Secret House

Sofie at the Secret House

A whitebell

The first time weve ever managed to get one of these kites to fly

These are photos i finally managed to get off Gs phone. We went to Castle Semple in May with granny n papa n sofie n lisa. Id been promising sofie that id take her to the 'secret house' there for ages, its really just a wee bothie. We had a lovely day flying kites, drinking flask tea and eating squashed sarnies. Theres loads of things to see on the way to the bothie, theres a massive carved tree trunk of otters splashing in water, a little woven willow hut (i think its willow anyway), carpets of bluebells, little waterfall, a troll bridge and even a little honey bee hive in the wall of the bothie. I took loads of really cool pics only to discover when i got back to the car that my camera hadnt saved any of them. Roll on monday when my new mobile phone is delivered!

Garden Update

Moar Rhubarb

Garlic

Totties

Portonions

Seed pots

I cooked up my rhubarb today with some left over blueberries, some honey, cinnamon and cardamon. Smells gorgeous, not sure what i should do with it. I think i may have put too much water in. Its a bit sloppy, not much good for a pie i dont think. Maybe some jammy tart type thing. We'll see how it looks after work.

The potatoes are coming along nicely, might need to re pot them again tho, those ikea bags are not as big as i thought, its gonna end up costing me a fortune per potato! The onions are a bit higgledy piggledy, i planted them a bit too close together but they are still growing strong. I'll know better for when i (eventually) get my raised beds going! The garlic is looking braw, i think that there will just be enough room in that little planter.

Still havent planted out my raspberries and blackberries. Ive had workmen digging massive holes out the front to try and get to the bottom of this sewage problem. They are pretty much finished albeit the problem hasnt been fixed. I bought 3 acer plants from tescos reduced to 30p each and some bulbs so i'll get them planted once these workmen stop trampling all over my garden. Im also attempting to grow a few things from seed again, my last attempt was pretty awful, better luck this time! I got some lavender seeds from ebay, so molly helped me plant those, ive always wanted a lavender border. I also came across some calendula, echinechea, nasturtium and i even found 3 packets of seeds with no descriptions on them in my porch cupboard, how exciting. I'll maybe even give the runner beans another go tomorrow.

Busy Bee

My first crop!

My new patio

Apple tree n pear tree, garlic and potatoes

Not bad!

Hope the neds dont nick 'em

Offensive drain :(

Grow strawberries, grow!!

Raspberry plant and blackberry bush

Not sure what this plant is, but its nice

Or this

Its been such a busy day! I decided when i was hanging out washing that the back garden really was a disgrace, mols was quite content with 'kettle' so i got the strimmer out. Popped over to rainbow for a bit after lunch then came home and mowed the front garden while molly was asleep in the shade. Ive been trying to sort out the borders and ive not really got a clue what im doing. I want to plant my blackberries and my raspberries there tomorrow. I got a bit of it done before molly woke up and decided to try and help me. More washing, some tidying. Persuaded G to move the blackberry and raspberry planters out he front and to sort out the little patio bit at the back of the garden. This was the bit that annoyed me the most. I should really have taken before and after shots. It had been dug out shortly before we moved in and was covered in plastic sheeting held down with random slabs and bricks. Just as a quick fix G levelled it and threw some slabs down. He made quite a good job of actually! Looks much better. Me n molly planted out my strawberries and re potted the potatoes, made dinner and did a bit more washing and tidying. All this on top of having major sunburn from saturday and swine flu v2.0! Im gonna sleep well tonight. Lx

Lewis James McDonald

Papa n Sofie

The Splash

G

Lewis James McDonald

Youd better give us a better speech than that at the wedding!

The proud parents

Awwww

Wee Lis

Mum

Ma Wee Graham

The Godfather

The Godparents

Aww Baby Lewis! Wee rascal, getting me all broody! Lewis James McDonald was christened on Sunday 31st May 2009 at the Old Gourock and Ashton Church, then on the Greenock Boat Club on the Esplande. Congratulations David n Lynne and thanks for a lovely day.

Camera shy

Grrrrr, i keep forgetting to take my camera out with me. Molly n me had a lovely day out yesterday at Lochwinnoch with sofie n lis, fed the swans, flew a kite, had a picnic, went to the park. The weather was glorious, many photo oppertunities missed :( And the again today we have a smashing day at Lunderston Bay with collette, michael, aiden n eva and simone, richie, susan n sofie, even joe mustve felt the vibes. Even more photo oppertunies missed :( i promise to be more organised when we go for a picnic again!

Anyway, back at home now, molly is with granny n granda swankie, weve had our first barbie of the year in our new back garden and drank lashings of wine. Its been a good day :)

Looking forward to the mcdonald christening tomorrow. Ive not met baby lewis yet so i cant wait! Remind me to take my camera for goodness sake!!! Lx

Eventually!

I get there eventually. Its been over a year since i last posted. Ive missed so many things that would have been worthy of a good blogging. I'll chip away and try and back post some things, but that may take time.

In my wisdom, i thought to myself i'd update the layout so i could add a facebook widget and ive lost all my lovely links. Well done lorna. Ideas for links welcome.

Its good to be back! Lx

To be sure to be sure, tap a tha marnin tae yaa, kiss the blaarney so.....

I love ireland, what a great place, there is so much to see and do here, weve walked for miles! Lisa youll chuckle to find out that molly has actually been a wee horror since we got here and im sure its because she has never spent so much time strapped into buggies and car seats getting humphed about here there and everywhere. As soon as you put her in you get the wee scowly angry eyebrow, you know the one, when she looks just like her daddy!

Apart from it being really lovely to be hanging out with Aunty LouLou and Uncle Bawbag, weve been to fota safari park, round cork town centre about a thousand times, Elizabeth fort, cork museum, fitzgerald park, blackrock castle and observatory, blarney castle (yes we did all kiss the blarney stone, ALL, EXCEPT THE BIG BLARNEY CHICKEN BAWBAG!!), a day to cobh and thats not even half of what we had planned to do. Youd need to come here on holiday for about six months to even scratch the surface of all the touristy things that you can be doing here.

There has also been a few firsts for molly - first time on a plane, first time in ireland, first sink bath, first time sitting up on her own, first time rolling over onto her front and the first time she has had to sleep in a drawer!!! Enjoy the photos.