It is the month of June,
The month of leaves and roses,
When pleasant sights salute the eyes
and pleasant scents the noses.
”Nathaniel Parker Willis

Gone are the cold days and chilly nights that bound us to our bed and the comfy blankets that warm our freezing bodies.  
Daybreak Sunlight steams through the windows waking the summer deep within our souls.
The world that looked  bleak and uninviting only a few weeks ago, has sprung to life. Colour replaces and radiates the once frost bitten earth. The Magic of summer gives those once grumpy face reason to smile, as everyone and everything around us, seems to glow as beautiful as the summer moon.
Mother Nature is at its best and while we look on in awe, sadly the world has gone absolutely crazy.
The media revel in promoting the darkness and evilness that fills their bank accounts. Fear mongering is at its strongest. 

Why???  

Is it a case of filling newspapers or Is there the slightest bit of truth in the ramblings or do they just love to bring fear upon the nations.
What ever their reasoning, surely a positive attitude would work better in rallying the troops to buy the Tish Tosh they called Media.
It’s the latest headlines, about the American 10 year old girl, that have my thoughts, travelling back in time, to a time that shaped my personality and brought to me a lifetime full of self hate, body issues, lack of trust, depression and anxiety. A time in my life, I soulfully wish I could forget. 
Mournfully the scars are rooted too deep to even know how to begin to heal.
I planned to bare my soul, and was going to speak openly about my own experience but for many, many reasons after writing my truth, I decided it’s not the time or possibly place to delve into something so traumatic.
The internet can be a playground for bullies so with much thought and consideration I have to do what is right for me at this time and keep my scars tightly bound to my chest but please know that I’m always here with a listening ear if you need someone detached from your situation, who has travelled the roads you maybe walking and is willing to listen without judgment. You are never alone, please believe that.

With June well and truly over, as we had towards the middle of July, I can’t think for the life of me what actually happened in June. We all came out the other side, that has to be a good thing.
When you are at home all the time, days drift into one another as the months race to do the same. Everything seem to become complacent and mundane. Life becomes dull and lonely at times. I beat myself up over that last statement, because how can one be lonely when they have such a wonderful family around them and three four legged friends who mostly love to be at my side. 

When the weather has been delightful we have taken every opportunity to fire up the bbq and dine like kings. Mark has been perfecting bbq beef brisket as well as roast pork and boy hasn’t it been a treat.  It’s delicious. 😋 
There is nothing more pleasant as a family bbq, as the sunshines, especially when we go all out and cook up a feast with all the trimmings and spend quality time with family.  Talking of family, we met up with my Uncle Steve and Auntie Liz at our local fete and had the most wonderful day. 
We watched Uncle Steve, play the saxophone with the Romsey Old Cadets, which brought back the most treasured childhood memories of my Dad marching with them all those years ago.🎷 I can’t express how truly magical it was to spend the afternoon with them. We really should do it more. 
Better still, I got the spend the following Saturday afternoon with my lovely cousin Lisa, which was equally as special. We didn’t draw breath. 

I know I’ve said it many times before but family is everything and no matter where life leads you, they should always come first. 

🧐

Research.
I’ve been a busy bee researching our family history with my trusty side Kick, my sil Sarah. 
We have been working our soaks off, digging deeper than ever before researching the life of Walter Hillier. 
It’s been intense, that’s for sure, but an incredible and interesting journey. Research is still in full swing so you may have to wait a little longer for this one,  but the wait will be worth it, I’m sure, because we have pulled out all the stops to find as much information about the man they call the “Governor” as we possibly can.
As Sarah works aimlessly on researching the Governor, I took on the task of researching another of our ancestors. I’m so excited to share this one with you. Just a few small tasks to do and hopefully part 1 of her life story will be up within the next few days. Watch this space. It’s a goodin.

