Star Forever Young

It's been a while!  I always say that when I suddenly realise that time has flown and I haven't visited here for months.  Why is that? Perhaps it's because other things come along and along and along....  Dylan is now 12, nearly 13 years old! How can that be? and his sister, Ruby is 7 already. I'm very happy to say that both are well and doing fine, enjoying life and school and holidays. Here in England the children break up for the summer in the third week of July and return to school on 5th September, most years. Already the shops are full of 'Going back to school' items, clothes and stationery. The children here wear school uniform so they all look alike.  It gives a sense of identity and is cheaper for parents if the children aren't all trying to compete with each other as to who wears the most trendy clothes. Even so, I remember from my own school days, that even in school uniform, some girls managed to look more fashionable than others! I went to an al

 Hello everybody - I hope that Spring has arrived for you - at last. Here in England we have had to wait a very long time for some decent weather. April has been cold and wet so far, until today. Today it was warm and lovely and so many people have been out in their gardens, tidying up and planting.  In my garden this year, I have a new addition, well two actually! First is a new puppy - more of him in another post and second, a new raised bed for my flowers - one that the puppy can't reach!  So here is a small selection of Spring flowers in my garden today.

It has been so dry this summer that we have had to water the garden every other day.  Luckily for us there is no hosepipe ban in our area yet, but we are mindful not to use any more water than we really need. We have also been putting our washing up water onto the grass so it has stayed relatively green. We haven't had to cut the grass at all this summer. I think that's a first. The picture shows Larry, my husband, picking blackberries. They are not quite so big this year, but they will be delicious nevertheless.  We can look forward to some lovely blackberry and apple pies in the Autumn. Larry takes our puppy out into the garden every morning at 6 a.m. and while she is nosying around and doing her business, Larry picks the latest lot of blackberries and brings them in.  The freezer is filling up nicely. Today we went for a walk in the countryside, taking Jenny for the first time.  She is 23 weeks old now.  It was a bit adventure for her because we went by car. It is only a sho

  Jenny is 23 weeks old now and still puppying around. She doesn't know what rain is because she hasn't seen any for most of her life. She is house trained now, but with the door open so much of the time, that has been easier than it might have been. When it does eventually rain, the door will be closed and then we shall see how good she is about asking to go out. Maybe I should get a bell and teach her to ring it, but I can see how that might work against us! She might like ringing it so much that she rings it all the time, even when she doesn't need to go out and that would be annoying. She is very good about going to bed. She goes to bed at 10 pm and Larry gets her up in the morning at 6 a.m. We've only had two broken nights so far. On the down side, she pulls terribly on the lead when she is anxious to go somewhere or when she doesn't want to go somewhere. She is very mouthy, biting and teething everything she can get hold of so we are looking forward to that ph

September is pickle time at our house. Jim is the expert here, when it comes to pickles and his best effort is mustard pickles.  Also known as piccalilli, Jim's version is milder and in our opinion, better.  All the family agree on that, lol.  At the end of August we start looking out for marrows, shallots, cauliflower and vinegar - malt variety. Marrows have not been very obvious on the shelves this year, nor last year.  I think it is because people now prefer courgettes or zuchini, whichever you prefer to call them. Jim doesn't use the pickling vinegar because that is rather strong.  Sometimes he puts a bouquet garni into the mixture whilst it is cooking. The other vegetable included is the runner bean, but we don't buy those. Jim grows them himself. He prepares the vegetables in the early evening; salts them, covers them with a clean tea towel and then leaves them overnight to draw out the excess moisture. The next day he rinses them off and puts them in a large pan with

These fine old motors were on display in the Coventry Transport Museum, where Larry and I found ourselves during a holiday last year. It was raining and, fearful of getting soaked to the skin, we took shelter in the museum, little realising how vast it was inside. I expected to be inside the museum for half an hour at the most, but as it turned out, we were in there for the rest of the afternoon.  To me, one car is the same as another, but Larry is quite a connoisseur so he had a whale of a time. These pictures give a flavour of what was on show, but the more modern section was a WOW moment. Here is the link:  https://transport-museum.com/collection/default.aspx?gclid=Cj0KCQjws536BRDTARIsANeUZ5_-_Qdvqg-S1jQgY-BJD9TOJX2Wnfm1m7fMy0dvTIQ93NcoYs9AMP0aAvj5EALw_wcB