Flexing those muscles...

image from Magnific.com

Well, sort of 😏 To be fair, Adrian has been doing most of the "proper" muscle-flexing ~ under my supervision, of course 😄

I mentioned previously that we were going to reuse the old kitchen garden beds to create the new, purely, ornamental ones.  The first one to be moved was the old strawberry bed.  Before we relocated the strawberries into it, it was smaller and Adrian extended it with odds 'n' sods of wood.  This made the bed really weighty and it took a lot of muscle-flexing on the part of Adrian to lift the bloody thing, with me prising it up as much as I could manage with a long iron pole that my Dad gave me years ago. 

We were able to shuffle it across the (thankfully!) short stretch of garden to lean it against the new raised bed.  Adrian then spent a fair amount of time prising off the old bits of tattered weed membrane that had been tacked to the inside.  He wanted to clean it up as much as possible so that he could get some fresh coats of wood stain on it.

The space where the bed had been looked like a flippin' grave when it had been moved 😳  We've already started to whittle the soil down, though, and it won't take long before it's level with the ground around it.

It took some huffing and puffing but in the end we got it in its new position.  It's amazing how smart it now looks after three fresh coats of wood stain!  The canes in the new bed, by the way, are just markers for when I start to move shrubs into it 😊  The very large pot to the left was one of two that originally stood against the front of the house.  At some point I will get the matching pot emptied out and moved to stand at other side of the new bed.

We have also now shifted some of the stone chippings from further down the garden to create this new path.  All the stone chippings are gradually being moved from the lower part of the kitchen garden area; eventually it will be grassed over.

As you can see, I've been "shopping" from the garden to plant up the first of the patio containers.  I also brought a few little bits and pieces round from the kitchen courtyard.  I was going to put one of the round tubs where the chair now is but changed my mind.

I also put a largish pot (that I already had) beside the bench, again filled with plants from elsewhere in the garden.  The black rectangular thing currently being stored beneath the bench is the new pond; hopefully we'll be able to get it in position before too long.  

I'm so thrilled with my beautiful white peony 😍  I couldn't get a very good photo, though, as it was a tad windy at the time.  This is the first year that it's flowered so well ~ I'm just hoping that it won't sulk too much when I move it later in the year!

Hazelton

New blog post at Hazelton ~ tales from a miniature town:

Nothing is ever straightforward!

 

Little words of wisdom

 

Hazelton

New blog post at Hazelton ~ tales from a miniature town:

A completely new build

 

Very pleased...

and a little amazed, to be honest!

I haven't posted about my weight loss journey since back in February but I've still been plodding along.  I've had plenty of weeks where my weight has just stayed the same, along with small losses of 1lb at-a-time, but since my last post I'm now down a total of 29lbs 😊

I realise that "slow and steady wins the race" is a good adage when it comes to trying to shed excess weight and I've definitely been taking that road!  However, I'm also very much aware that my losses would be much more consistent if I were actually following the Slimming World plan as it's meant to be rather than my somewhat lackadaisical approach 😏  My aim going forward is to knuckle down, as it were, and properly get on board with the plan.  Whilst I am, of course, thrilled with my total loss so far I'm also well aware that with having such a lot of excess weight still to shift, dilly-dallying around with the plan won't be so helpful in the long term.

The next step, therefore, is to take time to actually get my meals properly organised and planned out, as per the Slimming World plan.  That way, hopefully I'll be seeing you in the not-too-distant future with news of further weight loss 😊

 

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)   

Reading round-up: June 2026

image from Freepik

The Blitz Detective Investigates - The Covent Garden Murder: Mike Hollow

The Blitz Detective Investigates - The Soho Murder: Mike Hollow

The Blitz Detective Investigates - The Bloomsbury Murder: Mike Hollow

The Lighthouse (Inspector Adam Dalgliesh Book 13): PD James

Kill Them Cold (The Hidden Norfolk Murder Mystery Series Book 7): JM Dalgliesh

A Dark Sin (The Hidden Norfolk Murder Mystery Series Book 8): JM Dalgliesh

Sew Felt Animals From Apple Blossom Wood: Claire Bowman

Making Luna Lapin;

