Long time no chit chat

Where does the time go? Apart from the obligatory memes I haven’t posted anything general for ages. It’s been busy chez Sparkle, John has returned to work after six months of leisure. He’s joined the staff bank at the hospital  and has spent the last two weeks working his socks off in the medical records library – it’s really hard graft, he’s used to a more sedentary work life so it has come as a bit of a shock to him. But I think he’s enjoying himself – if that’s the right word to use.

This of course means that I’ve lost the housework fairy – he was really getting quite good as well *sorry John – no offence meant* which results in a mad rush at the weekend to catch up with everything – sadly the reduction in income means that I can’t commit to having a lady who ‘does’ again!

I’ve spent most of the afternoon setting auto posts for Alphabe – Thursday (it’s the only one where I know in advance what I need to do!) as we’re off on holiday again next weekend and I don’t want to get into Mrs Matlocks bad books for not handing in my homework (yes, I can hear you all, I know I’m mad!). I did however spend a little time in the garden giving it a bit of a spruce up before we go away. Last year I sent off to the daily paper for a 'Free for every reader’ offer of ten dianthus – they arrived as tiny little plugs of plants that I didn’t notice the postman leave on the front door step. I managed to resuscitate them but only had a space to plant five of them – I wish now that I’d put the others into pots and grown them on. The photo below shows why – I am amazed that they have grown so well from such humble origins.

I decided to cut all that were blooming because they would be gone by the time we came back anyway, the darker pinks have been in flower for about six weeks already. The Salvia in the background have been in the garden for about five years but this is the best year I have had from them.

And I just have to share this beauty with you – it greeted me first thing this morning, yesterday it was just a tight green bud, such a shame they only last a day or so – especially with the strong wind we’ve had here today!

I think these must have been gifted to me by a very generous bird as I have never had this colour poppy in the garden before, I normally just get a gorgeous pink.

In case you haven’t already entered (or even if you have) don’t forget to enter the giveaway that I am hosting for a £50 voucher – click here for more details – please enter, I feel silly only choosing from a few people plus you don’t want to see Janet winning again now, do you?? (Sorry J – only joking!!)

I’m off now *sigh* another week at work beckons, but at least it’s the last one for a while. Have a good week all!

The one about my day off

I might have mentioned before that I work a 'nine day fortnight' effectively allowing me a day off on alternate weeks. The premise is that I work the 75 hours I should work over ten days over nine instead – in reality I work a lot more than that but my conscience is clear when I do take the day off.

Anyhow, today started rather rudely with John jumping out of bed with an expletive because he'd slept until seven o'clock! I harrumphed and turned over but he proceeded to sit on the bed and shave – I was not impressed and dragged myself up, took an armful of washing to the machine, made a cup of tea, powered up the lappy and returned to the bedroom – he'd only made the bed while I was gone! He'd forgotten that I had told him I was off work today!

A slow start catching up with the Twitterverse and I made my mental list of the days chores – I do try to be constructive on these days but I also think I need an opportunity to recoup my energies. I made the fatal mistake of not turning the TV off before my favourite 'Homes Under the Hammer' came on at 10 – so rewarded myself with a cup of coffee while I watched it.
We have had the most glorious weather here in the East of England over the last couple of weeks and today has been no exception – I ventured into the garden to start tidying up and it was so hot I couldn't believe it! I want to know why it is that weeds seem to grow whatever the weather but the flowers fade and die, I'm sure that every time I plant a new shrub or bedding plant it brings with it a new breed of weed which invades the whole garden.

Here's today's list (not terribly successful!):

Sort out the bedroom (yes – the astute amongst you will be asking 'what? Not again', but I have this little problem of not enough space and far too many clothes which I keep adding to!) - Fail

Go to the supermarket to top up before the home delivery tomorrow (crazy I know but needed milk and cereal for breakfast tomorrow) -Success

Tidy the garden (oh how I would love a man to come and 'do' for me, you know the type just a little man (or a big man) who has time on his hands and knows what he's doing and won't charge me the earth) -Success

Arrange for the old furniture to be collected – tried but couldn't get an answer from the local charity that collects

Tidy the vanity unit in the bathroom – the lovely plumber who did some work for us pulled everything out and put it back higgledy-piggledy - Fail

Change the flowers in the front room -Success

Descale the shower head the water here in the East is so hard all of our water using appliances need regular descaling - Success

And that's it – doesn't look like I achieved much but actually I feel quite satisfied with what's been done and here is the evidence to prove it!

Have a great weekend everybody! Oh – almost forgot, see the new button on my side bar? I had an email from this organisation asking me to host a button for them – seemed rude not to – take the time to vote!

Smile...

Wow – it's Wednesday already, where has the week gone so far? The remnants of summer are just about hanging on here in eastern England, we have had some glorious days over the past week or so – probably warmer than a lot of August days – we need to make the most of this lovely weather because the autumnal changes will soon be upon us. Already the nights are drawing in – I recently saw a comment of 'it's getting late earlier' which sums up the sudden arrival of dark evenings.

The garden is also showing signs of needing to settle down for the winter, the tubs and containers have all long stopped flowering and my attempts at growing vegetables yielded mixed results. We had tomatoes a plenty, Lolorosso lettuces which were delicious and radishes from two crops. The dwarf beans were disappointing – probably because they came to fruit just as we went on holiday and didn't get watered properly – and the butternut squash only produced two fruits because the others all rotted on the stems! Oh – the strawberries were good too! So will I grow veg again next year? Don't know. The trouble is it always falls to me to water and if I don't feel like going out in the evening the plants get parched and start to keel over – perhaps next year somebody else might take some responsibility – we'll have to see!

I've had the day off today and wandered into town (well not so much wandered as took Son 1's car!) As I walked past a shop I saw this sign and just had to buy it – it will look really good in my office and no doubt raise many a comment!

Julie tells me I need photos! Probably gone over the top but here we go. Just had the lawn relaid and a new patio. I've spent the morning trying to put the garden back together - the patio is about 4 inches higher than the last one so we had a sudden drop in the flower beds, the patio man put some top soil down but buried half of my plants! I've now tenderly replanted and moved the soil round a bit. Taken a few cuttings of aubretia and dianthis as well - fingers crossed they take.