Five on Friday - on Saturday!

Yes a day late to join in  with Amy's  'Five on Friday' 

I have had a pretty rough week health wise coming down with the dreaded lurgy.  Generally I never get ill, and yet this is the second time in four months!  Not good.  Anyway I think I am on the mend now so hopefully can get back to my 'plan' of things to get done before my trip home to New Zealand to visit my parents and family.

1:  Knitting

My week has been spent either in bed, or sitting in the lounge with a blanket round me while knitting and watching Netflix!  What have I been knitting?  Dolls clothes!

2:  The Garden

The little Blue Tits were very active the other morning and I caught this one while sitting in the lounge - not the best of pictures as taken through our very dirty patio window.  

The NZ Magnolia has buds on it.

3: Books

I finished another book.  I really enjoyed this.  Written in a time where children could really be children, all the bells and whistles and hoops and 'health and safety' rigmarole was not yet in force this couple offered holidays on their farmlet for young children.  They say it how it is and as such it is quite a laugh.  I understand a TV programme was produced lightly based on it.  I have never seen the TV programme and don't think I would want to as I would imagine the BBC or whoever would produce it would 'PC' it.   I picked this one up in a charity shop.  Toying with whether to get any more in the series or just lave it with having read this one.

I'm currently reading this book:

I had to venture out today to get some groceries.  Our supermarket has a second hand book rack and they ask that you donate £1 per book you choose for a local charity.  Sometimes I am able to pick up a book or two that looks interesting. I haven't seen any for a while, but I did pick up two today.

4: Snacks!

While on the Whole30 way of eating my husband has been bemoaning the fact that he has been missing crisps (potato chips) and so I made him some - the healthy way.  

Very simply done in the microwave they turned out surprisingly good.

I also made some sweet potato crisps as well.  Needless to say they soon disappeared.

5: Dinner

Finally I decided to cook something a little different tonight:

Cod with citrus-ginger glaze

Grilled Asparagus with lemon zest

Baked sweet potato

Glazed carrots & parsnips

Broccoli - to add some green!

Okay so I am not so good on the 'display' part of the meal, but it tasted pretty good.

Sunday visitors and a slice of cake.

Imagine my delight this morning when I saw we had some more Goldfinch visitors to our bird feeder.

The news is obviously getting around and these birds are so lovely and colourfu.

It really was a delight to watch them.

I tried a new cake recipe the other day posted on a blogger friend's page.  It is very tasty - the only thing I should have done was use a bigger cake tin as I didn't have enough room for the topping, so had to transfer it to another tin and have it poured over more like icing.  But it still worked.

The recipe can be found here.

Thursday Chit Chat

We aren't seeing so many birds in the garden at the moment.

Most of the visitors are either little Coal Tits or the usual Blue Tit.

Lovely to see them though.  We occasionally see a Nuthatch.

We took my MIL out for lunch today instead of Wednesday which is our usual day as I was busy yesterday.

We bought this cute little hose and reel for me to use on the front garden - I am hoping it will be  long enough and won't get tangled like the big long garden hose does.  I shall report back tomorrow about whether it is any good or not.

As is usual it seems neither me nor Mark are capable of walking past a beautiful scented rose and not be tempted...

Yes another came home with us.  

Adding to our beautiful yellow scented roses.  This is planned for our side/front bed by our bedroom window.  I can just imagine the scent wafting through next summer.

In the back garden 'Oranges and Lemons' is putting on a good show.

This rose has just started blooming - I can't quite remember which one this is at the moment - possibly either 'Summer Song' or 'Lady Marmalade'.  I am still searching for that 'safe place' I must have put my rose book where I have drawn all my plantings out.

This is 'Ingrid Bergman'

'Designer Sunset'

Looking fabulous 'Souvenir Du Dr. Jarmain'

I finished my socks the other evening.  

This will be great for winter.

Lastly some shots of the dogs playing.  They are getting on so well it is a delight to see.

Monday Musings

Two little birds drinking this evening...

I have had a somewhat quiet day - I have been walking everyday since the beginning of this month - haven't missed a day yet.  By walking I mean a good brisk walk every morning for 45 - 60 minutes.  I am endeavouring to get fitter and hopefully in the process lose a bit of the weight I have put on in the last year.  It is not a lot of weight, but enough for me to not feel so good about myself.  I know how it happened...the stress of last summer and the resulting fall out with our younger son and the subsequent worries, plus worrying about my parents hasn't helped and I had become rather complacent I guess.  So feeling good about the walking again, plus it is good for Percy to get out as well.

The rest of the day went downhill though as I felt decidedly unwell, unwell in a way that I hadn't felt for sometime, and worried that I was coming down with some kind of bug I dosed myself up with some lipo spheric Vitamin C and paracetemol and went to bed.  Have pretty much slept on and off most of the day.  Feel a bit post sleep haze now, but otherwise a lot better.  I must have needed the rest.

I had planned to do all sorts of other things today...but they will have to wait for another day.

A Lovely Sunday

Saturday & Sunday dinner...a lovely cheese, onion and pumpkin flan

Fresh bread rolls for lunch.

'Ingrid Bergman'

More luscious roses.

It has been a very enjoyable and relaxing Sunday.

Percy and Stanley have been bonding very well and have enjoyed playing together.

My MIL came round for an ice cream in the afternoon and we sat on the patio and watched the birds and dogs in the garden.

A little Blue Tit drinking in the hot weather.