Thursday, 19 May 2011
And off I go again !
After 2 nights at home, the freezer stocked and the fridge packed to capacity, I left Llaingof again, this time for ma week in the sunnier and more noisy climbs of gidea Park and Basildon. So leaving the home team ( David, Michelle, Mark, and Deslyn) with a list of jobs as long as my arm ( which is very long as any one who has had to knit me a jersey will know), and off I went again. This was a bit of a test for myself, as I am not fond of driving long distances, and I had a journey of almost 300miles ahead of me. I managed the journey n about 5 hours with plenty of stops at services along the way for a bit of a breather. The roads and the services always seem so busy, and then I get to wondering if any one is actually ever at home, or wether we all live in our cars most of the time. Hotel Gunn was open for me as usual, almost my second home, thanks lorraine and Graham. Dad has not been well, so I was hoping to offer both Mum and dad a bit of support and see what I could do to help them. Actually it was a real break for me, as their garden is postage stamp size, and once I had potted up a few plants and a few baskets, it felt like I had actaully managed to do something. I was also able to celebrate Dads 82nd birthday with them. I suspect that Dad has had better birthdays than this years one, and am sure he will have better ones in the future.
Friday 30th April dawned, the day of the Royal Wedding. I spent the day watching telly with Mum and Dad, not wanting to miss out on any detail. I thought that Kate looked wonderful, and hope that the Royal Family appreciated the fact that I had my lucky wedding knickers on. Instead of buying a hat for various functions, I buy knickers, so I have white lacy ones for weddings, pale blue or pink ones for christenings, sparkly ones for going to discos and black ones for funerals, much cheaper than a new hat each time and at least I will not look as silly as Beatrice at the wedding, I thought her hat made her look like Tinky Winky form the Telly Tubbies. Anyway, it was a lovely day, and I had a great time watching with Mum and Dad.
The day following the wedding, I attended my first ever street party, in honour of the royal celebrations. Fairholme Ave sure knows how to rock, and there are some very talented local kids about as well. Lorraine deserves a medal for all the work she did and over 100 people attended and had a great afternoon.
In the meanwhile back at the ranch....
The Chicken Arc finally arrived, and was given a coat of paint by Deslyn .. thank you
One tonne of sand arrived and was put into place lining the wild life pond, the underfelt and liner were placed and the pond was filled up, thank you Michelle and Mark.
Loads of plants were either transplanted or potted on, thanks Michelle, Mark and Deslyn
4 more raised beds were completed and filled with compost and potting soil, thanks David .
David also managed to place 300 meters of sheep fencing , attaching it onto exsisting posts. We are still waiting for Brian the grave digger to come and put in the new fence posts and new fencing..... hope hes a bit speedier with his other job than he is with the fencing, or there are a whole lot of people waiting to have a long lie down... well I suppose they have all the time in the world .
And David became the proud foster father of 25 sheep, who will be staying on our fields for a few months. Thanks Heather and Derek for the loan of the sheep.
And me, I managed to do a few little jobs, all indoors, did a bit of shopping with Mum and did lots of sitting, do I feel guilty... no not really.
After a week in Basildon it was time for the great trek home, didnt seem so long going home, maybe i was not quite so nervous of the journey. Again, it was wonderful to get home, and sleep in my own bed.Heaven.
Friday 30th April dawned, the day of the Royal Wedding. I spent the day watching telly with Mum and Dad, not wanting to miss out on any detail. I thought that Kate looked wonderful, and hope that the Royal Family appreciated the fact that I had my lucky wedding knickers on. Instead of buying a hat for various functions, I buy knickers, so I have white lacy ones for weddings, pale blue or pink ones for christenings, sparkly ones for going to discos and black ones for funerals, much cheaper than a new hat each time and at least I will not look as silly as Beatrice at the wedding, I thought her hat made her look like Tinky Winky form the Telly Tubbies. Anyway, it was a lovely day, and I had a great time watching with Mum and Dad.
The day following the wedding, I attended my first ever street party, in honour of the royal celebrations. Fairholme Ave sure knows how to rock, and there are some very talented local kids about as well. Lorraine deserves a medal for all the work she did and over 100 people attended and had a great afternoon.
