Joy in the Everyday Ordinary - March, 21-31

Hi there everyone 😀

Well, the weather has been pretty amazing since we've come back from our week's break in the Yorkshire Dales and we've spent a fair amount of time in the garden over the last week ... both working and just soaking up the sunshine.

The grass has had it's first cut of the year and all is really springing back into life in the garden following a winter hibernation ... it's starting to look like the garden we know and love again and I know that the hard work we are putting in now will definitely pay dividends later in the year.

Other than gardening we've not really done that much, though we did manage to get out for the day yesterday to a local plant hunters' fair at Middleton Hall, a local historic manor house.

March seems to have come and go in a flash and here are our last 10 days ...

Day 21 - It was the last full day of our week's holiday in The Yorkshire Dales and we managed to take in Janet's Foss, Gordale Scar and Malham Tarn. We even managed to see just a little bit of blue sky. We finished our day with our last visit to The Lister Arms for tea. It was another lovely day.

Day 22 - We were back home from our week in The Dales and the first thing we did was to have a walk round the garden. It always amazes me what a difference a week can make, especially at this time of year. The magnolia was looking magnificent. Absolutely covered in the most delicate and beautiful white blooms. I think it's the best its ever looked.

Day 23 - We had a surprise treat today and got to spend a couple of hours looking after this little monkey. We had great fun playing hide and seek, running around and generally messing about ... followed by a fish and chip tea when mum and dad came home.

Day 23 - The loveliest blue sky, the first peg out of the year and it was actually warm enough to just sit and watch the garden coming back to life for a while. I stocked the freezer up with Jamie's seven vegetable sauce and made some apple and cherry turnovers from last year's morello cherries from the garden.

Day 24 - Another lovely bright day, gloriously warm in the sun ... we spent it out back doing a bit more to get the garden ready for summer. We replaced the shed roof and gave it a coat of paint, put a slab base down for the little greenhouse and had a good tidy up of the succulents and ferns, before putting them back out on the plant stand. It was also good to see that the three pots of agapanthus that I split at the end of last year are  all starting to sprout ... fingers crossed for flowers on all three.

Day 25 - Another glorious day and another bout of gardening. Fence painting, raised bed painting and a bit of border tidying ... before sitting in the warm sunshine and enjoying a cup of Earl Grey in the sunshine just generally looking at what's happening. We saw the most beautiful goldfinch hit the birdbath for a drink ... we do wish they'd start eating the niger seeds though! We planted these tulip bulbs in the raised bed in the autumn and they look lovely just dotted among the greenery.

Day 26 - We had a day off from gardening today ... we both needed to rest our aching limbs after a couple of days of hard graft. I caught up with ironing and Martin bottled his beer. We did have time for a wander round the garden though and it was lovely to see this rhody coming into flower. It's one of the first plants that I bought when I moved in over 20 years ago and it's doing really well ... it much prefers its pot to the spot it had originally in the garden.

Day 27 - I know it may sound boring but it really was another absolutely glorious day. It was like a summer's day, warm sunshine and plenty of blue sky. We spent pretty much all day in the garden, but at a very gentle pace. No hard labour today. Just sorting out seeds and pots and getting lots planted.

Day 28 - The bees are up! And we love them 🐝🐝🐝

Day 29 - Martin's birthday and another glorious day. We sat in the sunshine in the garden for a while, watching the grass get its first cut of the year and the blossom drift down from the prunus like confetti, before heading out for lunch and shopping, followed by curry night with our good friends at our favourite local curry house.

Day 30 - The weather is really doing us proud at the moment. I'm not sure how good a thing it is in respect of climate change but it is certainly nice feeling a bit of warm sunshine. We took mum out for an early Mothers' Day treat ... the garden centre for a new clematis, where we treated ourselves too, then another garden centre for a bit of a mooch, followed by cake and hot chocolate at The Strawberry Cabin, a local cafe that we occasionally frequent. Back home for another sit in the garden in the sunshine wondering where we could squeeze in our new clematis.

Day 31 - Yet another dry and bright spring day. We had a trip out to a local plant finders' fair at Middleton Hall, which is pretty much on our doorstep and, though we've been to the estate a few times, we've never actually had a look round the inside of the hall. Being Mother's Day and the first day of their season it was pretty busy but we had a lovely few hours mooching about and exploring. We had hoped to get something to eat in the cafe in The Courtyard but it was just too busy and we ended up having breakfast butties in the local park cafe, before calling in on mum to wish her a happy Mothers' Day.

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So, that's it for us for March. We will see you back here in April for more Joy in the Everyday Ordinary 😀

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