Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

Quite well thank you for asking.













For those that believe that Scotland is the land of perpetual rain, you are correct. Luckily this keeps the population down, as people do not wish to move to a large puddle. For those of us that have moved, the rain brings a greeness and lush flavour to the outdoors. When the clouds decide to go away and refill their great grey bellies, we are left with vast blue skies and flowers in full bloom.













Here is how Lily's playground is looking this week.

We have all just returned from a fornight in London and Brighton, where we were kindly put up by both Moira and Jackie, and then also Neil, Lorna and Archie. We introduced them all to Lily's routine of waking at anywhere between 4:45 and 6.00 am. Happy days.

Luckily towards the end of the trip she had become accustomed to her surroundings, and slept in a little later, but I am sure that everyone is pleased that we have taken our little 'alarm clock' home with us.

Brighton provided some sunny weather, and we were able to let the girl paddle in outdoor pools, before taking her off to the 'Ginger Pig' for some alfresco lunches. Evenings were spent with large meals provided by Moira, Jackie and Moira ( that is not a typo ).

When we visited Neil and Lorna, we managed to catch up with Malcolm, Kristen, Joshua ( with chicken pox ) and Georgia, as well as a visit from Jo and Valerie and their brand new gorgeous daughter Eloise.

When in town we caught up with Sue Faber for pizzas and gossip, as well as visiting Suzy Thirwall, David and Joseph (or Jovis, as Lily still calls him).

We hired a car, and spent a wonderful night with Liz, Mike and the cute chubby cheeked Charlie in Whitstable. As always, a delicious seafood lunch with drinks was had down by the sea. The next day we visited the new beach-hut that Mike built, and took in some fresh sea air, and a spot of rock-pooling.

As usual the time passes too quickly, but we had lovely weather to return to in Bonny Scotland, while Wimbledon was rained off for the first day.

As of today, Moira has just bought a 7 week old kitten, and named him 'Toots'. Pictures to follow.