In the meanwhile back at the ranch....
The Chicken Arc finally arrived, and was given a coat of paint by Deslyn .. thank you
One tonne of sand arrived and was put into place lining the wild life pond, the underfelt and liner were placed and the pond was filled up, thank you Michelle and Mark.
Loads of plants were either transplanted or potted on, thanks Michelle, Mark and Deslyn
4 more raised beds were completed and filled with compost and potting soil, thanks David .
David also managed to place 300 meters of sheep fencing , attaching it onto exsisting posts. We are still waiting for Brian the grave digger to come and put in the new fence posts and new fencing..... hope hes a bit speedier with his other job than he is with the fencing, or there are a whole lot of people waiting to have a long lie down... well I suppose they have all the time in the world .
And David became the proud foster father of 25 sheep, who will be staying on our fields for a few months. Thanks Heather and Derek for the loan of the sheep.
And me, I managed to do a few little jobs, all indoors, did a bit of shopping with Mum and did lots of sitting, do I feel guilty... no not really.
After a week in Basildon it was time for the great trek home, didnt seem so long going home, maybe i was not quite so nervous of the journey. Again, it was wonderful to get home, and sleep in my own bed.Heaven.
Going Home
Its actually hard to know you belong somewhere, when you havent left, so our trip to Poole served 2 good purposes, one to join in a great family get together, and the second one, , we actually felt like we were going home on our return to Wales. It was lovely to start recognising all the familiar places on the way home, to realise we are only 100 miles from the bridge, and that we enjoyed returning to the peace and tranquility that is Llaingof. As they say the green green grass of home.
The Big 80 !
Our very special Uncle dave was 80 on the 23rd April, and we decided to travel to Poole to join him for dinner as a surprise ! Michella and Mark were left in charge of Llaingof, and after making an early morning telephone call to the birthday boy, we left for Poole. What a wonderful day we had, visiting our special place of rememberance at Upton Park, remembering all the happy birthdays we were able to share with Peter ( David's late Dad) and good old Uncle Dave. Then off round to Lynn for a quick cuppa, and to get washed and polished, and speed off to the hotel in Frendown, so we could hide away before Dave and Doris arrived. I think its fair to say Uncle Dave was suprised to see us all, and we had a wonderful evening together, laughing , talking and maybe even a few tears. A great day and we were so lucky to be there.
Nearly caught in my jammies
Good Friday dawns, Im busy pottering around the kitchen, making breakfast and wondering what we should have for dinner, when out of the corner of my eye, I see a flash of blue car ! Its 9.00 am, and Michelle and Mark have arrived, thank goodness I changed out of my jammies about 5 minutes before hand. What a wonderful way to start the day, so its on with the kettle, out with the rusks and the weekend has begun. After 1/2 hour R and R, Mark and Michelle descend on the veggie beds to help out . Me, Ill get on with the lunch, dinner, grub etc.
Change over day
The Gunns and Satterthwaites have returned to their homes, so we have one day to change the beds, do the washing, stock up the pantry and fridge, and line up the next lotn of jobs for the lucky visitors... next up Michelle and Mark, due good friday
Sunday, 15 May 2011
The pond takes shape
James Pond has had many hands to help shape it. It is a huge nature pond,in Field One, near the poly tunnel and the 4711 orchard.
First David dug a rough outline with the miniture digger ( more playing than planning I think !), then James, Mar3k and Anna dis a bit more shaping, shelf building,forming Tuffey Mound,( a raised shaped area seperating the deeper end from the shallower end, and so named because Anna made the mound and her surname is Tufffey ) and turf removal to make the edges level. Then Michelle and her friend Mark, lined the pond floor with one tonne of soft sand, placed the underfelt ( did you know pond liners need an underfelt ?? I didnt ) and the liner in position, and started filling it with water ( from the mains, still havent got a pump working on the well). Then I managed to buy some water plants, aquatic soil ( ordinary top soil has too many nutrients and will soon turn the pond too soup )and planting baskets on a visit to a garden centre in Basildon, while I was visiting Mum and Dad). David and I managed to plant up the baskets, covering the soil with pea gravel, and then had a challenge to place the water lily in the deepest part of the pond, which just happened to be in the middle. Neither of us was too keen on wading in, though we were not going to own up to this too each other. We decided that it would be tempting fate if we walked on the liner, so had to devise a crafty method, involving threading the plant basket on to a very long piece of twine, walking to opposite ends of the pond, with the basket suspended over the water,then gently lowering the basket to the floor of the pond,and pulling the string back to land. Great fun to work out, and neither of ud got wet or fell in. We have done a bit of tweaking with the levels, by raising some of the edges with more sand under thevegde of the liner, so we have made an area when the water will over flow, making a bog garden. I have put a plant called a Gunera here, it has two leaves each about 6 -8 inches across, but has been known to grow leaves as large as 10 feet broad. Unbelievable, we will be watching and measuring the leaves with interest.
