Five minutes from home

 It has rained absolutely non stop all day and I'm thoroughly sick to death of it. Guess I shouldn't really grumble as I would hate to live in a desert when we're surrounded by all this on our doorstep 

We've got friends coming over for a meal this evening and it'll be nice to catch up with them. I was an absolute domestic goddess yesterday and cooked everything in advance so that it had time to develop the flavour. All I have to do is heat it thoroughly and transfer to my pretty china serving dishes. The drinks are chilling and I'm off for a quick shower and change into something nicer than my comfy clothes. 

Lovely evening out

 We're just heading home from our folk dancing club where we danced our little legs off. I'm ready for a nice cup of coffee and a bit of the cooking channel on TV. It's raining gently so my garden is getting a nice refreshing shower.  

Crikey it's turned cold

 I had to flick the heating on this morning as it was rather chilly.  We've not needed it on in ages. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we don't get a late frost as I've planted all manner of flowers and veg outside.  My yellow indoors GreenStalk is coming on a treat and hopefully I'll be picking  mini cucumbers this time next week.  My courgettes of all varieties are popping through now and hopefully I'll be able to grow mini watermelon this year. I've got three promising looking seedlings.

I'm growing sweet potatoes for the first time this year and hopefully will have a decent harvest in the autumn if we get a good hot summer 

Neil

 My friend Debs has a very talented son with an amazing voice. In his spare time he sings in pubs and suchlike down in Kent 

My neck of the woods

 Sometimes I forget just how lovely it is where I live. Then Tony and I take a little drive out and I'm reminded just how lucky I am. 

Gorgeous weather

 It's been another glorious day here in Kemp Castle. Tony went and got some more free compost this morning while I had a crafting session with my friend Jayne.  It's coming up to her 70th birthday party and we've been making table decorations.  The other day I made some table markers for her family and friends tables.

 The colour scheme is Black, gold, platinum and silver. I cut the butterflies from black card and foil pie dishes. Layered up they look very effective 

Perfect gardening weather

 It's been absolutely gorgeous today and I'm sporting a very sunkissed look. Tony has picked up a huge load of green waste compost for me and I have been busy filling big pots and planting out bedding plants. I will have to fleece it all if the cold weather returns. I've planted out my sweet potato slips in big black pots and put a plastic cover over them to give them a bit of extra protection.  They're currently sitting in the hottest part of my garden and hopefully I'll get a crop of homegrown sweet potatoes.  It's my first year growing them so any harvest will be good. 

I'm trying Mosquito dunks in the hope that I can get rid of fungus gnats in the porch. I'm squishing and hoovering them up in their hundreds every day.  They were recommended to me by a comment on my YouTube channel and I've given everything a good water with the solution this morning.  It'll take a few days before we notice an improvement. 

Michael Jackson

 Tony and I have been to the pictures this evening.  We watched two completely different films. One was the utterly brilliant film about Michael Jackson and the other was The Hail Mary project. I'm not sure quite what I made of the second film but we've had a lovely evening out.

Beautiful wisteria

 Our wisteria is looking absolutely lovely at the moment.  The racemes hang over the kitchen window and fill the house with fragrance. I'm off out for a walk with friends this morning. 

Another lovely day

 This morning I sowed a whole load of climbing beans and different varieties of courgettes. They'll be ready to plant outside in a few weeks time as they grow really fast.  At this very minute I'm sitting in the conservatory soaking up the last of the day's sunshine.  It's so warm and cosy and I can feel the warmth seeping into my bones. We're off to a ceilidh tonight but it finishes at 10pm so not a really late one. Our old bones really want to be heading off to bed around 10pm. We're such creatures of habit.