Long Mizzle Garden

Eh up ducks, A super quick bloggy post today. Gritty life and endless rain seem to have been getting in the way of gardening. Monsieur got me a new tent for my birthday. It's a great improvement on my old festival tent that only qualifies as 'three man capacity' if packed like sardines. The new one has a living room area with windows and a porch canopy at the front. We even put some bunting up. Posh tent heaven!  Moodiness over Long Mizzle Fed up with the constant foreboding weather forecast and restricted time off from work, I decided to brave it and take the kids on an outing on the Lizard, Cornwall's rugged southern peninsula. Little did we know Storm Betty was ominously approaching. On the advise of an old camping mad school friend,  I had pre-ordered some serious pegs and extra guy ropes (cross storm peg revelation - thanks Shauno!). Some old tights were joined together and and used to strap our tent either side to the base of nearby low growing trees.  Rainy day d...

 Hello m' seafaring saints, The girls were desperate for a summer holiday adventure. One morning at breakfast I said -  "Right, we're going abroad! Pack your rucksacks." We promptly headed down to Falmouth's Prince of Wales pier & hopped on the 10:30 yellow ferry *. This took us across Falmouth bay and twenty minutes later we arrived at St Mawes harbour. The littlest one did actually believe we were in France. If only going abroad was that effortless & cheap!  * £10 adult return/ children go free on this one.   After a walk up and down by the immaculately painted seafront houses and a peek in the church hall charity sale, manned by the plumiest (we're talking King Charles' Camilla here) but loveliest two ladies, it was time for an early lunch at the harbour bakery.  "Why is everyone so friendly here?" the girls asked. We sat eating our pasties, watching the paddle boarders, sail school kids and daft swimming dogs. Then onward to my ulter...

 Hello m' hot scrumpies,   Apologies for my blogging absence. It feels work wise, mentally and physically I have been living in a pressure cooker for the past month This coincided with the hottest June globally on record. Hello El Niño - you arrived too soon. The garden sat thirsty for weeks on end. Some of the luckier beds received buckets of used bath water. A hose pipe ban has been in place in the South West since last summer. The reservoirs are critically low and the water company is scrambling to set up the desalination of seawater. Most plants seem shorter in height this year. The roses however seemed to love the dry heat.  Dog on quay dutifully watches over sea swimming owner Now there are reports of a potential maritime heatwave. Since taking up sea swimming, I can confirm the sea is still officially flippin' cold to my skin. My brother says 'knees, hips, nips and tips' is the way to enter the water without shocking the body. The nips seems to be the hardest s...