Working outside

It’s going to be a hot day today, as per the weather forecast. When I briefly stepped outside just before 9 am this morning, it was so pleasant out, that I decided to work from my front garden today. I’m sitting in the shade, with my Weetabix breakfast that I have now just finished, typing this after reading and answering my first e-mails.

Our huge fir tree has lost a lot of needles, which is why the ground is so brown. We think the tree may be dying but then again, it has also started sprouting some new green needles again so maybe we’re lucky? I always say that if that tree ever needs to come down, I am moving house. I love it so much, I couldn’t bear to see it go and I’d rather leave first…

Anyway, back to work now on this lovely Friday morning outside. The weekend is just around the corner.

Summer evening

Officially the summer starts in a week but it’s feeling like summer today. It’s getting close to 7 pm and the weather is still so lovely and mild as I sit here and relax in our back garden.

Yeah, the lawn needs mowing but that doesn’t take away from the pleasure of loving our little garden oasis.

A garden for living in

For the Mach’ Was challenge to do something with gardens, here I’m doing something with mine. We’ve been living in our current house for almost 15 years now, which has both a front and a back garden. Not huge but big enough and green and a bit of an oasis for us. These two gardens have given us so much joy and so many memories over the years…

The summer after we moved in, the back garden became a building ground. We wanted grass and so took out a lot of the stone tiles…

The garden was used as a playground by our children (and our cats) when they were small…

It’s been a bit of a sculpture gallery as well…

Our gardens, front and back, are a place to chill…

… and eat and celebrate birthdays and anniversaries and national holidays…

They are places to be worked on, like trimming the overgrowth or making the front garden look nice again…

… and for our cats to enjoy (I’m including my old black and white cat who died years ago as well)…

… we use it for little family photo sessions with the kids, or with some of my siblings, or for recording video messages for someone’s birthday…

… we sometimes do our actual jobs in our gardens, especially during Covid lockdowns (and our neighbour’s cat sometimes comes to visit as well)…

… we gaze at objects flying over our garden, like a police helicopter a few weeks ago, or, preferably, hot air balloons flying over on some evenings in the spring and summer months…

We enjoy the spring and summer blossoms…

… and the winter…

… and magical lights at night…

Yes, we really enjoy our gardens and the lives we get to lead in them. Mr. Esther and I are talking of moving in a few years time to another town and a nice large flat with a balcony when the kids definitely leave the house. I wonder if we really will do that, though – move to a place without a garden. I think we may miss our own outside green space too much.

Somewhere new

After watching junior win his handball match (24-20) this morning and doing a few chores, Mr Esther and I went for a bike ride this afternoon. We biked somewhere I had never biked to before. Well, the beginning part of the route was familiar but then we went left somewhere where I normally turn right and after a while came to this very pretty botanical garden that Mr E had seen before but I hadn’t…

We had a cup of tea, my first chai tea latte in a very long time…

… and then biked back again…

A little grey but quite warm, good weather for a bike ride! I wonder how many more weekends like this we will have before it really gets chilly.

My view…

Finally sitting in our back garden again and this is my view…

My favourite garden statue and my old 16 year old cat are enjoying the sun with me. Shade is hitting us now and it’s starting to get a little chilly, so I’ll be going in soon but oh, how I love that it’s finally warm out!