A Wedding Party

We have just spent a wonderful couple of days away in West Sussex at our eldest daughters wedding. She had worked really hard planning it all over the last 18 months and all went well except for a bit of a panic when all the electric went off just as the hairdresser arrived. Thank goodness it came back after 20 minutes or the results would have been different ( no hairdresser, no food, no light, no music PANIC).

Here is just one quick photo, that someone took on my old camera - there are dozens more!

Me , James our new son-in-law, Helen our gorgeous daughter and Col the extremely proud Dad whose speech made the whole room reach for their hankies!

Back with more pictures later
Sue

Monday to Wednesday

Bank Holiday Monday and yet another grey day, yes it was mainly fine but no warmth at all. Disappointing weather for all our visitors on the campsite. At least the toilet floors don't get too grubby when the weather is dry.

Col decided not to bother with the boot sale so I popped up the road just after 7am. Loads of boots there today and I found some cheap wool to get me started. I've printed out a simple patten, well it says it's simple - time will tell. At the moment I've just started cross stitching again after not doing any for months.I also brought home £4 worth of paper-crafting stuff for card making. There are loads of sheets of various peel off labels and a huge bag of coloured backing papers. I got home and Col took one look at what I was carrying and reminded me we are going to be moving sometime. But the paper will go in the storage drawers I got ages ago and the peel-offs will fit into my folder.

Monday evening we were eating dinner and the kitchen TV blew up! BANG and a puff of smoke. It was our old TV, one of the great big box things. It didn't smell good,so how to get it out of the kitchen quickly when he's not allowed to lift anything heavy? The only thing we could think of was to bring a wheelbarrow in and tip the TV into it.  We won't bother to replace it as it will be one less thing to move.

I've been fiddling with my new camera and found the panorama button. Makes the pictures look as if they were taken with a wide angle lens. Is that right? The leaflet that came with the camera is very basic and I downloaded the more detailed instructions that were on a CD onto the laptop. I think I really need to print them out and read through several dozen times.( the problem is that there seems to be 200 pages!)

Tuesday and the weather was still mostly grey and not very warm. A bit of baking, some housework then French Open Tennis on TV. I've been very tired every afternoon recently, probably due to the blasted pheasant who keeps squawking every 10 minutes from first light - and that's about 3.45am!

Wednesday and at last we have a bit of warmth , lots of weeding done, especially the beetroot bed that had been under fleece for a bit too long. It was difficult to find the beetroot amongst the weeds.
Most of the campsite visitors have left today although there are 2 motor-homes due in this evening. I hope one of the families going are the ones who have been putting all  the rubbish in the wrong bins all week. I even found an almost full 4 pint bottle of milk in the general rubbish bag. How hard would it have been to have emptied it out, rinsed it under the tap and put it in the plastic bottles bin? Ho Hum....... the joys of other peoples rubbish.
Our youngest has been sorting out all the stuff that was dumped in the shed from their old house, she is loading everything onto a trailer ready to shift it into her new flat at the weekend.

What do you do when you have a mental block about what to have for dinner? My solution is omelets and tonight they will be served with asparagus. There will be one more cutting and then that will be it until next year - will we still be here, that is the question.

Back Soon
Sue

V.I.P Visitor

 Last week I had a visit from a lovely blogger, well known to many of you out there because she writes so fluently about her life on a Yorkshire farm. Yes, Pat AKA The Weaver of Grass came around with The Farmer for a cuppa while they were on holiday in Aldeburgh. Here we are after a look round the garden, I'm complaining loudly that I'm in baggy shorts and tee-shirt  so  not dressed for photos, but as John at Going Gently would say"Hey Ho!"


The weather wasn't the best for their stay in Suffolk, which was a shame but I hope they enjoyed their visit to the East coast.

