Photo Entry

Hello my friends,

I did want to do a proper entry today but it`s a bit late now.  I hope you like the photos that I took at the weekend.....many at Black Park...again....lol!  Bye Bye. :o)

 

Happy Birthday Jim

Hello Everyone,

I hope you`ve all had a good week so far. Work has been slower than of late but then it`s not been as sunny either, and from my experience the two things are certainly connected. I need the nice weather again to make my day go quicker!

I am the proud owner of a composter so that Jim and I can do our bit for the environment as well as turn some of our refuse into compost for the garden. A friend of Jim`s had two of them and gave one to us and we installed it today. I printed off all the do`s and don`t`s about what goes into the the bin and we made a start this evening.  I never thought I`d be this enthusiastic about compost but since I`ve worked at the garden centre my whole mindset has changed about my garden as a whole. I always enjoyed the garden but never as much as I do now. Isn`t it funny how things change, the garden has never looked better I`m very proud to say, though it has a long way to go before it looks the way I want it. I grew some sunflower seeds, taken from birdseed, for Roman, and today I re potted them as they had got too big for the pot they were all sharing. The beauty of growing these seeds is that I`ve no idea just how big they`ll grow, we could be in for a surprise. Roman helped me plant them by filling the pots with compost and then watering them after they were planted. Kerry who has no interest whatsoever in gardening looked on in dismay to see her baby getting dirty...lol!  He really likes helping us and he only has to see something done once and he doesn`t forget it, he picks up any weeds I pull out and puts them in his little wheelbarrow. Also when he sees us watering the garden he has to have his watering cans filled so he can help, bless him.  Oh yes, he`s been sleeping through the night the last two nights but we`ll just have to see if it lasts...fingers crossed.

I can`t wait for Friday as I get paid and can then plan how much I can spend on my summer bedding plants. Before I can think of that I have some bills to take care of first. Jake`s annual booster is due anytime along with a handful of other things that have to be paid for. Oh well, that`s what I go to work for I suppose...sigh.

Since the fateful demise of the rat we have seen neither hide nor hair of any of it`s relatives. I was brave enough to look under the garden shed where it used to hide but I couldn`t see any sign of life...thank goodness, I don`t know what I would have done had there been something there...lol! Anyway, we`ve blocked all around the shed with some edging stones so another rodent would have nowhere to hide so would have to go back next door where it came from, they are welcome to as many rats as they like as long as the nasty beasts stay out of my garden!

I still seem to have hayfever/cold or whatever is afflicting me. I`m been feeling a bit under the weather since the weekend, feeling nauseous, headachey etc.  I know there are quite a few viruses going around so I wouldn`t be surprised if I caught something, also I`ve been coughed and sneezed over by more customers than I`d care to mention...ugh. I do think that hayfever plays a part because after I serve someone with plants that are in flower I often sneeze....quite loudly too...lol!

Today is Jim`s birthday and I didn`t want to let it pass without a mention in my journal. Happy Birthday Love and have a great day. We all bought him Marks & Spencer vouchers and he was really pleased, now he is looking forward to a spending spree for some summer clothes. Kerry bought him a cake and Roman bought him a small plaque like the one he bought me, Jim was thrilled with it and put it on his bedside table.

Anyway my friends, I`m off to read some journals so I hope you all have a nice, relaxing evening. Bye Bye for now. :o)

 

Another Photo Entry

Hello Everyone,

Just a few photos that have been taken over the last couple of day by Jim and myself. Bye for now.

Love Sandra xxxx

The Rodent`s Demise

 

Hello Everybody,

Thank goodness it`s Friday because tomorrow morning I can have a well deserved lie in. I`m fed up with having to get up just after 6am and I really need that extra couple of hours sleep. Last night I was in bed an hour early and I didn`t even bother to read my book but it didn`t make any difference this morning, I was still really tired when I woke up, very unlike me really.

Roman is really much better than he was the other day, a bit of a grumpy-bum still but over the worst, it must have been a virus as he didn`t need any medical treatment in the end. He must be better because he sat still while he was having his hair cut today and he doesn`t really enjoy the experience. Jake soon got over the colitis flare-up but I`m still being very careful with his diet as I think his tummy is a bit on the delicate side at the moment. As for me, either I`m getting a summer cold or I have a touch of hay fever. Not great if you work in a garden centre surrounded by plants and flowers all day. I can`t stop sneezing and wiping my eyes and nose, I don`t know what the customers must think with this snivelling woman taking their money...lol!

