There is something of a suggestion from the met office that we may be about to get a longer warm spell, the BBC weather forecast for the next couple of weeks looks promising, with sunshine and warm temperatures predicted. There's no guarantee of course and we have had false hope before, I remember a couple of years back when the met office promised a BBQ summer and then we got a wash out. Although to be fair I think much of that was media hype rather than the Met office itself.
Last year there was no such promise, and the weather lived up to the lack of hype.... we had a wet cool summer that never really got going. This year we have seized the opportunity when the weather has presented itself with better opportunity for actually lighting up the BBQ and enjoying the garden.
Why use the kitchen when you can smoke out the neighbours? :)
We had bought a new barbecue in the autumn sales last year - our old gas barbecue was really no longer up to the job. It would seem we are not the only ones who had been shopping as our next door neighbor has bought a new barbecue too, and we had a slight feeling of envy over the garden fence. Not to do things by halves they had bought a very smart looking gas barbecue from Littlewoods.
Twinkles
Whatever we are doing in the garden, we always have a shadow (or two) as one of the cats is always close by, and the smell of food was enough to bring Twinkles over. Despite her looking like she is after some food in the picture, she generally doesn't like to eat "people" food, and even if we give her a small titbit she often ignores it and walks off. I think she does it on purpose just so she doesn't feel left out.The bottom patio area is at the end of the garden - about 80 feet from the house - partly to enjoy the privacy but also so the cooking smells and smoke does not go into our home or the neighbours houses.
This year seems to have been a very good year for this end of the garden with everything looking lush. This was our view across the pond...
Hard to believe our house is about 80 feet away in that direction.
This whole area had been given something of a makeover earlier this year, see Marks post here, adding bright pots to give it a fresh and vibrant feel.
The goldfish could almost sense we were there and even through we were not looking at them they all congregated to have a look what was going on and beg for their own food! Maybe I'm a soft touch but I went back to the house to get them their food!
Gaz
