A little bit of this and that!

Afternoon All,

Oooops went missing a while there didn't I? - life just seems to have taken over and I've had little time to spend in blog land - not for bad reasons - all good - so until I have a little more time here's a quick update

Garden and Allotment
We have worked so hard on the garden and you can really tell - the decking has all been re-stained, and all the garden furniture painted white, cushions, seating pads and bunting has all been made very cheaply from a pair of CS curtains. I would love to have a white painted garden rocking chair sitting under the overhang of the summer house but at £100+ that's not going to materialise any time soon - so I have brought a rocker off ebay for £12 and when time and the weather allows I will paint it white - but all in all the garden is looking good now. The allotment is still work in progress but that will truly come into it's own when Hubby retires next year.

 

The view from the top deck -You can see Flossie's bench at the top of the garden and the new log store on the right (presently work in progress)

 

Pimms o'clock! - You can just see my new rocking chair waiting for it's coat of paint



Work
As I went off work poorly in February the Aye Aye Captain (he liked to say 'I' an awful lot!)  took his leave and redundancy money and scuppered off into the great unknown. What a difference it has made at work! yes I am working harder but without having to worry about someone stabbing me in the back, if I gave him an instruction that he didn't want to do. The atmosphere is so changed you wouldn't believe.

In 2005 I was managing this team and going through a massive review of the service - I went for 2 days to a service conference and came back with the ideas (borrowed form another provider) for the service we operate now. Lots of work followed and the new service came into being in 2006. In the middle of May, this year we went back to the same conference and this time delivered a workshop - it showed that in our field we are now one of the leaders and I was so proud - only problem is since I've come back of my hols - I've been given another new large project to undertake which will certainly see us at the top of our game.....but it means even more work.

Holidays
We went away to Cornwall and had a brilliant week, the weather was good if a little chilly at times. the chalet was absolutely beautiful and the view from there was to die for. But Cornwall seems to have lost a little of it's magic,  especially St Ives, it appeared that the shop owners in St Ives think that only young people have disposable income - it was all either food shops or these modern designer type shops selling clothes for the youngsters - it appeared that they don't think that the over 50's have disposable income - Don't get me wrong I don't have that much but when I'm holiday I do like to wonder round the shops and bring a few nice items back to remind me of my holidays - the only really decent shop there was Cath Kidston (yes - new handbag, purse and matching key fob later, which I'd saved hard for, for the last 3 months so a treat for me!).

I went into one shop and they wanted £14.00 for a wind chime which must have only cost a pound at the most to put together - I may have a few pennies to spend but I don't have idiot written across my forehead.

Plus St Ives seemed to be filled with people walking with their Cocker Spaniels and it made us miss our Flossie - we took her to St Ives so many times and she loved the Tate Gallery beach - we both shed a tear, when we walked round the church on hill and down onto that beach. I'd still give anything to have her back with us.

We spent an enjoyable hour or so sitting outside the Sloop Inn watching people pass by and spent 2 afternoons sitting outside the The Goldophin Inn at Marazion with a couple of pints, watching the sea come in over the causeway. We also visited a beautiful garden called Poppy Cottage Garden. (photo's to follow)

 

The view from our chalet

Days out
We've had a few days out, one up to Montgomery and Welshpool, before our holidays. We went to BBC Gardens World on Friday for the last time - it's something that we won't be able to afford come next year - we worked it out with the price of the tickets, parking, and the toll road, it had cost us £65.00 before we set foot in there.

The show has had it's day - the gardens were really poor - you could have got a double decker bus round the plant marquee, there was so much space between the exhibitors. We took the flask and sandwiches with us but stopped for a cup of tea each..........£4.40 later......yes £2.20 for a cup of tea.... can you believe it!

We did spend a fair bit whilst we were there but the majority of it went on a rotavator for the allotment - the ground is so heavy up there and it will pay us back in time - It will certainly save Hubby's back, that's for sure! 

Yesterday we spent the day in Ludlow - it's such  a lovely market town, we had a mooch round the shops and the market and had another pint sitting in a courtyard just off the market square

Crafts
I'm still doing loads of knitting each night - I've done a cardigan and hoody jacket for the new arrival which is due in early August. I have also started on the Xmas knitting for my Grand daughters too.

We spent a day in Mullian whilst we were in Cornwall and went to the Chocolate Factory Craft Farm - there is a lovely lady there in a little cabin selling wool and I brought quite a bit from her as her prices were reasonable and the wool is beautiful and soft, she also sells beautiful buttons and all reasonably priced  - I'm saving up for when we go back down to Cornwall in October so that I can stock up on some more wool from this lovely lady - So if you're down there - it's well worth a visit as the craft farm was nice to walk round too.

Well that's a quick catch up - time to get tea on, speak again soon

Byeee xxxx