Our local car boot sale was on today( and tomorrow because of Bank Holiday). I zoomed up the road to look early this morning and came home with a pair of thinner knitting needles for 50p. Hey Big Spender! Perhaps tomorrow will be more exciting. Although in reality I must only buy things that will be Christmas presents or are wearable or very small.
So why knitting needles? Well, I keep reading blogs about people who have learned to knit and all I can manage is dishcloths. Then I got to thinking that many years ago I taught myself to do Cross Stitch and I've made loads of pictures and presents and there are people who can't cross stitch or are only just learning. Therefore in theory I ought to be able to teach myself to knit something other than a dishcloth. Blogging is very good for opening new doors. Now I just need some wool, a simple pattern and time to watch knitting tutorials on You Tube.

Our youngest and partner ( the one she split up with a few weeks ago!) were here to watch the  Eurovision Song contest and both stayed over, so today before it rained Col got them to help with some heavy shifting and lifting and a few more things have now been tidied up. Our daughter moved back here when they split and  gave up the rental on their house. She has now organised renting a flat and will be moving in to it at the beginning of June. I'm not sure how much together/not together they are. We will see what happens. I gave up on watching the song contest and went to bed, when after several countries voting, the UK had only been given 1 point.

Lots of new followers,on Google Friends - welcome to Hina, A krafty girl and Jan and to Diane and wsheary on Bloglovin'. hope you enjoy reading about our quiet life near the Suffolk coast.

Back Soon
Sue

Asking for more for less and odd weather.

The name of the blog has been very apt as life has certainly been quiet since my Monday post. We had 3 nights with no-one on the campsite for a start and the only place I've been is Saxmundham for a bit of shopping. Col has taken the car to the dealers garage today as they have finally got the parts in to do the repairs we wanted done under the 3 month warranty.

The RAC breakdown cover for the car  was due for renewal this month so Col did a bit of on-line research and found a much cheaper quote, with better cover from Green Flag. He rang them to ask a couple of questions but for some reason the lady on the phone couldn't find anything as low as the online quote and said she would find out why and phone back.
We heard nothing more........ doesn't bode well for an emergency breakdown, does it?
He decided to ring the RAC and ask what they could do to match Green Flag and after a bit of negotiating we now have all the cover that Green Flag were offering for a few pounds less than the original RAC renewal cost - Result!

Whatever has happened to the weather?
Over the last few days we have had thunderstorms, hail, heavy rain, really strong cold North East winds with occasional bit of sunshine.

One minute hail, the next blue skies and sunshine

The climbing French beans outside are looking very sad and the broad beans which were about 18" tall were knocked every which way until we staked and tied them upright with a circle of string all round.
I fixed the runner bean canes up the other day  but with this odd weather I was a bit wary about putting the plants out, but they were getting rather tall so  Col decided to get them planted, and the leeks went out too so that's another job done.
In between the rough weather there has been a few hours dry and I was able to get the caravan site cut, we have two families arriving today and then more tomorrow and Saturday for the weekend. We are only allowed 5 caravans/motorhomes and they have been booked in for a couple of weeks but we have been getting phone calls all week for people looking for a pitch, I think they have left it a bit late.

The forecast is actually fairly decent for Bank Holiday weekend so  hopefully we/I will be able to fit in  a visit to a car boot and some reading and relaxing as well as welcoming people to the campsite  and cleaning toilets! Plus of course there is the Eurovision song contest to watch on Saturday night. Hope it's not Nul Points for the UK

Enjoy your Bank Holiday weekend ( and half term week if you are lucky enough to have the week off work).
 Back Soon
Sue
A quick sentence edited in to say - welcome to new followers I have just spotted, will say hello properly next time

Progress

Welcome to Martin and Amy new followers on Google and Amy and Jill who are following by Bloglovin'.

Col is on the mend, the antibiotics soon started to clear the infection and now he must take things easy for a few weeks so the operation site can really heal and not cause the nasty painful problems again.The only downside is the  antibiotics are making him feel very dopey and light headed, he went to get his blood pressure checked just to make sure the tablets were not having a bad effect mixed with his heart tablets but all is OK, he'll just have to put up with it until the course is finished. He is beginning to get bossy and grumpy because of not being able to do anything and  arguments have started already!

