Bank Holiday fun....

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Well, here I am in my alternative office again - The Lymestone Vaults!


Cheap Cuts

Well it is a Bank Holiday :-) It's not so sunny outside today so I don't feel too bad being indoors. Besides we did lots of yard work this morning - Nathan was pressure washing the paving stones (there are a LOT) and I was doing containers and sanding down the garden furniture ready for a coat of wood stain. We did some yesterday and it looks great. We just hope all this work will be worth it - meaning that we'll have some days warm enough to sit out there!


Music at the Lymestone Vaults

Anyway, for now we are chilling.
It's the Jazz and Blues Festival in Newcastle-under-Lyme and we are really loving the sound of Cheap Cuts. In fact they just played that classic Divine Comedy song - National Express :-) They are great!

Can't beat curry and chips, cider and free entertainment!

Oh wow - they just did Ask by the Smiths - I love them!!






Nathan relaxed :-)

It's good to see so many people around town - in fact there's a band on in nearly every pub and bar. Lots of kids around with balloons and a fun fair. Very nice atmosphere everywhere.  I think there might be a magic show later at the Black Friar. We could check it out of we're still here at 6.30pm.



OMG - Candyfloss!!!

It has been a nice weekend - on Friday evening we went to Buffet Island with Jan and Terry. I hadn't been for years and was so-so about the food last time. But - they have upped their game! It was really good and a lot more variety. There were so many stations were you could have your food freshly cooked in front of you - chicken. pork, prawns et. Also they would make you waffles and pancakes while you waited - and best of all - candyfloss!! Oh yeah - far more exciting than the chocolate fountain - actual candy floss!

The night before Jan and I had gone to see The Great Gatsby at the Vue in Newcastle (we like it there - the seats are more comfy and roomy than the Odeon in Festival Park) I have to say that I was very impressed. They did a great job of sticking to the actual story as in the book and it was just beautiful to look at. Stunning in fact. The houses and the clothes - just beautiful - I would recommend it to you all. (Warning: does not contain car chases and explosions)  Well, not many :-)



Plenty of plants

On a more serious work note - we had great fun in the library on Thursday when we held a Hanging Basket Making Course for Adult Learners' Week. Three burly gardeners came along from Biddulph Grange to show us how to do it. We had ten places - as we were supplying all the materials including lots of plants. However on the day a couple of people who had signed up didn't come, so Tracy and I got to have a go too. What a treat!

You should have seen all the plants we had in the library!

We started by filling our wire baskets with a layer of moss. This had been taken from the lawns of Biddulph Grange just the day before when they did their scarifying. They said it was best fresh - and they actually sell theirs for £1 a bag to the public!


Having fun with flowers

Then we carefully threaded a few plants quite low down the sides before filling the centre up with compost and adding the other plants. Now, I'm not a gardener and can recognise very few plants but I believe we had some trailing Lobelia, Fuchsia, something called Million Bells and something similar to catnip.

They said that when they all flower it will be a profusion of pink and yellow! I had to find a few bin bags for everyone to take their home in - they were so heavy too! The room was a bit of a mess when everyone had gone - but we managed to clean most of it up before Coral, our cleaner, saw it!!



This is my effort :-)

It was a great session - thanks to Farida at Newcastle Library for organising it. She always finds us such great things to do :-) Everyone really enjoyed it.

 I wonder what she will come up with next time??

The ladies hard at work!

Getting professional help!

Start with a moss nest