Luna Lapin Making New Friends;

Sewing Luna Lapin's Friends;

Luna Lapin & Friends A Year of Making

(four book set): Sarah Peel

Dopamine Home: Rachel Verney

Dopamine Décor: Kate Rose Morgan

Granny Square Fashion: Cassie Ward

The Pattern-Free Wardrobe: Kimberley Hind

June was a pretty productive reading month, not least because I had birthday money burning a hole in my pocket, so treated myself to some non-fiction books 😄

I appear to be up-to-date with the Blitz Detective for now, but I'm hoping that as the war isn't yet over in the books there will be some more stories to come.

It seems that I have now read the penultimate book in the Adam Dalgliesh series, with just book 14 left.  I shall be sorry to say goodbye to Adam and his squad but I guess 14 books in one series is a lot of plots and twists to create for an author.

I'm still really enjoying the Hidden Norfolk Murder Mysteries books ~ there seem to be a fair few stories in the series yet to come.  It will be interesting to read JM Dalgliesh's two other series, one set on the Isle of Skye and the other in Yorkshire, but I am trying hard to resist the temptation to start on them 😏

No magazines read this month as I had plenty of other reading material to amuse myself with, so the pile is still sitting there and is in fact growing ~ I really must make an effort to get some of them read 😄  

A few steps further forward

Alright for some, eh!  Next-door's cat in one of his favourite spots again ~ he plainly doesn't mind sleeping on stone chippings😄

Adrian got the other half of the new raised bed constructed and set in place.  It really wasn't at all easy to get it level 😳 On reflection we should have done the levelling before putting down the weed membrane, and that is what we intend to do with the other beds that we move.  It actually looks worse in this photo than it does in real life, but in any event once it's planted up hopefully it won't be noticeable 😉 

I mentioned previously that we had used up one of the two little soil mountains from the back garden in the new bed.  Rather than take soil from the second mountain, we have started to empty out what had been the old strawberry bed instead.  We've thought long and hard about how we're going make the new garden area, and have decided to use most of the kitchen garden beds to create it.  Hopefully the new area will be a little easier to look after if it is raised up off the ground somewhat.  It seemed much more logical to move the soil from one bed to another first as they are, after all, out in the front garden already.  This is going to be a long process, methinks, and may well take a couple of years to complete.  

We haven't filled the new bed all the way to the top yet.  I'll be moving shrubs into it later in the year and want to avoid having to shift a lot of soil out of the way to accommodate them.  It may be necessary to top up with more soil once the shrubs are in place but we've got plenty to spare 😄

I finally got this side of the back garden tidied up.  Eventually all the plants in this bed will be moved elsewhere as this area of the garden is where our new, very much smaller, kitchen garden is going to be.

The raspberries and blackberries didn't take long to tidy up, and still seem happy living in their large tubs.

There had been four pots of dahlias here but two of them had disintegrated into nothing.  The remaining two, though, are growing quite happily.  The varieties are Café Au Lait and Tyrell.

This bed remains untouched, unfortunately.  I really can't be bothered to move all the bags waiting to go to the dump out of the way, to be honest!  It, too, will eventually be emptied out and will become the new home of our rhubarb plants.

There's still such a lot of work to be done but I feel that we've made a pretty good start 😊

Little words of wisdom

 

Surely not again, Sharon!

Contrary to how it must appear, I haven't been spending all my time slogging away in the garden... 

oh no, my lovelies...

I've also been creating a mess in my craft room 😏

"Ooooh, have you been busy making lovely things, then?" I hear you ask.....nope, I'm sorry to have to tell you that I've just been using it as a dumping ground yet again 😒

I amaze myself sometimes with just how messy I can be!  Anyhoo, I took the opportunity of tidying up one afternoon when the weather wasn't conducive to working in the garden.  I really want to make time to work on my dolls houses, too, and I will be sharing more about that on my other blog at some point 😉

It didn't take as long as I feared it might, to be honest.  Sometimes the thought of starting something is worse than actually getting on with it!