The weekend went by quickly, Col has been resting with occasional wandering outside and a bit of dish washing . On Saturday I drove to Woodbridge to find some flat shoes to change into on the evening of our eldests wedding. I just feel so uncomfortable in heels that I'll need to take them off as soon as possible.I found some flat sandals with pink straps to go with my dress and I can use them as indoor shoes here later.
 There is now a branch of The Grape Tree in Woodbridge that I didn't know about which is handy as it's so much closer than Ipswich. I didn't bother with most of the charity shops but got a bargain in the Oxfam shop of 5 tubs of Divine Drinking chocolate at half price because they were a few days out of date. I find most brands of drinking choc too sweet but Divine is luscious.

Sunday was car-boot day again. Loads of boots there even when I arrived early. I went up and down the rows looking for a posh cake cutting knife as requested by our eldest for the wedding photos and found one with a fancy silver handle for £10. Hope it's OK, she's getting a bit fussy with things for this wedding - a much more complicated affair than our registry office/reception in our Scout hall/honeymoon in a tent on the Isle of Wight event in 1979! There wasn't anything else I wanted but then I spotted a lampshade for 50p which suited the bedroom better than the one we had. Seems funny to add these finishing touches to the house just to sell it but I think that's what's expected by potential buyers nowadays.
Gardening is going along slowly with Col out of action although Brussels sprout plants arrived and have been planted out. Because in the past we had so many failures with plants grown from seed here, I now order young plants every year. The gooseberries are still being checked most days and I found some large sawfly caterpillars/larvae that must have been missed earlier in the week.
 Sunday afternoon I was quite glad to put my feet up and start a library book.

This morning we had awful weather - wet and windy. Most of the jobs I needed to get done were outside but I stayed in and made 3 loaves of bread, a few scones, a veggie curry for dinner, washed some flower pots and did a bit of ironing. Col spent a little while in the poly-tunnel taking the side shoots off the tomatoes but he was soon feeling tired and aching again. Thank goodness it stopped raining early afternoon and I was able to get the chicken shed in the garden cleaned out so we can bring a few of the others down from the big shed before we get rid of about a dozen. I need more dry weather to get the campsite cut again before we get busy for Bank Holiday weekend.

I nipped out to take  a few pictures of the shades of pink we have at the moment just to cheer up this wordy post.

Pale pink is the blossom on the Quince

Dark Pink is the candles on the Horse Chestnut

and both pale and dark are the flowers on the perennial geranium.  Our wonderful birdbath was left behind by the previous owners, we found it hidden amongst the long grass and weeds. It's got one corner of the base chipped off so you have to look at it from the right side. The large sink that we now use as a pond was also here when we came,it was half buried in the ground. I would like to take both with us when we move, Col says the sink is far too heavy to shift but I will take the birdbath.

Back Soon
Sue

Things are OK 'cos it's Library book day!

Thank you for so many good wishes for Col after my post yesterday. Today he got an emergency doctors appointment and is now on antibiotics as well. The hospital told him he would probably get an infection after all their painful procedures and sure enough he has, no wonder he was feeling so rough.

I've been doing some more odd jobs outside and then went down to the library van to see what they had for me this month. I'd ordered some more by Rafaella Barker and another Barbara Kingsolver. The new Elly Griffiths was waiting for me too. Plenty to keep my mind off ill health and house moves for a few weeks.

Good news in the post today - Suffolk County Council seem to be giving me a pension after I turned 60 last month. For some reason they couldn't find me so tracked me down through the tax people. I worked in Suffolk libraries for 6 years before I had our eldest and if I'm reading the letter right    (which I might not be as it was in some sort of Double Dutch Pension Jargonese) they will be paying me the grand total of around £25 a month! Oh what fun I shall have with that. But really I'm grateful for anything as I remember taking some of my pension as a lump sum when I packed up proper work in 1980. There seems to be another lump sum to come of a couple of hundred pounds too. And more good news as HMRC are giving me a bit of a refund too for tax paid on interest last year. Every Little helps.

