July already?

What's going on with this year? It's July, last couple of weeks of the school term and then it's my favourite time of year, 6 + weeks of the little darlings.

One thing that is happening this year is a holiday on the West Coast which will be lovely, even if unexpected.

Then only another 5 weeks to fill, which I am sure will be filled but at the moment my mind is a blank. Please let it be a dry and warm summer. It makes life so much easier.

I'd also thought I'd introduce Sherry before her time runs out. Sherry is our neighbour's cat, she's 19 and is often round at ours for food. She's unbelievably bold despite being chased away by our cats at various times. Angus wasn't initially that bothered then he gave her a beating a while back and now he's back to pretending he can't see her in our garden. She's always been good for her age, but I 'm starting to wonder how long she has so without further ado.

Sherry in our kitchen.

Does anyone else do this, frantic cleaning of the house before the holidays where you declutter as much as you can? Or is it just me?

Scotland tips

I've been asked by a few people for ideas on a trip to Scotland.

First off let me say that I normally visit my mum in North Fife so that's the area that I know best nowadays cos it's a bit of a schlep with 3 children and only one driver (me) from London - 450 miles to be exact. But in my time I've traveled a fair bit around Scotland, but not really to the very far north or outer islands.

Where to go

Well, it would depend on what you're looking for

- empty spaces, lochs and mountains - head to the Highlands esp the Grampians, and Aviemore would make a good base.

empty spaces and empty beaches - why let me suggest Ardnamurchan in the far west. Or head towards Morar and Arisaig.

People, culture, history and lots of family friendly activities - Glasgow, it's loud, proud and overwhelmingly friendly. Edinburgh - beautiful but a bit snooty. Or anywhere in the Central Lowlands, towns like Stirling are attractive, handy rail and motorway links to all major cities and the Highlands.

Monsters - Loch Ness - where else?

Surfing - head to the far north for some great waves but cold sea - pack your wetsuit.

Want everything - try Fife, coal towns, beaches, universities, pretty fishing villages in the East Neuk, great food, festivals like the Big Tent or smaller local ones like Newburgh and Auchtermuchty. Culross is pretty cool as a place to visit too. Incredibly rich farmland and then round the next bend, some lochs and scenery like the West Coast. Mustn't forget golf eg the birthplace of golf at the Royal and Ancient. Rail links to Edinburgh, easy to reach Dundee by train or car.

Supplied free of charge - stunning, beautiful scenery wherever you go and the people are very friendly.

Weather wise

As a generalisation, the East is slightly drier and warmer, while the West is wetter and milder. The fact is if the sun shines all day you are very lucky, the weather is usually a couple of degrees cooler than London, it never gets stiflingly hot and muggy though. In the last couple of summers '07 and '08 we've had better (dryer) weather for the week i was up than the folks back in London and they were poor summers. Pack waterproofs and layers and you'll be fine.

Scotland isn't particularly cheap for accommodation and it does tend to be booked far ahead esp cottages, but there are loads of B&Bs, and hotels as well.

More links

Edinburgh Festival

the Fringe

Scottish Tourist Board

Skye - an island now reachable by bridge, other islands are available.

Inverness - capital of the highlands makes a great base for exploring, history, shopping and dolphins.

Other advice, take your camera, and for some this will be a bonus but there are large areas with no mobile coverage, it depends on the population density, so towns will be fine but a mountain not so much.

If you decide to go you'll have a great time.

my back garden part 1

First, let me show you the herb garden which I planted up 10 years ago, and most of the herbs did well, but time adds woodiness and congestion to the bed and it became compacted. So here we have an early April shot after I decided to remove the fennels and alpine strawberries and cut back on the marjoram on the right hand side. I'm leaving the large droopy rosemary till it stops flowering because what bees there are love it so much.

Here are after photos taken a few days ago.

On the left hand bed, I've put in a new lavender in the centre, two French tarragons, a sage and an oregano as well as a couple of violas, you can't see the yellow viola any more cos the slugs love it despite the pellets I put down. In the right hand bed we have a new rosemary in the centre as well as 3 lavenders on the right. The bright green at the front is a gorgeous lemon thyme which is wonderful for cooking. I need to work out a new method of maintaining the border edge with the grass, one which allows me to cut the grass easily without allowing it to wander into the herb bed.

This is an overview of the back garden, my wasn't it cloudy, the best you could say about the weather is that it wasn't raining.

Last weekend we had this. A series from left to right of my new border with new shrubs.

First, a Black Lace Sambuca (Elder), then a Gunner Manicata, which should grow huge, and in the background a shade loving Hellebore. Next to that though hard to spot is a Quince tree Vranja which should fruit in three years. In  the right hand corner we have two black bamboos, which were 3 for 2, guess the corner one you can't see was the freebie. And over by the south facing wall we have a Cotinus.

Finally the three side borders which are south facing. Over the years I've removed a couple of shrubs which were way overgrown, it's been overcome with convulvulus for a long time and it's still a problem, hence my reuctance to put in shrubs, but if I don't now I never will so ...

