Things have happened

Like me forgetting to post pictures of Cumbria to go with my Woolfest photos. Ooops. Next post then but there are other things that I wanted to share in this post that will be much quicker (I am at work at trying to get this done in the last ten minutes of my lunch break...). My things are share are also 'reasons to be proud'. I'm not very good at singing my own praises or maintaining that good of an opinion of myself so in an effort to stop this habit here are some things that have made me happy recently. Yes they are simple things but sometimes just getting the simple things right is what can lead to the greatest happiness and contentment, especially when they are focused around the home.

1) I made gooseberry jam. This is the first time I have ever made jam and it came out really well. I had to have a bit of a scrounge round for jars and I didn't do anything sensible like check I had enough sugar before starting (just- we were left with enough for four cups of tea). The gooseberries were a gift from a work colleague who grows them in his back garden so it is all round wholesome jam- plus its really yummy. I got 5 jars in the end, two of which I am going to gift. The rest I shall hoard and keep all for me :D

2) My orchids have been doing really well recently. I get a great deal of pleasure from growing them and seeing them flower. More than I would have thought possible. I recently got given some Interflora vouchers with which I purchased the orchid below. It's huge and completes my purple set (I now have 3 of varying sizes and colour patterns) which occupy my bedroom window. They look fantastic together. I still have some vouchers left so I will be getting another orchid at some point once I decided what colour I want. I think I have about 10 orchids at the moment but I'm not sure what colour they all are (some were gifted to me and they have yet to flower) so I'm going to wait for a bit. I told the DH that I was worried about being too geeky over them and he told me that I had passed that point ages ago...

3) I got my first harvest of potatoes last week. I found some time to get out and do some work in the garden when it wasn't roastingly hot and it was really fun. Harvesting my first home grown potatoes was immensely satisfying- as was eating them later that day with a home made steak pie.
And here's the difference six weeks has made to my vegetable patch:


This is my garden in May after we had planted every thing out
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And here it is about six weeks later
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Notice that not only have all the plants grown but the fence has too! The man next door finally got around to putting it up. It's not finished but it's enough to give us some privacy.