June things

As June comes to an end, here are some of the best things that have occurred this month. 

Peonies, always a flower season to look forward to! I love how they turn from tight buds, curled like little fists, into the most over the top, blowsy blooms.

There has been lots of action in the garden this month. A new sofa for the garden arrived and it has transformed the space and how we use it. 

It makes this corner of the garden feel like a room and the kids go out there loads to read which I love. We have just ordered a cover because, while the cushions are shower proof, this is the UK and we get a lot of rain.....

I love how Ziggy is sat in his bed watching Bella. 

I have been much better at watering the garden this year and consequently my pots and window boxes are looking healthy. I have gone for a lot of pink. 

The blackcurrants are ripening day by day. I regularly go out there and check on them, and pick the ripe ones - I want to get there before the birds eat them all. 

The redcurrants are not far behind. I don't like them much, so I will make a jar of redcurrant jelly which I will enjoy much more than the fruit - too sharp and bitty.

I've been picking the smallest of posies from the garden; roses, sweet peas, lavender and dahlias. Sweet peas are the best bedside table flower for their delicious scent, and the bedside pile of books continues to teeter. I have just finished the top one, a collection of short stories which is one of the best collections I have read in years. Such incredibly lyrical, deft writing.

In the kitchen it's variations of pasta and salads. This new recipe was a win - you roast the cherry tomatoes with a block of feta, garlic, shallots, herbs. 

Then you stir cooked pasta through the melted mixture and it is delicious. Sorry about the photo - too excited to get eating!

 

Rainbow salad is always fun to put together and popular with the children.

I am crocheting sunflowers. I have the idea of making a top but it is just an idea at the moment. They're fun to make though.

The children are making me happy and proud lately. Working hard at school, dealing with the pressures of early GCSEs, mocks, assessments and always trying their best. 

Bella usually does our ironing to top up her allowance, but she hasn't lately as she's either revising or reading. I will be glad when the mocks are over so that she starts doing this job again.

This four legged friend/fiend (depending on my mood) will be five next month. I can't imagine not having him in our family. He loves to steal slippers. He doesn't chew them, but carries them around with them and cuddles them, sometimes sticking his nose right inside.

Out and about, everything is blooming. I keep seeing such gorgeous hollyhocks everywhere, I would like to grow more in the garden.

That's my round up. Work is busy but the end of term is in sight, the end of the academic year, my first as a teacher. Just a few more weeks to go and then the holidays are here and I can cook, crochet, sew, garden and potter to my heart's content.

May Half Term

Funny that May half term, while only two weeks ago, feels like much longer. It only takes a few days of being back in the usual rush of school and work for the holidays to feel like a distant memory. 

We had an excellent half term break, with a nice mixture of family time and time away from the children. John and I went to Bristol for a couple of nights with old friends from university. We hired a little AirBnB in the centre of the city and had lots of fun pretending we lived there. (I wouldn't want to though - nowhere to park.)

We visited the impressive suspension bridge in Clifton. The weather was against us a lot over half term, with heavy rain showers and strong winds, but lovely moments when the sun peeped out. It definitely felt windy on that bridge. 

Bristol is a fantastic city, full of history and character and yet modern in a way that others are not. Everything is covered in very cool graffiti and the food and drink options are wide and exciting. It buzzes.

Highlights included shakshuka eggs for breakfast, an excellent Italian, an even better Sri Lankan curry (pineapple curry - amazing!) and very good cocktails.

We got back on the Wednesday of half term, picked up the dog and the children then collapsed from tiredness as we are too old for this kind of drinking and gallivanting. The Thursday and Friday of that week were both bank holidays to celebrate The Queen's platinum jubilee. The were both beautifully hot and sunny. I spent both days inside writing school reports.

On the Saturday, we went up to London for the day. Back in December, we had bought tickets to go to the top of The Shard for Bella's birthday but there was dense fog and nothing to see. You are allowed to re-book at no charge within a year in this happens, so we re-booked for that Saturday, completely forgetting about jubilee celebrations.

I was worried it was going to be horribly busy but it was really ok. We stayed around The City, Lambeth and London Bridge area, so well away from the royal palaces and parks, and it was nice. 

Finally, after a cloudy morning, the sun came out just in time for us to visit The Shard and the views were vertiginously good.

Lots of landmarks to spot. Tower Bridge, City Hall....

...the walkie talkie building, Great Fire of London monument...

.....the Tower of London and HMS Belfast.

We ended the day walking back through Borough Market, stopping for ice creams on the way, before getting our train home.

We spent the Sunday quietly: walks in the lush, soaked woods, pottering in the garden and crocheting.

The redcurrants and blackcurrants are ripening quickly and I think I'll be able to pick some soon. I plan to make Nigella's blackcurrant and liquorice ice cream this summer, I do love it. 

I have put aside my crochet socks for now as I am not enjoying them and they feel like a chore. I do not need my crochet to feel like a chore - it is my creative outlet. I have enough actual chores to do each day. But, inspired by a fabulous sunflower crochet blanket my mum recently made, I am crocheting lots of sunflowers. Each circle is turned into a square by a white border and I am thinking of making a floaty vest/tank top to wear with jeans in the summer. We will see. I have no pattern (apart from the sunflowers) so will make it up as I go.