After all that sun.....

...the weekend was cold, the fog didn't lift all day Saturday.  The winter coats I had washed ready to put away for the summer went straight back onto our backs.  We had a ride to Wolverhampton-I just love that big Waitrose they have there, but I really didn't  fancy going for a walk in the cold after the warmth of the day before.

     Spent Sunday at home, sorted out my playroom, got the sewing machine out to do a bit of patchwork.  Darsh cooked some Gammon-said it was the 1st time he'd ever cooked Gammon for himself, of course he gained a very good friend who hoped he might just share.

         I took that best friend for a walk last night, lets just say it was a very quick one...Brrrr.

    And so today-Monday- when everyone is back at work, the sun was out again so I spent nearly the whole day emptying the compost bin onto the flower beds.   Definately not used to digging so my back is rather sore tonight. 
   Compost bins= possible mousing opportunities=best friend under your feet everytime you turn round.....

   He was scared to death of the big bin, but for some reason he wanted to climb on top of it, of course every time he put his paws on it, it rolled, and he ran off scared.  Tried to catch a photo- but failed dismally.
       Found a toy aardvark when I was busy digging out the soil.  I know it was a doggy favourite, but was it Cassie's or was it Joe's?  It is laid on the grass behind him, but it made me jump when it appeared on the end of my spade.  Darsh commented on how realistic it looked, all full of mud.  It has had a bath now and is sat on the draining board drying  I wonder if any of the girls will remember it?

     Will soon find out- everyone seems to be coming home for the weekend, blimey.. I'm going to have to clean up!!!!

We went for a trip back in time.....

     ...the plan was a visit to the Black Country Museum, for the last time as our year ticket runs out on Sunday.  However, we stopped in Great Bridge on the way and found a charity shop with loads of old linen and glass for sale.   Also it was market day, loads of interesting items laid out on the ground, not an ordinary market, but a second hand one so I bought two lovely old vases as we wandered round in the wonderful sunshine.

Darsh found a ladder he fancied...

       .....and stood there trying to decide if it would fit in his car.

Great Bridge is such an old fashioned little place...

             
          ...it reminds me so much of Mablethorpe High Street when we were kids.

         I had a portion of chips and curry sauce, the most peculiar colour ever-toxic orange....

      .
 .....Darsh opted for...ummm.......Jamaican chicken stew?.....and he thought mine looked peculiar.... but he ate it..... and mine as well......sat in the carpark watching traffic go by.

Onto the museum, and despite several coaches in the car park it wasn't very busy at all.  So we spent a couple of hours enjoying the peace and the lovely mellow buildings that gives the museum it's character

Once at the bottom of the hill, we hopped on the old car and rode up the hill and back into the 21st century.


That evening Darsh went to the pictures with Alan, I went into town with them and walked over to join Charlotte and Matt for the evening at their flat
  They came over to Streetly the next evening, on the train, and we had supper together at home.
      We have had a beautiful week weather-wise and I have done loads of gardening, I even managed to get round to digging out the compost bins and spreading the compost on all the flower beds.

Sun bathing on dad's bed-that will teach you to shut your bedroom door

A canal just too far......

         Seeing as the weather is still far better than it should be at this time of the year, we went for a long walk along the canal bank in Brownhills, from Tesco car park right up to Walsall Woods.  We walked for nearly an hour, feeding ducks,

    dodging fisherman, and looking out for dogs and bikes.  The canal paths are rather narrow and I had visions of fishing soggy dog, or irate cyclist, out of the canal.  So he was kept on his lead as a couple of cyclists were upon us before we realised they were there, and Joe has a tendancy to snap and lunge at unsuspecting bikes.
      We got into the village and bought ourselves a bag of chips to sit and eat on a street bench.  I asked Darsh if he had expected his retirement to consist of walking and eating chips in the middle of a motorway.

The traffic was so busy through such a little place.  Back on the canal we walked more briskly back towards the car, worrying that we can only park in the park for 3 hours and it was getting rather too close for comfort.  We misjudged before and it cost us" HOW MUCH?" for been 5 minutes late.

