Filling in the Holes

The view is looking decidedly wet and misty around the house, and the wind is blowing a gale at the moment.  

We have just got back from a long doggy walk on the prom at Llandudno, where quite unbelievably as it's only a fifteen minute drive away, the sun is out and the mild wind is warm and refreshing.  I was contemplating stripping the guest bed and getting all the sheets on the line until we were half way home ... now I think I'll leave that for another day.

I grabbed the camera when I was called outside to help Lovely Hubby with the tape measure as soon as we got back.  We needed to check the measurements for the steel beams that are being manufactured to hold up the new conservatory roof.  The holes in each corner have been filled in with concrete now and are ready to take the steels, which in turn will take the weight of the conservatory roof.  I guess once this is all done we should change it's name, really a conservatory has the type of roof that this has at the moment, perhaps we will go all posh and call it the Garden Room.  

It will be used for our dining table and a small comfy sofa for doggy use once the large chest freezer relocates to the workshop next year.  So I guess it could equally be called the Dining Room or the Dogs Room, but with the doors flung open in Summer leading directly onto what will be a tarmac-ed and plant filled patio area, for me at the moment the name Garden Room is winning ...

.... any other suggestions?  

It's still a mess outside at the moment and you really don't need to see photos of the conservatory floor to know what mess four dogs, one cat and two humans make with their mucky feet each time they step back inside after being outside.

Once the measurements were taken the boards went back over the filled in holes and we retired to the warmth of the house and the kettle went on.  So that's us inside for the rest of the day, we will be venturing out later this evening when we go to the October meeting of the Maenan Gardening Club.  The talk tonight is Welsh Historic Gardens, I'll let you know if Lovely Hubby manages to stay awake through that one  ;-)

Sue xx

Maenan Gardening Club Summer Meal

 

 

Monday night was the annual Summer meal of the gardening club that I joined when we moved here to North Wales.  Twice a year we have a meal in the hotel that we use for the meetings, I guess it's the clubs way of saying thank you for the free use of the room we use all year.  Usually we only buy one or two drinks while we have the meetings, so takings can't be that brilliant even though there are 25+ people on the premises.

 

For this years competition we were challenged to find as many flowers in our gardens as we could and make an arrangement from them.  As a veggie gardener I don't consciously plant flowers except to attract beneficial insects to my veggies or to deter others from coming close, of course I will plant more once Lovely Hubby has his bee hives and I am trying to up the number of my bee friendly plants each and every year to help the little fuzzy buzzy friends that we could not live without.   But even so I was pleasantly surprised to find thirteen different varieties of flowers already in situ and available for picking.

 

I was really happy with my display, although I knew I wouldn't win with only thirteen different flowers.  The winner had over a hundred and her basket of flowers was beautiful.  Our table came second in the quiz, and the food and wine was enjoyed by everyone.

 

How my jug usually looks on the table.

 

It was a really good night out, and now the jug is back home on the table I am luxuriating in having a beautiful display of flowers where usually I simply have a jug of mint.  But the mint will return once the flowers fade as it is a wonderful natural air freshener and is supposed to deter flies and as it grows so rampantly in the front flower bed I do have to keep it under control somehow!!

 

Sue xx