Further garden delights

Life News:

Our roof is now complete, and very lovely it looks too! The scaffolding and skip is due to be taken away early next week and then our house will be our own again, hurrah. Mind you, the roofers have been lovely, and I think I'm going to miss the company at the end of the week when I'm usually in the house on my own. They've been great fun. When they said goodbye yesterday and gave us the invoice, they also very sweetly handed us a bottle of wine for being such lovely customers. Ahh, I felt quite moved actually. Mind you, one of them said he'd miss being here as he never got cake at home, so I fear there might be domestic rumblings in his house in the very near future. Oh well ...

Yesterday, I donned my apron, got out my electric whisk (steady, people ...) and made a chocolate swirl cake with icing. I am indeed a genius. Which of course you already knew. I have to say it tastes marvellous and I am hugely proud of my efforts, as is K. The only slight set-back is it's so tall that it won't fit into the cake tin, so I've had to surround it with tinfoil and hope for the best. Anyone know anywhere that sells tall cake storage tins, please do let me know!

Also yesterday, K and I went to hear Guildford Choral Society sing Handel's Messiah at Guildford Cathedral - and very lovely it was too. It's one of my favourite choral works and you can't really go too wrong with it, but I thought the choir were magnificent last night. Well done to all. Plus we had a great time at the post-concert party, so thank you to L & J for hosting that. It was great to catch up with everyone.

So today we've had a much-needed lie in and then spent the rest of the day doing garden stuff. We visited a local garden centre and I have now joined The Gardening Club as the special offers and discounts are just so good that we couldn't resist them. Plus it's free to join so what could be better? Whilst there, we bought another shrub for the shrub garden which we've now planted. Plus we stocked up on manure (as you do) for potting and for the roses, and also added in a whole lot of plug plants for potting up for our hanging baskets and containers. These we have now put into the necessary pots. The kitchen's a mess, but what the heck, eh.

Not only that but we took a soft stem cutting from our new shrub so I've potted that up too and am hoping for the best. Oh, and the heuchera I planted last year has started to flower again and my potted silver birch is coming into bud. So not dead after all, well gosh!

Book News:

Not much going on really, except to say that I've drafted an article for one website and need to do a set of interview questions for another which I'm looking forward to getting my teeth into. In the meantime here's the Sunday haiku (written just after yesterday's concert):

I know only this:
music clarifies the soul
in the harshest storm.


Anne Brooke
The Gathandrian fantasy trilogy
Gay Reads UK
Biblical Fiction UK