Father's Day #2

 

So the Sunday following Father's Day my brother and family visited for a belated Fathers Day - mainly because by the time he'd decided to visit the previous week we had already booked a table for four which couldn't be extended to eight!

So this week we had lunch at Pizza Hut down at Dockside and then did a little retail therapy before heading back to Chez Ware for an afternoon sunning on the decking.

Just about squeezed enough chairs up on the main tier to accommodate us all although the boys sneakily pinched the more comfortable seats leaving Julia and James on some older style deckchairs!

We had coffee/cakes and then an al fresco tea and everyone seemed to enjoy using the deck and the better view that has come with binning off the old shed and getting the new garage roof done.

All in all a really good family day 💓

More Balls!

 

So this Off Friday, along with some gardening, I eagerly awaited delivery via Amazon of another set of stainless steel balls, albeit these were rainbow coloured and have a small hole on them so unsuitable for a water feature.

Here they are in all of their iridescent glory - tried separating them around the yard but they seem to look better as a collection. Originally I thought the largest one would fit inside the metal spider that sits in a pot in the yard but then you couldn't really see the beauty of it. So abandoned that idea and popped them up near the end of the garage roof in a small "bunch". This looks much better!

I'm really loving the colours of these, hopefully they will wear well, my metal peacock has lost much of its colour over the few years I've had him which is a shame, especially when he's put away for the winter months so he's not left out all year round. At least they brighten up the garden ;-)

Garden Balls

 

So these stainless steel balls are my latest garden purchase - hollow but hopefully robust enough to not blow away (the review said they withstood the Scottish weather) these mirrored balls in various sizes came from Amazon after I originally saw something similar in a little magazine Dad gets.

Thought they would suit being on the slate piece of ground above the bank and what used to be a pond many moons ago. The feather type shape you can see is my metal peacock from Leeds Castle, although he is fading in vibrancy fast.

Hoping to purchase a rainbow iridescent set of these balls for elsewhere in the garden although I believe this set are likely to contain a small hole and so unlike those in the photo, would be unsuitable for floating in water. Not that I have any water anyway for them to float in ;-) Hoping the largest ball in this set as yet unpurchased, will fit inside a metal spider that sits in a flower pot in the yard and used to contain a solar ball light until the plastic eventually became too brittle and fell apart. I've recently cleaned said spider up, brushed him off to remove the rust and sprayed him with some WD40 as it worked wonders on the metal nodding dog - also in the yard.

I'm not a keen gardener and these types of thing help to bring some life into the garden, some interest that isn't yet another Hebe! In fact my yard is mostly artificial plants, ornaments and Mum's sewing machine installation along with a myriad of solar lights.

Garage Tidying Up

 

So on one of the hottest days, Friday, I spent most of the day outside in the garage tidying up and working out where I want to store my tools and generally sweeping up the crap post the refurb. Sweeping the floor is like painting the Forth Bridge, a never ending task, a bit like sweeping off the laurel crap off the decking! That was something else I did to pass the time on a too hot day.

This is me sitting in one of last year's Dobbies purchases, two reclining outdoor high back chairs - except the reclining bit is quite the faff so beginning to wish I'd settled for something less complicated! I popped the chair in the shade of the garage area and used a new 75lt storage box on wheels as a makeshift table for lunch and afternoon coffee. Probably the most amount of time I've sat outside for, I'm not normally considered to be a outdoorsy type of girl, too many bugs for my liking, but it was a very pleasant and relaxing day just pottering around Chez Ware.

Subsequent to this Dad's been up today (Saturday) and sprayed the back wall and part of the sides and floor with some sealant to help keep any damp out bearing in mind that the back wall is built into the garden. The garage has new guttering fitted and Dad tweaked it so it didn't have to drain uphill (the way VSF had left it!) and so at least any rain from the roof should drain away quite nicely into the side garden.

Apart from potentially adding some low fencing across the back of the garage to keep an inquisitive Annie off of it, it's pretty much complete. Possibly some spare soil from Julia & James if they have any left from their garden refurb and some grass seed should hopefully finish the job off.

It's certainly a very marked improvement on the old garage area and the bright goose-grey roof reflects a lot of light thus opening the garden space up.

