Introducing.

At long last the pond is finished. Yes the slabs are meant to look like that, we will be adding some ground cover plants to fill the gaps in due course. We also took a shine to a garden arch that we spotted in the local DIY store.

As you can see from the photo we worked late into the night installing it. The plan is to have roses climbing over it. The photo was taken from the new concrete pad where a shed will be going, again in due course.

Of course a pond wouldn't be complete without residents, so we'd like to introduce you to some of them.

You can see the three golden koi, the golden tench and two A. N. Others who are also some sort of koi (I'm not an expert, my son's mate is.) There are another three koi, one of them silver and two green tench somewhere.

They'll have to learn to be quick eating mind you, Toni keeps stealing their food from the top of the water!

July 21st Garden

It's the 21st again so time for an update on my vegetable garden.

Beetroot looking good.



NO!!! Not more courgette/zucchini



Cherry Tomatoes

Marmande tomato

Raspberry plants take over the world

I mentioned last week that we had been busy in the garden, doing this:

Which resulted in this:

So much soil for such a small hole and I get to riddle it all and put the big stones in a skip.



Friday Freebie

Today's offering. Mmm, let me think. What about those shoes I tried selling on eBay but no-one wanted?

Nope, too expensive to post outside the UK and I'm not sure they would be wanted here either.

What about those postcards? We acquired them during many evenings drinking Woo-woos in the local Revolution Bar. Miss-spent middle age and all that.

Too risque?

Just add beef.

I thought I'd keep you all posted with happenings here in the sunny West Midlands. We've been busy in garden and Mike has had a couple of hospital appointments. More on that when he gets a chance to blog.

Today I decided to share my plans for our evening meal. I am going to make a lovely cottage pie with extra lean diced steak, which I will mince with my new electric mincer, carrots, peas and onions. The vegetables are of course home grown and organic.

I left the dirt on the carrots and onions to prove I grew them myself! I bet you are all glad I didn't grow the beef too.

Friday Freebie

"Yipee it's Friday. I wonder what Lorna is giving away today?" I hear you all cry.


This week I was going to share some rather "unusual" postcards with you, but as the content of such postcards is adult and possibly offensive to some I chickened out this week. Maybe if people ask I will offer them next.


So this weeks Freebie is a belt that I bought, wore once, and has since been languishing (what a lovely word, languish....) at the bottom of a drawer. It measures 74" from end to end (that's 190cm in new money.)

If you would like to give it a new home leave your details as before in the comment box. I promise they won't get published.


Update: Birdie has now adopted this item.

The Doldrums

It's that time of year when life seems to be stuck in a rut. It didn't used to be this way. When the kids were younger and I worked in a school, July was the month of endings and excitement. Year 6 frantically preparing their leavers assembly, the final days of being the big kids dwindling away. The long Summer Holidays ahead, a break away from it all, at least 4 weeks without having to think about "school". There were the new beginnings to look forward to when September arrived. The kids are now all grown up and I no longer have the school terms and the holidays to regulate my life. I miss my old life, but I don't miss the groups of unruly kids.

The wedding, and all it's excitement, already feels months away, but it's only been three weeks. I feel deflated like the balloons that never made it to the reception. We're frantically trying to save our pennies to fund our Great Australian Adventure, so despite needing a new project to occupy my tiny mind, there aren't the funds to waste. Mike potters around cutting the hedge and fixing the car (ours or one of the boy's cars usually need some attention) while I potter after him tidying up the mess. Life is bogged down with the mundane and humdrum tasks like washing. I should be looking forward to the festival in August, but I just can't find the spark.

I've got Mike and I love him dearly, but I realise on days like today, when he goes off somewhere without me, that I am so darn lonely and lost. Mike is my harbour and without him I'm a ship without a port, stuck in the doldrums, wishing for a breath of air to catch my sails and take me home.

Friday Freebie

Inspired by KimmyB's blog Gift Horse which I discovered when she left us a wonderful comment saying we were in the top 10 list (although not informative which is true as Mike's reaction to everything treatment related tends to the bizarre) and by Roo's need for different earrings and small pleasures, I have decide to have Freebie Fridays.

The basic idea is, if you want what I have to give away leave your name and address in the comment box (or alternatively your email address so I can contact you). As regular comment leavers know, all comments are moderated and so your info will not be published.

When you receive your gift, simply pop back and tell us what you think of it.

Here is this weeks Friday Freebie

A pair of solid silver and pearl earrings. Never worn. I bought them along with 9 other pairs as a job lot when I tried making and selling my own hand-made jewellery ten years ago. (I actually have 3 pairs left so maybe there will be more than one lucky person.)
I realise this may fail abysmally, but hey at least I tried to recycle my junk!

Update: Paula has adopted one pair, but there are still two more.