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.

A day in pictures

This was how my 'relaxing day in the sun' began. I pass this area on my way down the ramp tothe back garden, so we have most of our potted plants together. I love it- they are so bright and smell amazing too. We already have bees visiting and a plethora of butterflies too. Our of shot are angel wings, roses, herbs and a selection of colourful flowers. We are also hoping the meadow flower mix will take but perhaps we left it a tad late this year.

The bark sesemed dry so I decided to top them up with water early on, givew them a fighting chance. The heat hit me as I left the house, like when you go on holiday and leave the aeroplane to a wall of warmth. I was so impressed with the strength of the rainbow it deserved to be captured in a photograph. If only it was that easy to create a pot of gold at the end too ...

Hubby arrived home with Miss G and her BFF just as Miss A was getting into mischief in the hot tub. I haad found myself a sunny area to relax in with my books, drinks and dogs and had even been able to drag a chair around again as a foot rest for my terribly swollen feet and legs (not heat related). The dogs had their campbed out in the shade (of course they didn't use it, preferring to lie in the sun and pant terribly (so Miss A soaked them a few times to help cool them down, especially our largest). We started off with two of these water cannons, ended up with just one, but the girls all had good fun soaking eachother, making it rain and cleaning the top floor windows. Strict rules over not soaking me or my chair were about it. The trampoline, garden and all who entered it were fair game.

Miss A and I had prepared for the day together as we left the house by collecting jars of water and adding mint. Apparently wasps don't like mint plants so it was something we had to try. I was ready with my Migralens overglasses on, two books to read, umbrella (it did rain later on a few times so I just carried on sitting there in the sticky heat, but in the shade of our beautiful inside out umbrella). 

I don't know how I managed it, but i finished reading How to be human, then moved on to this book pictured and have got to the point where the plot is becoming unravelled and it is getting more interesting. It seemed that I was being called every few seconds 'mummy...'.....'mummy....' with the oddest questions (actually fairly regular in our home). Between Miss A calling me, Miss G getting hot and bothered and not coping very well with it, then her BFF being left outside whilst Miss G calmed down again, I don't know how I managed to take in anything from the books or my surroundings. I felt like having bacon on the barbecue so did a quick amazon now order and we waited for our early evening delivery.

As soon as the delivery was made- Morrisons food in brown paper bags- the veg was chopped, sausages and bacon on a clean tray and out we went. The BBQ was heated (gas thank goodness or we would still be out there now waiting for it to heat up from our previous experiences), and on went our tea. We had sweet potato slices, courgette slices, onions, mixed vegetables, peppers (I love them when the skin is burnt and bubbles), gluten free chipolatas and, of course, bacon. 

We were umming and ahhing over whether to purchase a barbecue. Not being huge meat eaters we wondered whether it would be worth the money- would it be used enough? Since we have had it and found the patio gas we have had atleast four barbecues already. Vegetable kebabs, melted cheese on sausages...delicious. We were talking last night about whether we should have gone for the larger size- it never seems to be just our family here, we always have visitors....maybe next year 

After all the sun, reading, children, cooking, eating and drinking, a dip in thehot tub was in order. Not very dignified or graceful, but I got in and out safely