My Green (and Blue) Garden House

Tom has been busy building in the garden ... 

and here I can reveal 

my Green House :)

Made from recycled windows and wood - I am so pleased.   He has done a brilliant job.   It's warm enough to sit in and bring a small table in to, but I've high hopes for the tomatoes and lettuce and chilli I've planted.  

We've thought of umpteen names for it, the Tardis coming up tops, but as my office already has that nickname it can't be used twice lol so I've opted for the Green House :)  

I'm gradually working on this wee area, the raspberry patch is swamped with ivy - and the raised bed has peas and onions coming on if we ever get enough heat for them to grow.  So this will eventually be a wee secret garden and a great sun trap.  

He also made this cracker trellis substitute from driftwood - my idea I have to boast, but he did the putting together - absolutely love it :)    

The rose looks a wee bit windswept - we're having fierce winds here at the moment and it gets very cold the minute your out of the sun - but the horse's head looks soooo good - he makes me smile every time I go past. 

Scratching my head now to see what's next on my list :) ... mwah haw haw ... 

Spam posts

I've just been bombarded with dozens of blogs from Blender Ukraine and can't see any of your blogs for the past couple of days - already gone back 4 or 5 pages!!!   Grrrrr.   Anyone know how to delete blogs from the reader?   Not sure if it's safe to post.   Just using this to test.

It looks like somebody I'm following has been hacked ... I don't know a lot about this but I've changed my password, perhaps it might be worth checking and changing yours.   So annoying. 

Happy Solstice

I can hardly believe it's Midyear's Day - and it still feels like the summer has to come.   How are you doing?  I wish you all the joy of the Solstice, whether winter or summer, and a continued happy and healthy rest of year to come.

We spent a week at the start of June up on the north coast of Co. Antrim, an area I absolutely love and which is gloriously unfamiliar to me - growing up in the west our summers were spent on the Donegal or Sligo coast.  It's part of the Wild Atlantic Way tourist route. The photo above was taken at White Park Bay just around the corner from the Giant's Causeway - there were only two other people walking there when we visited this 2 mile stretch of sandy beach.  Beautiful.  In a way it's a blessing at the moment not being able to travel far - we're getting to see parts of our own country with fresh eyes.

From there it's 20 miles west to Donegal and 11 miles east to Scotland.

White Park Bay from the road above with Tor head in the distance.

While we were there we spent an afternoon on Rathlin Island which is the most northernly part of Ireland, another place I've always wanted to visit.   You can see from this map how close we are to Scotland.

There's something really special to me about islands and this place is no different.   We were limited in the ferries we could get - lots of people very happy to be allowed back out to the island - so we didn't have a lot of time but it was still worth the few hours we were there and we'll definitely go back.   

(My photographs were terrible as I couldn't go down to the viewing platform so I've borrowed a few from the tourist board). 

 

photo DiscoverNorthernIreland

photo RSPB

 

Rathlin is special for many reasons, mainly as a roosting site for puffins and many different seabirds who migrate there each year.  The seabird centre, run by the RSPB, gives access to a viewing platform to watch the many nesting sites.  It was also the place that  Marconi used for his first transmissions across the Atlantic.  

One of our local authors, Bernie McGill, wrote a cracker novel based on Rathlin called The Watch House- definitely worth a read (imho) - set at the time of the modern world starting to impinge on island life.

The supervisor at the Caravan Park:)

Things otherwise here are fairly routine  - I've discovered that I work best to deadlines and without those practising is just a chore.   "I sing for other people" someone said recently and it resonated with me.   Still no dates for concerts as the arts centres and touring venues have no date to open and will need weeks to get the venues ready for people again.   But, there's lots of work getting done in the garden - it's finally taking shape and Tom has just finished building me a garden glass house made from reclaimed windows and wood - I knew there was a reason I married him lol    

Ne'er cast a clout til the May is out

It's been a while since I posted here ... hello everyone, sorry I've been awol.   The flu bug really hit me hard last month and took ages to shift and I just lost interest in everything.  So I thought I'd come and say a quick hello.  I've lots of catching up to do especially of the scavenger hunt challenges but hopefully I'll catch up with those in the coming week.  Thank you Susan for the nudge.

We've been spending time in the garden now that the freezing cold weather has finally left and there is so much to do.   Tom's been building me a greenhouse/garden house which is nearly ready for revealing :) and I've just been pottering with veg and baskets - little bits at a time - and playing with art and mixed media and watching way way way too much tv.  However, Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club is dragging me away at the moment - great whodunnit.     

But this evening I just had to go and take a few pics of the hawthorn blossoms turning pink - the may flower (I can still hear Terry Wogan repeating the old saying) - and it's beens splendid this year, the country clothed in white, but this is my favourite time of it - that pink is so bridal.  (pity the photos aren't in focus says you! but you get the idea.)

And we've been hugely entertained by our squirrel babies.  This afternoon I was watering not 10 feet from two of them chasing each other in and out of the feeding box.  There were 4 at one point.  

They move so fast I couldn't get anything in focus for these two...

But Tom got a couple of crackers ... 

This one was the first day we spotted all the kittens

the box is about 6 inches across

and this video had us laughing - it's only short - watch to the end

"oh it's so hard to get the place to yourself on a rainy day!" 

This weird year and a bit has left me wanting to retire and just potter.  There's been too much sadness.   Bach Flower Remedies are my daily consolation along with Deepak Chopra's lovely meditations and my journals.   I stopped my zoom classes temporarily at Easter and have been switching off but it's getting too comfortable - it will soon be time to get moving again.   Maybe I can stretch it another few weeks. 

Meanwhile there's so much to see - Mother Nature is getting on with her wonderful show of colour.  

 I hope you are all well, enjoying getting out a bit more and staying safe.