Generally Gemma

Though the weather outside ...

 

... is frightful, my garden's so delightful!

The majority of the spring bulbs seem to be arriving!

My one lone snowdrop that the squirrels missed! Why on earth do they like snowdrop bulbs so much?

My daffodils at the moment seem to be all foliage and very little bud so I am a little concerned about those. I do have tulips sprouting though! First time I have tried those so that is rather exciting!

I also have basil and coriander germinating in little pots inside. I am now agitating about when I should take their cling film/cloches off.

And of course the little crocus bulbs have worked their magic as ever.

I do so hope that the weather at the weekend is nice. After yesterday I think I let my guard down and thought that perhaps the sun would stay out! I was mistaken today was nothing but drizzle. Oh woe is me. At least I have pretty photos to remind me that the sun does appear occasionally!

Family

My Brother and I never did the whole gap year travelling thing. Growing up in Spain the thing the two of us wanted most in the world was to come back to England and the best way we could see of doing that was to go to University. Which when we finished with school we both did.

It did mean though that we didn't go off with our backpacks and wander the world for a year. In fact none of our cousins did either. However, it seems that is all about to change. My Cousin is off to follow the Inca Trail with her Boyfriend. She is packing her bags and heading out for pastures new in March. A little belatedly at twenty seven and certainly not as a gap year student. I think it takes a certain amount of courage to give up your job and a life you've built to follow a wandering star. Something at times I wish I had the courage to do, but then the thought of functioning without proper plumbing occurs to me and I realise it isn't something I really want to do.

The photo at the top of this post is of my Brother. He is in India at the moment on a work trip. He's been out there for three weeks so far and is due back next week. For a family who never did this sort of travelling it has been a real eye opener to see some of his pictures and hear the stories he has to tell. He is out there for work and so he isn't travelling but he is working with and living each day with the Indian people. The picture above was taken his first full day there. His work colleagues packed him and his English work colleague up and took them away for the three day weekend. Bro said it was amazing, food incredible, scenery amazing, plumbing and sleeping arrangements left something to be desired!If he returns large amounts of toilet paper will be packed with his swimming trunks! He is loving it though, says it is an experience he is glad to have had but can't wait to get home. He has a craving for peanut butter on white plastic flappy toast!

(He probably won't thank me for putting this picture up and will no doubt want me to point out that due to his interesting personal internal plumbing arrangements he is now a great deal thinner!)

A grown-up cup of tea

Well folks I have been ill. Not badly ill, but with enough sniffle to make me not want to sit at a lap top. Enough of the mopes to make taking pictures not especially appealing. And then I got hit by the beginning of the year urge to clean. (Not something that happens very often around here G will tell you!) Also after having lived here for nearly two years I now think I might finally know how I want the furniture, so there will be a rather large rearrangement of the house coming. (I think I heard G shudder at that thought!)

I have been donating and chucking with aplomb, clearing out wardrobes and cupboards and actually flipping a duster round!I came to the conclusion that if I did again ever fit into clothes I owned at eighteen chances are it may not be in the best of taste to wear them. After all what does a nearly thirty year old need with a sparkly slashed to the navel halter neck? Not a great deal of call for those down the pub on a Friday night. I held one small triangle of lycra up and G wanted to know why I was keeping a burnt orange headscarf. Somehow the idea that it might be a top never occurred to him. So my youth has been consigned to bin bags, although I have kept a couple of choice items that held simply too much sentimental value for me to get rid of.

So, I did have to do a little buying of things to cheer myself up.

(Excuse the lighting and the general bad quality. Not getting home till after dark doesn't really mesh well with the lighting of photos.)

I finally own a teapot! And I did rather feel that I needed the little milk jug and sugar bowl. They called out to me, asking for me to love them and so I have. I feel if I am getting rid of teenage sparkly tops then I need a grown-up thing to replace them with. So, I shall be taking tea in style from now on!