Comforting when things stay the same.

As you know, I have been extremely lax with my postings of late and have, I am afraid, been equally lax with my reading of the 70 odd blogs I follow. Life just sometimes gets in the way and I have been very preoccupied with other 'stuff' going on. When a future is uncertain and you can't quite see beyond next month, let alone next year, it is comforting to dip a tentative toe back into blogland and see that it all is still going on, just as it did. The posts about other peoples lives and still there, recipes and gardening tips are still being shared, dogs antics with lurid purple bones are still to be witnessed and all you lovely people are still commenting as if I had just popped out to the shops for half an hour. Thanks for that.
Comfort comes in the oddest of places.

I'm still alive

Hello everyone.
Sorry (again) for my absence, I have, for the most part, been away working. I got home last night to very long grass and the start of the Autumn in the garden. The glorious blooms have faded somewhat but it has it's own charms still.
Anyway, the biggest thing going on is still the bathroom complete refit, but I am nearly there. It has been 2 months so far and to be honest I am been very fed up of it all, it is one hell of a big task and perhaps slightly beyond me (hence the huge long amount of time it has taken me) Anyway, all the suite is in (minus shower) and today I finished the tiling, tomorrow I will finish the grouting. Then it is the fun part of just doing the nice bits that will make it look like mine. Hopefully the grand unveiling will take place at the beginning of next week, fingers crossed. I am very pleased with it (although my mother's comment was: 'it looks a bit like a gents public loo'. gee, thanks mum).
SO just wait and see, nearly there.
Thanks for not all stop following even though I have been hopeless for months. I am ok, just had a lot going on in my life.
XX

The grand unveiling

I've finished my arbour!
A friend of mine has nicknamed it the Moomin House, because it reminds him of the house from the cartoon I used to watch 30 years ago called the Moomins.
It just started raining as I finished it and it does exactly what I wanted it to - keeps me dry! It was very hard to construct by myself I must admit and should probably have tried to get someone to help me, but I perservered and am thrilled with the results.

I think it compliments the garden pretty well, I'm sure you will agree.

Summer garden photos

The weather is still a bit grey and rainy today, but I went out and took some garden photos anyway as it is looking nice.

 It is a riot of colour and everything looks so healthy out there.

Looking back at the house past the inferno of runner beans.

The new bed. It has done very well, although the nasturtiums are slightly past their best. They will look better when the next flowers come.The foxgloves were at their peak 2 weeks ago but I still like the long green seed stems.

Giant daisies always make me smile.

Sorry for my absence.

Hello everyone,
Yes, it has been weeks, I know. Thanks to those messages asking me if i was ok - nice to be missed. I am fine thanks, just been away working a lot and when home just overwhelmed with so much to do.
My garden is looking glorious. I was very worried because i was away for the 10 days we had of glorious weather. Amazingly, not only did everything survive, but it all positively thrived. I will take some photos on the next nice day.
Most of my time since I returned has been taken up with the bathroom refit. Gosh, bathrooms are hard. I think perhaps I have bitten off more than I can chew, and it takes a lot for me to admit that. I have everything installed but the u-bends leak on both the sink and the bath. Bugger. I am thinking it is time to call in a professional to just stop the leaks before I go any further. Well, at least I have installed everything and laid the new floor. once the leaky u-bends are started I can get going on the tiling and finish the thing off. I have been without sink and bath/shower since last Thursday and it is wearing. At least the loo is in, working and pretty (as pretty as any loo can be) and I have put in an outside tap. The shower seems to be ok too, although I can't use it until the other problems are sorted and I have tiled.
I'm off to France for 11 days on Thursday (work) so it would be great to at least get a few things finished before I go. My most exciting thing is that I am building a covered arbour in the corner of my garden. Another difficult one man job, but it will be worth it. What I discovered in the mini heatwave was that it was simply too hot in my South facing garden with no shade at all (boohoo I hear you cry) so decided a covered arbour would be lovely. also somewhere to sit if there is light rain too. Pictures of that to follow too, when I eventually finish it.
I'll try to get back into the swing of blogging soon, and I will try taking and uploading some pictures to make it all a bit more interesting next time.

Evolution of a flower bed

Short photographic post today.

Remember the island bed I dug out earlier this year ready to create? I thought it would be fun to show the photos of how it has changed to date.

Just wait until the flowers begin to bloom now!

Little working holiday in Purbeck.

I am having a duvet day. I was working in Dorset for a couple of nights Thursday and Friday and I started my 5 hour car journey back to Lancashire after work finished at 10pm Friday. You can tell just why I am so tired today. Crazy most people called me as I set off but, for me, more crazy is wasting the whole of yesterday on busy roads when I could be home. I managed it all without a stop (for once, my pea sized bladder didn't let me down) and was in my bed by 3 am. What made it most exhasuting was the fact that I only drove there the day before ready to work from 2 until 10.
No other expenses as a lovely lady put myself and another singer up for the night and was most welcoming to us, so kind of someone to open up their home to two strange men, just because they assume opera singers are nice and honest people (which, of course, we mostly are).
Yesterday I only had to be back working at 3, so my friend and I went for an explore, which was like a mini (very mini) holiday. We got up early and were on our way by 9 with only a vague idea where to go, just drive and stop when we feel like it. We headed out and made our first stop at Corfe Castle for a quick wander around the town. It is very small, but exceedinly perfect in every way, a true Dorset village (overrun with visitors of course.) We didn't do the castle as it was quite expensive, but as it was a ruin anyway, just looked at it from afar.

It is everything that a ruined castle should be.

I was most excited because, so the stories go, it is the castle that Enid Blyton based her Famous Five's Kirrin Castle on (there is an Enid Blyton shop in the town)

Back in the car and on to Studland where we stopped and walked to Harry's old Rocks. It was a pleasant walk and we found a very small crop of rather tired, but still pungent wild garlic growing in the hedgerow. I took a few leaves and shoved them in my pocket for some pasta tonight.

After the walk we moved on again for a quick lunch of egg butties in Swanage, which is one of those very old fashioned coastal resort towns, now populated by retired people walking along the prom. It was really, really lovely (and my expectations had been quite low having been brought up near Blackpool).

A quick trip to a garden centre and finally on to my rehearsal at Lulworth Castle.

Quite a lot to pack into a morning off, but I loved every second and the weather was extremely kind to us.