Thursday 10 June 2021

An Unusual Weekend

Last weekend was unusual in that, for the first time in a long time, we did not go for a long walk or hike. We were at O.K.'s, and part of the time was spent doing jobs around his parents' house, such as cutting the ivy that was getting very much out of hand. I found another bird's nest (empty, of course) to add to the one I used this year for my Easter decoration.

Saturday started sunny but it was rather windy, and rain was forecast. The original idea had been to have a family BBQ at the allotment of O.K.'s parents, located just outside the village at the edge of the woods. But we decided against having it there, as there would have been no proper shelter. Instead, benches and a table as well as the grill were set up in front of the house. O.K. parked his car outside so that in case of rain we could quickly move into his garage - which we ended up doing long before the meat was done.

O.K. and his father bravely manned the grill in pouring rain, one of them holding an umbrella so that the other one could turn the meat over and look after the fire. It was fun, with food and drink being nice as always, and plenty to talk and laugh. Typically, the rain stopped not long after we had finished.

In the picture you can see the set-up before we moved to the garage. Look at the clouds gathering behind the house at the top end of the garden! The raised bed to the right was built last year by O.K. as a present for his mother's 80th birthday.

Sunday saw more rain. We tried to sneak in a walk around the village between showers, but what had begun as a slight drizzle developed into more while we were out, cutting our walk short. Never mind, I managed to finish the book I have reviewed in my previous post.

The picture above is from O.K.'s balcony, taken on Saturday morning when we were able to have coffee outside. O.K. recently bought new chairs, after the old ones were about 25 years old with the metal rusty and the arm rests beginning to flake. My contribution were the cushions, two with the pattern as shown in the photo and two without, just green, to mix and match. That weekend was the first time we used them.

Taking the usual train home on Monday morning, I was pleased that everything was on time, and I was at my desk half an hour before the first meeting of the day started.

14 comments:

  1. What a pretty little area in front of his parents' house! I love the raised bed and all the flowers along the edges. Holding an umbrella over a grill? LOVE IT!! Haha! That sounds like a lot of fun.

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    1. I have several good photos of that, but do not have permission to show them here.

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  2. Agree with Jennifer, the front area of O.K.'s family home is a beautiful oasis. I love having a raised bed on my deck, so know his mother must enjoy hers. Got one last year and added another five box tiered one this year. These boxes are not a deep as the big one, but have been able to grow Swiss chard, leaf lettuce and finger carrots in it, so far, as well as a couple of boxes of Nasturtiums at different stages of growth. Appreciate not having to get down on my hands and knees to garden. Glad you were able to get in the BBQ with a little ingenuity (and a large umbrella). :)

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    1. That was exactly the idea about the raised bed, Mary. At the moment,there are turnips, lettuce, radishes and strawberries growing in it.
      The umbrella was indeed large, and rainbow-coloured!

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  3. That is a beautiful garden area! It sounds like a lovely get together with O.K.'s family. I smiled at the thought of grilling in the rain. My husband will grill in any weather. One time he even grilled in a hail storm and wore the kid's football helmet! I love the chair cushions you bought, the green is very nice.

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    1. The thought of your husband wearing a football helmet for grilling made me smile! I bet everything that came off the grill that day tasted excellent, too.
      I would like to find a table cloth of the same green or patterned; we often have our meals there in the summer and usually switch between a bright orange cloth and one with a flowers and fruit pattern.

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  4. Your picnic area looked enjoyable - it's a shame you didn't make the most of it. I rather think the best photo would have been O.K. and his Dad holding an umbrella (suitably disguised from the back of course). The cushion I can see has a very fresh look.

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    1. I have a few photos showing O.K. at the grill and his Dad holding a large, rainbow-coloured umbrella, but they smile at the camera and I do not have their permission to use the picture here.

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  5. Too bad the rain tried to spoil your cookout! Good thing you guys were prepared for it! Sounds like a fun time!

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    1. It was fun, and we all kept saying how good it was that we had opted to stay near the house instead of going to the allotment.

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  6. Raised flower beds is such a good idea - not having to bend or kneel etc to tend to them. I used to work (as secretary) at a rehab clinic, they had a garden with several raised beds, also accessible from wheelchairs.

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    1. Raised beds really are a good idea. There is still plenty of other work for O.K.'s Mum left that involves bending and kneeling, and she insists on doing it as long as she can, but the raised bed is a relief nonetheless.

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  7. Nice idea for an 80th birthday present.

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