Summer in Suburbia

After the huge meal we'd demolished the previous evening I skipped my Monday morning Wii Fit session, doing a couple of loads of washing and wrapping my eBay parcels instead. With another day of showers forecast, I hung the washing up to dry in the utility room. Shortly after breakfast, the MyHermes driver turned up with a 1970s Anokhi skirt I'd spotted listed on eBay on Friday and, thrilled with how pretty it was, wore it immediately.

When Jon did the post office and supermarket run I caught up with Blogland.

WEARING: Vintage Ayesha Davar cheesecloth blouse, Anokhi block printed midi skirt, retro sunglasses (all eBay) and apple green Lottas (four years old)

A cursory inspection of the garden before lunch revealed the leaves of the voodoo lily, grown from a bulb, finally opening up and revealing its exotic beauty. This cornflower was in the wildflower bed, part of the seed in the packet we'd found suspended from a tree in the forest at Attingham.

Another sunflower had bloomed and the lads and Jacob were all enjoying the sporadic blasts of sunshine when it peeked out from behind the clouds.

After all the excitement of Sunday night, we had a rather lazy day. Jon watered the crops in the greenhouse and planted some autumn lettuce whilst I sat outside on Frank's deckchair, engrossed in my latest read.

The rain arrived, leaving the lads stranded under Gilbert. Jon had to coax them in with a saucer of tuna.

Tea was a salad with the last of the stuffed vine leaves. 

Confounded by the choice of programmes available on Amazon Prime we settled upon The Man In The High Castle, based on Philip K Dick's dystopian novel of a parallel world where Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan rule the world after their victory in WW2. An excellent watch so far.

On Tuesday morning I put away the previous day's washing and harvested a handful of strawberries from the garden before my Wii Fit workout which I did in the exercise gear I'd bought from Sunday's visit to the charity shop. These leggings are incredibly comfy. Jon's mesmerised by the peekaboo net on the thighs, a bit sexy for 7am!

After breakfast, Jon went off in the van to collect some builders' rubble someone on Facebook was giving away for free. Meanwhile, taking advantage of a dry and sunny morning, I swept up the debris from the lime tree and did some deadheading, managing to fill the garden waste bin ready for the fortnightly council collection in the morning. I tackled Jon's cardboard mountain, stripping off the sticky tape before breaking the boxes down and throwing them on the compost heap. I didn't need to water them, they were already sopping wet. I then harvested some crops for tea - courgettes, patty pan, parsley, mint and chives.

 Jon arrived back with a vanload of rubble and, after lunch, wheelbarrowed it down to the bottom of the garden, smashed it up and finally completed his hardcore shed base. 

Not the most pleasant of jobs as the bricks had come from a demolished stable block and stunk of horses!

Garden observations today...bees high on Agapanthus pollen, Cuba Dance roses about to burst open and more poppies.

Calendula and nigella popping up in the wildflower bed and a Dahlia grown from Wilko seeds.

Has anyone seen Frank?

Whilst Jon laboured I had another lazy afternoon and sat outside reading. When the sun poked out from behind the clouds it was baking hot although there were a couple of sharp showers that had me scurrying for shelter.

It wasn't quite bikini weather so I made do with a vintage Third Eye block printed Indian cotton wraparound skirt (bought from eBay three years ago), 1970s charity-shopped sunglasses and a handmade silk blouse (bought in Jodphur). Like in most British green spaces, these buddleias weren't planted, they sprout up like weeds. 

I bet you're wondering what we made with our harvest. We oven-roasted the patty pan with harissa paste, a dash of olive oil and some finely chopped shallots and the courgettes became kolokithokefedes which I made following THIS recipe, halving the ingredients and oven-baking as opposed to frying.

The recipe made eight fritters, which we soon polished off, accompanied by half a flatbread and a bottle of Mythos. After I'd wrapped the day's eBay parcels we settled down to more of The Man in the High Castle.

This photo was taken before we installed the Rangemaster back in June

It's now Wednesday and almost 7am. I've harvested some strawberries, emptied the bins, mopped the kitchen floor and then had to lock the lads outside as Frank's running about with a mouse clamped between his jaws with Stephen in hot pursuit. After breakfast, we're revisiting some rare National Trust gardens. Fingers crossed for a dry day.

See you soon!