Firstly, we have a bed of self sown lemon balm, lady's mantle and feverfew, in the back I've planted a blackcurrant bush, since removed and some fennels and alpine strawberries. In the middle bed, the grey stuff is Stachys Byzantina which is lovely and soft to touch and has managed to stay in the garden despite my hacking at it over the years. The pot has a big hosta which usually succumbs to slugs despite my best efforts, I did want to plant in the new border but missed my window of opportunity before it really sprouted, maybe next year.

In the middle bed, it's lots of aquilegias which are all self seeded. In the right hand back corner we have an Exochorda 'The Bride' which has white flowers in June. And finally in the right hand bed, we have mostly emptiness as this is where I want to sow some veggies like mange tout and Broad Beans, there are some aquilegias at the back and we have a flowering Japanese quince 'Jet Trail' which has white flowers near the bottom. The last pic is an overview of all 3 beds.

That's the current state of the garden and if you read this far well done.

things I'm in love with

Well, lots really.

but the top ten in reverse order would be:

10 The garden, still not really the love of my life like my old garden which was just a lovely haven, this is too exposed to the neighbours but I have a huge new border to plant things and I'm really looking forward to planting it up, and growing some veggies and flowers in my old borders. But I'm definitely feeling gardening bug return.

9   My ipod touch, this really is so much fun, and I'm suddenly listening to a lot more music and stuff. Thank you Michael, Jamie, Tessa and Sam.

8.  My boden handbag, I dithered for ages about a new handbag, at first I wanted to be sensible and go for black, but as Winter turned to Spring I just found them boring and I just couldn't justify the money even if in this case someone else was paying - my very generous mum. I spent hours on the internet, and at Brent X, but black handbags were not rocking my world. But a trip to one shop with bright colourful patent leather handbags showed me I wanted colour, but a bag that could go over my shoulder and then I remembered these. I have the sulphur, it arrived on my birthday having been ordered the day before and I love it. I'm not normally a yellow person but this is like carrying sunshine around with you.

7. Knitting - haven't actually done too much of this for a while, I got stuck on a present and I've stayed stuck but I'm going to clear out some UFOs as for whatever reason they are not going to be completed. But it relaxes me and at the end I've usually learnt something new and have something to show for it.

6. Optimism - not an emotion I feel a lot of, especially with the world crashing financially, but I feel change is afoot and for whatever reason that is making me happy. Also I've started to avoid the first 10 minutes of the 10 o'clock news and that's really helping as otherwise I was feeling horribly anxious about the world, so I'm avoiding but as a strategy it's really helping.

5. My course - really appreciating the benefits of this and big thanks to my lovely tutor, who is so enthusiastic, a great communicator and very understanding, and also to the new people in my life now, which is a great bonus.

4.   Friends, especially those that remembered my birthday despite me not making a big thing of it.

3. Tibby and Angus - we've had them over a year now, and they've really settled in. Angus goes out all the time, he's healthier in that his flu is almost non-existent and he hasn't had a cystitis attack for 11 months, his coat is glossy and his skin flakiness has cleared up. He's incredibly affectionate to Michael and I, he loves me best though. He's tolerant of the children and will climb into anyone's lap for a cuddle if you sit still long enough. He's still fat despite my best efforts to help him lose weight, but he's more playful.

Tibby spent almost 6 months under Jamie's bed, then another 3 months just in the room, but now she comes out every day, she spends most of her in either Jamie's room and he is definitely her favourite but she seems happy enough. In the recent sunny weather, she even went and sat on the patio of her volition, so I'm hoping that come Summer she'll enjoy lots more time outside.

2.  The children - I love them but at times they drive me to distraction, procrastination, untidiness so nothing that major, aren't I lucky? At times it's like looking in a mirror and seeing my own behaviours so I can't really complain. I get to see the world through their eyes, for instance I know far more about gaming than i ever thought possible. Every day with them I get a bonus of either laughter or something they do that makes me proud.

1. DH- I still smile when I see him at the end of the day, he's kind, hardworking (he could lose a little of that  IMO), generous and fun to be with. I'll even let him take my ipod out running cos that's how much I love him.

When I started my list I really thought blogs would be on their too, cos I get so much from reading other people's blogs, unfortunately for me that time spent reading while pleasurable takes me away from other things I could/should  be doing.

What are your favourite loves this week?

I'm so excited...

and it's really not that exciting but....

If you click on this link here you'll find a piccy of one of Sam's classmates with his mum and sister on the G1 phone for T-Mobile. And yes, in real life they really are that good looking.

this caused a little flurry of excitement this morning at school. Apparently there's a larger advert in our local shopping centre so when I pass by I will be inspecting the background to see if I recognise it.

J got into his 3rd choice school, which he's happy with as his closest friends will all be going there too.

Now I have to make an emergency run to the vet for more food for Angus and shh whisper it wormer and flea control.