Surprise!

Can you imagine any better birthday present than......

opening the front door this morning to find.....

my lovely daughter

saying 'I'm your birthday present Mum!'

She's flown from Canada.

Olympics.

Did you see the opening ceremony of the Olympics?

We werent going to stay up, but decided we would have a quick look.

All very spectacular and terribly busy. you had to keep looking to see what was happening next. I think we do this type of presentation very well, and the organiser Danny Boyle had used so much imagination in all the scenes.

We lasted until the parade of athletes started , which was obviously going to be a long long time.

I expect there was an exciting end, which we missed, but no doubt it will be shown over and over again on television.

I wonder what ceremonies the Greeks had?

Traditional English supper!

As we drove home into the village this evening we saw a sign pointing to

'Fish and Chips, 4.30 - 6.30'

Thought no more of it till we got home, and then both of us decided that it would be fun to try out another of the many services here.

The van is fully equipped with all it needs, deep fat fryer, fish, batter and all little extaas like pickled eggs (ugh) and mushy peas.

For those of you who dont live in Britain, this is one of the much loved traditions here!

I grabbed a bag, ran down the road and reached the van with 15 minutes to spare, but there was still a small crowd being served. The fish and chips are first encased in white paper, then wrapped in layers of newspaper.

10 minutes later and I was back at home with two piping hot parcels of supper.

It was pretty good!

Mystery solved!

The mystery is solved. Thank you Bayou.

It is a Platycodon, of the Campanula family, and also known as the Balloon flower.

Can you identify this lovely deep blue flower?
It has little five sided buds which suddenly burst into flower. There arent many flowers that I dont recognise , but this is one! It's got the look of a Campanula, but not the tall stem of the Canterbury Bell, and the buds are very different to the 'normal' Campanula.

Garden photos

This lovely Agapanthus is beginning to come out. It's interesting to discover the plants that are in this garden.

Here is a pretty Clematis which is climbing up a very old apple tree. It's not one that I know, very pale and delicate.

My little statue, bought in the South of France seems quite happy in her British surroundings.

I am busy digging out an old bed and preparing it for my beloved roses. I'll show you more when that is done. I could never have a garden without roses.

Washer, screw, nut.........

The delivery man carried the box into the kitchen for me.

'Could you open the box so that I can check it?' I asked.

'S'more than we usually do', was the reply.

'I'm not signing till we see it is all there', I said , bravely.

Cue intake of breath, deep sigh, and sullen agreement, muttering that it was always all there anyway.

'Could you take the cardboard away?'I asked.

You know the answer, I'm sure.

My husband wasn't too well that day, so I thought I'd put it together myself. We have different ways of doing these things. His is to tip everything out and try to find the appropriate bits. Mine , slightly OCD maybe, it to count everything, checking against the book, lay it all out in the right order, and then proceed. What a fusser I am!

The instructions were very simple.

The bits were labelled on the bags, and in the diagram.

The hardest bit was getting the plastic covers off the bolts.



Look, three legs on now....and I know how to use a spanner to tighten up the bolts.

And here we are, one new kitchen table, solid as a rock!

It has a bit in the middle that extends it to seat another couple of people.

A good morning's work! (And it only took me from 9.15 to 11.24. I'm sure a man would have had it together in about twenty minutes)

Trelissick gardens

It wasn't the sunniest of days to begin with when we went for a stroll in the lovely Trelissick gardens last Sunday. Neither was it raining, so we were able to enjoy a stroll around part of the grounds.

Many of the trees have been here for over a hundred years, and the one below is a Cryptomeria tree. We have seen many of the outdoor theatre performances played out under and around this tree. I remember a performance of Midsummer Night's Dream...with fairies tucked into the branches of the tree!

The ice cream seller appeared, and began to attract one or two people.

There is a little seating area here where you have a magical view of the open water known as the 'Carrick Roads', leading out to the open sea.

If you are ever in Cornwall, a visit to Trelissick is a lovely day out, with plenty to see, and an Art gallery to browse in....not to mention the Cornish Cream teas..!

Flowers?

Don't these 'flowers' make you smile? Even if you

haven't got green fingers, you can make your garden look colourful with these fun ceramic flowers!
I found them on Etsy, in a shop called 'Cottonnclay'. I may even work out how to put a link on so you can go and admire them!
Here it is...

www.etsy.com/shop/cottonnclay

The library

We are so fortunate to have a very good modern Library in Truro. It is housed in a building that was once a 'Technical school'. When I was younger I visited regularly to take out as many books as possible.

When I was teaching, and was responsible for the school Library, I used to take my group of Year 5 librarians in to the city to have a story session, or to meet a visiting author.

Now the library is larger, is beautifully laid out with comfortable armchairs in little areas. There are big print books so my husband can sit and browse happily. There is a wonderful childrens' area, leading onto a small garden where they can sit and listen to stories. The library is automated in that you place your books in a machine to check them in and out, but there are always librarians on duty to help.

Best of all, there is a little cafe for a cup of tea or coffee and a homemade cake. What more could you want?!

Next Saturday I'm going to visit the mobile library, which comes into our village every two weeks. I so hope this service will continue for as long as possible.

Photos

Two or three photos as we progress through the arranging, re-arranging and unpacking.

This is one end of our sitting room, much smaller than our previous one, but still comfortable.

Difficult to photograph, but this is the doorway into a tiny washroom off a bedroom. This is one of the works we have just had done, and decorating hasn't been attempted yet. The other door leads on to the hallway.



And these are the first flowers of my new Graham Thomas rose, one of our favourites.


Maybe more another day.

Builders.

We've been 'away' for two nights.

Builders were here, remodelling one bathroom and creating a small en-suite for one of the bedrooms. As they had to cut through a wall making lots of dust, we decided to go off and headed down the road, all of two miles, to our local Premier Inn.

It felt like a small holiday!

The best part was coming back this morning , to find that they had hoovered, taken off the masking tape that I had put around other doors, and left the house looking brilliant. They are the best builders we have ever had!

They will be back on Monday to finish tiling and woodwork.

Little things.........

Little things seem to provoke much excitement these days, particularly when I open yet another box and find something really important (like my pack of emery boards)! Another box contained pretty things, all of which I'd almost forgotten about, being somewhat more involved with pots and pans etc.

But the great excitement this week was to receive our Bus passes! These are issued in England to persons of a certain age, and allow free travel on our local buses...but not before 9.30 am or after 11pm. Very suitable.

These were not an option in France, mainly because in our region there were no buses in rural areas. We've also discovered the breathtaking fact that we dont need to pay for a Television licence (age related). Oh the thrills of coming home!

Empty pots.

Empty pots, sadly. I have six of these lovely pots to fill.
I have plants ready to put in, geraniums, begonias, lobelia...
But the pouring rain makes it impossible to do anything in the garden.
Soon , maybe.