Back yard update

Am thrilled to see some of the seed from the really sweet-scented day lilies that I sowed last year has germinated. :-)



A gazillion violets are flowering, and got a fair amount of ivy leaved toadflax (officially a weed, but I just love it and spent years tryingto spread it round the yard!) flowering too.



The agapanthus seedlings are getting quite big now, might even flower in a couple more years if I can give them some good plant food... I really really want a wormery! ;-)



Looks like some of last year's lilies that we brought back from Abersoch in October may flower too. We brought them home to give them a chance to get big enough to flower - the bunnies eat them as they emerge from the ground otherwise.



Lots of violets too.

Another difficult day

Things are rather tough around here right now, but here's another cat video that made me laugh.



Went out in the back yard about an hour ago. It's full of violets, and some of the day lily seeds I planted in Abersoch last summer (we brought them home at the end of the season) have germinated. Next time I make the trip downstairs I'll try and remember to take my camera!

The Mock Orange bush has a bad case of black fly already, and the rose bush has greenfly. I pulled out about half a dozen weeds, and then had to take a rest.

Atlantic Tower

Christmas Day 2006

Sarah left about 10.30 to fetch Mum and Dad over from West Kirby. Meanwhile Helen arrived and dysoned the hall and living room, and she and David carried piles of boxes of books up to Sarah's room so that the living room was relatively free of clutter. John slaved over a hot stove, and finally the turkey was ready.



The Girls did a grand job with the table, and rushed around dishing up while John carved. Sarah acted as Wine Waiter, a bottle of Mumm Champagne that she bought when she went champagne-tasting in Paris in the summer. It proved to be a bit on the lively side, but the only casualty was a soggy paper serviette. And the champagne was delicious.



We had all the trimmings with the bird - sprouts, carrots, parsnips, roasties, cranberry jelly, bread sauce (with a clove-studded onion in of course!), chipolatas, sausagemeat stuffing and herb stuffing. This was made according to Mum's recipe, Sarah was curious where it came from. "The Radiation Cookbook" was Mum's reply. Conjures up strange ideas now, but her first cooker was a gas cooker, and I think the book came with the cooker.



There was some talk of Christmas Pudding when we'd cleared our plates, but everyone was too full.



So we headed to the living room to open some parcels. Lots of chocolates! Dad was feeling pretty tired I think, seemed to be falling asleep all the time. Of course they both have a snooze in the afternoon usually, so I guess habit caught up. They left quite early - about half three I think. I had a feeling that there was a parcel missing, so checked under the tree. And there was one last present for Mum and Dad - Jacobs cheese footballs too, so it would have been sad if they'd missed it! But I hammered on the window, and John came in and fetched it. At least it meant they had another parcel to open when they got home.



Tree finally went up on Christmas Eve - it's not enormously tall, but it's sure WIDE! We couldn't find the tinsel, or the crib. Think there must be another box lurking in the loft still. Let's hope we find it next year!