      Stopping to watch the wildlife on the water below us, totally spoilt by all the litter that seems to be absolutely everywhere in Brownhills.

       Joe suddenly developed a limp, I was worried it was too far for him, but after a rest and a rub he seemed to recover.  Darsh felt it was cramp due to cocking his leg up so frequently! 

     Tonight he is flat out on the sette snoring even louder than normal, { I just didn't think that was possible.}
                                              

A day for just looking....

.....look at my rhubarb Selina.....I don't think our 1st rhubarb cake of the year is too far away now...

                      
                ......Look what is nestling in the shade of those huge leaves......

                                    .......two of the prettist miniture daffodils in the whole garden.

Look where the robin has chosen to nest this year, right on the bird table, so close to the house and right by my summer chair.  I moved myseat down the garden, hoping that she wouldn't actually lay, but Darsh peeped in this morning and there she was, sat on her eggs...Joe is simply going to have to get used to his bells when these babies fledge.

Look how many carnations have survived the winter greenhouse.  I don't actually NEED any more carnations in the garden, I just love taking cuttings and watching them take....

And I'm not the only one that enjoys just standing, and looking.....but he likes to look in places I would never dream of....

A happy session mousing under the BBQ.....and he caught something....a sunflower head that the mouse had eaten all the seeds off!  But it must have smelt just right, and that is what appealed to him...

A few days of beautiful warm sunshine....

....gave me plenty of time in the garden catching up with all the jobs not done in Autumn.  There were leaves on the soil and plenty of dead stuff waiting to be cleared away, with that all gone I found lots of new growth and early flowers that had been sheltering under the debris.  Just a quick cut of the grass and turning over the soil and the garden is looking just so much better.
      Our gardener retired last year and Darsh says we will save some money by cutting the lawns ourselves [he even scrounged a mower ready for him to have a go.]  He figured that if he cut it really short he wouldn't have to do it again for a little while.  My husband cannot be told, so he scalped the front lawn last September.  Today he was wondering why there is no grass at the front, only mud and moss.
      He practised the same theory on the dog last week, if we get him cut really short, we can save money, because he will not need clipping again so soon.  Poor Joe has been shivering and shaking all week long, he wont come out for long because he is too cold, and when he is out he is trying to climb on my knee for a warm cuddle.

     We took the camper van out for a picnic yesterday, we got about 3 miles up the road before a nasty smell told him the brakes weren't right.  So we limped home, and the shaking dog shot gleefully into the house thinking the excursion was over.  WRONG. Once we  had cooled off the burning tyres with buckets of water we switched cars and set off again {leaving the milk in the camper van fridge-so we couldn't make a cup of tea}  Drove to Hednesford, ate our picnic and took a stroll out onto the Cannock Chase...

        ....Surprisingly there was noone else about....

                          
                                                       ....not even a dog... he was racing back to the car trying to keep warm...

 
          Today Darsh has spent most of the day under the camper van, cursing cos he cannot fix it and needs to buy spare parts,  I have been cutting the lawn and Joe has been curled up on the settee, snoozing.

Still waiting for a visa...

...so he hasn't decided if he is going to India or not.  Spending his days on the phone, at the cinema or out with cronies.  We have had a couple of misty damp days so didn't get out to do the gardening I was planning to do.  The garden is looking very pretty with so many bulbs coming out together.  Selina's wallflowers are strong and healthy, but mine, from the same place as hers, are dead sticks in the soil.  But then Joe wees on mine every time he goes out, what he doesn't wee on he walks on and they obviously don't like it.  Today is looking brighter, so may get out today, but in this early sunshine a walk in the park feels like a much better idea.

     Drove to Warwick on Tuesday for our lunch-Thai of course-and our usual wander round the shops.  Found these bells and thought they would be ideal for Joe's collar....

