My Week Off.

The week commencing 20th April was taken as annual leave, and the sun smiled happily as I embarked on my week off work.

Monday:

I did some weeding in the garden and watched Artie sniff and hunt for flies. I then replanted (in bigger pots) seedlings I had growing of poppy and other seedlings which I later found out were coriander. (Looks like I didn’t need to buy the one from Lady Green!)

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After working in the garden I then sat and relaxed with my Kindle and soaked up some sun while it lasted.

For dinner I made a vegetarian sausage casserole with lots of vegetables. It tasted very herby!

Vegi sausage casserole

Tuesday:

First thing this morning I booked ‘our’ place on the Chester Zoo member’s event, of seeing ‘Islands‘ before it officially opens to the public. (Well I hope the booking has gone through!) There are some perks to being a member after all! 🙂

Mum and I had intended on taking a trip to the Maritime Museum but I felt a little unwell, so we decided on visiting my brother Stephen and to see my nephew Aaron.

Back home, in the afternoon I spent a little more time sunbathing in the garden and enjoyed a strawberry and Bliss desert, swilled down with a small measure of whisky. It didn’t seem as hot in the sun as yesterday and I grew cold quickly as well as feeling tired.

Bliss and Strawberries

For dinner, I had bought some Jersey Royals (potatoes) so had them with smoked salmon and salad… gorgeous!

Wednesday:

A lazy day today. I sat in the garden and watched Artie chase flies. I noticed that a Blue Tit was happily gathering moss from nearby gardens and flying to a bush in another. I thought that Blue Tits only nested in boxes or crevices but after doing some research I found that their nests are cup sized and can be anywhere! I also found out that the females are the only ones that make the nests, so it was a Mrs Blue Tit who I saw!

For dinner I made a spaghetti bolognese with Quorn Swedish style meatballs. I even used freshly cut oregano from the garden! It is always a very satisfying dinner.

spaghetti bolognese and Quorn Swedish style meatballs

Thursday:

While it was St George’s Day, William Shakespeare’s birthday and World Book Day, I did very little indeed. I did the usual sweated for 20 minutes on the treadmill, had a coffee and chat with mum before having lunch.

In the afternoon Artie and I spent a few hours sunning ourselves and listened to the visiting Goldfinches and Blue Tits in the nearby trees while Classic FM played on the radio. I discovered that the seedlings I transplanted on Monday, the poppies had withered but the coriander was still looking strong!

For dinner while David had a pizza, I made do with Quorn bacon, beans, egg and chips.

Quorn bacon, eggs, beans and chips

In the evening as the setting sun washed everything golden, I sat listening to my favourite performance of Mahler’s 6th Symphony, the andante.

Friday:

Was the last of the ‘good’ weather of the week. It has been simply splendid to have such lovely summery weather for the week off work!

David had taken a day off work and so we headed the 1.5 hours towards Wakefield to Yorkshire Sculpture Park.  We arrived after 10.30 am and paid the £8 for all day car-parking. We then spent the next five hours walking the fields that were filled with sculptures of bronze, stone, wood, all kinds of materials. We walked literally miles, my poor feet ached!

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The sculpture park is amongst the grounds of Bretton Hall Country Park which has nature trails as well as art instillations. We took a leisurely walk around the Upper Lake and spent some time amongst a Bluebell wood and old Victorian ruins.

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With gloomy looking clouds encroaching, David and I headed back to Liverpool, tired but having thoroughly enjoyed our day out in Yorkshire!

I am already planning the next day out!

The weekend came and went too quickly and it was time for me to head back to work. It has been slow for me to get back into the old routine but a long Bank Holiday weekend is near which sustains me!

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary…

…how does your garden grow?

I’ve not written since Easter when Vaughan William’s The Lark Ascending was voted no.1 in the Classic FM Hall of Fame. (N.B. I did not vote for it!) Since then I have been pottering about the garden and seeing how things are growing. I am quite proud with the plants I have, all, whether new or old are flourishing, so much so that I thought I would share some pictures with you.

The tulips have all grown from their bulbs and the rhododendron and hellebore give much colour/definition to the shaded area of the garden.

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The magnolia and acer trees are looking fantastic and the flame of the forest has sprouted!

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Older plants, such as the primulas and aubrieta have flowered again, and the wallflower has not stopped flowering all winter!

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I have also bought some new plants too. I have bluebells sprouting for the first time, come May I hope they flower.

Bluebells

This Saturday I went to my favourite garden centre, Lady Green and bought another coriander. As this herb is only an annual I am having to buy it every year, but I will keep the seeds and hopefully be able to grow it again next year! In addition to the coriander, I went a bit ‘mad’ and bought a camellia. I have seen some recently and thought they were beautiful, though they are not great for wildlife, I bought one to see how it fares in my garden!?! I also bought a fritillaria which looks bizarre and smells even worse!

