Gardening and Gifts

Early in the morning I like to take a stroll around the garden in the hope of seeing new Spring flowers.  The tulips are just beginning to open.  We've had unsettled, showery weather this week, but it was good to see the last of the plum blossom whilst the pear tree is full of flowers.  Today it's a dry day and there's sunshine.

 

The green vegetation is vivid.

I like to see the delicate primroses and violets and the colourful

 hyacinths that were planted together in a flower bed

 after being grown in separate pots indoors in the Wintertime.

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On Wednesday our granddaughter and her Mum joined us for a belated Mother's Day evening meal after they had finished work.  Mr P cooked a roast chicken, roast potatoes and vegetables.  Daughter M and I had scampi.  Pudding was chocolate profiteroles and tiramisu.  Above is the bouquet that our granddaughter gave me. She wasn't able to be with us for Mother's Day as she had a bad bout of influenza during that time.

Below is the bouquet that our granddaughter gave to her Mum.

A camellia in a bowl of water was the centre of the table decoration.

Thank you for your visit.  I hope that you have an enjoyable weekend.

Gifts

The hyacinths our daughter M gave us as a gift are fully in flower now.  We're greeted each morning by the fragrance wafting through the living rooms. 

This Sunday is Mother's Day/Mothering Sunday in the UK.  Daughter M will be away at the coast for the weekend so she brought flowers in advance of the day when she visited last Sunday.  They're from her and her sister.  Our son is coming to see us this Sunday for a lunchtime get-together and we're looking forward to seeing him. 

The basket of flowers and also a pretty orchid with two stems are beautiful gifts.  I shall probably plant up the ones in the basket in separate pots later on.  

I gave our daughter M a pot of primulas to enjoy.  We appreciate everything our children and grandchildren do for us.

Above are some more of the daffodils and narcissi growing in the front garden and as the warmer weather continues we've seen activity from the garden birds.  There are two robins flitting about.  They're probably building a nest in the hedge.

Thank you for coming by.  I've posted early as we shall be busy now preparing for the weekend visit and contact from other members of the family.  Have a lovely rest of the week and weekend whatever you're doing.

Flowers and Stitching

I love being surrounded by flowers and plants and the month of May was an exceptional month for them in different forms.

Our granddaughter arrived on my birthday with a bouquet of flowers that had been bought by her on behalf of her cousin and his girlfriend who live far away in Berkshire.  She thought I would like a bright selection.

Our granddaughter and her boyfriend also brought us these orchids.  Aren't they a gorgeous colour?

From our daughter-in-law I received this cushion that she had made decorated with crocheted flowers. The embroidered panel had once been given to her by my late mother and it was thoughtful of her to incorporate it into the design of the cushion. 

Above, if you look closely you'll see Bobby, our granddaughter's first soft toy dog.  Because of much cuddling the top of his head had become worn and his eye needed a few stitches to secure it in place.  She asked me to do a few repairs on him.

I darned the delicate net fabric covering the soft material and stitched on his eye. (Before and after photos). When our granddaughter comes to collect Bobby I'm sure she'll be pleased with the result and also happy to have him back with her again. 

Here is the embroidered tablecloth that I showed you in my last blog post.  Now I shall start another project as I have two different tapestry pieces to work on.

May has been a good month for rhododendrons and these are the ones under the birch trees in the local park.  It was a damp day.  When I came out of the library I found that there was drizzly rain so I didn't stay long to take photos.

This little robin came and landed at my feet.

Yesterday our eldest grandson and family came to visit on their way up to see the other grandma who lives further north in York.  The sun was shining and after lunch we had a lovely time in the garden.  No photos of the family this time, but instead a photo of the pot plant (a bromeliad) that they gave us.  We were also given a stand for the mobile phone that we can use when we do face-to-face phone calls.

Thank you for your visit.  I hope you have a lovely June.  I understand that it's officially Summertime!

Our Week

I know it's been another difficult week worldwide and here in the UK, but in our own family circumstances I have to be thankful that our Italian relatives are holding their own despite contracting the virus infection in one sister-in-law's family group.  We hope the situation continues in a positive way for them, especially for the elderly sister-in-law now being made comfortable with an oxygen supply. We have been in contact quite often and again we're thankful that at least we can get information on a landline phone from another of Mr P's family.  Everyone is staying at home in their own family bubble.

Here in the UK Sunday was Mother's Day my photos are of the bunches of flowers received organised by our local daughter.  The two grandchildren came on separate occasions over the weekend and left the bouquets of flowers on behalf of themselves and our son and daughter who live far away.

There were cards sent and phone calls from family who live at a distance.  Two types of cake made - one was a vegan date and walnut cake made by local daughter and I made a chocolate sponge cake that local daughter could take home to share with the two grandchildren.

Today the sun has come out and at last the daffodils are in bloom in the covered yard and outside in the garden.  The miniature ones are really pretty.  The Rip Van Winkle variety were planted under the apple tree and the Tete-a-Tete are near the white hellebores in the flower bed by our sitting out area, not that we can sit out as there's been a cold wind and persistent rain showers.

Thank you for your visit.  Hopefully I'll speak again soon.

The Days Go By.....

We're still in lockdown in England and in our situation unable to go out because of the snow and ice and it isn't much fun.  I take photos on the zoom setting from the upstairs window to see what's going on across the valley and, of course, there's snow everywhere.

Some days there have been blue skies, but the snow stays mostly frozen.

Today I looked out of the window at dawn and there was an amazing sky, but now the glimmer of weak sunshine has gone and the sky is full of grey clouds. There's a wind chill outside that's not very pleasant. 

I took a tentative walk along the garden path and it was interesting to see a little colour from primulas and the evergreen skimmia japonica shrub.  The Spring bulbs pushing through the earth look full of promise.

primulas

                                                                        skimmia japonica 

snowdrops

                                                                                daffodils

The garden gnome inherited from the previous owner of our house

is still digging away, but I think I'll be bringing it inside to give it a wash.

Looking down the lane I could see that one of the paths by the side of our wall was clear so I took a short walk to where the narrow road goes around the houses to create a crescent-shaped island area.  Hopefully the snow will melt and we'll have more freedom to get out-and-about again locally.  However, we never know what the weather conditions will be like so for now we have to be content with staying home.

                                               succulents and ivy grow on our retaining wall

                  

Indoors we can enjoy the hyacinths and also the bunch of daffodils that our daughter brought us last week.

daytime and evening

Well, this is all the news for now.  I hope all is well with you wherever you live.  Thank you for coming by and leaving a comment,

Linda.