Fun and laughter

           
 


 






























This post, and the one before, may give you the suggestion that my life is one big party, but I can assure you that I am a sensible girl and I do some work in between as well :-) But, I try to make the most of it. It's the get-togethers, the fun and laughter with friends, family and even colleagues, that make your life richer.

Can you remember from my last post how I begged the weather gods for some sunshine, so that I could hold my parties in the garden. Well I got it, and in abundance. The food, and we with it, almost melted!

As there is not much of interest in my garden at the moment (I am still waiting for several Dahlia varieties, Cosmos, Zinnia and even sweet peas, to open their flowers), I decided to post some photo's of the two parties I had in the garden last week.

Some of you may have missed the publishing of this post on Sunday. I try to post as regularly as possible, but at the moment my life is too busy. The coming weeks, and perhaps months, I may post irregularly as well. 

Thank you for your sweet comments on the last couple of posts.

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Love,

Madelief x

* Somewhere in February I wrote a post about wearing a  hat. One of my friends I mentioned in this post, reminded me of it. She wore a hat at my garden party and looked absolutely fabulous.

Oh no, not again!

When I arrived at the garden on a Sunday afternoon two weeks ago, to prepare for an early dinner party, dark clouds came from the east. Oh no, not again. Three garden parties I planned earlier this year had to be held indoors, because the heavens had opened.

My garden house, which is the original shed from the 1930s, is only two by two square meters. Too small to house a dinner party for five or more. It can be incredibly romantic for 'a dinner for two' though, but that was not the case.

So I begged the weather gods to keep it dry. I even put up my parasol, to force the sun to come out, and I laid the table with my prettiest vintage table linen, that I did not want to get wet. It must have helped, because not long after my plea, wide blue gaps appeared between the clouds and with it the first rays of sunshine. My cardigan went out, and the guests came in.

We had a delicious afternoon and evening, enjoying home made pies, salads and cake, while listening to stories of summer holiday's, children, books, music, politics and all things interesting and not so interesting, but fun to talk about anyway, that occupied our minds. Although it's the end of August already, I am crossing my fingers for more outdoor parties. With a bit of luck, there are still three to come.

Have a great week. Enjoy the outdoors!

Love,

Madelief x  

Summer flowers

It was a dark and rainy day when I visited the allotment for the first time after our holiday. My sweet neighbours at the allotment complex took care of our garden. They did a good job. It all looked beautiful.

Although there is some colour in the garden, there are not as many summer flowers as usual. Several phlox are in flower, hydrangea, gladioli and achillea, but that's about it.  I almost forget the dahlia's. The flowers of the dahlia tubbers I left in the ground over winter, have opened as well. I planted some new Dahlia varieties this year, but their flowers are not visible yet. I am still waiting for the Zinnia's and Cosmos I seeded too. With a bit of luck, the best is yet to come.

Meanwhile my fruit and vegetables are doing splendidly. I have never had so many bunches of grapes before, and my plum tree is loaded. I made three pots of chutney already, but the basket I keep the plums in is still half full. And there is even more fruit on the tree....

The greenhouse provides us with a bumper crop of tomatoes. So that's going to be tomato soup and lots of tomato salad the coming days. 

I want to thank you too for leaving such sweet comments on last weeks post. I haven't replied all of them yet, as I am still enjoying the last days of the girls summer vacation. We try to make the most of it.

Next week I will show you some photo's of the small dinner party I had in the garden today.

Have a lovely new week!

Madelief x