Research has alway been my passion, it’s intoxicating. But what I’ve learnt over the last few months, research is so much more fun when you are doing it with someone who’s passion matches your own. I can’t thank Sarah enough for researching with me, for her passion and dedication and hard work . We make the best team and I love the bond we have. SIL (sister in-laws) rock. ♥️

If you missed the family history posts that I shared in June you can read them below.
The Life Of Alice Southwell, 1861-1915, Part 1
The Life Of Alice Southwell 1861-1889 – Part 2
The Life Of Alice Southwell, 1861 – 1915, Part 3 – The Final Chapter.

🧶 

Crochet.
Whoop, whoop. I picked up my hook and finally got some crochet done i am still working on the “Phoenix” bedspread which is a surprise present for my uncle Kevan.
It’s getting big now and starting to look pretty special, as well as very warm. Too warm to work on when the weather is nice.
I’ve just finished part 6.
It now measures 48inches x 48inches 
I’ve used 30 skeins or 2460.0 yards (2249.4 meters), 1500 grams of yarn, at £3.19 each. Total yarn cost, so far is  £95.70 

I so hope he loves it.

🌼

Garden.
To be honest apart from keeping on top of the weeds, blooming ground-alder and bind weed as well as morning slug hunts, not much has gone on in the garden. 🐌 
After all the sowing of seeds, it’s been nice to sit back and watch the garden beds come to life. Flowers have started to bloom and the bees and butterflies now dance aimlessly between the blooms. I could sit for hours watching them. 🐝🦋

I cut my first jam jar pose’s, even though I would rather leave the flowers in the garden to be enjoyed, picking is essential to keep flowers coming.

As I’ve mentioned before over the last few months Mark and I, have slowly been sorting out the front garden. Mark has made railway sleepers borders which are now full of dahlias, cosmos and calendulas, which are just starting to put on a show.

We just made the last raised border, to replace an existing round peony garden. It looks so much better. We have also sown a clover lawn surrounding it, which hopefully next year will be a picture and be a haven for bees when in flower.  Fingers crossed it looks as magical as it does in my mind.

My roses have been putting on the most amazing show, they are beyond beautiful and smell out of this world.

I’m a tad disappointed with the rest of the flower beds. I had a picture in my mind that no amount of hard work, perfect conditions and a slug free garden, could ever live up to. It’s a real shame but I’ve learnt a hard lesson about positioning, as well as the impact shade has on a garden.

There is one space in our back garden which I have never been happy with. 
When we first moved in, we laid a gorgeous new lawn. It wasn’t long until the humongous trees behind our garden well and truly killed it. During lockdown battled the area. We brought two tons of grey slate to cover up the nonexistent grass mud section and made raised borders in hopes to grow our own vegetables, which we  failed miserably at, due to  slugs 🐌 and caterpillars. 🐛The butterflies were a joyful bonus.🦋

Last year we exchanged veg for flowers, as we have done again this year. Unfortunately the trees that killed the grass, drains all the goodness and water from the ground, as well as shade them much more than we would like.
Those trees, no matter how beautiful, are becoming more and more of a nuisance. They are so large that they block out all the light to a point we have to have our lights on 24 7 even in the summer. 
Who can afford to do that with the electric prices as they are. 
They make our garden an awful mess in the winter and in truth summer to, covering everything in seeds. They are rather frightening in the winter as the rock unstably in the wind.
They they are the bane of my existence and I’m not sure what we can do about them. 🤔

This is where we need your help please.

In autumn, we hope to change the section of the garden that sits directly below the trees BUT I’m at a loss to know what to do with it.
First option would be to grass seed and hope that grass seed for shade really does do what it states on the packet. 
Another opinion, would be to make a quite secret seating area for reflection, cosy chats even maybe with a fire pit, surrounded by shade loving plants. 
We would greatly appreciate your ideas/ input as what we could do with this tricky area, keeping in mind that Mark has to be able to get things in and out of the shed and it has to be very budget friendly. 

I can not wait to hear your ideas.

Right I think I’ve rambled on for far too long so will say “Goodbye June. Hello July. Please, be good to us all.”

Too-da-loo for now.

🦋🦋🦋