Abundant April

Well it's all happening now that the rains have stopped (yeeehah!) and the sun has come out to play. Must have been the effect of our boules and darts party which was great fun and everyone really joined in the spirit of the day.
Rules were adhered to (kind of) and there were trophies for the Boules and Darts champion teams. Thanks to everyone for bringing great stuff to eat and drink and for making it such a great day.
Another celebration was Fraser's birthday and our 25th year as a couple. Had lunch with a few friends and Fraser bought me a wisteria that actually flowers to stop me moaning about the one we currently have that is huge but flowerless!!Fraser has been busy again since we decided to completely replace the field fence as Bugsy was using it as an escape ladder so now we have this very sexy fence and gate and it looks great. Next job is to redo the front wall and fence. Watch this space. He also put in some steps up from the pond to the terrace above which look really cute and make it so much esier to water the Liquid Ambers on the terrace, and we now have graduated steps down the slope to the field gate too which will be graveled eventually. It has been a great way to use up the old beams from the barn and outbuildings.
I did some spring cleaning of the car which contained enough dog hair to build a new one from scratch
We took an afternoon off to visit Harry and Seana at their lovely new, Hacienda style house which isn't finished quite yet but we had lunch on the veranda anyway. It was a lovely break! Thanks guys.
But mainly this month has been all about burgeoning nature!!!! Everything is growing like blazes. Our kitchen is full of the scent of jasmine and the irises are out! Fraser continues to make a record of the flora and fauna around us.The bass that we put in with the goldfish are growing to a good size.

The carp in the lake are in close to the shore spawning we thinkand the tadpoles from the toad spawn fringe the entire line of the lakeshore. Nothing seems to eat them!!Bugsy continues to grow up but still needs a lot of training, but not as much as Scraps who continues to be blonde and a bit bonkers. But we love them both.

On the down side we have discovered a huge crack in our chimney, since a small chimney fire and the rain have done their work. So this needs to be sorted and luckily we are insured! But the mess is going to be horrendous!!
Best news for last.....

I AM GOING TO BE A GRANNY!!!!!!!!!!

Richard and Jo are having their baby in September. We are all so happy for them.
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