Summer Time

At 6:30am this morning I was in the garden watering the plants before it gets too hot.

The temperatures soared yesterday and today is set to get even hotter.

The water gushing from the hosepipe made a beautiful rainbow arc over the garden and you could practically hear the dry soil soaking up the moisture.

So much is happening all at once - the entire garden has burst into life.  Pots are filling out - the jasmine is a riot of tiny white flowers that fill the evening air with a sweet, sweet scent.

First thing in the morning and last thing at night are my very favourite times in the garden:

I can't wait until the fruit begins to form on my tomatoes

This is the first time I've grown cucumbers

Miss Macs pride and joy - an apple tree that she grew from seed three years ago and it's really taking off this year.

Not the best photo but see how smothered in flowers my Jasmine is!

I'm still struggling a little to find the time and the energy to blog properly with so much going on but I do have things I want to share so soon ...

Funny Friday, June 2015

Today’s post is this month’s Funny Friday, a regular feature published on the last Friday of every month. Funny Friday is a collaborative project. Each month one of the participants submits a picture, then we all write 5 captions or thoughts inspired by that month’s picture. Links to the other bloggers’ posts are below, click on them and see what they’ve come up with. I hope we bring a smile to your face as you start your weekend.

Here’s today’s picture. It was submitted by The Momisodes (http://themomisodes.com)

1. The 'overachieving Mum' doesn't just give her kids a Milky Way or a Mars bar - she gives them the whole experience!

2. Where has the sun gone wondered little Sophie - and then it dawned on her ...

3. Ok said Joe - if any one sees an angry looking alien around here remember, just give it some space ...

4. Katy wondered if it was gravity that was making it hard to walk but on closer inspection she realised she had trodden in Joe's discarded chewing gum and her shoe was stuck in orbit.

5. I wonder which is closer asked Joe, the Moon or Egypt - Duh said Sophie - it must be the Moon silly - you can't see Egypt from here!

Click on the links below and let some other bloggers make you smile:

Confessions of a part-time working mom (http://thethreegerbers.blogspot.ch/)

The Momisodes (http://themomisodes.com)

Sanity Waiting to Happen (http://www.angelaweight.com)

Spatulas on Parade  (http://spatulasonparade.blogspot.com/)

People Don’t Eat Enough Fudge (http://peopledonteatenoughfudge.blogspot.co.uk)

The Bergham’s Life Chronicles (http://berghamchronicles.blogspot.com/)

Follow me home (http://followmehome.shellybean.com)

Measurements of Merriment (http://measurementsofmerriment.blogspot.com)

Southern Belle Charm (http://www.southernbellecharm.com)

Silence of the Mom (http://www.silenceofthemom.blogspot.com)

Dinosaur Superhero Mommy (http://dinoheromommy.com/)

Baking In A Tornado (http://www.BakingInATornado.com)

Someone Else’s Genius (http://www.someoneelsesgenius.com)

Aaaad Take A Breath!!!

Have you missed me?

Have you ...  have you ... have you ...

Go on, make my day and say that you have!

Blimey it's been busy around here!

Miss mac has now finished her GCSE's thank god but we don't seem to have paused for breath since then.

There have been concerts and festivals and working on the van and the beach buggy and it's just been non stop so apologies for not doing much (or any) reading and commenting but hopefully things will clam down soon!

Last weekend was great.  SD and I went to Volksfest a VW festival (name's a bit of a giveaway ...) and had such a chilled and relaxed weekend.

Before we got there we spent the morning at Castle Combe racecourse a car and bike circuit for their annual Action day a chance to see all kinds of bikes and cars such a cool way to spend a few hours and if I wasn't so lazy I'd upload a few pics for you but I am, so i haven't ...  Maybe in my next post ...

Then it was on to Bristol to join up with about 12000 other people for fun, sun, cars, urban art, off road madness, fire eaters, music, food and of course beer.

It was hectic, it was exhausting, it was SO much fun and when I woke up on Monday morning I realised the folly of not applying sunblock as I still looked like I was wearing sunglasses!

Our main focus over the next couple of weeks will be Miss Mac's prom.
we already have the dress and have found the perfect bag to go with it.  All we need now is shoes ...

There ARE no shoes in this town! - Well, not any that are right anyway so we will have to look further afield ...

Her transport is sorted and she will be arriving in this:

It's known as the denim van and the interior is upholstered with cut up jeans.

 I'm not sure that she (or her friends who are going with her) fully appreciate how lucky they are that SD has such great connections.

This bus is worth a fortune!  Seriously, I know it looks like a heap of shit but it's a really well known van and has featured in many magazines and calendars so it's very well known and Paul, the guy who owns it is a friend of SD and is letting us have it for nothing (we will obviously fill it up for him).

It's been seriously lowered and is also on hydraulics so they will arrive scraping the ground with sparks flying - nothing like making an entrance.

