* 78 *

So, nanna asked for some up to date black and white photographs of the boys.

Gabe , please can you try and keep your eyes open ....

* 77 *

Just a quick post as I'm getting really bugged by something and no matter what I do I can't do it !!!!

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This comes up at the bottom of some Blogs that I read when I go to write a comment but for some reason no matter which way I sign in and yes I have tried a lot of them I still cannot post my comment .

It's really infuriating and I'm just hoping that the people who's Blogs they are don't think I'm ignoring them .

Please help, please tell me how to get in .......

* 76 *

Birds do it .............

Bees do it ...............

Even educated fleas do it ........... chuckle.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

* 75 *

Okey doke so how on earth did ten days pass between my last post and this one? It's been a mad and hectic ten days I can tell you. I've been working my ass off to get my course finished. I had been told that Monday gone would be my sign off day but when I went in to see my tutor she told me that there was some work she had forgotten to give me so as long as I get it all done then next Monday will be my sign off day.

I was going to stay at the school until the end of term , which is the 22nd July but have now decided against it . The reason being that I need to get some stuff done before the boys birthdays i.e jamas and birthday toys to make and I also need to find a job and register with some agencies - scary stuff.

Another scary thing that happened recently was that my mam got took into hospital. It was all very sudden and because she has been in remission for a few years now and suffers from Coeliac disease we were all really worried about her . She is out now but we still don't know what was / is wrong with her. She still has more tests to go through but in herself she feels fine and the pain that she had although it hasn't gone it has subsided a lot which is a good thing.

I've been up the allotment a few times and have got a fair size patch dug over but rain and hospital visits stopped play . Fingers crossed I'll get back up there real soon. I need to get some things planted a few little things will be better than nothing . It's all a learning experience for me so I'm just starting off small ... any tips would be gratefully appreciated.

Now, the plant in all the photo's - a Giant Hogweed . Don't worry we didn't touch it and although there is a photo of Gabe looking like he is standing quite close to it he was actually a couple of feet away. It is an extremely beautiful plant even though it is quite dangerous and can cause quite nasty blisters and burns if you touch the sap . It's a pity that it flowers in its final year , quite sad really.

The first four photos were taken about two weeks ago when I first spotted it hidden on a bank beside some trees in the park and you can see that there is only one main flower in bloom and the rest are still in big buds. The rest of the photos were taken two days ago and in these you can see that the main flower is now a huge green seed head and the buds are now in full bloom.

The bees loved it and it was covered with them . Speaking of bees I got quite an interesting bee photograph yesterday which I might post about tomorrow and for my Facebook friends who might have already seen it ..... sshhhhhhh..

There was a meeting at school the other night for the parents of all the children who will be starting Reception class next term , this will include Gabe . I can't believe that in September he will be going to school full time , starting at 8.55am staying for lunch and finishing at 3.30pm for five days a week. He still seems like a baby and will be one of the youngest in his year. He is going to have one of the teachers that Milo used to have and one that I've worked with and she is lovely so I'm quite pleased about that.

Anyway I think I've blathered on enough now so I'll just leave you with a few more photos of the Hogweed and my apologies for not visiting your Blogs or replying to any comments left on my last post and I hope you understand why.

* 74 *

I don't know what is up with Blogger tonight , I've been trying to upload photos for ages and nothing will load apart from these three - very odd.

I did think twice about whether I should actually do this post now or try again tomorrow but I'm just so excited I had to do it now.

You know the old saying about being in the right place at the right time? Well yesterday that happened to me . I'd gone to visit my friend Mr Peacock at his allotment and we'd gone a bit further down the patch to see his dads plot when we bumped into the chairman and the secretary.

I had a good bit chat with them and explained that I really really wanted some ground , even a tiny piece and they just happened to mention that they knew a lady who was thinking of giving up her plot as it was getting too much for her .

Anyway to cut a long story short I met up with her this morning and she said I could have half the plot until at least next April, maybe even longer .

Wooo hoooo , I've been wanting an allotment for so long now and have had serious soil envy when reading posts from bloggy friends who already have one , but now I have my own little patch . In the above photo my bit goes down to the second black bin and I can't wait to get stuck in .

I'm not going to mention the wasteland which is hiding behind the greenhouse .... apparantly there is a skip and a couple of bathtubs under all that !!

* 73 *

Well , that was it , that was our half term weeks all done and dusted and tomorrow it will be back to normal.

Would you like to see what we got up to ? I'm glad you said yes as I'm going to show you anyhow chuckle. Hub was off the first four days but this just happened to coincide with a cricket match which he went to every day , although he did take Milo a couple of times.

We did actually have a couple of very hot sunny days which I'm glad we made the most of as the last two days have been really quite chilly and as I'm writing this it's raining.

We went for a walk along the river to see the poppy fields , the river was right out , the furthest I think I've ever seen it .

We did quite a bit of ' Springwatching' as we walked along spotting a pair of oystercatchers and several heron.

A bit of a disappointment at the poppy fields though ...... no poppies ! I thought maybe we were too early but there weren't hardly any buds either . The past few years the field has been full so I wonder why not this year ?

Didn't seem to bother the boys though , they were too busy doing their farmer impressions ( again ).

I don't think they found one of these on Springwatch though and I've really thought about it , honestly I have , but I have no idea , none , zilch, nada as to how this car got here. There are woods on one side and field and trees on the other - completely puzzled .

This was the closest I got to a bird shot , all the others were just little dots in a sea of brown.

We did find a couple of poppies around the other side of the field , just a couple though.

By the time we got to this hill we were all sweating but the sight of a little Yellowhammer cheered us up - well it cheered me up . By this point the boys were moaning and groaning and the bickering had started.

It soon stopped when they found the picnic that I'd sneaked into the car.

Kali enjoyed her picnic too - isn't she growing . Four months old already.

On another day we went tree climbing in the park . Even though our old park has re-opened we went to the other one. It might sound odd or even a little bit selfish but when I go for walks or just out I don't like there to be loads of people and at the minute our original park is heaving and I just need for it to calm down a bit .

Going back to the tree climbing , I'm a bad mam ...... Sitting on the grass and the boys were play fighting with sticks so I asked them to stop it . Milo , full of cheek , asked ' what they were supposed to do instead' so I said ' go climb a tree'. At this point Milo had the biggest smile and said ' can we, can we really climb a tree, I've never climbed a tree before '.

When I was younger I was always climbing trees and falling and getting scraped and I can't believe the boys haven't done it before . Is this a bad thing, it made me feel bad?

But one thing I really hope they don't do when they get older is fight alligators , tree alligators are fine but not real ones .... you hear me boys , not real ones ok.

Now this next little bit is something I am so envious of , my friends allotment or Mr Gregs Nursery as Gabe was calling it after a certain children's programme on television.

It still needs a lot of work but oh I do so wish it were mine - sigh.

And lastly a little something I found today , well maybe not so little . It's a huge fungi called a Dryads Saddle and it's a beauty.

So it's 9pm , I have wine in hand and P.S I Love You the film is just about to start so I'll bid you adieu until we meet again ....