 Guess what ?  Our elusive and most unwelcome visitor the rat is no longer with us. One morning last week I opened the door to let Jake out and there it was at the bottom of the garden as dead as a rat could be. The first thing I did was cover it with a heavy earthenware pot so that Jim could deal with it when he got home, there was no way I was going to touch it even with gloves. It looked as though a cat had got it and if I ever meet that cat I`ll give it a nice saucer of milk as a reward.....note:  must get a cat...lol!

 I`ve been gardening again, and have bought new plants....again. I replaced the rose that died with another red climber but this time it was another make and variety AND I`ve planted it somewhere else where it will get more sun and we will get an excellent view from the window. I also bought another clematis (Paradise Queen), it has huge white with pink striped blooms and will flower all summer long as will the rose too. I`ve also been preparing my pots and planters for the summer bedding so that I won`t have too much to do when when the planting begins, all I need to do now is buy the plants and they can wait until the middle of next month, we can still have some ground frosts and I don`t want to lose of of them.

 I`ve been playing around with my new camera and have some more photos to post over the weekend. I`ve managed a couple of bird pics but they could be better, I must ask the birds to be more considerate and to sit still while I take the photos, not much to ask eh?   lol!

 I`ve given Jake a bath and now he is lovely and soft again with his coat shining blue-black in the sunshine. I don`t know how long it will last though as he goes swimming in Black Park lake every day and goodness knows what`s in the water. I reckon a bath every 6 weeks or so would be a good thing for the summer.

 This afternoon Kerry and I went went to Windsor and I bought Jim`s birthday present and card. His birthday is on the 25th and I had almost forgot about it and had no idea what to buy him. I ended up buyimg him vouchers for Marks&Spencer as he likes their clothes and he can decided for himself. In fact we`ve all bought vouchers so he can go out and treat himself whenever he likes. Kerry is at her wits end with Roman who no longer sleeps through the night, in fact he wakes up about four times and just will not go back to sleep however tired he is. She and Slava are worn out through lack of sleep and don`t know what to do with Roman, they`ve tried everything to no avail. I wish I could suggest something but as I`ve had no experince of this I don`t know what else to suggest. Any tips would be very welcome and I can pass them on.

 I`m going to say goodbye for now my friends so I hope you all have a lovely relaxing weekend. Take care. :o)

 

 

Photo Entry

A Walk In The Woods and A Swim In The Lake

Hello everyone,

I can`t believe I haven`t posted an entry since last Tuesday, I`d better make up for it now. I thought about doing a summary for each day of last week but my problem is remembering exactly what happened each day...lol!  Now let`s see, last week was busy, busy, busy at work, just like I`d expected, I suppose it will only get busier as the planting season gets further underway. The last couple of days the bosses have been really miserable and I`m staying out of their way after having had my head bitten off more than once...sigh, never mind, I don`t go there to make friends so I`m not THAT bothered.

I`ve been doing some more gardening all week and I`m really pleased with the results. Everything is growing really well with the lovely sunshine we`ve been having. The only problem with that is we`re not getting any rain so I`ve had to water everything, thankfully I`ve been using the hosepipe as there is no ban in this area....yet, at this rate there will be another one in place as the forecast is for a long, very hot Summer. I`ve moved a deciduous azalia from the bottom of the garden to a more prominent place because it is being threatened with being strangled by bindweed coming through from the garden at the end of ours. The people who live there couldn`t care less about their garden so we are continually having to get rid of the weeds that grow through.

Do you remember the rose Jim bought me for Valentine`s Day?  Well it`s dead, I thought it looked a bit poorly so I dug around the roots and lo and behold they were beyond help. I planted it in the right place, in the right soil etc. so I suppose it`s just one of those things, I`ll just have to buy another and hope for the best.

Yesterday I ordered a new camera online. I decided to treat myself to one with a good zoom lens so I can take better photos, I find I`m limited with ours so I`m really looking forward to it arriving so I can try it out. Also yesterday I went to the hairdresser in the morning to have my roots done. Instead of my usual cut I decided to have it cut much shorter than usual and I`m delighted with the results. My hair is very thick and in this hot weather I find it pretty unmanageable so the new style is perfect.

Today after a long walk in Black Park, followed by a swim for Jake in the lake...hehehe...that rhymes!  Jake didn`t want to come out but eventually he was so tired from the exertions of swimming that he decided he`d had enough for one day. He spent most of the time in the water collecting not only the stick we threw for him but any others he found too. At one point he had about six in his mouth which caused him to swallow half of the lake, you should have heard the noise he was making with his coughing and spluttering, it was really funny.

