The secret garden !

Today the sun did shine :0) Its not as warm as last week ,but at least its not raining , so we packed up and headed for a walk...while he brought Aideen to swimming in the collage yesterday ,Sean took a peak inside an open gate...he wouldnt tell me what he found...but instead took me there today...OMG...cottage garden Heaven !!!

Daughters...you gotta love em

Daisy...the human hamster :0)

Aideen modelling the latest pair of socks Ive knitted her...I got the sweetest, tighest hug and a big kiss (had to hide the tears) I guess even though my 11 year old is taller than me shes still my "little girl" at heart...we also found a dinosaur I had knitted Aideen when she was a toddler...it now belongs to Daisy who spotted it in the schoolroom , grabbed it and said "MINE"... coming up to 2 ,Daisy is a fim believer that possession is nine-tenths of the law !

and Daisy was found "storing" grapes in her cheeks again , honestly you`d think we didnt feed her :0)

Rainy days...

Well in true Irish style, the sun has dissapeared and the rains have come ,along with the cold...so its off with the shorts and bikini tops and back to the jeans...for now at least...but its not all bad...we managed to get a bit of housework done these past two days and also I got some knitting done, some socks for Aideen and some more preemie baby hats for the local maternity hospitals...they are SO tiny ,I had to take a photo of one in Seans hand...hard to believe really...God bless the fantastic doctors and nurses who work so hard to save these little lives...(if anyone wants the pattern for these hats just email me...they knit up in a flash )...

Also I`ve managed to read some of the books Annah gave me , while eating blueberrys...Daisy and I just LOVE blueberries !!!

Sunny days...and memories

washed...and ready to sit outside with a cuppa while the sun dries our hair :)

Oh the garden is literally blooming this weather...and the memories too...it seems everytime I go outside I`m bombarded by childhood memories...the smell of the woodbine (honeysuckle) growing on Seans shed brings back memories of the wild plants that grew on the ditches around my home ,you could smell it for miles around...

and the kids hopscotch...we used to ask the teachers to save us the "ends" of the chalk and failing that we would draw our grid using bits of slate...happy days, I often will our own kids look back on their childhood and remember the fun times as being the times when money was scarce and they made their own fun ???

Aideen and myself are washing and drying our hairs outside this weather too...and Daisy is gettign in the act by "slopping" in a big pot of water from one end of the day to the next ,she thinks its the bees knees !!!! She came in so dirty this evening you could hardly see the strips on her shorts :0)

yippee...babyface came 2nd !!!

Wow ,tonight I had my first ICA (Irish Countrywomens Association) meeting ,and the (monthly) competition was to make and decorate 6 queen cakes...oh my you SHOULD have seen our kitchen , I had "help" from everyone this morning, even the dogs were in licking icing off the floor !!!! Anyway ,Irelands first sextuplets were born this month so to honour that I made 6 sleeping babies...and they came 2nd !!!! Also, we had our raffle and the tickets I sold came 2nd in that (what is it with me and 2nd )? So I deiliver the prizes tomorrow...a nice boost to someones day :0)

Cora bless her gave me this anklet/toering for Aideen ,who is chuffed to have something so "cool" to wear this summer...they are a great bunch of ladies...and Im proud to be a part of their group...

Memories of a mothers garden...

I couldnt believe when I went out the back door this morning and looked up ,there in the most unlikely of places was my Mothers favourite flower...Star of Bethlehem...I just had to rush back in and grab the camera...she had it growing everywhere in our garden at home, mostly in the rockeries and also in a big pot outside the backdoor...I just stood looking at it and memories of my beautiful, loving and SO kind-hearted Mother poured into me...

Donadea Bunting...take 2

Its really easy...no fancy hemmimg or sewing, just gather up all your old shirts ,pjs, etc anything thats past redeming, and start cutting triangles !!! Then sew (I just used a backstitch) onto garden twine...there you go ,party bunting ! Also a good tip is to sew a couple of the stitches in through the twine so the triangles stay in place...

When Annah, myself and the kids were in Donadea forest the other day we spotted very simple (but affective) bunting in the kids area...so I HAD to have a go at making some, and seeing as the weather was in it , we put it up in the garden today...I`m going to make more for July as we have Seans & Daisys birthdays & Aideens graduation on the same day...