What I've been doing this week - and garden pic spam.

[curiouswombat]

I have been busy this week - it is TT, and as it is the centenary it is even busier than usual - there are about 50,000 extra people and about 20,000 extra motorbikes on our little island - a space about 32 miles by 11 miles.

Why does TT keep me busy? Because my church fronts onto the TT course and it is not unusual to have 100 or more people watching the motorbike racing from our car park and gardens - and we open up a 'snack counter' at church to cater for them, and make some money for church funds. Not only do I spend part of every race day (Saturday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday) serving, but much of the intervening time baking as we sell an awful lot of home-made cakes!

My carrot cake sells in minutes usually, and my banana cake and strawberry cheesecake muffins go almost as quickly. I think I will have provided a total of about 70 individual cakes and squares of cake, all individually wrapped in cling-film for hygiene purposes. At 50p each this is £35 towards church funds. But in total we will probably make about £1,500. There are pictures of 'TT Teas' on our church website, which I maintain, and which there is a link to one sidebar of this journal.

So - under the cut is one picture of the crowd to give you an idea, and also some pics of my garden to show how things are growing - I have been out there with a cold drink when I've got home from 'Teaing' each evening!





Crowds at church - there are even people up in one or two of the trees!



Some of my little pots - and a close up of one of them to show the mimulus also know as 'monkey flowers' properly -





That is just to show that the mimulus come in different colours. I bought a tray of them as tiny, tiny plugs, and put two or three in each pot incase they didn't grow. For a couple of weeks they all looked very spindly and sickly, but then they took off, and so this summer I have a lot of them all over - and also a lot of pansies -



Including these in one of a couple of new little wicker wall baskets that I got in our local supermarket for £1 each -



This little pot rose is called 'Conservation' -



and this is me recycling -



Those are all growing on the rungs of an old set of aluminium steps! They give some nice height to that corner.

I've given up trying for tasteful colour co-ordination - I just let the place develop a riot of colour - here is Statler and Waldorf's corner this year -




And this next one is to show that I do make use of this sunshine and fresh air -



Finally, of course, my regular companion when I sit out in the sunshine -





I am hoping to get half an hour tonight to discuss the next chapter of Access All Areas properly with my co-writer, when I can get him away from his own computer for a while.

Comments

[syderia]

Nice pictures!

Thanks for sharing.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you - it's my pleasure.

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

Love the flowers, the laundry on the line, and the satisfied kitty! It all looks so peaceful and loved.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It is one of my favourite places - it used to be a wilderness of weeds - having it paved and then growing in tubs was the best thing we ever did to the house, I think - D-d and I love to just laze out there when we are home in the summer.

My laptop works well out there too - I have to put up the sunshade on the table to see the screen properly, and then I am all set!

[ayinhara.livejournal.com]

Your garden looks wonderful. Thanks for the pictures.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you - it is looking nice and summery already, isn't it? I like to just sit out for half an hour after I finish work, and wind-down.

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

Lovely photos; I love the mimulus, especially, and find myself wondering if I could keep it blooming with the ferns next to the fountain (which is not yet started, due to various other matters taking precedent).

Julia, dawdling before starting the work day, as per usual.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It was pretty hot and dry when I first planted them, and then we had a month when it was pretty wet and cool during which they began to grow, and now that it is warmer again (still only 60-65F) they are flowering very well. I am keeping them well watered - don't know if that helps you decide if they'd work.

They were not expensive at all - the tray of tiny plugs was about £3.00 or £4.00 I think.

[wisemack.livejournal.com]

Your garden is a delight! And I'm all for a "riot of colour", which you certainly have achieved. ;)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you - I think riot of colour is definitely the way to go, for me!

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Lovely flowers and I see you do indeed have a "solar dryer". Scratches Shaka's little tummy.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Yep - it is a retractable 'solar drier', so when I'm not using it it is simply a small platic drum fastened to the gatepost.

[beanbeans.livejournal.com]

These are wonderful. Your mimulus are lovely. I've always loved pansies- such a cheerful flower--and yours are vibrant.

Hee! The Statler and Waldorf are great! Wherever did you find them!?

Your kitty looks like he/she's in heaven. :)

Thanks so much for sharing these.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Mimulus and pansies between them mean that half the flowers in the garden have cheeky faces :~)

Statler and Waldorf came from the local D-i-Y store three or four years ago and everyone loves them.

The cat is a he - he is a Siamese cross-breed called 'Shaka', as in the great Zulu war lord! Anythning less war-like is hard to inagine.....

[makd.livejournal.com]

Neat pictures! Thanks for sharing them.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you, my pleasure.

