Bits and bobs

The last few days have been a mixed bag, both weather wise and doing wise.

I managed a trip to Llanelli in bight sunshine,

The view from the car park.

I had a good walk round, managed to pop into many charity shops but found nothing with my name in it's destiny.

The heavens opened and hail thundered down at one point, luckily I was close to the covered market and scurried in there to shelter. Once again I bought nothing, there were only 2 stalls with crafty goods on sale and both were closed.

On my roam round I saw this lovely old church, sadly very damaged from fire by the look of it.

I have several plants that need potting on or planting out, I feel it will be the first option as the weather is so unsettled.

I left the green house door open for 5 minutes on Sunday and a cat decided to enter and trampole 5 trays of seedlings. All are now in the compost bin and have been reset. All my own fault as I have a section of fine mesh that covers the doorway.

The house has been thoroughly fettled, Fran was here from Friday to Monday, so nothing much was done during those days. She is off to New York next Saturday for a week. It is work but there will be a little sight seeing I am certain.

I am ploughing on with the knitting, Juniors jumper is part done, each section is up to armhole length, I will be fitting it to him on Saturday, he is growing like a weed on speed at the moment, once that is done it will be a quick finish.

Fran brought a dress with her to be relined, it is lovely but the lining rustled like taffeta and she was too self concious to wear it. I took it out and used it as a pattern, the new lining went together and into the dress very well, I used a cream 100% cotton and it looks good and no rustle.

Ben has had lots of walks and I have upped my walks while he snoozes. I came back this morning to find this.

He was gone with the fairies and slept on for another 30 minutes, mind you after piling the cushions up for his bed he must have been comfy.

Now he is back on them sleeping again, I have some washing up to take care of and then a little ironing to do.

       TTFN                                                                    Pam

It's me, I'm back.

I never meant to stay away so long. I have put in so many trips to Cardigan that the new car hardly knows how to go anywhere else.
The greenhouses are full and the garden beds are filling up fast, I am so happy that I decided on climbing peas and beans this year. Ground space is at such a premium that some of the squashes will be coaxed into vertical growth as well.

On the last visit to see the grands I helped to assemble a swing set that I bought for them. Junior was chief assistant and did very well at holding, passing and looking after all the small bits.
When it was finally finished and firmly anchored both he and Kaitlyn had a well deserved play, then he turned to me and said "Nanny, I think we will need a small one for Leo". A little while later the pair of them decided that if they had a roundabout it would be better than the park in their garden.

The knitting and crochet is done in the evening, Fran has a new set of cushion covers and I made a cover for her long bed pillow. My cardi is still waiting for the button band but I have made a start on jumpers for the children. I have done a little sewing, just to keep my hand in but want to get the big Janome in for a service soon. 

Ben is as happy as Larry, he is snoring right now, and loves seeing the children so often. His skin problem seems to be resolved, the new shampoo is doing the trick. Mind you at the price it jolly well ought to.

I will have to change my shopping routine next week, out Lidl in Ponty is closing on Sunday for a new store to be built. There is a smaller one in Ammanford but it is "back to front" and my brain just will not compute it. Perhaps I will use the one in Neath although it is further away.

That is enough moaning, I have the new Gardeners World to read and Fran is here for the weekend later. Next week she is off to New York for work, and possibly in Boston later in the year. Not the one in Lincolnshire.

I am reeling from the double whammy, Victoria Wood and Prince both gone in the blink of an eye. How much more talent will the world lose this year.

I have seen the first two episodes of Big Bang and am rather underwhelmed, I hope it gets back on track for the next episode or I will forget about it.
Fran has treated me to the Amazon Firestick so there are a few programs that I am now watching. It is not as wonderful as the advertising would have you believe, or it could be that I just do not want to sit glued to the box for hours every day.

I have sorted out my clothes, summer stuff out and freshly washed and ironed. Most of the winter clothes put away, just a few warm bits for the chillier days......like today. What a difference to Wednesday when I had to slather on the factor 50 and dig out a hat.

I have made meatballs in tomato and chilli sauce for dinner, Fran is arriving on an early train and that is one of her favourite meals. I will cook tagliatelle to have with them, there is a blackberry and apple crumble to have with custard, also a favourite. I made far to much meat mixture so there is a meatloaf browning off now, lovely in a sandwich with some salad.

Now I must be off, I want the kitchen sorted before I set off to collect her from Neath.

