Christmas is coming...

I made a school-boy error today - I got up, looked at the weather and seeing it was a lovely day, pulled on my scruffers and went gardening looking like Worzel Gummidge or worse thinking that we wouldn't be seeing anyone today only to have our post delivered by Di and Rob who thought it highly amusing that I was looking so scruffy!!!  Anyway thanks (I think) for bringing our very first Christmas Card of the season from Helen and Pete in Yeovil.



The garden still has colour in it - this year the hydrangea has bloomed much longer and I am loathe to cut it back whilst it is still doing so.  The mystery pink plant is looking fabulous - I do hope that it survives the winter but at only €2.50 it wont be a huge loss except that I don't know what it is called to go back and ask for another one and Mrs Very Helpful - NOT at the London Road didn't know what it was called either which I find amazing for someone who runs a garden centre.

Whilst weeding under the olive tree I noticed that the early flowering narcissi have buds so if I am lucky I may have some blooms for Christmas to fill the house with their fabulous scent.

In under the olive tree I have hundreds and hundreds of baby purslaine seedlings - I know that George values this plant as an addition to his salads and feels blessed when he pitches up in the Summer to have some growing in his front garden but left to its own devices it takes over so with the aid of Chivers who loves to come and check out what you are doing when you are weeding I cleared as much as I could - we don't eat it - yet but given time and the demise of the pound who knows we might just well have to!!

Today in my strappy top it was hard to believe that the forecast is for plummeting temperatures mid week which may well bring a ground frost up here in the hills.  That will sort the plants out which will then look like they have been attacked by a flame thrower and so I am relishing today where it all looks tidy, fresh and healthy - I just wish I had taken a little more care with my appearance before getting stuck in and my hands dirty!!

Having said that Boris was all tickety-boo the other day I had spoken too soon and this morning he was very out of sorts and didn't come for breakfast which is a sure sign that something is wrong.

I picked him up and put him on our bed for a snooze because if there was something wrong I didn't want him to wander too far.  It soon became clear what was causing him angst as he vomited up the remains of something quite furry - either a small rodent or a bat.  Sadly he vomited all over our quilted bedspread but I managed to get it in the wash and out on the line in the sunshine and it dried thank goodness.

John and I have decided to sleep in the other bedroom in the Winter - this room is right next to the pool and only gets a little sunshine during the day and is like an ice-block so we have decided to keep it well heated to prevent any problems with damp and if we are heating it then we just as well get the benefit from doing so.  Our normal bedroom gets sunshine (if there is some) nearly all day so is always a few degrees warmer anyway.

We changed our bedding over complete with the newly laundered bedspread and confused the hell out of cats!  We will move back into our normal bedroom next weekend when we have Nicky and Mark visiting and they can have the pleasure of a nicely warmed room when they go to bed.

We decided that as we have visitors next weekend we might as well get the Christmas decorations down and make the house look festive - we wouldn't have time to do it next weekend and after that it would be a bit late.

We have had most of our decorations for years but recently Mum and Dad gave us their old outside tree - we don't have it outside but place it in the conservatory and decorate it.

We have an eclectic mix of decorations collected over the years so there isn't much of a theme going on - nothing tasteful here just memories of Christmas's past - we have too much really and don't always put the same things out so this year we will ring the changes a bit.

It will be nice because it will look all festive for Mum and Dad when they come for lunch tomorrow - I have chosen a chicken dish which is always a safe bet.  I haven't cooked it before so if it turns out OK I will post up the recipe - it is called Italian Lemon Chicken.

I shall tell Nicky and Mark to bring their Christmas Jumpers with them to add to the occasion - who said Christmas was for kids?  Oh that was me wasn't it - yesterday!

A snuggly night in catching up on Love Lies and Records with a rather tasty beef and orange curry in side us - bliss.