Summer Sunday......

Hello. I am back sooner than you expected, aren't I?? I thought so. We had a storm yesterday evening, and I was to be seen out there in the garden, popping up the flower umbrellas I bought in Switzerland a few years ago. They worked. Well, on the three pots I planted them into. The nemesia did not keel over and expire. Tomorrow heralds more rain, so I will be out there later with the umbrellas again, much to my daughter's amusement. 

We have a great Facebook page for the village - I think just about the whole village uses it, judging by the numbers - remember the little pram I bought for Missy? That page. Well, yesterday, I was scrolling through my newsfeed when a friend of mine posted an Ikea cupboard for sale. My sister has one of these, and I like the range. I think this one is now discontinued, but it was just 2 years old and selling for £25. I snapped it up so fast, you have no idea. 

I love bargains.

So today, after church, a friend of mine and his son emptied his Galaxy of seats and went and collected it for me, and, bless their cotton socks, managed to get it upstairs into my bedroom, with the assistance of my daughter, the star. I love my friends. And my kids. And then, as I lay expiring in the garden, Diana screwed the doors back on, sorted the railing at the top and then called me to inspect the finished article. It is beautiful. I am really thrilled with it. 

The fact that the other bedrooms are full of all the stuff I had to evict from my bedroom to make space for it is irrelevant. I will think about them tomorrow. Maybe. Or the next day. 

Diana is waiting impatiently for me to empty my cupboard, so she can find her old treasures, and, actually, to supervise the tossing out of 90% of my wardrobe, I suspect. No. I KNOW she can't wait to "assist". Maybe next week. 

So, that has been the action for the day. One cupboard installed. Now I need the matching chest of drawers. The Hemnes one with 4 little drawers along the top, if you look at the Ikea website. My sister has quite a bit of the Hemnes range and I LOVE it. I wanted to get the day bed too. Maybe I should get rid of my bed and get the day bed. I wonder..... it does expand to a double. I know this, because I sleep on one at Marge's and there is nothing wrong with it at all. What a good idea. Now I need to win the lotto. 

I need to get my mind off plans to remodel the bedroom, because it always moves on to the entire house and then I want to start painting, and then the whole world turns upside down here. Cease and desist, Linds. . I have photos, but have yet to download them. 

My coffee is cold. I thought you needed to know this. 

Diana saw fit to wash the cushions of the wing back chair and the couch this morning. I have just wrestled the alligator, aka stuff the cushion back into the cover for the wing back chair. The couch ones are still drying. I have to say it makes the chair look worse than ever, the clean cushion. I once re-upholstered 2 wing back chairs, and swore never to unleash my staple-gun on one again. However, the cost of reupholstering them is prohibitive. Maybe I should go to an upholstery class or ten. I wonder if there are any on the adult education list..........

There are other things I would rather be making. Many other things. 

I can't tell you how much I love sitting out in the garden. Sitting is a misnomer. I sit for a second, then see something that needs picking, deadheading, tying up, sweeping, re-potting, watering ....you name it. But I call it sitting. I do take the time to enjoy the prettiness. Stuff grows and then dies, and the heart skips a beat, but then something else grows in its place, and so the cycle goes. 

People here are setting off on their summer holidays. School only goes back in the first week of September, so August is summer holiday tome in England. So there is the great dispersal across the world - mainly to Europe - and in a few weeks, everyone will be home with tales to tell of their adventures. 

It is ironic that this year, we are actually having a summer, for the first time since 2006. It may be hotter here than most sunny places people head to! Mind you, there is no beach anywhere nearby. Well, this is England and we live slap bang in the middle. About 3 or so hours and we could reach the sea. It has been a while. BUT, David will be home soon - not that many weeks from now, and that means we will see the ocean again, when we go to load up all his worldly goods. This year has flown by. Just his dissertation to hand in and his Masters is done. Now to try and find work in his field. 

Jean is back home again. It is good to have her back in the village. 

And here is my conquering the heat idea. The paddling pool, surrounded by chairs. So we sit there with the feet in the water and eat our supper. Genius, people. It works. And then I use the water to water the garden. My dahlias are starting to bloom too. This one above is the first. I love dahlias. 

Diana is cooking egg and bacon for our supper. I can smell it from here. Time to hit publish and retire to the now clean cushion on the rocker. 

I will be back.