A lovely visit from Grandma, and the men are back briefly

Wow this is going to be a long update, and I've not got much time free to type so I'm going to have to get stuck in to it without preamble. Let's get to it! I'll try and break it into sections I think.

The transplanted Oak is going great guns

So much weeding to be done

Lovely orchids

Here's a tortoise

Thistles out the back bank

Yet more weeding done

Rowan trees by Grandma's bench

A new Silver Birch to replace this one that died

Loads of stuff pulled from the raised beds

Space for tomatoes

Mowed again

First of all some of the progress made in the garden. I've continued trying to clear and sort the invasive tree problem we've got in the wild area to the right of the driveway but rain and overwork keeps getting in my way. I did get out enough to do a load of weeding before my Mum arrived so we she wasn't looking at the garden and feeling like she had to get out and weed - it was pretty satisfying actually to get on top of it again. I've also mowed the grass a couple of times, and this time I avoided cutting down the lovely orchids (which are spreading - there are SO many up there right now!) and we also go to see some tortoises though they have largely hidden again with the cold weather we've been experiencing. I got to dig out a load of thistles from the back bank one day while Rosie was playing out there, so that was also satisfying. When I collected my mum from the airport I filled the back of Maisie up with trees including a few more Silver Birch, some Rowans and a decorative Japanese Cherry. All these trees are now planted and settling in well. When Angela came back she attacked the raised beds and cleared them all out and I went into the fenced garden and cleared a patch for us to put our spare tomato plants. Dutch has been digging up loads of our newly planted stuff from the raised bed (which is partially why the men are back briefly) so that was quite frustrating. It's been a very very busy time for me but I've been in the garden enough to feel satisfied.

Camping again! WAHOO

Eating a doughnut on the rocking chair

Sun worshippers

Rosie with her awesome collection

Very happy sat on Grandma's Bench

Trampoline fun with Grandma

What a wonderful birthday!

Out out for my birthday

Small sandcastle, and kisses from Xe

Another family meal out

BBQ time of year (briefly)

On top of that I got the big tent put up for me and Rosie to camp in while Angela was away. It was fun, but not the most successful of experiments, as the puppies would not settle. I had to go back inside for a little until they were ready for bed but Rosie stayed outside and slept without any trouble! We did have a nice time on our own with the weather being glorious (far warmer than it is now) and we were able to play outside lots. I collected Grandma while Rosie was at school and it was such a lovely time to have her here. Rosie particularly enjoyed doing lots of fun things with Grandma including baking me a birthday cake which was awesome! We went out that night for my birthday to a lovely restaurant as Rosie wore a new dress I bought her for the occasion. When Angela got back we all went out again to the new restaurant which is rapidly becoming a favourite and we've even managed to get a BBQ done already this year!

Setting anchors in for the swing

Very secure now

Rosie straight on the swing when she got home

Cutting the grass the traditional way

Digging post holes

Fence posts in place

The mesh fence is started as well

There's probably more I could pull out but I'm exhausted and have loads of other stuff to do so let's get to today. As I've mentioned Dutch has been digging in our garden and destroying so much stuff (the tomatoes and strawberries have really suffered because of him) so we asked the men to come and put a fence across to stop any of the dogs getting into that part of the garden. On top of that I bought a swing set for Rosie that needs to be tied down to the patio and they could do that quickly. The first thing they did today was the swing, drilling and bolting it down and this was done pretty quickly in the end and it is perfect. With that done they started on the fence. First of all some of the grass I hadn't got to (because it rained) was removed with the scythe and then they got old wood from our roof and dug holes and set them in. It will be good for a year or two, which is all we need for now. We even had a chunk of old mesh fence we could reuse. By the end of the day they had run all the poles from the front to the house and put some of the mesh up. This may take another couple of days, with the gates that we need, but it won't be a long job for them.

I had a lovely walk after school with Rosie up to the headland  but I'll leave you with a couple of videos. First of all an epic storm and secondly video of the nightingales that have been singing every night for a while now.

Thanks for reading. I'll be back tomorrow.

A very long weekend, then roofing

The men took a very long weekend, two extra days off, and only returned today so we've got a fair bit to update so let's get to it.

Rosie getting her hair done

Joyful on the machines at the shops

The old freezer is defrosting for the final time

Angela making rows for her onions

Rosie planting onions

The full fenced garden is now dug over

Rosie marching off on her walk

A bit of a rough area of garden needed tidying

Lots of digging over has been done now

Grandma crumble!!!!

Saturday was a really awesome and busy day. First of all I went out (after Rosie had her hair done) with Rosie and Grandma nice and early to town to do some shopping and swap some clothes Grandma had bought. Rosie got a cuddly spiderman toy which she loves and she also got to ride the machines at Kaufland. When we got back it was straight into the garden. First of all I lifted the old freezer out to defrost it fully, having emptied it finally as well, and then I got stuck into digging over the final section int the fenced garden. Angela came in there as well and started to plant out the onions and shallots that she has bought and Rosie came and was very helpful also. I just about got the digging finished and we had a lovely talk with my sister and then a bit later on Grandma and I took Rosie for a walk up to the headland even though the wind was really starting to gust. It was very nice. I ended the day by finally digging over the flower bed on the right of the path which will soon have some things planted into it. A busy day but very productive. Grandma had been very busy as well making crumble from fruit saved out of that old freezer and we had some for pudding after dinner and it was very nice indeed!

"Spread it out, mummy!"

New guitar arrived and she's a beauty

Rosie with her lovely plait

The Sunday, Monday and Tuesday not that much of note happened as it has been raining and miserable ever since. On Sunday Rosie showed us what she has for her breakfast at school and really enjoyed eating the lyutenitsa on bread. This is the same sauce as I use for my Spicy Pork Pasta. On Monday my new guitar arrived which is lovely and I've been keeping up getting back into playing guitar all week including learning some songs that Rosie knows, and she has been loving drumming and singing along a bit. Finally some lovely hair style that Angela did for her yesterday morning.

Bekir slicing a block to perfect size

Fits in perfectly

Halil is plastering in the crawl space

The gap that needs filling

The gap has been filled

Halil securing joint tape on the ceiling

Bekir fits the blocks in place

And so to today. The men were in again and up into the roof to keep working on finishing off the storage areas so we can start to use them. Bekir was cutting small sections of block to use to fill in the final bits near where the wall meets the beam. Halil got stuck back into the plastering in the right hand storage area. Bekir next finally did the work to tidy up the gaps left near the beam as I really do not want any gaps in the ceiling at all. It is now lovely and neat and tidy. Next up for Halil was joint stripping as much as he could reach so he could then do the plastering over the rest of the roof. Bekir, meanwhile, was mortaring the wall sections in place and making everything very tidy.

Xena and Grandma

Having a laugh at the restaurant

I'll wrap up with a picture of Xena and Grandma; Xena saying hello to her. And finally from this evening as we went out for a meal because tomorrow Grandma goes home so we had to say goodbye properly. It was a lovely meal indeed!

So there it is. A longer break between updates than expected, but at least the men came back this week. Thanks for reading and back tomorrow (I hope).