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

The weekend that was…

…the 28th – 29th March 2015.

This weekend couldn’t come quick enough for me as I had a very long week in work, aided by the fact that I was hormonal and tired.

Thankfully Friday came!

On Saturday after doing the usual shopping and cleaning, David and I went to spend the evening with family and friends. It was the third year anniversary of my Father’s passing, so we congregated at Mum’s (next door). We had a curry from our favourite restaurant Saffron and a games night. Although the games part had to be relocated to our house as Mum’s TV wouldn’t accept the PS3 on the HDMI cable! (Go figure!)

From Saffron, I had a Vegetable Karahi, David a Chicken Shahi, Mum her usual Chicken Dupiaza. My brother Stephen and his friend Paul who were not au fait with Indian cuisine had Chicken Tikka Masala and Chicken Korma respectively. The meal went down splendidly!

During part two of the night we played Blur while eating summer fruits gateaux.

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Sunday was a day of relaxation. I pottered about the garden in between breaks in the rain and did a weekly check on the status of the plants.

My tulips are growing from strength to strength and I am sure all six will bloom if the wind does not knock them over!!

The Flame of the Forest has bell flowers on it again this year.

Flame of the forest ‘bells’

I took a picture between the leaves of the Bluebells that I think are growing in my garden and then got excited when I discovered that there was a bud growing! I do hope they manage to grow to fruition!

Bluebell?

On Saturday during our visit to B&M I bought a shrub for £4.99. Euonymus Japonicus Pierrolino Sense. The store had these plants in last year, but I am sure they had flowers on them. This shrub does not. I had hoped for more nectar for the visiting bees, but alas not with this plant!

euonymus japonicus pierrolino

I also noted that my Primulas were flowering, however something had been enjoying a spot of light lunch and had munched away most of the leaves. I wonder who that was???

Half eaten Primula

The Days’ Seem to be Blending into One Another.

I really need to get myself a ‘proper’ job! With work at the university slowly ‘drying up,’ I find myself with more and more time on my hands, and am I working on my novel? No! I am not! I am wasting my days lounging in bed, listening to music and dreaming away! The only time I get out of the bed covers is to grab lunch or to do a quick 30 minutes exercise on the treadmill!

I need to get myself a life!

Gardening news and the flowers on my Aquilegia have begun to open. They are of a very subtle pink. The purple seems to have been bred out of the strain.

My Flame of the Forest seems to be going from strength to strength too!

Flower Power!

It’s going to be another one of those blogs as I have the ‘black dog’ biting at my heels and in much need of my spirits lifting. So I am posting some pictures of the flowers in my garden… all seems to be blooming yet again.

I was worried for my Michaelmas Daisy but that has started sprouting leaves. My Sedum is growing from strength to strength. I hope flowers come on it this year as last year bees and butterflies loved it!

My Rhododendron has started opening, and the flowers on the Flame of the Forest look so delightful, almost like tiny bells!

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