A DAY IN THE GARDEN DOES YOU GOOD!

I couldn't wait to get up this morning, I'd been planning this day throughout the week and regardless of whatever weather system was going to loiter over my garden, I was determined to be out, working in it.

Michael had bought me a little green house for my birthday and putting it together was the first job on his list. As it turned out, it was the only job completed from his list, it was one of those things that looked easy enough to do but ended up taking all day.

While he got on with that, I turned my attention to clearing out my shed and sorting out and moving various pots of different shapes and sizes.

One of the camellia's is already in flower and the other does seem to have quite a few buds. I don't think either of them flowered very well last year, so it looks promising.

It was lovely to be outside, quite bright and mild. To be honest, you could easily forget that it was still February. I thought, that due to the very bad weather before Christmas I would loose quite a few plants in the garden but I was surprised today to see virtually everything on the move. Only the cordyline didn't survive, I touched it and it just fell apart - rotten right through!

Finally as the daylight disappeared, Michael was able to finish the green house and put it in place. It may be empty now, but I don't think it will be too long before I fill it up!

PELICAN IN THE PARK

Michael and I spent the weekend in London.

On Friday evening we went to Claridges and eat in Gordon Ramsey's restaurant. We had a great time and really enjoyed the food and the experience, fine dining at its best!

On Saturday morning we walked through Green Park into St James Park and came across this charming fellow.

I asked Michael if he thought pelicans would hiss if you got too close, like geese do. He wasn't sure but miraculously the gathered crowd stepped back so I could take this picture.

The squirrels on this tree were also in a playful mood.

We went on to visit the Foundling museum - http://www.foundlingmuseum.org.uk/ in Bloomsbury and saw the exhibition, Threads of Feeling. It was very interesting but it also made me feel quite sad and shocked. So many babies and small children were left there by their mother's all those years ago because they had no money and couldn't care for them themselves.

Children of today don't know how lucky they are!

Whoops, I'm sounding like my mother again!

Yesterday took us down the river Thames to Greenwich. There, we had a look around the maritime museum and then got blown up Blackheath to the observatory. It certainly was a windy day.

We had a good weekend, although we walked our socks off and most definitely eat too much food. We were very glad that my cousin Miriam pointed us in the direction of the Foundling museum, as it was previously unknown to us. From now on each time we are in London we will try and discover something new to visit.

BIRTHDAY!

Here are some birthday cards from yesterday which I really feel depict my true persona!

A lovely Granny!

who enjoys the odd gin & tonic!

A woman that likes to chatter and

show her patriotic side! (or rear in this case!)

Is medium mature, a little wise but not that sensible!

and occasionally can be seen wearing odd socks.

That's ME!

RSPB BIG GARDEN BIRDWATCH

SATURDAY AM

As well as the usual nuts, bird seed and fat balls that I always have in the garden, I prepared the birds a lavish feast of chopped italian smoked sausage, parma ham, apple and pear for their breakfast. I wanted to entice as many different birds into the garden so that I could count them and register my results with the RSPB.

I sat for a good hour looking out into the garden through the patio doors, pen and paper by my side and counted.........................................................................................................................................

ONE BLACKBIRD!!!!!!!

Whilst this count was taking place I did manage to finish the Debbie Bliss matinee coat, which was a much better result.

SUNDAY AM

When I went down to the kitchen to make my first cuppa of the day, their breakfast from yesterday was still laying on the grass untouched. Excellent, I thought, I'll have another try at the count when I have my breakfast.

Can you believe it, when I returned to the kitchen half an hour later, the whole lot had gone and there were still no birds in sight. Just typical! They'd obviously eaten the lot far quicker than the time it took me to drink a cup of tea.

Eventually in the next hour I did manage to see 4 starlings, 2 blackbirds, 1 wood pigeon and 1 sparrow.

Not exactly what I was hoping for!

BUSTER!

Meet Buster!

(I hasten to add - not mine!!!!!)

This little chap belongs to some friends and I met him for the first time today.

He is very tiny, really playful and two words which don't feature in my vocabulary very often - cute and adorable!

I think he's going to keep his new owners on their toes.

Since I last blogged I've been knitting as and when I can but I haven't actually managed to finish anything. I've still got the one sock to finish and now just one sleeve to finish for the pink baby jacket. The garment I've planned to knit for myself is still untouched in the bottom of my knitting bag.

Must crack on this coming weekend!

JANUARY KNITTING PLANNER

Yesterday I went over to the "Cheap Shop" in Tiptree and chose this lovely pink wool to knit the little Debbie Bliss baby jacket. This is for another one of Michael's work colleagues whose wife is due to give birth in the next 3 weeks.

I also ordered a ball of Yo Yo wool to knit myself a cardigan/jacket from the Knitting in No Time book that Kate bought me for Christmas. I nearly slumped over the counter when the assistant told me it was £20 a ball but regained my composure when we read the pattern and found that the balls of wool are in fact very large and I only need one.

My mother today exclaimed "What will you do if you run out of wool and it isn't quite finished?'

This wont be a problem I reassured her. The garment is knitted in one piece starting with the left sleeve. If I run out,the right sleeve will just be a little shorter.

As well as these two projects for January I've also got one sock to finish so, I will be kept busy.

On that note I must add that I need to be kept busy. Sorry but here's my first rant of 2011.

My itunes account has been hacked and five unauthorised payments of £30 have been taken from my credit card. Contacting itunes isn't the easiest in the world, only by email, with replies taking up to 48hrs. Now, being the calm person that I am, I can except this up to a point.

But, I notified them on Wednesday, I received a reply late on Thursday asking for more information. I replied straight away and then on Saturday evening I got a two line response.

There are no unauthorised charges on your account.

and then

Have a nice day.

I'm still waiting to receive a reply to my reply about that!

Thankfully my credit card company are on the case, but it's all hassle that I could do without.

For those of you that haven't turned off yet, thank you for listening, for those that have, I don't blame you!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

A belated happy new year from Supergran who is having to get to grips with a new computer and has found downloading photos to this blog a bit of a pain. At one stage about an hour ago I though I'd managed to get these pictures downloaded but was quite mystified to find a photo of a cat and an egg in there place. I don't know where they came from but thankfully I've moved on from that that error.

These were taken yesterday as Michael and I walked along to Walton on the Naze from Frinton on Sea. There were loads of people about, many with dogs, one with a horse but all probably the same as us, we just wanted to walk off Christmas, once and for all.

Not that I felt that we had eaten and drunk that much more than usual but as always all of our pre-christmas thoughts and ideas of plenty of long walks coupled with a few hours relaxing with a good book all went out the window. By new years day, with the christmas decorations now driving me up the wall and yet another afternoon 0f cooking, I couldn't wait to get out stretch my legs and blow 2010 right out of the window.

Our walk was lovely, plenty of chat about our new year's resolutions. Eat less, drink less, exercise more, decorate the lounge and little bedroom before springtime and plan in my head ONLY my new kitchen with appliances to boot. Mmmmmmm!

Anyway, with these resolutions in mind I declined the offer of my own bag of chips whilst in Walton and just tasted 2 from Michael's bag. Good aren't I?

So today, christmas & the new year over, I'm looking forward to 2011.