Another job ticked off the list :-)

Next up is laurel tree trimming which is booked in for 1st July.

Garden Tiger Moth

 

So I was sitting up the garden chatting to Dad after work and spied this colourful little chap making it's way across the lawn.

Used Google Lens to identify him as a Garden Tiger Moth, not very usual but can be found in the UK.

Gently used a piece of veneer to pick him up and deposit him under the plants to prevent the pesky birds making a tasty morsel out of him.

I'm guessing the long white hairs are some sort of defence mechanism but either way I wasn't prepared to take a chance and leave him out in the open. The birds, especially magpies, are quite prolific around my way and they are nuisance enough without encouraging them to feed on the smaller wildlife.

Sarah Millican - Hammersmith

 

Friday 10th June saw Julia and I heading up to London to hopefully see Sarah Millican at the Hammersmith theatre. I say hopefully because the night before on Sarah's Facebook page she'd posted that the show had been postponed due to illness 😱

We decided to take a chance and travel up there anyway, nothing ventured and all that! Whilst we were eating lunch in McDonalds Julia checked in with Sarah's Facebook page and yes she was on her way to London for the two shows she was doing there - woohoo 😊

We had a wander around and ended up in Green Park for a while where we people watched, chatted and enjoyed an ice-cream. Then went back to Victoria station for snacks before heading on the tube to the theatre.

The show was AWESOME! I love Sarah as a comedian - she is so funny, the show is over 16's and to be honest I think it could be over 18's but she was totally on point. We had a fantastic time and we'd definitely go to see her again.

This is the stage area lit up before the show started, us sitting in our seats and outside the theatre afterwards. We got our free "I'm a Bobby Dazzler" badges that were being handed out as we left and we made a donation to the Samaritans which is who they were collecting for that evening.

A late train home to find James waiting in the station car park to run us home, the end to a perfect day out with my girl 💓

Garage Refurbishment

 

So this Monday, 6th June, saw VSF rock up to refurbish the garage roof and replace the up and over door. Two chaps turned up and proceeded to work their socks off from 7:30am until around 3pm when they had completed. Despite Dad coming over to offer coffee etc they declined and cracked on to finish a sterling job.

The roof is three panels I believe with a section down the middle of the "double" roof space to adjoin my new roof to my neighbours. They also demolished and removed the old shed that had been sitting on top of the roof for many years.

The collage shows the new roof and the new door - still getting used to opening/closing it but it's getting more fluid as time goes on.

This should ensure that the garage stays dry, something it's been failing to do for some time although to be fair the garage is almost as old as moi, so 50+ years old and whilst the breeze blocks are still sound the asbestos roof had definitely seen better days!

So now I have a useful storage space for all my garden paraphernalia and possibly even the decking furniture come the Autumn when it's time to pack it away again.

Happy Days!

Platinum Jubilee Celebrations

 

This was post me putting up a few bits in the porch to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee. Julia had originally prompted me to dig out what I had in the "dressing up/club" box in regards to bunting when she said she couldn't get any. However having dug out some table cloths, two types of bunting and some flags she has yet to need any of it now - par for the course!

So I took the Diamond Jubilee (2012) bunting and put it up in the porch along with a St George flag and draped some red, white and blue jewellery around on the table and the LED light as a focal point. Pretty sure that from the street no-one will be able to see the dates on the bunting and I'm going with the "make do and mend" philosophy if anyone asks 🤣

Due to having caught my first cold in over 2yrs I'm feeling a bit below par to do much of anything apart from watch some stuff live on the BBC, like the Trooping of the Colour on Thursday and the lighting of the subsequent beacons in the evening and tonight the party at the Palace will be live on TV too. Bit of a shame because it would have been nice to maybe get out and see some of the local events but equally there are no street parties where I am and the weather has also turned a bit crap too. In spite of all that planning the one thing that cannot be guaranteed is the bloody weather ☔ The flypast was awesome though and whilst I guess it would be good to be able to look back and say I was there - in reality you get a much better view off the TV! For instance the majority of those filling up the Mall on Thursday wouldn't have seen much from the ground, certainly not the Royals on the balcony which is presumably what they went to see. So I'll stick with the comfort of me sofa and BBC1's live coverage thanks 😊