Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2024

Good evening all!

Our visitors should arrive by 5.45 (driving a hired car from Dublin airport), and the sausage casserole is timed to be cooked by then. Hopefully it will meet with the 4-year-old's approval...

Agreed, so kind of you @lizzie27 to offer accommodation to your friend's wife. I'm sure she'll appreciate the gesture, and the support.

Well, I think we're prepared for the onslaught...

 

I am signing out for this evening. Enjoy whatever you have got planned. See you all in the morning.

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A very good morning to you all. We are ticking down now to the end of 2024 and I wake up still wondering when we are going to get any Summer! Yesterday I noticed that a lot more of my bulbs are peeking through.
Here are my hyacinths

and my begonia:
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Good morning everyone!!

Cold again but this time a bit of wind which makes it feel colder . The dogs have been out for their morning ablutions but are back in bed again in the warm!!

Nice to see the spring bulbs @Ladybird4 My paper whites (outside) are up and nearly in flower - the freesias are up too - the flowers come a lot later. My Christmas Cactus which is now in the conservatory, is in full pink flower.

I wish you all a pleasant day.

 

Good morning all. So lovely to see hyacinths @Ladybird4. My spring bulbs are also all out by now, despite I planted them a month and half ago.
Sunny and much warmer morning. All pets and birds are fed, I have my tea and watch old Midsomer murders episodes.
Wish you all a nice Sunday.

 

Good morning @Tui34 and @Ante1. Fizz will miss her companion when his 'humans' come home. If we go by the winter wheat @Ante1, our whole new season will be very productive. Enjoy your Earl Grey (my Bestie bought me some for Christmas!) and Midsomer!

 

Good morning,
It’s nice to see some sunshine today. So much better than the mist/fog of recent days. It’s colder, but that doesn’t matter.
Lovely hyacinths popping through @Ladybird4.

 

Morning all.

My little pot of tête-à-têtes in the kitchen is just coming into bloom - a cheerful welcome as I made my cuppa this morning. I can’t see signs of my daffodils and Aliums that I put in patio planters though - I hope they didn’t become part of a squirrel’s Christmas dinner?!

Have a lovely Sunday everyone.

 

Morning all.

I wish I could smell your hyacinths @Ladybird4.

We are going out this afternoon, tea with friends.

Yesterday was a sunny day but chilly, misty today. Son 1 gave me some tulip bulbs which I must plant before we go back to Norfolk on Friday.

My new English handyman, Chris, came round with his small daughter to take a set of keys and see what to do here while we are away. Hedge to trim, apple trees to prune, guttering to replace, the post to put indoors etc. In summer he'll do mowing and watering. He does the same for several English people in this area. He lives nearby.

 

What a glorious, crisp morning we have!
We must get out in the garden to put right some wind damage, before the next storm hurtles in on Tuesday. There's also some of the white stuff in the forecast, but we'll gloss over that...
4 years ago, a friend's son, with a gardening business, pruned our pear trees. He assured me he knew what he was doing, but he over pruned them and we had loads of water shoots. I am wondering if, between us, we could start some gentle corrective pruning. Hub hasn't been well enough until now. I could do with your Chris @Busy-Lizzie!
I hope @Liriodendron and @Ergates enjoy their family get togethers
Lovely hyacinths.
Enjoy whatever you have planned for the day

 

It is grey again here but the clouds are high and here's a line of white along the south horizon. It's very still so I can't see us getting any sun today and the next few days look to be dark and wet.

@Ladybird4 the Creole cake is wrapped in layers of parchment and foil and will not see the light of day before February, by which time it will have matured nicely. We have friends coming for lunch next Sunday and I'm toying with making a sticky ginger cake to use as a base for ginger and orange trifle - cointreau not sherry, layer of clementines over the cake, no jelly and slivers of stem ginger confit in the custard. Have to decide soon as a ginger cake also needs time to mature.

This link might help @Penny_Forthem - Apples and pears: winter pruning / RHS I need to have a look at our apples and pears too.

I love the perfume of hyacinths too @Busy-Lizzie and have 2 pots of 3 white ones coming along nicely but not quite in time for NY day. They'll still be good tho. I hope Chris works out well for you.

Tisane for me and then some pottering. Candles to sort out. Going to melt some with essential oils to make perfumed candles.

Have a lovely day whatever you're doing.

 

Morning all, got very excited this morning - blue sky and sunshine, sat down with a coffee, blinked and it's gone! Oh well, hopefully we might see some more soon.
Oops, got gotta go, OH has sneaked out and started a job I wanted to supervise!

 

Signing out for today. Hope you all have lovely evenings. See you in the morning.

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A very good morning one and all. I slept really well last night which makes a welcome change. The scent of my hyacinths in my living room is gorgeous. I wish I could have hyacinths all year round as I cannot tolerate any kind of scented candle, plug in air freshener, sticks in scented oils or pot pourri. They set me off coughing. I even have to avoid any displays of similar items in shops and GC (e.g. Yankee Candles) and hold my breath when I go down the washing powders aisles in the SM. This does disappoint me as I would love having nice smells around. Anyway, moan over. I'll just enjoy the hyacinths until they fade.

 

I'm with you there @Ladybird4, the scent of hyacinths really can't be beaten