A "F.D.H.T.G." MORNING

Phew.. a real "Feet Didn't Hit The Ground Morning". First I must ask did any of you in England see the beautiful sunrise this morning? I know it showed up in Surrey because Lynn sent me a photo of it via her phone. Mick was still asleep so I was able to click away with my camera and took at least 10 shots. Don't panic I won't show you them all; just the one:

Once Mick was breakfasted and dressed; seeing that the morning was still gloriously sunny; I wheeled him out to the front garden and got on with pulling out the begonias from the round pot and planting up the violas. This job was well overdue. Although the begonias were still doing well, the violas were starting to get a bit cramped in their little containers and I needed to get them planted out post haste.
It won't take them long to fill out. It wasn't that many weeks ago that I planted the wheelbarrow up; and look how that's filled out!

Of course I couldn't bring my self to throw ALL the begonias out. I had to save a couple to cut back, pot on and grow on to use as house plants. I did the same with a couple of the double busys and at the moment they are all residing on the bed upstairs (nice and light but not too warm). Goodness knows where I'll put them when we have visitors I really must stop using the bedroom as a frost-free greenhouse!!!

The winter jasmine in the back garden is really starting to make buds and flower. It's gone a little wayward this year so I took the opportunity to cut some of the wispy growth back.

The sweet peas are really doing well. Every seed germinated. They are a little leggy but that's only to be expected when growing them indoors. Once they have three or four pairs of true leaves I'll pinch the tips out to make them bush.

I have somewhat neglected the houseplants lately - all the gardening books say reduce watering in the winter but I think they must have been written pre central heating. I always find that my house plants put on most of their growth during the winter and need watering more regularly than they do in the summer. I was really pleased to see the Jade Plant (it has so many other common names) was coming into flower. This is the FIRST time I've ever had one flower and have always been envious of other people who seem to get theirs flowering year after year.

It was blue bin day today. Have I told you about our dustbins? Stop me if you've heard this before. I don't know if it's the same for Ruby, who is also a Suffolkite, but we have fortnightly collections dependant on which colour round you're on. We have 4 bins.

• Black.....general household waste........................collected every other Wednesday


• Blue......recyclable waste (not glass).....................collected the week that the black one isn't


• Brown..garden waste (no soil or big branches)..collected the Tuesday of black bin week
• Yellow..medical type waste...................................collected the Thursday of blue bin week

It can get quite confusing sometimes remembering which day/week which bin goes out for collection! Not all households have 4 bins. The brown bins we have to pay about £50 a year for and the Yellow bin I requested because of Mick's incontinence pads which were taking up so much room in the black bin. We don't have enough room for them in the garden so they live either in the back alley or in the garage.

Once we'd got back indoors I thought I'd better make a cake or something to have with lunch. I decided on a Bakewell Tart as time was getting on and it can be served hot so I wouldn't have to worry about getting it cooled down in time. I don't want this blog turning into a recipe book so I won't write that down but if anyone is interested just click HERE (it's a nice easy recipe; not one of the make your own pastry, whisk egg whites, fold in, ones).

As you can see we have already polished off a good chunk of it.