SD really DOES have the best friends - they guy who owns it is away that weekend so he is letting another friend of ours drive it on the night and he has agreed to dress up hippy style.  In addition to that we are getting together a few other people to dress up as hippies to meet them there and walk them in - I'd really love to do some kind of flash dance (can you tell I'm embracing this whole thing ...) and, although I don't think it's going to be possible to rehearse anything I do plan for us to have some Creedence Clearwater or The Travelling Wilburys or maybe even a bit of Loving Spoonful blaring out and we'll just wing it (of COURSE I'm dressing up to!!!).

Oh, and talking of dressing up - my Xena Warrior Princess costume has arrived - it's a bit short ...

So, it's time for Fly On The Wall again and the chance to wander through the last month of life in the Mac household ...

I think I'll start each of these posts with a little look back at past years courtesy of FB's 'On This Day' which tells me what I posted each day in previous years and, if I can remember, a little synopsis of why I posted what I did:


'Has either a mouse and a hamster, a hamster and no mouse or just a mouse ..............'

It turns out that I DID have a mouse AND a hamster (Russian hamsters look very similar to mice) and this one lived very happily in my kitchen evading every attempt to catch it humanely for about 2 months popping out each evening to wander around my dining room and laugh at me.  It was eventually caught when I opened the bin one day to put some rubbish in and saw it happily munching on a apple core.  Given that it had not only  had free bed and board for several weeks but had also chewed a hole in the back of my sofa AND eaten it's way through the box my hair straighteners were in before peeing on them I had no qualms in tying up the bag and putting it in the black bin outside where it had 2 days to eat it's way through anything else it could find and reflect upon it's free loading ways before the rubbish collection the following Monday!


'Can't wait until the cats asleep so I can jump on her, headbutt her and shout in her face!'

Anyone who has a cat can, I'm sure, sympathise with THIS one 

'So I accidentally clicked on the astrology app and it told me to 'listen to myself' - I'm struggling to remember the last time I was given such bad advice ....

Note to self: remember BEFORE stepping back from hanging out the washing that there is a swimming pool behind you!!!

Yep, ended up doing this weird dance as I swung around and lost my balance - I ended up with one foot in the pool - toppled over and put both my hands down to save myself - kind of like apple bobbing with your own head!

it's a bit early in the day to already be in the mood to bite somebody!

Hmmm, Monsieur la Architect he has returned ............... And then I commented :  although he is a very nice man as it happens but it all seems like too much effort, think I'll stick with the chickens, you know where you are with a chicken!

This must have been while I was still dabbling with online dating a few years ago - sadly I have no recollection at all of  Monsieur la Architect.

Having discovered several purple items in the washing basket I'm off to buy some big purple pants so that I have a full load by Friday.

This was after a conversation with a friend where I discovered that he not only just washes the same colour things together but will also decide what to wear based on what already needs washing ....

Are they really your legs?

A comment posted on a photo of me in the garden - My response - No Bev, they're a spare pair I keep in the cupboard under the stairs specifically for photo opportunities ....

Sometimes just not wearing your clothes inside out can seem like an achievement.

I have many such days ...

I can tell the difference again, white paint arse, blue paint, elbow!

It's always nice to clarify as for some peculiar  reason there often seems to be some doubt that I can tell the difference but after painting the bathroom with beach hut stripes I was fairly confident that I could now ...

More questions I ask myself - is it odd that I have two sets of ores when I don't appear to own a boat ...?

I still have no idea why I had them!

Things Miss Mac says that have me wondering 'Who's child could she possibly be ....?'

Glancing at me Miss Mac says - 'Oh my god Mum, I just had this really weird vision of you with a triangular head'

Asking her how her exams were going she replied - 'Well, you know Mum, It's a real roller cycle'.

Whilst watching her perform some personal grooming SITTING ON THE SOFA! - 'You know what would be really great Mum?  If someone invented a TOENAIL MACHINE.

'You know Dodo's Mum?  Well, I reckon  if they hadn't been so stupid they might have evolved '(I think that might possibly be called stating the bleedin' obvious my sweet ...)

Things that SD says that kind of make sense:

Whilst picking up yet again after Miss Mac - 'You know, she just seems to SECRETE mess - she's like some kind of giant mollusc!

SD struggling to do some DIY: 'Sarah, can you come and hold my wood?' - Me (thinking I'm being oh, SO funny) 'Is that a euphemism?' snigger ....  - SD (rather impatiently I thought ...) - 'No, it's a fecking piece of wood!!!'

Things I made a note of to use in this post and now have no bloody idea WHAT I was talking about ....

Walrus, Dolphin, Seahorses, Sealion, giant penis ...

Is that tea on your foot?

Thought I was naked ...

How big is your mouth - it looks like a nipple (not sure if those two went together or what I was talking about!)

