The rose for the second planter is called Desdemona, which has white flowers with a pinkish hue, and has a strong, old rose fragrance.

The roses in the tubs have been fine through winter, up to now at least, so I'm hoping that these new ones will be okay as well.  If I feel that they are suffering at all I will wrap either some horticultural fleece or windbreak netting around the planters to give them some protection.


Phil and Adrian took away the huge pile of stuff that was piled here ready for the tip last week, so I was finally able to reach this bed to clear it out ~ hence yet another full bag of weeds already to the right of the photo there!  It's only a small bed but it took me bloody ages to clear it out, and I know it won't be too long before more of the dratted buttercups come back to taunt me as I couldn't get them completely out from where they have embedded themselves right at the back 😒  I'll have to just keep on top of pulling the buggers out!

The ivy was being swamped by all the weeds, so hopefully it will feel better now that it's got some space around it.  The little plant to the right of the bed is a fuchsia, Pink Galore, that I'd forgotten I'd planted in there!  I don't know if it will survive to be honest as it was only a seasonal bedding plant, but it's been in there a couple of years now so we'll just have to see how it gets on over this coming winter without all those weeds for protection 😉  The rest of the bed will be planted with a small selection of herbs, which I've ordered from Shire Plants.  


These were all in the kitchen courtyard, so I just moved them across to finish off the new herb bed whilst we decide what we're going to do there.  I think we will probably just have a bench, or perhaps a couple of garden chairs, where we can sit and catch the sun as it works its way around the house 😊


I don't often post photos of myself but thought I'd show you my new hairstyle ~ not sure quite why I appear to be gurning so much in this photo😄  It's been years since I had my hair coloured and now that it is so white, I thought a bit of colour would make a change 😉

Monday, August 31, 2026

More done than it seemed!


Last week was a pretty mixed bag, weatherwise, but despite feeling that we didn't get much done, more was actually achieved that I had at first thought.

I think I mentioned that I was going to relocate the old wheelbarrow from the other side of the garden across to the new patio?  I got it moved ~ no easy task as the front wheel is bent to one side! ~ and emptied out, ready for new plants to be installed.  I've ordered a selection of alpines (along with a few herbs for the back garden) from Shire Plants, as I'm going to make a mini rockery in the wheelbarrow.  I also wanted a couple of low-growing plants to finish off the black wooden planter on the right and I really didn't have anything suitable I could "shop" from the garden. 


However, I was able to use what I already had to finish off this side of the long raised bed.  Unfortunately we've had to put some of the netting panels from the old kitchen garden beds around some of the new ones as a cat (most likely Mr Grumpy from next door 😒) has been digging in it.  As I said, I got this side planted up and then topped off with bark chippings.  Although it's not a fool-proof topping, the cats don't seem to like to dig in it as much as they do in nice fresh soil!

The dwarf buddleia and erigerons were temporarily being housed in the planter on the patio.  The little variegated shrub (which has lost its label, unfortunately) to the left of the hypericum was in the back garden, in a bed which I am going to plant up with herbs in due course.  I was worried for a while about the little rowan tree, in the centre of the bed, that I had uprooted from the other side of the front garden.  It was looking very sad and dropped all it's leaves, but I'm happy to report that it is looking much better now and is putting out fresh new foliage 😊

I also relocated another hypericum from the planter on the patio, which has now planted in the other side of the raised bed, next to the hypericum which has been there for a little while.  The fencing is still in place around this side of the bed as I can't really get any more plants moved into it until I've dug up another rowan ~ which is still on the other side of the garden 😖


I moved another plant from the back garden, which I can't remember the name of, to replace the two wooden blocks that I'd put there to try to keep the cats from digging.  Needless to say, they took advantage of the freshly turned over soil and have dug in there again 😠  Much as I don't like to crowd out my plants too much, I think I will have to put in a fair few more to try to fill the gaps as much as possible.


We finally got the old wall border emptied out ~ of course, I've forgotten to take a photo of it in its bare state 😄  I really wanted to keep the lupin plant that was growing in the corner next to the escallonia and Adrian managed to dig it out with a fair bit of root still attached.  I drastically cut it back, just leaving these small, fresh, shoots.  I was amazed at how much liquid came out of the stalks when I cut them!  I didn't know that lupins retain such a lot of water.  The plant seems okay, though, so fingers crossed that it will survive being treated so brutally 🤞


The rosa rugosa, which we inherited when we bought the house, is going to have to go I'm afraid.  Lovely shrubs as they are this one was such a terrible thug, sending up new shoots all over the place.  I got it all cut down ready for Adrian to dig out at some point soon.


I had a "supervisor" whilst I was cutting back the rosa rugosa.....


it sat on my leg for a good couple of minutes before flying off.  I guess it just needed a little rest before carrying on with its day 😊


I also repotted all the new pond plants, something which I should have done when they arrived to be honest but didn't really have time right there and then, so I just plonked them into the water!  I was glad to finally get the job done, and I'm happy to report that the water is also starting to look much clearer now.  


I turned my back for a couple of seconds and found that another butterfly had taken advantage of somewhere to have a little sit down!  Good job I noticed before I sat back down on my gardening stool, otherwise it would have been a squished butterfly 😄