My mum kindly gifted me with some lovely orange lilies the other day, which I planted alongside the other newcomers to the garden!

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I have seen my first bees of the season flitting though the blossom of my mum’s tree next door and I took some lovely photographs of a visiting common wasp happily pollinating the laurel bush.

Common Wasp

On Saturday I had a visitor from a ‘Hover fly, or Drone fly, (true fly)’ who flew about my dining room before trying to exit from my kitchen window (which I opened). I am rather saddened to say that I was hoping it would be something more ‘exotic’ like a solitary bee, but I guess a fly resembling a honeybee is something unique as well.

Hover fly, or drone

I was listening to podcasts of Alan Titchmarsh on Classic FM the other day and he said something I thought was profound. He said, ‘half the fun in gardening is anticipation, looking forward to things coming out, rather than them being there all the time.’ I agree with the statement wholeheartedly. These past few months while awaiting for bulbs to grow and other plants to awaken from winter has had me peering out of the windows daily.

I have Lily, orchid and gladioli bulbs planted so come summer I will be continuing to peruse my garden to see what has stood the test of nature!

Bulb gowing

Fun and frolics!

Saturday, though not as epic a day as Good Friday, was in itself an eventful day.

After shopping, gardening and preparing dinner for the evening (more roasted carrot and garlic soup), David and I took the bus into town, to the Liverpool, Everyman Theatre. We went to see the matinee of their new production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. And what a dream it was, though in places rather nightmarish. I say nightmarish in a good way, as the just under three hour production did not have me reaching for the razor blades. I mean nightmarish in the fact that the woodland scenes were less bucolic, more atmospheric. If you have ever walked in a shaded wood you will be familiar with the tense, tingling feeling of supernatural nervousness. In this Liverpool Everyman production, the faeries are featureless, clad in a black stockinged garb, looking rather menacing in fact. The mischievous Puck was like a ringmaster and it made you think that all the heightened drama between the love sick couples of Hermia/Lysander and Helena/Demetrius was all for Puck’s amusement.

The last play David and I saw at the Everyman was their opening show, Twelfth Night. That was filled with music and laughter and this production was no different. The stage design, though rather austere was effective, as was the use of lighting. The forest scenes were sparse with a mirrored wall giving the impression of a ‘360 degree audience,’ with scrunched up paper littering the floor resembling the mass of leaves and their sound as they were stepped upon.

The backdrop however is irrelevant as the performance of the cast members was foremost. On leaving the theatre the name on many a tongue was Dean (a young Brian Blessed) Nolan’s Bottom, (in one scene he left the audience red with embarrassment and young children giggling with glee), however the entire cast was strong, both seasoned and young actors played their parts well.

For the spectator the three hours filled with much magic and humour flew by. I have not seen another production of this play to compare but I say if you have a ticket to this play, then you will not leave the theatre disappointed.

The Guardian’s Review.

Good Friday

Phew… what a long day!

On this dreary, rainy morning, David said to me that, ‘I would lie in bed all day listening to the Classic FM’s Hall of Fame countdown’. I did indeed lounge for the first hour of the day. I wanted to hear who was at no. 300. It was Henry Litolff with his Concerto Symphonique No. 4. I snuggled with Artie who suckled, but by 10am I was up and have not stopped since!

Artie suckling

Firstly I made a start with the laundry and then onto the glass/window cleaning in the house. The dining room table is always the first to get a once over!

I then paused for an hour for a chat and a coffee with Mum. Then after lunch and after David had annoyed me for not eating, I carried on the cleaning. I cleaned the bathroom and bedroom before disinfecting Artie’s cat boxes and the rooms with vinyl floors. While I left David with the vacuuming, (a chore I despise!) I checked on the plants in the garden and refilled the fat balls for the visiting Starlings and Pigeons. The Dwarf Rhododendron is flowering and the Flame of the Forest is living up to its name!

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I then did 20 minutes on the treadmill and really put up a sweat before making a start on the evenings dinner. I cooked Aldi’s Atlantic Side of Salmon with lemon, tarragon and cheese crumb. We had this fish for New Years dinner and it was very filling, so I thought it would be ideal for Good Friday! I served it with Aunt Bessie’s roast potatoes and salad. It was scrumptious!

Atlantic Salmon with lemon, tarragon and cheese crumb

Now that the end of the first day of Classic FM’s Hall of Fame draws to a close with Handel’s Xerxes, I am finally relaxing with a toasted hot cross bun (that I was craving yesterday) and a wee dram of whiskey.

Toasted hot cross bun and a dram of whiskey

Buonanotte!

Christine xx