...there are so many robins nesting in the garden, I thought they would hear him coming, an early warning system, as he loves to chase the birds.  But he is absolutely terrified of his bells running round in a panic and rolling on his back to get rid of them.  Not such a good idea after all [very funny though]

Stayed at Charlotte's...

..on Weds/Thurs.  She was at work all day, but we went out for a pizza on Weds and to Zizzi's Thurs.  Watched DVDs, cos she hasn't got a telly, and just generally enjoyed lazing in her flat.  I went shopping and had a make-up lesson in Selfridges as well as looking round at the I-Pads and enjoying the fact that town was much quieter than at the weekend.
     Caught the train home on Friday and on Sat afternoon we drove over to Selina and Pete's for a couple of days.  Selina wanted to go to Swindon yesterday, she had heard of a store she wanted to visit. She found a sofa she loved and is going to have a measure up in her room before deciding if she is going to treat herself or not.

     We walked round the farmers market and bought food bits to sit outside for a picnic for the first time this year.  I bought Darsh a hat for the summer, but he reckons it's a waste of money, because he is never going to wear it....it must take years of practise to be so grateful for a present....then he decided he had better wear it in the car because he knows he is soon going to loose it soon.
     Came home this morning after we dropped Sel and Pete at work and Darsh has decided he wants to go to India on Weds, so he has gone to see about his visa.  

Sunshine at last....

....and suddenly lots of spring flowers.

Yesterday was a chance to get out and do some tidying and chopping, the greenhouse is particulary bad but it got down as low as -10 in there, so I cant really be surprised.

Filled up all the bird feeders and removed the last of the really rotten apples the blackbird have been pecking at all winter, neighbours round about have been cutting their grass, but I'm not that keen, and my lawnmower is in Bristol anyway. 

In the afternoon we went for a walk along the canal in Brownhills, it is a lovely walk but there is just so much litter everywhere it really spoils it.

Came home and had everyone's favourite supper-lamb chops and onion sauce.

Oh what a boring life we lead!

Hooray.. spring is starting to appear...

...I thought this poor thing had died off in the cold conservatory, but it seems to be alive still....

        ....Some things aren't quite so lively though......

     
      ....he is still convinced he can hibernate.....little does he realise... who is coming to stay for the weekend....

      .....Ben and Paul.  That soon woke us all up!   Ben thoroughly enjoyed the DS and the Wii, [think Paul did too, but he would sooner chew his own ear off than admit it]  Weather wasn't brill but we made the most of it...



Crossing from the mailbox towards the city

          We wandered round Brum, ate ice cream in the rain, had a peep in the BBC studios, rode the escalators round the cube and the mailbox.  [Charlotte had friends staying so we weren't allowed inside.]  Walked along the canals, nearly saw Justin Bieber at the Hyatt hotel. -  Ben told me all that screaming I could hear was the traffic going by, but when we got by the Hyatt we could see crowds of people so went to investigate. "You never get this in Spilsby High Street" Paul commented above noise the girl fans were all making.    Saturday evening we had a really good meal in Caldmore, Ben tried everything we had even though his favourite was the chicken Korma.  Sunday was a very late breakfast and a chance for a bit more Wii.  Then a ride into Lichfield in the sunshine

Fed the ducks, admired the cathedral, poked round the shops...

               ...walked along the river bank, and then-Ben's favourite.....

           ...Afternoon tea in a cafe!

Hurray March at last....

The mad march hair (not a spelling mistake)

...looking forward to spring.  Reading the camping books, planning to get out just as soon as it stops raining and warms up a little bit.  Yesterday was lovely, took Joe for a walk and went to have my hair done, but it was so cold at night.  Went to the library to collect some books, hang modern day technology.....but I still do fancy an I-Pad.  Going to town later to see "West is west" (orange Wednesday) if I go in a bit early I could pop into the Apple store (or maybe just wait till John comes to stay and pick his brain)

My orange plant is in blossom already, when you get too close it smells like furniture polish/air freshener!


Sara of course it was a genine kindle!!!! who do you think I am? my husband's wife?!!!