When Jim came home from work earlier this afternoon he told me he`d hurt his back. I was thinking that he must have done it at work, but no, it just `went` before he`d even left the house this morning!  Anyway, he still wanted to go out walking this afternoon because he said it felt better than sitting down. It must have helped too because he started feeling a bit better after that. What also helped was using a TENS machine that Dan`s girlfriend, Salina gave us. She works for a company that supplies medical and surgical equipment and she had this machine left over. It is a battery controlled device with electrodes that you put on the painful area and switch on to the right level for you. You certainly  know about it if you`ve turned the device up too high, I did exactly that when I used it on my hand for the first time....I won`t make THAT mistake again, believe you me...lol Right, I`ll say goodnight to you all now and I`ll read as many journals as time will allow. Take care all of you. :o)

 

 

Just Another Manic Tuesday......

 

Hello Everyone,

Well, it was back to work this morning and it was sooo busy that I don`t have a word to describe it. I think perhaps the word `manic` covers it...lol!  I was told that all weekend and yesterday was very busy though I thought today there would be a bit of a lull as people headed back to work after the Easter holidays. Not a bit of it, at least where their gardens were concerned, they came in one after another and it left me with visions of all these beautiful English gardens all planted with the specimens that I sold them...lol! The downside of this was that I haven`t had a chance to tidy the shop and it certainly needs it, hopefully tomorrow I`ll get a few minutes to replenish the shelves after all the goods that have disappeared off of them...lol!

I went garden shopping for myself to buy some herbs, some strawberries and a large hanging basket. The herbs went into an oak half barrel and th strawberries into the hanging basket. While I was planting Roman tried to help by digging the herbs up again but gave up to sweep the pavement with his very own broom...lol!  Jim has put Roman`s swing, seesaw and toy car in the garden for the summer and he has wasted no time in playing with them all.  The swing will soon be too small for him which rather surprised me, I thought it would at least last the summer.  Jim put up Roman`s play tent to see if he liked it and the first thing he did was dive inside it and drag Jim with him, obviously he DOES approve...lol!

I hope you like the photos of some of my plants, I`m really pleased with them this year, especially the roses as they are looking in fine condition. It must be the rose food I`ve been using because they look so healthy with no sign of disease or pests. AND if any aphids or such show their faces I`m ready for them with my rose gun! Did I mention that I have sowed some sunflower seeds taken from bird seed?  Well they have sprouted today and are an inch tall already. There was no sign of them yesterday so they must be growing really quickly, it`ll be interesting to see just how big they become, I`ll keep you posted with photos.

Anyway, my friends. I`ve just washed my hair so I`d better go and dry and straighten it before it takes on a life of it`s own, seriously, my hair does what it likes if I`m not careful...lol! Bye for now and take care. :o)

 

The Spiritual Garden ~ Revisited

Hello Everyone,

A very Happy Easter to you all. Today has been lovely, weather wise and I took full advantage of it too. I wasn`t going to do any gardening because my shoulder and wrist have been really painful of late but I only had a few things to do so I succumbed...lol!  I planted the tomatos into a gro-bag and put in some hellibores that have spent the winter in trays while I wondered where to put them. I forgot to mention the other day that I`ve planted some sunflower seeds for Roman so he can watch them grow, and instead of buying the seed I planted some bird seed...well, it saves money and it will be interesting to see just what type of sunflowers the seeds will yield.

                

Kerry, Slava and Roman came for dinner this afternoon so I cooked a huge roast chicken dinner followed by an American cheesecake. It went down very well and it was very satifying to see them all clear their plates, with the exception of Roman who kept trying to clear my plate instead of his own...lol!  He loved the cheesecake though ....kids eh! Later on I gave him his bath and got him ready for bed so they could put him straight to bed when they got home. Roman`s been keeping Kerry and Slava up at night lately and they are both really tired. It seems he wakes up in the middle of the night and just wants to play, even though Kerry does take him straight back to bed without a fuss he gets right back up again. It`s much better being a grandparent than a parent I think, at least I don`t have to go through all that again..  I`ve been there and done it and I ain`t goin` there again...lol!

                                       

Tomorrow Jim and I will spend the day together as he had to work today so he also missed out on the dinner. Danny wasn`t here either as he and Salina were out for the day. Kerry and Slava are going to the coast tomorrow so there`s just us and Jake, who by the way is a bit poorly today. He has a touch of Colitis which recurs from timr to time. It was originally brought on by the stress of his first owner leaving him to fend for himself for most of the day, and as Jake is a sensitive soul, he pined and it affected his digestive system irreversably. It is usually kept in check with a strict diet by occasionaly it flares up again. 12 hours without any food should do the trick and tomorrow he should be fine again.

