Birthday bash and pumpkin paradise

The old girl enjoyed yet another birthday at the weekend. On Friday, along with R & S, Mike and I were in the Guildhall, Lichfield, enjoying the fairwell tour of The Hamsters, a band we first went to see many years ago, but in far less salubrious surroundings. In those days the sound levels were higher, the floor sticky with beer, and no one ever sat down. But, like the band, we have all grown older, and the majority of heads were now either white or bald. Mike did join the sitters for the second half, leaving the rest of us (well, perhaps not R who always remains very still) to bob about to Hendrix and ZZ Top. Mike even won one of the raffle prizes (two cans of lager).

The following day my sister and husband came down from County Durham to spend the weekend with us, and to join the rest of the family for a birthday meal at a local hostelry. There was lots to chat about. Our youngest son was back from Brazil, but I still haven't heard all about it, as he was down the far end of the table. We'll catch up when he shows us his photos. On Sunday, the actual day, the family turned up again with presents and cards and Mike appeared with the most enormous chocolate cake with a firework type candle. We all remarked on the smell of singed beard! During the morning I'd walked up to the Hill with K & A, but there was nothing much to see on my plot as I'm in the process of clearing it for the winter. Still, on other plots there is still plenty of colour from the chrysanths and dahlias, and remaining squashes and pumpkins.

During the past week, I've been busy clearing out the greenhouse, giving it a good clean and filling it up again, with trays of little pansy plants and some of the more tender pot plants. I've sown some winter lettuce, popped a few garlice cloves into compost to encourage them to shoot before I take them down to the plot, and potted up the red tulip bulbs I brought back from Heligan as they are already shooting. The standard olive is now in place in the conservatory, along with the aeonium I bought at The Eden Project. It has certainly grown, and I'm hoping it will survive the winter, unlike all the others that I lost over the last freezing winter. The next job is to pick the grapes, but I need to make a bit of space in the freezer first. I'm hoping to make some grape jelly for Christmas, but will freeze the rest. So, it looks like I'll have to make some more raspberry jam. We have used up or given away all the previous batch anyway.

On Wednesday my friend Molly, from the walking club, took Mike and I to Calke Abbey for the day. I have really missed my days out with the club - it's been about six months now since I was with them. Unfortunately, too, we rejoined the National Trust before we set off for Cornwall in May, and only used our cards once when we were there, as there weren't many NT properties in our area. We had been to Calke in the past, and I've walked in the area with the club, quite a few times, but it was good to make use of our membership again. In any case, things have been moved around in the house since the last visit, and it all looked quite different. I love the rather sad and tatty atmosphere of Calke - much better than the usual neat and tidy NT properties. Of course, guess what I like the most? The kitchen gardens, and their wonderful outbuildings full of old mowers, clay pots and all manner of useful items. Here too, the gardeners were busy tidying away the summer, and filling up the beds with wallflowers and bulbs. And, to me, the highlight of the gardens were the mounds of colourful squashes. Let the pictures tell the story.