Spring has (or had!) arrived

Yesterday was beautiful!

The sun shone, and it was wonderfully warm.

I even sat outside at lunchtime, and ate a sandwich and then crocheted.  Utter bliss!

Thankfully, I took some photos for my monthly garden colour album, as today has been 10 degrees colder and raining.  Not very springlike at all!  Oh well, there's always tomorrow.  Fingers crossed as Matt has another cricket match, and it would be lovely to watch him in the sun.  It lacks a certain something watching if you have to huddle under blankets wearing 5 jumpers!

Back to my garden - it has suddenly burst in to life.  At long last.

 Can you see "Hector the Heron"? - a birthday present from my sister last week.  He is made from recycled metals and looks very at home amongst the heathers and camelias.

 Beautiful primroses.

 Wide open tulips

 Forget-me-nots

 The last few daffodils.  I'm amazed how quickly they have finished.

 I seemed to wait ages for them to flower, and their time is over already

 Stripy hyacinths :)

 A carpet of grape hyacinths

 Bright tulips - these were tight buds in the morning and like this by lunchtime

 These are new tulips this year - very bright and zingy

 Acidic yellow of euphorbia bracts

 Cowslips.  :)  Very pleased to see these as I sourced them from a supplier of English country flowers.  They are doing really well now - but it has taken time

 This one is growing in my lawn and I couldn't face mowing over it - so I went round it instead!

And finally a mosaic in case you couldn't face all the photos along the way!

Thanks for looking.

Off to do some more camera / photography reading now.  I am getting a new camera - we ordered it yesterday.  It is my birthday present from Mark & Matt.  It should be ready for collection at the beginning of June - so plenty of time to read all about how to improve.

xx

Spring

I think Spring is here! At last.
This was my walk back from school this morning. Can you see the bluebell? I was so excited when I saw it.
Tomorrow I'll take some photos of my garden. I ran out of time this evening - I took my son to rugby training and then managed to loose the ring we'd bought him when he was confirmed. Major upset - all round. We checked all bags and the car. Then we returned to the rugby club and spotted it before turning off the car engine. So it all turned out ok. I'm just shattered now! But no harm done - thankfully.

This weekend

I don't know why but I haven't got round to blogging for the last week or so. I know I've been busy but maybe the main reason is I'm getting a new camera for my birthday (it was Wednesday) and every spare moment we are all researching! So many choices - I had no idea!! I think I'm going to get a Panasonic DMC G5 but it comes with a hefty price tag. Far more than is reasonable for a birthday present. So we are "thinking". I was hoping I could find some bad reviews to put me off - but I can't. It really does seem an excellent camera. Now to justify the price!!

It was back to school on Monday. The start of the Summer term.
Not that it's obvious along the footpath!

But this weekend has been bright and sunny. A bitter wind though - but the sun had plenty of warmth if you could find a sheltered spot.
Matt had a cricket match on Saturday. I took my ripple and spent a lovely couple of hours crocheting outside. I don't think you can beat crafting outside - so long as its warm!!
Maybe for next weeks game Matt could score a few more runs, but you can't have everything.
Today I've pottered around in the garden. Cut the grass and tidied the flower beds. At long last the garden is coming to life. I can't wait for the real colour to appear.
Then I made and wrote thank you cards for my lovely birthday presents.
And finally I finished the back for the cushion. I want to add some crochet flowers and buttons to 4 squares in the middle but I'm still waiting for the yarn to be delivered. I was trying to match the colours to the ripple I made. I'm hoping it will arrive this week so I can finish it off and move on to a new project. As well as keeping going with Matts ripple. I can't imagine why I agreed I would make such a huge blanket for him!
I'm not sore that my photos are appearing in the right places tonight - but I'm sure you can work out what relates to each comment.
Have a good week.
Sara x

Ribbon Girl Giveaway

I've just entered The Ribbon Girl giveaway - hereA lovely range of pink flowers.  :)

x

Guernsey

We had a lovely time in Guernsey, but I came back absolutely shattered!  I am too old for late nights, despite what I'd like to think!  The boys all seemed to enjoy the tour too, which was great.

We left Gatwick in the early evening, and caught a beautiful sunset.

The hotel was obviously used to checking in a group of teenage boys, and we were all allocated our rooms really efficiently (I guess the sooner we were out of reception, the less disruption to other guests!)

We awoke the next morning to a beautiful sunny day.  The boys and coaches went swimming, Go-Karting, and then off for some sight-seeing.  Another mum and I went shopping.  This seemed the better option to us.

 we ambled around the port 

 and town

and stopped for a lovely lunch with an indulgent hot chocolate.

I bought some bargain boots - £15, reduced from £70.  I couldn't resist!

Then it was back to the hotel for afternoon tea and some crochet time.

 It was warm enough to sit out on the balcony and enjoy the view.

 There was a wedding reception at the hotel too - I bet they were glad for the improvement in the weather.

That evening we went bowling - well, the boys bowled and I watched and had a glass of wine.

As a forfeit the boys had to wear a large pair of white pants if the ball went in the gutter.  They seemed to wear them with more pride than embarrassment!  I guess that's rugby tours for you!  ;)

The next day the played rugby in their smart new tour shirts.

It was a close match, but they won 17-14 which was a great way to end the tour.  Lots of very happy, incredibly tired boys on the way home.

Back home - I'm sure we spent longer circling Gatwick waiting to land, than it took to fly from Guernsey to Gatwick!  

I can't believe how much washing we have created for just 2 nights away.

Thankfully the sun shone yesterday, and the wind blew - a great drying day.

And now, a little bit of time to crochet some more of my ripple.

I'm taking part with the ripple-along here, but I am a bit behind the others - the end is not in sight for me!

Thanks for looking.

Sara x

Rugby Tour

We are off to Guernsey later today for the boys rugby tour.  My husband has planned and organised it - such hard work but he enjoys it!  :)
There's 18 boys, 5 coaches and 9 parents going.
Hoping it will be a fun weekend. Maybe the sun will make an appearance but if not, I shall be taking some crochet!  Shame you can't take it on a plane, a crochet hook really is an awful weapon!!
Off to pack now. Xx

Garden Colour

Well, I'm a day late posting this, but I promise I did take the photos a couple of days ago.  Although, it must be said there really isn't much change in the weather is there.  A cold, Easterly wind, and grey cloud, with the odd 5 minutes of sunshine.  I'm not sure if it's better when the sun appears or not?  It tends to make me want warm, sunny days even more.

But here is the garden.  In fact, I think there is less colour than last month!  The little irises have died back (it's been so cold, I've not really appreciated them this year) and the crocuses and snow drops have finished, despite trying very hard to be jolly for a long time.

And not much has happened to take their place really.  There are more daffodils in flower, but not all of them.  Oh well, maybe April will be the month it all bursts to life?  I won't hold my breath.

But on the plus side, I have done a couple of jobs around the house - painted a radiator and the log burner, and the ironing is up to date.  I finished a couple of small crochet projects, and am up to date with card making.  So that leaves me time to get on with the ripple, and not feel I should be dividing my time with the garden at the moment.  It clearly doesn't need me!

 Not much happening here?

 Nor here!

 Frosted camelias :(

 This time last year the camellias had finished flowering!  This year there is only a few buds, and most of those have been caught by the frosts.

 But you can always reply on a few pansies and violas to brighten things up.

 And daffodils

 There are still more to flower too.

 The last of the crocuses, for this year.

The white puminaria seems to have turned bluish!

And that's my garden.

xx