[gillo]

Lovely pictures. It's been grey here today - brief glimpse of summer over again. I like the ecofriendly washing line pic! And lovely catpic too.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

See how eco-friendly I am! It was grey on Saturday and Sunday, but beautifully sunny all week since - thank goodness with all these visitors, many of whom are camping!

[gillo]

So, the nice weather hid around the corner till the plane for York took off on Monday, then came out to play? Boo. Chiz.

I was eco-friendly with about three machine-loads last weekend. Not that using the machine is that eco-friendly, but you have to make an effort.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Absolutely did just that - they took off at 9.45 and the last of the mist burnt off by about 10.00a.m. - and it's been fineever since!

[keswindhover.livejournal.com]

Your flowers look lovely - and I am jealous of your £1 hanging baskets. Even in Tesco they were £1.97 here! And mine were £4.99 from a garden centre.

The cat looks mucho relaxed - I would have an irrestistible urge to tickle him with a piece of straw.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I am jealous of your £1 hanging baskets. I got a couple of them, then thought afterwards that I should have got a few more! The other one has a lot of pansies as well - but it was in the shade when I went out with the camera.

Mucho relaxed is the cat's default setting....

[diachrony.livejournal.com]

I love your garden and especially the monkey flowers! And the sweet Shaka kitty.

We have a folding wooden clothes rack and Sister and I actually use it to dry about half our clothes outside in the sun, or draping them over the back porch railings.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The monkey flowers are very cheerful - you just have to smile at them.

It wasn't until Petzi pointed out an article about 'solar drying' that it occured to me that a clothes line is actually eco-friendly!

I sometimes drape things over the backs of the wooden garden chairs as well.

[modillian.livejournal.com]

Lovely garden. It looks so cheerful and full with all the colors and greens hanging off the walls and everything. Your cat looks like he's enjoying himself. ;)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you. For a long time our garden was a wasted derelict space, and I love the fact that it is now a pleasant and colourful place to spend time. The cat seems to agree on this!

[spikendru.livejournal.com]

Lovely pictures and your garden is gorgeous! Your donations to the church fund sound wonderful, and now you've gotten me hungering for carrot cake!

*pokes S2C to discuss the next chapter*

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you. It is really what estate agents call 'a courtyard garden' - in other words a small enclosed yard behind the house, but it is a nice place to spend time.

Carrot cake is healthy, really! Vitamin C and Omega 3 oils in the pecan nuts in my version!

I am going to have to go and literally poke S2C - he went upstairs about two hours ago and I haven't seen him since, so he probably 'inadvertently lay on the bed' and went asleep - he does that - regularly!

[opalescence.livejournal.com]

You'd think he would be so hot with that black coat! I was looking forward to your garden pics. Lovely.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

He gets very hot to the touch, and sometimes he must begin to feel too hot as he can be found under the table in the shade.

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

Pretty! You really have lovely garden this year. And the TT crowds are wild! Still, fund-raising is good!

And all that talk about carrot cake makes me hungry...

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Actually I had underestimated the level of fund-raising - I just checked and last year we raised more like £2,500!

The trouble with making so much carrot cake is that I tend to eat the corner pieces from each tray, which is not good for the figure, at all!

[sammywol.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh Melted cat! She looks more relaxed than your poor mood hamster but then she is probably not much good at baking anyway. Lovely garden! Good luck with the TT!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Lying around is what he does best - he has a PhD in lazy! Even when he decided to make people throw his toy mice for him he doesn't actually run after them - he plays 'pig-in-the-middle' and jst stretches upwards - if he misses he expects the human to go and retrieve the mousie and throw it again, nearer, please!

TT has been fun so far, but will soon be over....which is a bit sad, but at least the place is quieter all of a sudden.

[sammywol.livejournal.com]

Hope you didn't get involved in the nasty accident at the TT. thinking of you and your cakes!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

No - it was up on the mountain, at the 26 mile mark, and we are down near the start.

It is very sad - it was the last lap of the last race - and he was near the end of the field, so one of the very last bikes through.

[jerusha]

Your garden looks beautiful!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you. It is a tiny space, and everything is in pots except the tree, so the gardening is fun, rather than a chore. When you move you'll have to try and get a few feet of yard, or even a reasonable balcony, so that you can have a few pots of plants.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Wonderful garden, lovely flowers ... the muppets and cat seem to be growing very well, and I'll be you keep them well watered. :-)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I've tried to get Statler and Waldorf to propagate - but it isn't working very well.....

Statler and Waldorf

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Well, they're straight, you see. Bring in Miss Piggy.