Yesterday Jim and I invested in a super-doopah, state of the art iron. It has cut my ironing time by two thirds and I have to say it was worth every penny of the small fortune we paid for it !  The main reason we got it was because of the arthitis in my hand I was finding it harder and harder to do the usual amount of ironing. My SIL has one and says it`s excellent and that got me thinking about getting one too. The other day Jim saw one advertised in Comet`s at a special knock-down price and we bought it the next day. The offer was only available for 12 days so we thought we`d better hurry and we were in luck. Now I actually enjoy ironing because it`s no longer a painful chore.....and No I don`t want you to send me your ironing...lol!   Have a lovely day and don`t eat too many Easter eggs. Bye for now. :o)

                                             

 

 

 

The Spiritual Garden

Hello Everyone,

It`s been a beautiful day today, more like summer than spring. Despite it being Good Friday I still had to work though I really enjoyed it even though my shoulder has really aching all morning. I`m starting to think that the pain might be caused by my using the cash register, you know, like a repetitive strain injury (RSI). At least that would be an explaination as to why it hurts more after work.

The lovely weather certainly brought the customers in to the centre and were they all keen to get out in their gardens. The sunshine is certainly good for business I can tell you.  Mind you, I spent some money myself today, though not very much. I only wanted a lawn turf and a small bag of gravel so I doubt that did much for the profits...lol! 

By the time I got home, hung out some washing and loaded the machine again ot was 3.00pm so I got changed and went outside where I stayed for nearly 3 hours. I tidied up the camellias, dug in the farm manure, laid the turf and put the stepping stone just like I said I would. Then I planted some scabiosa and a clematis, watered them in and tidied up afterwards. I then realised the time and I couldn`t believe where it had gone. I suppose it was because I keep my mind occupied when I`m gardening, it`s so peaceful that I feel as close to God as I ever will be. I`ve never been a true believer, at least not in the sense of belonging to a a particular church or religion. But I find as I grow older I think more about God and what He means to me. That has to be things that grow,ie flowers, trees, forces of nature, ie the sea, the wind, rain and sun.  I`m not explaining it very well as I find it hard to put into mere words but I know what I mean and that`s what`s important. I thought I`d mention this what with today being Good Friday and a very Holy day in the Christian calendar. I`m not very likely to mention this again but I wanted to say it once, just so you know.

Getting back to the garden, while I was clearing up I heard a bird singing really close to me. I looked around and there in the tree not six feet away was a Goldfinch calling for his mate. They are such pretty little birds and they don`t seem to mind my presence at all, maybe it`s because I put food down for them everyday and they know I won`t harm them. Tomorrow I`ll be planting out the tomato plants and laying the rest of the turf AND if I have time and my shoulder allows me I fill the gaps in the slabs with the gravel. Then I can plan what to do next...lol!

I wanted to let you all know that despite the work and the planting I`ve done the garden won`t look that great this year as the plants are young and need to grow more before I can see real results, I just didn`t want you to think that it is looking fabulous when in reality it`s only just taking shape. I will however, take individual photos of the plants when they flower to give you an idea of what I have growing in my garden.

Anyway, my friends. I`m off to read your journals now so I`ll wish you all a lovely weekend and a very Happy Easter in case I don`t post another entry in the next couple of days.  Take care and have a nice evening. :o)

 

Stepping Stones and Forty Winks

Hello Everyone,

How are you all today? The weather has been lovely and sunny today after a cold and frosty start this morning.  Work was hectic again with everyone`s thoughts turned to gardening this Bank Holiday. I`d love to know just how much money we took in just the four hours that I was there but I can guess that we certainly made our target figure for the day. Despite tomorrow being Good Friday I`ll be working as normal, just like Jim and Danny. It doesn`t make much difference to me because I work Fridays anyway but in the afternoon I plan on doing some more gardening though this time it will be more structural instead of planting. I plan on clearing a small area, laying a small piece of turf and placing the stepping stone in the middle of it, also I want to re-shape a couple of camellias that are looking really untidy. I`ve recently seen one that has been fashioned into standard and I think that is just what I`ll do with mine, it will make such a difference to the look of them.

Roman is having a few problems with cutting his back teeth at the moment. He`s not really had any problems with them so far, apart from a few niggles but they seem to be making him quite irritable and his poor little cheeks are bright red and really hot to the touch. This evening he was ready for bed and I gave him a cup of milk and sat him in his `Thomas` bean bag chair. I the left him while I went into the kitchen to tidy up and when I returned I found this...............

Bless his little heart, he couldn`t even stay awake long enough to drink his milk. He was still clutching his cup in his hand though I removed it before he tipped it all over himself. After I took this photo I carried him straight to bed, even though it was only 6pm and he hasn`t woken up since.

Anyway my friends, I must away, my right shoulder is really painful and typing isn`t helping one bit. I hope you all have a niceevening, take care and I hope to be back tomorrow. :o)