Heatwave

 All over the news for the past few days they have been announcing there will be a heatwave. Apparently this one will last more than 24hours too.

Today is the first official day of said heatwave, although we have been living outside for most of the past week, hiding under umbrellas in the humid weather during the inevitable showers.

We have managed to plant a few of our potted plants into the garden now and are trying to grow a mint offcut so we can have two mint plants in the garden.

Without a doubt, the best purchase we have made recently has been the BBQ. We used to have charcoal ones that took so long we always gave up. This time we went for a gas version and we will never look back. It is just like cooking inside except the unique barbecue smell floats around the garden, making all the neighbours salivate.

We also have our inflatable hot tub up and running for our girls and us, but it is mostly occupied by our daughters and their friends. A couple I suspect are only here because of the hot tub, but as long as everyone is safe and happy I don't mind. When things have gone too far then we have had to step in and stop people calling over, but usually it all works out well.

Now that I can safely access the rear garden and spend time with my family outdoors, life feels more free. Before I felt as if that part of ourhome was out of bounbds for me and that was very frustrating. We have a lovely selection of potted plants along the side of our home now, near the door i can use to enter and exit the house. I love to sit out there, or at the corner of the ramp and watch the bumblebees and butterflies in the garden.

There is nothing better, on a warm sunny day than sitting in the warmth with a gin and lemonade or a glass of wine, a book and hearing the sound of children having a good time whilst smelling the tea cooking on the BBQ.

I have such a selection of books to read I can't decide where to start most days. I am currently reading a few books. I am reading:

The Runaway Daughter by Joanna Rees- a large print fictgional novel about a girl who escapes her previous life and begins a new life with a new name in London.

PDA Paradox by Harry Thompson- A book about PDA by someone who actually has the PDA diagnosis and can offer an insight into day to day problems from the inside.

Have You Eaten Grandma? by Gyles Brandreth. Strictly a book about grammar and the use of the English language, but full of comedy and quips.

I keep changing between the three, depending on my mood and surroundings. I need to concentrate more for some than others and am reluctant to take the library's book out and about in case I leave it somewhere (quite likely knowing my awful memory).

Having our girls and their friends happy and playing together, doing role plays around Undertale and FNAF makes our day. Quite often it comes to around 9pm and the girls are asking for sleepovers, negotiating with us over where people will sleep, if people will sleep and times to get up the next day. We love it and know it is what Miss G wanted in our other homes but couldn't do because of her own difficulties and the children in the locations we were in.

The BBQ also seems to bring people together. We have a lot of veggies on ours because I am not keen on meat, but it is great to see the children trying new things for the first time. One girl shocked me when she said she doesn't get food like this usually. They just have chips, sausages and food like that with healthy food on a friday. One other girls thanked us for inviting her over, saying it was the first time she had ever been over someone else's house.

I went rogue the other day and purchased a telescopic flag pole and a fish wind sock for the garden, along with festival style ground flags. The fish makes me smile when I see it 'swimming' around in the breeze out there. I just hope it doesn't annoy the neighbours too much.