A fantastic weekend

So I sit here, midday on Sunday, about to start the update and the sun is out, A is in the garden planting out some tomatoes and peppers, and I've just finished my morning chores. I think we're going to be heading out for a walk a bit later so I'm getting on with this quickly before then.

Friday

Part of my last update dealt with Friday as of course I was too tired on Thursday to do anything other than collapse into bed. I spent the morning getting the update out of the way and was quite pleased to do it so quickly and with so few words.

Bekir drilling out for drain pipe fitting

The drains going via the non return valve into the gray water system

Sump pump ejecting the water very quickly indeed

Louise exploring underneath the kitchen island

Both puppies inside the kitchen unit

Of course we had the men working on Friday and Bekir was hard at it outside with the SDS drilling away some concrete to allow him to finish off the drainage. A had taken them past the hardware shop and picked up the correct fittings to allow the drains to do what I wanted and mid morning he called me down to watch as water from the sink in the kitchen went through the whole system and sprayed out the pump at the far end. I'm still a little unsure of how much water is remaining in the sump and explained my idea to Bekir to fix this and he nodded and agreed so we'll get that done soon. Other than that A and I spent a short while in the kitchen admiring everything and laughing as the puppies were under the cabinets and then inside them. Cheeky monkeys.

Quite threatening cloud behind the green again Oak tree

A cluster of eggs under a cauliflower leaf

Little Lady planting tomatoes

The next bed to be cleared. Again.

A hard at work pulling the weeds out

Spud towers need more levels

A critter on the shovel

The cloud sweeping over slowly

Once the blog was done and posted A and I went outside into the garden to do our caterpillar removal (it's better to catch them in egg form which we also did) and while we were there the Little Lady came over with some tomatoes from her nursery and planted them out for us. She then took us on a tour of her garden from which we returned with some strawberries and chillies. It was then time for us to get our own chores done. A was clearing another bed in the garden for more peppers while I was putting more height on the spud towers and filling them with soil. The morning overcast had burned off by now and it was a hot day out there so I was moving slowly and resting often.

The flowers are looking lovely

The orange poppies sadly damaged by the rain

Loads of corn, and growing well

The Old School looking really well

Lots of flowers, and lots of bees

It clouded over during the afternoon and I left it up to A whether we had a BBQ or not as I went to leave the men home. When I got back I realised I'd forgotten to do the daily photograph so it was straight outside, getting pictures of the flowers that A had planted ages ago that are now blooming marvelously. The corn has also shot up recently and is growing almost as you watch it. Another huge pleasure and a surprise was the fact that the tea trees are blooming and even as I sit here now, with windows open in Room 13, I can smell the amazing scent. I can also hear the bees as they buzz around the flowers collecting nectar.

Parents enjoying their holiday

Louise sat on her granddad

New hat and BBQ

The amazing BBQ sauce from Islay

A plate full of meat awesomeness

Sassy munches some lettuce

Two hours before the storm hit us

As it happened the weather turned around and A made the very sensible decision to light the BBQs while I was away.The parents were chilling out on the sun loungers on the balcony and I was put in charge of meat while A did the salad and made coleslaw. It was a lovely evening in the end with superb food (not least the amazing BBQ sauce I brought back from my holidays) and even Sassy got involved towards the end by coming out and munching her salad. Not long after we headed inside though the weather changed and we were treated to quite a thunderstorm as we were trying to get to bed. Good timing as a couple of hours earlier would have ruined our evening.

Saturday

Once again I slept pretty well Friday night, still exhausted from my exertions in the garden on Thursday.

A fast moving fog bank moving towards us

Louise found a patch of sun to enjoy

Dining room cleaned ready

New rug down ready

A very dusty table from being stored for years

A wipes off the chairs

Dining table ready for use

I woke needing the toilet at about 6am and dashed to get the camera as the sunrise was stunning however by the time I got back with the camera the fog bank was starting to rise and had obscured it. When we woke up properly it was really heavy fog everywhere which took some time to clear. When it did Louise parked herself on top of the sofa in the sun and spent a lot of the day up there. I had decided that I wanted to have Sunday Dinner sat at the dining table in the dining room and so I got stuck in to cleaning the table, it was absolutely filthy, and putting it together. A got involved with cleaning the chairs and then we set it all out on top of the new rug. It looks amazing.

