June Garden

After the heat and humidity of yesterday, it was lovely to spend the evening in the garden. I pruned and tidied the garden until 10pm; I would have carried on, but the light was starting to dim.

This morning I was up early and sorted the plants in the greenhouse. Ella had a look at the results of my efforts.

This Buddleia is looking gorgeous.

Ferns in the shady corner.

Clematis Minuet is in flower

My white Agapanthus is in bud.

I love the Allium seed heads shooting up like fireworks amongst the greenery.

And Maurice just loves to tan his white bits on the lawn! :)

Technological Age

Yay, yesterday I finally joined the Age of Technology!

I went from this very basic, hand-me-down mobile to ...

... an iPhone. :))

There'll be no stopping me now. ;)

Cake, Cake and More Cake

It has been a busy few days here at The Snail Garden. We have 3 birthdays within 11 days of each other - not very well planned!! :) We started off with my birthday and I have to share this card from my husband ...

I think it is probably the most romantic card that he has given to me. :))

Birthday equals cake and I spent part of the morning baking.

For my birthday treat I made these Whoopie Pies from a recipe I found here. Bang goes my diet!!

The next day my sweet boy turned sixteen.

After much searching I had finally found a 16th birthday card with Son on it.

Jay said "You are never too old for a helium balloon". :)

Of course there was a birthday cake ...

... with 16 candles.

I borrowed this idea from Sue at The Quince Tree.

Taking her advice I made my layers thinner, because we are greedy and like to eat a whole slice! :) My cheeky son quipped that it looked like a coming-out cake!!

I also made some Union Jack cupcakes for the birthday boy.

I'm never going to lose weight before my holiday!!!! ;)

After the Rain ...

... blue patches of sky appeared fleetinglyand I took a few moments to enjoy the garden.

I love these allium seedheads

and the raindrops on the flowers.The clematis are beginning to bloom around the garden.The Cosmos that I grew from seed are also coming into flower. The detail in the centre of the single flowers is beautiful. This one is called "Candy Stripe".The bees are loving the Sweet William.Ella warmed her whiskers in the sunshine.Whilst Maurice's whiskers and paws twitched as he dreamed,in a warm patch of sunlight indoors.

Geocaching

At the end of May it was the half term holiday and the sun shone, my husband had a week off work and my bad back/swollen foot had improved, so we spent a few days Geocaching around Basingstoke and Winchester. What I love the most about this hobby, is that it takes you to local places that you quite possibly wouldn't otherwise explore.

We walked and walked. The wildflowers are spectacular at this time of year. We found masses of Ox-eye Daisies.

Made new friends.

And admired old architecture. This is Fairfields Primary School, a beautiful building dating from 1887.

The city wall around Winchester.

St Swithins at Headbourne Worthy. We have often driven past this lych gate and finally found the time to stop.

One of the beautifully painted under-passes around Basingstoke.

On the last day of our holiday we discovered Old Down, Basingstoke.

Wildflowers carpet the down.

We gazed at the beautiful views across the Hampshire countryside.

We walked along ancient footpaths

and found caches in ingenious places.

It was a lovely, relaxing week and as a bonus - all that walking helped to kick-start my exercise/weight loss regime. :)