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| Pumpkin and wine |
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| Pumpkin at dusk |
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| I suppose it is still a little sinister... |
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| The view from our bedroom window |
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| The top bed has a row of five sloes, three hazels, a cherry plum and crab apple trees. We also have a rose bush, some carnations and a huge amount of cucurbits (two different squashes and two courgette plants) |
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| The side bed has lots of flowers at the top and some veg at the bottom, I can't remember all the different flowers but at least Nicky knows. |
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| The bottom of the side bed has of broad beans and we had some lettuces. |
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| The bed near the house has the following bushes: two red currants, one black currant and two gooseberry. Behind them are the herbs (oregano, sage, thyme etc, the bed-bench with french beans in the planters, the hanging baskets with tomatoes, and the trough planter with strawberries and nasturtiums. |
This poor courgette plant has been through the wars but refuses to die. It's been trampled on by George, dug up by cats and pulled out by Oscar. In a rather desperate act to cling on to life it is the first to flower out of all our cucurbits (I bet I haven't spelt that properly...)!
I finished building our shed!
When we moved in there was a big foreboding green fence separating the garden into a gloomy courtyard near the house and an expanse of gravel by the road. I had a number of bicycles and all the tools from the allotment so we had to pile them all up in the courtyard under a sheet of tarpaulin.
Once the snow passed in January we had had enough of the looming fencing so took it all down. I'd looked into small sheds and storage boxes but now we had a pile of timber decided to use it to build a shed to measure.
Quite a bit was rotten so cut off all the bad ends etc. and used the posts to make a frame with the heavyweight timbers as a base to weigh it down. I clad the outside by overlapping the fencing. Unfortunately about half way in we realised the wood would run out, fortunately Nicky had the idea to use some wardrobe doors we salvaged so we only had to buy chipboard and felt for the roof and a small amount of feathered boards to finish the job.
We've put the trellis on the wall by the door and I also made a trough to use as a planter from the fencing off cuts so none went to waste.
This all fits in with the bedench (bed + bench, gettit?) that I previously made when we were in London by cutting down Nicky's old bed and flanking it with square planters made from a single futon frame that someone had chucked out.
We've still got some painting to finish, carrying on with the cream and red theme, but pretty chuffed now all the major work has been completed.
A little eccentric, I know!
Seeing as I've just started this blog a brief update from this year would be a good starting post:
I went to visit Jasmin and Stewart shortly after my nephew, Saul Albert Brotherton, was born. Here's Jasmin with Saul, he was so little but very sweet!
He spent a lot of the time asleep as newborns should, but, like his cousin Oscar, I was surprised at how interested in what was going on around him.
Here's Oscar getting ready for the cold weather, he's in his super hat his grandad got him in Canada. I was trying to tell him that his boots aren't gloves but somehow that didn't get through and he thought this was hilarious.
So this is Nunney castle, I like the way they've kept it from falling into disrepair but not rebuilt it. It's a really nice place and we went for a lovely walk afterwards.
There's a lot of fantastic places to walk around Somerset but you have to be prepared for the worst; fortunately we just got the rain cover for Oscar's carrier as during this walk along the top of Cheddar Gorge we were lashed with cold rain as it bucketed down with strong winds.
Oscar loves to stack and doesn't just stick to stacking cups and blocks, he makes impossible towers for anything he can get his hands on.
You've got to dress up properly if you're going on the swings in the rain.
The nearest city is Wells, the population is smaller that should be for a city but it's a cathedral city.
Our nearest beach is Brean, you can't really get to the sea due to the large expanse of beach which, due to the wet sands, has areas of quick sand on the way to the water. We went there with George who loved running around on the beach.
Just down the road from us the old viaduct from the disused railway route, there are a number of fields where we can take Oscar and George for a nice run about.
We recently went to Stourhead to look at the gardens, it's such a beautiful place and plan to go a number of times through the seasons.
Librarian?
Beautician?
Another nearby beach is Weymouth, it's more of a traditional seaside than Brean with sandy beaches and gentle tides. This was Oscar's first play on the beach with a bucket and spade, although he thought he'd been given an oversized spoon.
Oscar and I went to seen Aunty Jasmin, Uncle Stewart and Cousin Saul at their home in Sydenham. We had a lovely time (apart from the train journeys...)
Oscar's a bit more of a handful thank little Saul
He's such a lovely smily little boy and has grown so fast, you wouldn't think he was only born in January!
Here's Grandma with kids and grandkids
Oscar was very interested in Saul and fortunately very gentle too!
We did a bit of decorating in doors but have decided to concentrate on the garden, it had horrible fencing which blocked the view of the house so we pulled it down and painted the door red. I've been building a shed from the old fences to keep garden tools and bicycles and once it's finished will pop some pictures up of that too.
Oscar has decided that he would rather push his buggy or trike rather than sit in it. This does make going for a walk take about ten times as long as expected though...
We went to the Badminton horse trials and took Oscar and George, Oscar really liked all the "arses"; he even got to pet one. George was very well behaved.
George was pretty tired from all the excitement and enjoyed a rest in the cool grass and I got to take a picture of him staying still for a change.
There was very fat huntsman who was trotting around who made me giggle every time I saw him...
I managed to catch one of the horses in mid jump
Here's Oscar patting a police arse, he didn't want to go and got a little upset when we took him away.
Oscar really liked the seals although he kept calling them ducks, you can see Oscar and Nicky on the right.
I'm an idiot...
We took part in the Sarsen trail, it's a trail from Avebury to Stonehenge. We did the shortest distance (7 miles from Avebury to All Cannings) as I had Oscar in a backpack and Nicky had George on a lead. We're thinking about entering the marathon next year and running the whole distance.
Oscar really liked the biplane that flew overhead a few times
We were pretty tired by the end but all in such a good mood as had a lovely time.