Jackie and Alan ( Not farmer Alan ), who live across the road from us, have some land that runs down to the banks of a river in a village called Saron. When they heard we were busy building a pond, the collected a whole load of water irises and a bucket of water, containing tadpoles and other water beasties, and left them on our doorstep for us. I cant believe how kind people are to us. Any way the tadpoles have been added to the pond, along with a frog that David found swimming in an ols animal trough near the piggery. Jackie needed her bucket back, and David was just busy cleaning the bucket before returning it. Jackie said "the bucket did not need a wash and set", and rushed off with the bucket before he had finished cleaning it. Laugh out loud !!. Anyway, I managed to leave them a bottle of Plum Jam on their doorstep, as a little thank you.We have found loads of plants that are very over crowded on the garden, so have been moving some of them down to the pond, to help it look a little less like a hole in the ground. I guess in a year or two it will look more comfortable in the land.
First David dug a rough outline with the miniture digger ( more playing than planning I think !), then James, Mar3k and Anna dis a bit more shaping, shelf building,forming Tuffey Mound,( a raised shaped area seperating the deeper end from the shallower end, and so named because Anna made the mound and her surname is Tufffey ) and turf removal to make the edges level. Then Michelle and her friend Mark, lined the pond floor with one tonne of soft sand, placed the underfelt ( did you know pond liners need an underfelt ?? I didnt ) and the liner in position, and started filling it with water ( from the mains, still havent got a pump working on the well). Then I managed to buy some water plants, aquatic soil ( ordinary top soil has too many nutrients and will soon turn the pond too soup )and planting baskets on a visit to a garden centre in Basildon, while I was visiting Mum and Dad). David and I managed to plant up the baskets, covering the soil with pea gravel, and then had a challenge to place the water lily in the deepest part of the pond, which just happened to be in the middle. Neither of us was too keen on wading in, though we were not going to own up to this too each other. We decided that it would be tempting fate if we walked on the liner, so had to devise a crafty method, involving threading the plant basket on to a very long piece of twine, walking to opposite ends of the pond, with the basket suspended over the water,then gently lowering the basket to the floor of the pond,and pulling the string back to land. Great fun to work out, and neither of ud got wet or fell in. We have done a bit of tweaking with the levels, by raising some of the edges with more sand under thevegde of the liner, so we have made an area when the water will over flow, making a bog garden. I have put a plant called a Gunera here, it has two leaves each about 6 -8 inches across, but has been known to grow leaves as large as 10 feet broad. Unbelievable, we will be watching and measuring the leaves with interest.
Jackie and Alan ( Not farmer Alan ), who live across the road from us, have some land that runs down to the banks of a river in a village called Saron. When they heard we were busy building a pond, the collected a whole load of water irises and a bucket of water, containing tadpoles and other water beasties, and left them on our doorstep for us. I cant believe how kind people are to us. Any way the tadpoles have been added to the pond, along with a frog that David found swimming in an ols animal trough near the piggery. Jackie needed her bucket back, and David was just busy cleaning the bucket before returning it. Jackie said "the bucket did not need a wash and set", and rushed off with the bucket before he had finished cleaning it. Laugh out loud !!. Anyway, I managed to leave them a bottle of Plum Jam on their doorstep, as a little thank you.We have found loads of plants that are very over crowded on the garden, so have been moving some of them down to the pond, to help it look a little less like a hole in the ground. I guess in a year or two it will look more comfortable in the land.
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