Lovely family time

Some weekends it is near impossible to get any "family" time wedged in.  Sometimes we are just exhausted from a busy week, and can do little more than flop on the sofa.  Sometimes we have so many different activities to fit in with cleaning, shopping, church and other things that creep up on us.  But this weekend was a very long weekend of family time.

On Saturday we had a lovely day out at Tatton Park.  My Mother-in-Law had bought us National Trust Membership last October, but we had yet to use it.  So with the sun shining we packed up a lunch, children and dog and set off.  I had seen a children's performance of the Twelfth Night advertised for Shakespeare week at the medieval old hall which I thought O might enjoy.  I think it went slightly over his head, as he is only 5, but it was entertaining enough.  We had a picnic in the sun by a lake, and a trip around the farm, a cup of tea in the courtyard and a nice play in the adventure playground.

Sunday followed a different pattern.  I went to the allotment early, and Husband brought the children a while later.  I dug over a bed, planted parsnips, and thoroughly weeded the gooseberries, rhubarb and strawberries.  It is all good.  I eventually left Paul and the children there to finish digging over the old potato patch that had become very overgrown.  I abandoned all parenting responsibilities and went out for lunch with my oldest friend who was up visiting her in-laws.  When I returned from that we went to Lidl where the fruit trees were reduced, bought 5, and then returned to the allotment to plant trees and to load up the cranberries and blueberries from the allotment to bring home.  Last year I missed all of those berries to the birds between one day when they weren't ripe and another when they were all gone  Fingers crossed I can keep a better eye on them here, although they may get munched by children and canine this year instead.

I have a plan for my Lidl trees.  The very bottom on my allotment is heavy clay wet soil.  Nothing grows well down there, and so it doesn't get used much.  I bought 2 apple, 2 pear and a cherry and planted them in that space in the hopes that they would suck up some of the moisture.  I dug a huge hole for each and filled in with compost and sand as well as some of the clay soil in the hopes that it will improve the drainage immediately around the trees slightly.  Fingers crossed it works, because I am paying for all the digging today!!!!

Last night ended with a lovely roast leg of lamb and a nice cuddle on the sofa.

To top it off I picked some tete-e-tete daffs from the allotment and put them in a jam jar on the kitchen windowsill.  And it makes me smile everytime I see them.  xxx