                     TTFN                                             Pam

Just Chilling

Fran arrived right on time last night, we were in the house before 10.00 and in bed and asleep well before 11.00. It turned out that we were both wide awake by 5.00.
I was presented with some yummylicious chocolates from Brussels, I did manage to try 2 before sloping off to bed. 
Ben was overjoyed to see Fran and pinned her to the sofa, he was waiting for her to get up this morning for a repeat performance but has managed to tear himself from her side now.
I have a leg of lamb in the oven, we are having Sunday Dinner tonight as we are off to Cardigan tomorrow. I have an idea that after a day of Junior, Kaitlyn and Leo neither of us will want to cook a roast. 
It rained for 14 hours solid from 7.00 last night but the sun is shining now and Ben and I are off for another walk soon. We have an hour before I need to get the roasties in the oven, they are all ready and the rest of the veg is prepped.
No pudding, we have the chocolates and there is a full fruit bowl.

My friends who live opposite import wine from Italy, both for consumption and gifts. With each order they get a freebie pack of pasta, oil, sauces etc. This afternoon I was given the latest freebie, truffle oil, extra virgin olive oil, pesto, 2 sauces and 3 varieties of pasta. There were also 2 boxes of biscuits, lemon flavoured Amaretti and coconut shortbread, the shortbread is totally lush but the others are disgusting, they taste like air freshener smells.
We had a quick tour of the garden and a chat about our plans for the rest of the year. 

The clock is ticking so I am off with Ben, I hope to manage to increase my walking mileage this month.

             TTFN                                                    Pam.

We have recorded some of The Two Ronnies to watch, it was sad the hear of the death of Ronnie Corbett. There are few of the old school funny men left now. The only really funny person that springs to mind is Peter Kay.

Still Troshin

I have shaken the cold/lurgy off now and feel so much better, yesterdays wall to wall sunshine helped tremendously. Francesca arriving this evening for a whole week has also helped to revitalise me.
Yesterday was mostly spent driving and walking, I took my disabled friend to Wyevale and walked every path both outside and in. 
The plants are lush but a bit pricey. £14.99 for a plastic tray holding a small conifer and 6 assorted primroses. Morrison's have primroses for 50p and small green plants are available everywhere for around £2.
I did find a gilet for £13, in dark turquoise fleece with 2 very deep zipped pockets. There were some pretty pink, cream and reds but all had shallow pockets without zips. There were a range in pretty colours, quilted and trimmed with piping  but were too short in the body for gardening or dog walking and at £40 overpriced for me. 
We selected our compost, had a cuppa and then left for the builders merchants to look at timber. My friends have a new greenhouse going up next week and the timber was for a base and to mark out the beds inside. Of course we walked all the way round and looked at everything.
Then it was on to Tesco for food for Archie and Dolly, and we went up and down every aisle, again.
I am not moaning really, on my own I only do the aisles that I need to and like to be in and out as fast as possible. I do realise that these weekly trips are a day out for my friend and try to manage 2 trips each week, even if it is only to have a look at the weekly offers in Lidl.
Back to the garden. My leeks are a bit thin on the ground but at £3.99 for a small tray in Wyevale I decided to just sow some more seeds.

I have lost both pots of French Tarragon, at least they both look as deceased as the Monty Python Parrot. I have given them a liquid feed and a couple of weeks to show me otherwise, then I will have to look for replacements.
My Oregano is also looking very brown still, no signs of new growth, it too has a deadline before being composted.
On the other hand both the Basil and Coriander seeds have sprouted and are growing away merrily, last year both were abysmal.
I have now sown more seed to ensure (fingers crossed) a steady supply and some more flat leafed parsley, I tend to use those three herbs almost daily in the summer months. Along with the very youngest mint leaves they liven up a green salad or a pasta sauce and are wonderful tossed with new potatoes and a pat of butter or a glug of good oil.
On the subject of potatoes mine are well chitted and due to be planted over the weekend, all in tubs and growing bags.

The crochet blanket is growing, albeit slowly. It makes me so warm that I do an hour then put it away to cool down. I had hoped to have it finished by this weekend but in reality it may be done by the next one.
I still have not finished the pink cardigan, there is no rush as I still have not pinned the skirt pattern to my fabric yet.
I have been going through the shelves in the craft/dining room and lots of dross has been weeded out. Many treasures have been unearthed and I intend to give the sewing machines a quick clean during the week. Fran likes to play at sewing so I will have her sew scraps together till she gets bored.
Now it is time for me to get Ben out for the first walk of the day, we get a good one in before the day heats up.

                     TTFN                                             Pam

I have just cottoned onto the fact that it is April 1st, I should have written a spoof post. Not to worry, maybe next year.