Bacon and egg butties on the balcony

Dad back working on the bedside table

Mum pulling spikes up

Swinging a hoe with intent

These spuds have done so well, and need more earthing up

These also need another level of wood

With that chore done I made some bacon and egg butties and we took them out into the sun on the balcony and enjoyed them. It was a glorious start to the day. My parents have been wanting to be involved and so they picked some jobs to do after breakfast. My dad was in the workshop with the little bedside table getting primer on ready for another coat of gloss while my mum took a fork out into the orchard to start digging up the spikes which we suddenly noticed have grown everywhere through the new soil. I was not idle and returned to the spud tower, adding more soil and filling the first tower and getting close to finishing the second while A was in the garden swinging her hoe to clear the bed she had weeded the day before.

Raining very hard

The parents enjoying their shashlak

The clouds had been piling over so before lunch I pulled the washing in and suggested that mum put hers out on indoor racks. My prediction of heaving rain was correct and not long after it was bouncing down very heavily indeed. We had a small bite to eat and dozed and relaxed while we waited for the rain to ease and then headed into town past the light shop for a fitting for the nook and then Bacmap for a few other bits and pieces before ending up at Venko's where we spent a very enjoyable couple of hours chatting and enjoying their awesome coffee and being plied with cakes. After this we headed home via Kaufland and rested again then it was off out for the evening to our favourite restaurant which I have really missed. It was a lovely evening and we didn't rush but when we got back home again it was almost straight to bed while some lightning flashed and the wedding season made itself evident once again.

Sunday

And so we come to today, via a slightly disturbed sleep due to the aforementioned music and then multiple rounds of fireworks, not completing til about 11pm. A was disturbed by the puppies as well so it was nice to have a lie in first thing.

Golden Oriole flying in the tea tree

What a beautiful bird the Golden Oriole is

A planting out the pepper seedlings

I was feeling really slow and struggling to get going this morning and I've not really shaken that feeling even now. I got up and made a brew then chatted to a potential visitor for a while before getting back to my chores and shaking the rugs out and hanging them on the balcony. A was hoovering in Room 13 and I decided to try using the hoover instead of sweeping for the corridor and stairs and while it wasn't that much quicker it did reduce the dust in the air. There was one other moment of excitement while we were tidying as we spotted a Golden Oriole flitting around in the tea tree. Just as I put the camera away it appeared with a huge green caterpillar in its mouth and flew off. The rest of the tidying went well, broken by hard boiled duck eggs (three of them were spoiled including one I opened that had green egg white - not good) which was lovely and I also got the bottom corridor tidied a bit. It was then that I started typing this up while A went outside and planted out a load of the seedlings that have started to do well on the balcony. We're now just considering going for a walk up the hill, though typically the clouds have swept in so it may rain and spoil that plan, so I'll stop typing now and finish this up in a bit.

Clouds prevented us from going for a walk

A bee on the tea tree

A bee and a bug together

Teeming life; a bee incoming and a butterfly landed

Ladies collecting flowers for the table

Purple meadow flowers

White orchids

Unidentified flowers

The butterfly landed on the flower

It held its pose while I photographed it

So I'm back, after dinner, to finish this update off. As it happened we didn't get up the hill because of the threatening clouds though, other than a smattering, there really wasn't very much in the way of precipitation and we probably would have been OK. It was no matter, though, as we've had a lovely restful afternoon of lots of reading and relaxing. A had planned a display of wildflowers for the table and so she headed off outside with my mum to collect them. I followed but got distracted by the volume of life that the tea trees are supporting and took many photographs trying to capture this teeming example of insect life. It was amazing. I caught up with the ladies over by the driveway and then went down towards the front gate where there were more flowers and an amazing butterfly that was posing for me while I took photographs.

Poppies go into a vase for the table

Home grown broccoli for dinner

The table, dressed for dinner

Wildflowers from our garden

A slightly blurry, but very happy, table

Once inside A and my mum got together to arrange the flowers and A had snipped a few of the remaining poppies and was putting them in the old milk bottles we had salvaged from the bottle room as vases. They looked great. It wasn't only flowers that we had harvested; two of our broccoli were at a suitable stage for eating and so were pulled inside ready for dinner. After baking a cake A put the chicken in to roast and then I dressed the table, including the lovely flower displays. It was not long before we were all sat around our dining room table for our first proper meal in our dining room and what a worthy occasion it was. The food was excellent and the room is going to be very successful indeed.

And so the kettle has boiled and I'm going to send this out to you all to read and go and eat some of the lovely ginger cake A made this afternoon. Tomorrow I'm back to paid work, which is a horrible thought but it does fund all of this joy.