Keep The Home Fires Burning

Is it really be almost July?  The past few days have been so cold that we have had the fire on and not just in the evenings.  There is that damp feeling in the air (hardly surprising as it has barely stopped raining during the past week) and a need to be snuggled up warm indoors.  I'm even wearing winter clothes - I don't know what happened to summer, but it seems to be passing us by this year.

Hanging Baskets

We have had a very late spring this year and even though it is now officially summer, the weather remains changeable.  We have had a lot of rain and that has had an impact on any garden plans.

We were into June before it even seemed worthwhile buying annual plants for my hanging baskets.  I like to do my own, rather than purchasing those which have already been planted.

It is so cold and damp that I haven't had to do much watering.  I had hoped to have baskets overflowing with flowers by now, but growth is slow.  At least they are still flowering.

Rest

I had surgery last Thursday, so I find myself in the unusual position of having to rest.  This is not something that comes easily, as I am naturally a busy person.  I have a full-time job and even if I wasn't working, I could easily fill my week with crafts and home-making activities.

It has been an opportunity to catch up on reading (I have enough books put aside to keep me reading for the next year or two) in addition to trying some new hobbies.

I bought this flower press over a year ago with the intention of creating handmade cards.  I never even got as far as taking it out of the packaging.  It remained in its box unused, but not forgotten.  

I had some pansies which I bought last month at Mayfest.  They were in pots indoors and I had them in the kitchen window.  They looked sunny and welcoming, but they dried out far too fast and I could not keep up with the watering due to my irregular working hours.  

I decided to plant them in the garden and in doing so, they were a bit floppy, so I rescued some of the flowers and finally put the flower press to use.    I would like to add to the collection of pressed flowers, so that I have enough to make some cards.  

Another thing that I've been working on is a plan for our new garden.  This requires little physical effort, as it is all on paper (and not to scale, as Mr Candytuft pointed out!)  It looks great on paper, but I think it may take a long time to come to fruition.  Anyway, I like the idea of a shed and potting shed like Le Jardin du Moulin, so that's on the list.