A couple of the crates on the bench have stuff in them that I want to try selling on Ebay rather than just taking to our local charity shops.  I've been putting off doing it for months and months, but it would free up more space if I got the job done so it's on my "ought-to-do-very-soon" list 😄

Beverly put up my new bunting and the beaded door curtain when she was over recently, which saved me from having to climb up the stepladder to do it myself or having to ask Adrian to do it for me.  It always feels really good when the room is nice and tidy, so I really should make the effort to keep it that way!

We've had some days when the weather hasn't been good for gardening, so I've been able to make a start on a new dolls house project ~ there'll be more to come on that in due course 😊

Front and back

image from Magnific.com

Yup, I'm still jumping from the front to the back garden ~ then round to the front again 😏

That's one of the two little soil mountains we currently have in the back garden.  We managed to get rid of some of this one when we filled in the hole where the old pond had been in the front garden.  Since this photo was taken, we've used the rest of the soil to start filling the new raised beds along the retaining wall in the front garden.  Hopefully we'll soon get the other soil mountain whittled away to nothing once we get going on remaking the pond/wildlife area out there 😊

This bed is situated between our garden shed and original log store, and in some ways its a bit of a nuisance to be honest.  We have wondered if we should dismantle the bloody thing but that would take a lot of time and effort that we just don't have the enthusiasm for.  Adrian dug up the bulbs and leftover bits of rosa rugosa that were in there and I knocked off the soil from the roots ready to get rid of it all. 

We've had a bit of a rethink about digging a new hole to accommodate the old pond that we moved in the front garden.  We had already bought a shallower, rectangular, pond which we were going to position beside the old one but of course everything changed when we had to have the wall rebuilt.  We will still use the new one out the front but have decided that the raised bed above will be ideal for the old pond.  Obviously we've still got to dig soil out of the bed, but hopefully it won't be as back-breaking as digging down into the ground!

We won't be tackling this little project for quite some time, I suspect, as we've got such a lot of other work to get done first.  Still, at least it will give any lurking weeds a chance to show themselves so we can whip the buggers out 😏

It was a pretty chilly and windy day when we cleared that bed, but I was on a roll and full of good intentions to get this side of the back garden tidied up too.  I plonked myself down to start on this bed but omg, it was like sitting in a bloody wind tunnel 😱 It was obviously much more sheltered between the shed and log-store!  I started to get ear-ache so decided to leave it for another day 😉 

I don't think it will take too much time to work my way around once I get going.  The second soil mountain, by the way, is just out of sight in this photo to the right ~ you can see a tiny piece of the blue tarp that's covering it in hopes of stopping it getting too wet and claggy when it rains!

This is the gathering-place for the bags of stuff that need to go to the tip at some point.  I don't think I'll be able reach across to sort out the bed until it's all gone.

I can easily reach these pots of dahlias, though.  I was surprised to see they were sending up shoots as they've been out all winter and there isn't so much protection for the tubers in these smaller pots.

It looks like the little fuchsia plants (Pink Galore) also survived the winter.  They must be pretty well protected beneath this escalonia as I believe they are only half-hardy.

After forgetting to take "after" photos of this bed when I'd tidied it up, I did remember a few days after the event 😄 

Along with the ferns, it also has some other nice little plants in it .  A fair few of them, though, have lost their labels and unfortunately I can't remember what most of them are called 🤷

I do know that this is a lamium but can't remember the variety.  It's a pretty little plant and is growing really well in this bed after being moved from elsewhere in the garden.

The bed is fairly densely planted, which all the plants seem to be happy with.  I do have to keep the lamium in check a little to stop it taking over, but all-in-all I'm pretty pleased with how it's looking and it's really nice to have at least one part of the garden that I feel satisfied with 😊

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)