This weekend was supposed to be the great garden fettling weekend (fettling is a Yorkshire term meaning mend/sort out etc.). That was before the builder phoned up to say he was putting up the scaffolding for our loft extension on Friday and it rained heavily all day Saturday.

So there was no painting of decking (as it was covered in lots of bits of stone dust and pointing (wet dust at that)) and no mowing of lawns or cutting of hedges. However we did manage to sort out the ongoing computer problems (by buying Ellie a new laptop as monitor is officially dead and would have cost 1/3 of price of laptop to replace it!). Ellie is very happy as the Sims game now works lots faster than on old crumbly computer and I am a bit poorer.

Have also cleared out Jake’s room in preparation for the build which starts properly tomorrow. This has been planned for a long time (well since we moved in 2 and a 1/2 years ago) but I am not really looking forward to it as anyone I mention it to just says ‘oh my God the dust!’ and not that I am obsessive (well not that bad!) but am not looking forward to the next month of upheaval. However it will all be over soon and my dear mother has promised me lots of R and R in her new hot tub when I finally get to Spain later in the year to make up for it. 

Have done virtually no embroidery this week as have been at work late three evenings and this coming week looks to be the same. We have new modules starting and I have loads of marking so it will be a very busy next two months. However come July 14th I finish my full time teaching so that is something to look forward to and come Sept I can start working on my portfolio for my City and Guilds embroidery course that I plan to start after Xmas.

All I have done is play on the Sims for a bit of light relief (extending their houses is so easy you just click and drag – no dust at all!) which my lovely daughter bought me the last three stuff packs for that I did not have as presents this week (thanks sweetie!) and generally maintain domestic harmony (well try to!)

Here are a couple of pics of the scaffolding showing the back of the house and the view from the back door – the roof starts coming off in the morning!

So if you do see me over the next month – pat me gently on the hand, offer me wine (or chocolate depending on time of day!) and don’t mention dust!

No I have not lost the plot (not quite anyway) as I do know it is not Xmas but for me this is the season to be jolly rather than Winter. Winter is just wet and cold and endless but this is Spring and it has been hot in Yorkshire for more than one day!

It has been sunny and we nearly had a barbecue last night (ok so it rained just as I was going to light it so we had an grill a cue instead but we were nearly there!). It has been lovely weather all week, the garden looks fab as I have had chance to work on it and  I am a very happy bunny. I feel so much better when I can be outdoors and get some sun – albeit I did have a lot of work and marking to do this week but I still got chance to potter. I am very proud of my garden as I designed it from scratch – when we moved into this house 2  1/2 years ago there was just a long boring stretch of grass as you can see from pic below.

We then had our very own Ground Force weekend in the rain with me starring as a very wet Charlie Dimmock and managed to get it to this stage.

Do we need more water or shall I just let the rain fill it?

The finished – if a little bare garden.

In true Ground Force style it has come on a treat now everything has bloomed (and I have added lots of bits to it) and now looks fab. I am very pleased with it as it has taken lots of work to get it to this stage but it looks wonderful now. I am at the age when I like nothing better than pottering of a summer evening talking to my plants and am looking forward to some lovely evenings again this summer when we entertain friends.

 

Have also tonight updated the Project Nepal page with a little slideshow of the building from last weekend so do visit that for an update. Have also changed the header image on the site – this is the Laton Jacket from the VA Musuem in London that the Embroiderer’s Story project are re-creating – go and visit their site for an update.