Thursday 21 April 2011

Brian's Greenhouse

A few of days ago we purchased and collected a second-hand greenhouse and while out in the garden in this glorious weather, as Steven was piecing the jigsaw (greenhouse) together, I got thinking about what a fantastic experience it had been!

Brian's Greenhouse, now in our garden :)
Brian had been an avid gardener - I'm hoping having his greenhouse might bring me some luck with my plants!  Ok, that might be asking a bit much, but hopefully he's happy with where it's gone (I even found myself saying, "Sorry Brian" as I was cleaning one of the seed trays and it cracked just a little bit)!  He was obviously a very much loved Dad, Dad-in-law and Granddad and the time we spent with some of his family made me think that there really are some lovely people out there in this world of ours!  So many times people talk about how wicked the world is getting and forget to celebrate the good.


The beautiful Acer that
Brian's family gave to us
So, while I'm pottering around the greenhouse I'm sure, even though I've never met him, Brian will continue have some influence!

So, my blog today is a celebration of all the good that is out there in this world :)

Monday 4 April 2011

Family History & Temples

I love to do Family History, building up a 'picture' of an individual or family through the Censuses is fascinating but my greatest joy and reason for doing this is so that families can be reunited and sealed together forever - no longer 'til death do us part'.

Yesterday we had the wonderful opportunity to listen to President Monson at General Conference (this is broadcast from Salt Lake City).  He spoke mostly about Temples and the blessings that are there for us and our ancestors.


Preston Temple

In the temple we are taught, we make covenants, and we are promised blessings. We receive ordinances that enable us to live in the presence of God.  In addition to receiving these ordinances for ourselves, we can receive them for our deceased ancestors who can then chose whether or not they want to accept them.



I can echo Pres Monson's words when he said that, "In my own family some of our most sacred and treasured experiences have occurred when we have joined together in the Temple to perform ordinances for our deceased ancestors."
"Life beyond the grave is as real and as certain as is our life here on earth."                Pres. Thomas S. Monson April 2011

Please follow the following link to find more inspirational quotes by latter-day Prophets, Apostles and Church Leaders:

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we are sometimes asked why we build Temples, now you know :)

Sunday 3 April 2011

My Garden

After months of not even being able to set foot into our garden I'm thoroughly enjoying being out there :)  Come rain or shine if it is humanly possible (well, if my knees will let me!) that's where I'll be found ... either pottering around the shed, digging/clearing/planting or taking photo's!

My latest project has been an area just near the entrance to the garden:

April 2010
when we bought the garden

As you can see the tree surgeons helped to clear this area to begin with - it was full of self-seeding trees and a tree that was hogging all the light!
March 2011
In need of some TLC


March 2011
All clear


I must admit, I felt a bit guilty about it all looking so bare, but it is just the beginning of Spring!





April 2011
All finished

Friday 1 April 2011

Making it up as I go along!

As this is my first blog I really am making it up as I go along!  I'll blame it on my brother-in-law, John!

He says I should be sharing the things that I'm interested in - Gardening, Family History, Mossley Hollins (where my oldest 2 children attend and the other 3 are excited to attend as we have watched the new building being built over the past couple of years).  So these are the things to look forward to in future blogs!

Last April we bought an eighth of an acre of land (we'd never even had a garden before!).  We started clearing away brambles and years of undergrowth.  It was when the weather was just getting glorious and I bought a couple of propagators so I could start some plants/vegatables from seed.  Unfortunately within days of this I ended up in hospital and was stuck there for over a month.  To cut a long story short I didn't get to do much in the garden last year but here's how it looked.  As progress is made I'll post some more photo's.




I think I'll leave it at that for now and figure out if I can even send this anywhere!