genialgemsandothergabblings

Just had to share the newest variety of tomato that I have had a go at growing this year. It's called Nosy parker and I think you can see why! The wind and rain that is coming in over the next few days will probably put paid to the lovely tall Sunflowers  and other summer ones that have still been flowering .I  will have to go and plant up some bulbs in the greenhouse and keep out of the worst of it. We went out o the boat again on sunday, concious now that the mellow days that make it such a pleasure are dwindling away . Only up as far as Myerscough but  after a walk  to the college Plant Centre we rewarded ourselves with tea and carrot cake and I spent time browsing at the wonderful plants they have on show. The small Tortoiseshell  butterfly was on the Sedum as were many others. Bebe is not impressed that the interloper is still with us. He[Snowy] is a lovely cat and is feeling much better and has on the whole been good around the others. Amazingly Oll...

+ At last we made use of the lovely pinic hamper that I  bought with my Birthday money way back in  February. Gawthorpe Hall near Burnley was our destination  having  briefly called there once before we  promised to return one day and explore this very old Lancashire Manor House. We toured the house and saw the beautiful Kay Shuttleworth Embroidery collection which really is stunning if you are at all interested in textiles.  The house itself was built around 1600 but the Shuttleworth family had been in the area for 200 years before that. I have to say that having a picnic with a' proper 'picnic basket adds a new and much more enjoyable dimension to the whole experience and now all I would like is a really old open top car to take me to more picnics in real style!

With the lovely sun putting in an appearance this past week it spurred me on to have a go at making a herbal wreath as I have quite a good collection growing about the garden. It looked and smelt really lovely as I was making it and after a couple of days left in the shed it had started to dry off nicely,as had the gorgeous faded hydrangea heads I had already picked. These will  look lovely in an old vase when the days are getting darker and cooler and summer seems a million miles away. At last I have Sunflowers and the bees and other insects are busy making the most of them in these late summer days. When they have finished flowering I will cut them off with a portion of stem and hang them around the garden for the birds to feed on through the Autumn. On Bank Holiday Monday we had  a really great day out  with Mark and Emma on the boat up to Garstang where we stopped at the canal side pub for a lazy lunch  before heading back. Everyone was happy and relaxed a...