The First of May!

The First of May already!  The year seems to be going past far too quickly, and I am not getting the things done that I want to get done.  My achievement is directly related to my pain levels at the moment which have been pretty extreme:  High Pain = Low Achievement.  

But a new day, a new month and onward we go.

We have a family of Dunnocks in the garden and I love to watch them.

This afternoon they delighted in playing in the bird bath

A splish and a splash.

Heads down, tails down

Just how they like it.

What a sweet young Dunnock.

Our first Rhododendron is almost out...

Tulips with rain drops

Primroses

My first rose of the year!

Fresh clean sheets 

Hanging on my line yesterday:

This blanket was left at our house we rented out to some friends...it was put in the pile of stuff to go to the tip which seemed like sacrilege to us.  Someone went to a lot of work to make this.  I washed it and left it to air on the line for a few days and it now smells clean and fresh and will make an ideal rug for the car, or picnics.  It isn't perfect, but it is definitely too good to throw away.

Have a good week!

Beautiful!

Unfortunately we had to cut a lilac tree down today.  We actually didn't know it WAS a lilac tree until today - it is right at the back of the garden behind the office and shed and I don't think I have ever seen it flower before.  Anyway it was leaning against the shed and was going to damage it and sadly we couldn't prop it up in any way so it had to go.  We hate cutting down trees and have a garden full of them, but sometimes these things just have to be done.  I have taken some cuttings in the hope that they might take and also collected all the beautiful flower blossoms and put them in a couple of vases.

They are just so beautiful, I love the colour and fragrance

While changing and making the bed up this morning a package arrived...

....this gorgeous crochet blanket was ordered last year from a friend who makes the most wonderful blankets.  I had seen a picture of her work and as I find it painful to crochet now asked her if she could make me one.  I wasn't in a hurry and it was definitely worth waiting for.

Every square is different and I believe she said there were about 900 squares!  I haven't counted them.

Of course it is too nice for our bedroom which badly needed renovating and decorating when we moved in 15 years ago and is still on our 'To Do' list.  Of course receiving this gorgeous blanket has made me move the bedroom up a priority level and I will be phoning the builder/decorator next week to book him in.  

Such a lot of work, this blanket is fabulous and I am thrilled with it.

Yesterday lunchtime I fancied something a little bit different for lunch so made an egg and bacon pie

I added lots of extras, chopped carrots, courgettes, tomatoes, peppers and onions.

It was delicious!

I also made a carrot cake for afternoon tea.

Which also went down a treat!

This was dinner.