Monday 19 May 2008

A weekend mix.



What a mix this weekend turned out to be - rain, grey and cold for most of Saturday followed by beautiful sunshine and brilliant nlue skies for Sunday. Typically, we arranged Isabella's birthday party for the wrong day and instead of playing in the garden with the paddling pool and bubble machine to hand, the children were racing around the house bravely clutching their chocolate cake to help them on their way!



Ah well, it was still a lovely day consisting of my bestest friend popping over in the morning for a cup of tea and a chat as Dave and I cooked pizza toppings, pasta salad, brownies and of course the gorgeous chocolate birthday cake traditionally made by dave. Actually, Mr Dave was a bit of a star as he donned his apron (a blue and brown deckchair striped pipany version obviously!)and had cooked a batch of scones, loaf of bread and sausage rolls, aided and abetted by Isabella, by 9.30 am!



The picure above is of the posy I picked for my friend as it was also her birthday. Funny how all the flowers in the garden just now seem to be shades of purple, from soft lilacs through to the deeper mauves of the aquilegia. The contrast with the rich orange of Black Prince marigolds was quite startling and not something I would usually use without a few toning shades to soothe it a little, yet the whole made a very pleasing nosegay (love that word) for a very special person.



Sunday consisted of yet more cooking - a roast for lunch and a marmalade cake made with our own marmalade - then up to the allotment in the afternoon to find rabbits ahd got in despite the fence and eaten our lettuces! Arghh!! Obviously we need to sink it a bit deeper, but at least we found this out before everything else got too far forward - determined to start looking on the bright side as we have had weeks of things going awry: tumble dryer broke, lightbulb went on the sewing machine as I sewed late one night, still having car problems, etc......



Still, the runner bean canes are in and sown, more of the field is skimmed and dug, spinach is planted out and I can almost taste the iron goodness to come. Just hope the rabbits aren't of the Popeye variety! As Dave and I worked the children picnicked on egg and mayo sandwiches (made form our own duck eggs - yum) and basically just watched apart from Elias who is a fantastic little worker and is never happier than when he is chopping, digging or lugging weighty things around! Next weekend we are hoping to build our own pizza oven, so watch this space!



And in the meantime, I hope you enjoyed the tour I took of the garden this morning accompanied by Fatty Arbuckle (one of the cats) and chook (the cuckoo maran) who can both be spotted in some of the pictures - aren't foxgloves just gorgeous with the velvety softness of the stems and those gorgeous spotted petals? The peony is in bud as are the papavers and chives are all around. More pictures soon.

Pipany xx

15 comments:

  1. Lovely weekend Pipany, all sorts of nice things going on.
    The garden is a dream, I love the foxgloves. My garden seems to be very 'Barbie' at the moment, lots of pink, poppies, azaleas, roses, diascia...and more!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What aw onderful homemade weekend, the very best kind I think. Isabella's indoor party sounds a a lovely occassion and I so enjoyed your post about her. What a precious little bean she is.

    Your Mr Dave sounds a marvellous cook, my Woody's not quite such a natural in an apron, his 4 hour fish pie is legendary - delicious, but legendary!

    Good luck with the pizza oven, a great addition to your fabulous garden. Thanks for the tour, it brightened my damp chilly morning no-end.
    Stephx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh lordy, Pip, this IS the Good Life! Never have I felt quite so inadequate.... ;)
    Adore your nosegay (yes, indeed a fabulous word)....purple and orange works just perfectly. My garden is a bit brash and in yer face at the moment - all clashing dayglo pink and orange and tangerine....with purple, pale pink and er blue and yellow. Not a colour-coordinated corner in sight! jxx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Actually, ED has it right - I've got Barbie garden too!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ah Pipany, I've been away too long. Just read this and your darling Isabella's birthday blog. I feel all choked up now! Like you, I get all emotional at birthdays. I'm currently girding my loins for the fact that my littlest will soon be 6. It doesn't sound right. I'm really only in a twitter because I was soo used to having a really little person around, even while the others grew, but now I have to admit that she's not so little anymore either...and I LOVE little ones. Isabella looks divine - especially in that beautiful dress you made for her. But where does the time go, eh? Sorry it rained on the day (that would have been my luck too!) but I know they had a wonderful time, whatever the weather.

    And your garden, well, it's just gorgeous. I simply can't believe how much further ahead your plants are than mine. Well, actually, I can - you live in the soft Cornish climate, I live in the frozen north!! It's quite simple, really!
    Anyway, thank you for sharing it with us. (Ps: I love foxgloves - have loads up here which self-seed.)

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a dream weekend. Would Mr Dave like to wing his way up north and cook us some scones, bread and sausage rolls?! My OH struggles to do beans on toast!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Could you put me on the waiting list for some of Mr Dave's scones please. The garden is looking beautiful. Your friend must have been thrilled with the flowers. So much more personal and thoughtful than a bunch of flowers from the supermarket or florist.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Goodness - things seem so much further on in Cornwall. Your garden looks amazing - my very idea of heaven. Those marigolds are just so zingy and look perfect with the blues and mauves. And agree, nosegay is a perfect word.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Loved wandering round your garden with you - isn't exciting watching things almost explode into life? I get so excited just looking!

    Sounds like a super weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hello to you Pipany, and many compliments on the beautiful garden photos, and also many more birthday wishes to that beauty Miss Isabella.

    When I look at the lovely colors in your flower garden, I think to myself, what a pale comparison I see in the colors of the clothes currently on display in the shop. We say that we were inspired by gardens,and our colors are very pretty, but ... your flowers are magnificent!

    Don't forget to sleep sometime.
    xo

    ReplyDelete
  11. Lovely post Pipany, and soo gorgeous flowers.

    Beautiful garden, and so pleased the birthday weekend went well for your darling Isabella.

    Camilla.xx

    ReplyDelete
  12. Pipany, what beauty! Isabella, partying, scones, the garden, foxgloves, the calendula....I could go on...what a blissful weekend. We'll soon be in the 'pink' phase of our cornish hedges....foxgloves are popping up everywhere. We're so lucky down here.

    ReplyDelete
  13. sweetums pictures of Isabella and your garden is sublime. Fear I favour the violent clashes, plants can get away with it.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Ooooooo you pictures just ooooze with calm and contentment . . . and I love the contrasting colours in the nosegay . . . now that picture oozes with the joy of living.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Just delicious blog, Pipany! You always manage to inspire me to do more homemadey things.x

    ReplyDelete