JudyB

Yes ours is pretty big but it was in the wrong place so it needed moving - it was a bit like a scene from the enormous turnip trying to dig it up!!!

I think the hardest thing with cooking is trying to come up with an idea for tea every day - has to be to everyone's taste and fit it with the comings and goings of the family.

My buddleia is still looking sad after being moved but there is new growth which is always a good sign despite the drooping leaves. I'm sure your Lavatera will be ok if you keep an eye on it - I think cutting it back is good advice if it doesn't pick up.

We had them many years ago - it was because - as we discovered when they moved - next door hadn't got rid of any of their rubbish and had put it in the outside loo - yuk yuk yuk! Anyway at the time I was too afraid to hang the washing out and was generally very skittish when outside. My husband caught one in a humane trap and it was quite vicious. It was then that we called Env Health. They dealt with it effectively and quickly and we weren't plagued again - thank goodness!

During cookery lessons at school I learnt how to make Lasagne. If my mum was working on a Saturday I used to help out by making tea and always made my trusty lasagne. A few years later I moved to Germany to become an au pair for a German family. They asked me to cook something 'English' and at that point I realised the only thing I could make was Lasagne. A quick phone call home soon remedied that - my mum popped some recipe books with 'English' food in, in the post. Soon I was making Shepherd's Pie (a bit hit), scones and on the father's birthday I made roast beef (for nine!) - it was my first roast ever! It was quite successful apart from the yorkshire puddings - they didn't have the right tin and so I tried to cook it in a pyrex dish - it just didn't cook - it was white and congealed - and the family insisted on eating it!!! As my husband (then fiance) was in the army I was able to get all the ingrediants like a beef joint, horseradish sauce etc from the NAAFI.

The Historian -started it today - so far I'm gripped by it.

I've read The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom and quite enjoyed it. Have also read - this week - Case Histories by Kate Atkinson which I really enjoyed - I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed Kate Atkinson's writing. Her characters were brilliant and I was gripped to the end. I've now moved on to The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova - it's compelling reading so far. (This is my chunky challenge for April).

Love the coneflowers - I've never managed to grow those. Bought some beetroot seedlings for my veg area plus some sweetpeas. My husband has to pop into work on Sunday for an hour and I suggested I accompany him so we can go on to Bridgemere garden centre (which is nearby) - goody!

Review of The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I really enjoyed this and was gripped by the mystery surrounding Julian Carax and his novels. I thought the characterisation was good and the plot twisted and turned before coming to a conclusion. My knowledge of Spanish history was non-existant so for the purpose of putting The Shadow of the Wind into some sort of context I read up on it - so I also had a good read and learnt something new! I've now moved on to The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (Summary taken from book) On his eighty-third birthday, Eddie, a lonely war veteran, dies in a tragic accident trying to save a little girl from a falling cart. With his final breath, he feels two small hands in his - and then nothing. He awakens in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a lush Garden of Eden but a place where your earthly life is explained to you by five people who were in it. These people may have been loved ones or distant strangers. Yet each of them changed your path forever.

I picked it up firstly because one of our readers at the library suggested it to me - I've recommended a few novels to her which she's enjoyed and thought it might be nice to try one of her suggestions. I saw it while shelving on Saturday and my interest aroused by the reader mentioned above I had a quick look at it. Think I only got as far as seeing the word Dracula before I had tucked it under my arm to be taken home. Funnily enough the reader came into the library not long after I'd procured it and she told me it was slow to get into but well worth the read.

Three books followed me home from work on Saturday!

Think I might join this challenge as I picked up The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova on Saturday and it's over 500 pages long. March: The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld April: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Tough one this - here goes... 1. Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy (I love everything about this - it's poetic, the descriptions are wonderful and the characters brilliant) 2. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (a moving novel which teaches the reader about Afgan culture but also contains universal emotional truths) 3. The Rotter's Club by Jonathan Coe (brilliant characterisation and it captures the social and political climate so well - I think Johnathan Coe is a Dickens of our time) 4. Therese Raquin by Emile Zola (shocking and compelling tale) 5. Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens (love this as it deals with the expansion of the railways and so is a social commentary of that time and also looks at forgiveness) There are loads of novels that haven't made the list.

I borrow from the library as it's free and so I tend to be more adventurous in my choices and also because I'm running short of bookcase space. If I read a book that stands out then I will buy my own copy.

A day in the garden today! Planted alpine plants around my slate water feature. My veg patch is bare apart from an abundance of French Parsley so need to think about that soon - my OH complained that the spring onions he bought yesterday had come from halfway across the world so may put them on my 'veg to grow' list. Gave the lawn a mow - looks ten times better. Spent the afternoon enjoying my garden, the sun and the book I'm reading. Pleased to see the appearance of frogspawn at last.

I think Sue Townsend is a brilliant writer - have you read The Queen and I?

There are a number of foods that are delicious the following morning - pizza, spaghetti boulangnese (sp!), etc. Also nice first thing (the day after) are puddings. On the breakfast front I try to be healthy during the week so it's porridge but then on the weekend I like beans on toast with a rasher of bacon (from our local farmer's market).

I watched them reviewing it on Richard and Judy - those that read it found it quite spooky and after listening to their comments I thought it sounded like a good read.

Last night my youngest daughter was making butterfly cakes for her cake club - a group of her friends take it turns to bake and bring their cakes into school. There are some left and I'm just thinking about having one - now do I choose the jelly sweets one, the orange jelly slice one or the one with orange butter cream. Decisions, decisions . . .

Must start thinking about seeds soon. Last year I grew beetroot successfully so will do that again - I have a small area for veg. I also like to grow herbs. I'm hoping to get out in the garden on Sunday - I want to work on a water feature we put in last year - just improve the area around it. I've been out everyday to check for frog spawn but still none to be seen.

I won't buy a book or magazine if it has a crease in it. I like my publications to look good as new. However if anything does happen I then resign myself to them having a lived in look - this happens a lot to books that I take on holiday.

Does anyone know a nice Shiraz with a chocolately flavour - years ago I used to buy one and now can't remember which one it was. It was more of an after taste of dark bitter chocolate.

I keep all my books unless they're really bad. I'm running out of bookcase space though. Borrowing from the library helps which is where I get most of my books from nowadays - if something stands out then I will buy my own copy. I also tend to buy my own copies of 19th century literature - in particular I am collecting the Rougon-Macquart cycle by Emile Zola.

Next decision . . . which one?

I had some Thornton's chocs for mother's day - just contemplating whether to have one . . .