Thanks again for your good wishes
Back Soon
Sue

Being pushed towards a decision

Once again health issues are forcing us to think about our future.

A couple of weeks ago Col had an overnight stay in hospital for a small investigative operation in the Urology Department ( nuf said about that!). What he was told afterwards was no driving and no heavy lifting for 2 weeks. They did say that some people may need 4 - 6 weeks off work. Of course he didn't think  HE was one of those people. But he should have been because on Sunday evening another problem meant a quick dash to hospital and a 2 night stay with some quite nasty procedures - Ouch. Anyway he is home again and OK-ish but really must take things easy for a while.
This means that the man who had never been in hospital before 2013 has now been "inside" 7 times, and after each hospital stay we say we must cut down on what we do here, because of the way things are set up this is definitely a  two person smallholding.

We've decided that the chicken numbers will be cut again down to just enough for us and our neighbours and no pumpkins and squash will be grown out on the field after all. Once our youngest daughter has sorted out a flat rental and our eldests' wedding has been and gone -  the smallholding will go up for sale - probably!. All the internal decorating and tidying has been done and much of Col's might-come-in-handy stuff that fills the workshop could easily go in a skip, so really we are ready. We both fancy a move to somewhere completely different for a while and if we buy a house in a Suffolk town to rent out for income we will have somewhere to come back to in a few years time if needs be.

Meanwhile apart from all the mental turmoil that comes from having to decide what to do next things are relatively normal.

We are enjoying several delicious meals from the garden. Imagine home made bread toast covered with scrambled eggs with deep yellow yolks fresh from our hens and topped with our own asparagus spears. Followed by strawberries from the poly tunnel. Or we could have, also from the poly-tunnel, salad leaves with some chopped crunchy radishes and warm new potatoes mixed with a little mayo with rhubarb fool as a dessert.

The poly tunnels are all planted up.
Luckily Col had finished the job of staking the tomatoes in the big poly-tunnel before his unexpected  hospital stay.

I haven't actually counted how many tomato plants we have, I know there are 5 different types. Over on the right are 7 cucumber plants. I hope we can sell all their produce  without having eggs out on the stand to draw people in.

The middle poly-tunnel has salad leaves and radishes with the strawberries in growbags raised up on planks on benches. The potatoes we are eating are from the plants on the right, planted as soon as we got them from The Potato Day on Feb 14th. In the left hand bed are all the peppers and aubergines.

We are not growing much in the small tunnel as it is now too shady and dry from the trees. There is a circle of French Climbing beans at the back, a very sparse crop of early beetroot in front. On the left are more cucumbers in pots. Runner beans in trays and there are leeks too in pots waiting for better weather. Right at the front, all that green stuff that looks like grass is actually Garlic Chives. Whatever I do I can't get it to stop growing in here, it's very invasive and extremely hardy. Useful for Pesto too.

Not much has been done outside except I got the strawberry and raspberry beds weeded  yesterday and I've been checking for Gooseberry sawfly most days although we had that blasted  North East wind back again today and it's been really cold. No one on the campsite today so I got instructions for grass cutting and got half the site done, it wasn't a very warm job.

Two more books have been added to my Books Read In 2015 page, namely  Shadow of The Hangman by Edward Marston and Holy Spy by Rory Clements. The first was dreadful! I don't know why I bothered to finish it. Edward Marston churns out two or three of books a year. He has done many series of historical crime  starting with The Elizabethan Theatre series in the 80's through to The Railway Detective series with a new one of those due out next month. I fear just lately quality has been lost.
Holy Spy by Rory Clements is the 7th in the John Shakespeare series, set in Elizabethan England John Shakespeare is an intelligencer working for Sir Francis Walsingham on behalf of the Queen. This story is about the plot against Elizabeth by Mary, and her Catholic friends.

That's brought things up to date here and we are round to Mobile library day again tomorrow.

Back Soon
Sue