Cereal 30 minutes - lets play the spoons ...

I seem to have cooked his teabag!

In other news:

Miss Mac had her final exam yesterday.  It was the last day she will wear her school uniform and that makes me a little sad ...

On their last official day at school (excluding exams) they had a leavers BBQ and were allowed to wear their own clothes.  Many, many photos and video were taken and I love this one of Miss Mac with 3 of her friends from way back before they started secondary school - friendships that are still going strong now and will hopefully continue into the future.

That's my gorgeous girl on the far right.

She and her friends wanted matching friendship bracelets for themselves and their favourite teacher.  Having discovered that friendship bracelets were not to be found in our town we checked out a couple of You tube videos and made our own!

It's turned into a bit of an obsession ...

Now if Miss Mac would only oblige by growing a few more arms we'd be sorted!

SD and I have been getting ready for the Summer.  Weeks have been spent building a deck in the new van over the Lpg tank so that we have somewhere to sleep when the first really big festival kicks off THIS WEEKEND!!

We have also been getting the beach buggy ready.

Now this thing is FUN!!!

It's got a turbo engine and was built for drag racing so it goes like shit off a shovel.  It's not really designed for road use as it is although it is road legal so it need a few tweaks before we take it on regular trips to the beach.  Meanwhile we are taking it out for short hops and towing it to shows but I can't wait until we can use it properly in the way we want to.

Later in the Summer we will be taking it to Swanage for the huge festival they have there.  The carnival kicks off with a parade led by the beach buggies.  I think last year there were about 30 different ones all shapes, sizes and colours.

Apparently this year there is going to be fancy dress and the theme is Super Hero's.  After much debate SD has persuaded me that I should go as Xena, Warrior Princess which I've kind of agreed to based on the fact that the only people I know who will see me will be dressed in something equally ridiculous.

I think SD has a somewhat idealistic image of me ....

I suggested SD should go as Thor - Ok, he's not quite as muscle bound but he does have the right hair - I even offered to buy a metal mixing bowl from TKMaxx to make him a helmet but he wasn't keen on coming with me to try some on for size - I can't think why not ....

I could SO make this with a bit of sticky backed plastic ...

What else ....

Oh, SD and I went to Bristol to see Pop Will Eat Itself, an alternative English rock band from the late 80's who I really like but almost the best thing about it was the venue.  It was on a BOAT - The Thekla, an old cargo ship which has been turned into a show boat/nightclub.  

How cool is this venue??

Miss Mac and friend went to see 1D in Cardiff - I have NEVER seen so many people - we picked them up at 10:30 and finally arrived home at 2am (normally a 95 minute journey).  Miss Mac was hugely excited to have nabbed a plectrum thrown into the crowd by McBusted who were the support act AND to have Harry Styles wave and blow her a kiss as she jumped up and down waving at him (I keep telling her there are advantages to being tall!).

We've also got tickets to see Madness and Public Image Ltd later in the year and Miss Mac is off to London to see Ed Sheeran so more music related stuff later.

And finally ...

I've been having a lovely time potting up plants for my garden.

Thanks to some incredible generosity from my neighbours who grow lots of plants from seed I have managed to fill several pots with plants that will look gorgeous in a few weeks as well as planting up some tomatoes in an old Belfast sink - nothing beats the taste of home grown tomatoes - all for absolutely free!

Some of my tomato plants in the Belfast sink - some are planted further up in the garden.

Just a few of my pots - there are a few troughs and a couple of other pots too - more photos as they grow :-)

And that's about it for this month I think but there's plenty happening over the summer so watch this space!

Don't forget to pop over and read a few of the other Fly on the Wall posts:

http://www.BakingInATornado.com                         Baking In A Tornado

http://spatulasonparade.blogspot.com/                         Spatulas on Parade

http://followmehome.shellybean.com                         Follow me home http://www.menopausalmom.com/                          Menopausal Mother

http://stacysewsandschools.blogspot.com/                       Stacy Sews and Schools

http://batteredhope.blogspot.com                                  Battered Hope

http://www.justalittlenutty.com/                                  Just A Little Nutty

http://themomisodes.com                                        The Momisodes

http://www.someoneelsesgenius.com                           Someone Else’s Genius

http://gndisney.wordpress.com                                Disneyland in Kentucky

http://www.juiceboxconfession.com                           Juicebox Confession

http://dinoheromommy.com/                              Dinosaur Superhero Mommy

http://www.angelaweight.com                                 Sanity Waiting to Happen

http://www.southernbellecharm.com                       Southern Belle Charm

http://thesadderbutwisergirl.com                      The Sadder But Wiser Girl

http://singlemumplusone.blogspot.com                  Searching for Sanity

http://www.gomamao.com                                           Go Mama O

http://eileensperpetuallybusy.blogspot.com/             Eileen’s Perpetually Busy