Sunshine and flowers

Well the sunshine has finely smiled on us in the north, although it is still very cold. I've booked our holiday this year early thinking that May time has been better in the last few years than in August but typically it is cold this year. We never have any luck with the weather and holidays. We have a week booked in a tent in Brittany in a couple of weeks in one of those super camps so I am praying it will warm up by then as the only reason I'm going is for all the outdoor pools for the kids, followed by a week in Cornwall on the way back. I've still not been able to do much in the garden with all the rain but I'm loving watching all the birds nesting which I will write about in the next post.

The May Day Camelia's have done fantastic this year. Last year the flowers didn't open at all so I was wondering if they were on their last legs and was thinking of digging them up, but this year they have been better than they have ever been.

The last of the tulips.

Anenome from some bulbs planted in the autumn.

Lots of blossom on my apple tree this year. It has nearly faded now though.

Can you see the bee going in for a feed?

 I'm hoping it will stay dry for tomorrow so I can get the grass cut again and take some better pictures of the birds.





New old shelf

A few weeks back I won an old shabby shelving unit on ebay that had come out of a shop. I left it outside for slightly longer than hoped due to all this rain, so some of the old paint had blistered but I managed to rescue it before it got too bad. This is it before.

I'm in the process of decorating this room, hence the shabby looking floor. I can't decide whether to carpet or paint the floorboards white for a change. This is the shelf up on my kitchen wall with a few things in so far.

I painted it in an eggshell chalk white. You can see the holes where they have had hooks in the front to hang things off when you see it close up. I was thinking of filling them but I think I shall probably be putting more holes in eventually to hang cups off so I'll leave them for now and just say it's part of the charm of the shabby chic look.

 I'm off to do some tidying now ready for tomorrow evening when I am hosting a Murder Mystery Party as part of my birthday celebrations.