Shadow Storks

My O/H made  these storks out of bits of wood and broom handles a few years ago. They're watching over my broad beans in my little veggie patch and I love them.

Linking up to SSS2

One Picture times Two

Have you ever watched that TV programme, 'Who Do You Think You Are?'  Celebrities are invited to helped to trace their family  ancestry with amazing results.

My mum died in 1948 when I was 4. I had hardly any pictures and knew very little about her family. My daughter signed up for that programme which traces ancestry. Imagine how I felt when I saw an identical picture of the two ladies with the dog posted on someone else's 'tree'. One intrepid email later (from me) and now 60+ years on I find I have a second cousin with a gorgeous family living out in New Zealand, I never even knew existed. Wow!

Going Home

It's been cold here today. The sun had dried the ground quite a bit since Monday's mini tornado.

I felt a bitter/sweetness  as O/H's old Ford Tranny was being loaded up.

Good memories and Goodbye.

Both of you, Rest in Peace. I love you.

Friends & Family

With every day that goes by, I'm so grateful for my fantastic friends and family.
At our house, the other side the wall close to the  central heating tank was the remains of a defunct rockery. A big, ugly, scratchy old shrub (last remaining bit) used to attack you every time you went by it. When my nephew came down last week he suggested we removed the shrub and had a bit of a clear-up of the debris and entranklements underneath it.We worked hard, raked it all over and sowed grass seed on it - looking good!
My central heating oil was getting low so a couple of days ago I contacted our local supplier. Had my oil delivered practically straight away. The driver filled the tank up to the top and just as he was winding the reel of hose up, he noticed a crack in the side of the tank which was getting wider by the minute. Noooo! He rang the depot to get someone out with a reserve tank ASAP to pump my tank out again. He asked me for some soap to seal the crack which did actually work and did pretty well stem the flow. By this time, my nephew arrived. Waiting for the driver with the reserve tank seemed to go on forever although in all fairness he did get here as quickly as he could. He soon emptied the ropey tank (breathe out) and hardly any of the oil had escaped.
I had a new tank delivered yesterday, connected up to the heating, filled up with the oil out of the reserve tank and ready to roll. How good is that?
It's so easy to go through a series of 'What if.' What if we hadn't cleared the area by the tank. We wouldn't have been able to access it. What if the driver hadn't said anything. What if the tank had gone in the middle of the night ...... what if .......

 On Monday night, my O/H's long-time friend (both blacksmiths together) and his wife called and presented me with a beautiful metal poppy which he'd made in memory of him. He'd made metal poppies for the blacksmith's convention at Ypress 2016

I love my family and friends and you  too who drop by.
Thank you
Molly x

The Hall at Abbey-cwm-hir

Day off yesterday and an unexpected invitation to join a bus trip to The Hall at Abbey-Cwm-Hir. The best way to describe where it is and what it's about is to click on the link below:
http://www.abbeycwmhir.com/

It was amazing and the sun shone all day. When we arrived we were taken through the garden room and the proprietor and his wife sat us all down with a cup of tea or coffee - best china cups and saucers. Then before taking a tour of the house, 52 rooms, we were asked to remove our shoes to protect the floors and coverings. I don't think I've ever seen so many collections of memorabilia under one roof. And the décor was style with a capital 'D'. Everything was immaculate and beautiful. Somebody had put in an awful lot of hard work and it showed.

Here are some of the photos I took of the gardens - 12 acres.

The lake was beautiful with a little boathouse and small boat on the left hand edge of it.

These are beach huts nestled in the woodland. All individually furnished and decorated.

There's a Shepherd's Hut there too. If you click on the picture it does say 'No Riff Raff'. They didn't mean me did they?

That's the interior - isn't it fantastic. I love it.

The mistress of the house accompanied us on our tour. She happily made herself comfortable on the four poster bed in the Master Bedroom. (All the bedrooms seemed to have four poster beds but this one was really posh). She's the owners' much loved beautiful dog.

Guess what her name is ...... 'Abi-cwm-hir'. Well they couldn't really call her anything else. I love her.

Love is .......

The weather in UK has been stiflingly hot for the last few days. Finding enough water to keep the veggies and plants from dying  was getting to be a bit of a problem. Yesterday my bestest  nephew  brought the troops down. ( They've broken up school now for the summer holidays) and they set up a really good watering system for me. They picked a bag of the broad beans they'd grown  and then when the weather got too hot they came in and painted these lovely pictures for me. I feel blessed.

Community Garden - Work in Progress

A cluster of poppies have seeded themselves amongst the weeds and debris in the top polytunnel.

The leeks I planted out last year have all gone dome shaped. But as Arleen so aptly puts it, " I'm doing OK."

The second crop of potatoes, my young friends planted, are all starting to come into flower which means more spuds not too far away. We've eaten the first crop they planted in the other poly tunnel. They cropped brilliantly and tasted just as good.

We sowed a crop of broad beans outside and they're ready for picking.

The runner beans were a bit of a disaster. Not enough water early on.Some of the leaves died off.  The beans curled up instead of being straight.  but we've had a couple of meals off them and they taste just as good.  I've tried to remedy them by soaking a margarine tub- full of chicken poo pellets in a five gallons of water over night and then soaking the roots. It seems to be helping because little green shoots are starting from the base.

Picked the first courgette today.

Cabbage doing OK. Not many Cabbage White butterflies about this year. Perhaps the weather's been too cold.

Tried the parsnips today.

Sweetcorn, lettuce and beetroot in this tunnel. Oh and pumpkins and dahlias on the other side.

Sowed some more beetroot seeds today. We seem to be eating them quicker than we can grow them, but they taste delicious.
Have a good week
Molly x