Fridge surprise...

Feeling like poo I thought a dip in the pool might provide the short sharp shock my system needs.  To be fair it wasn't so very cold and I was all clammy and snotty but it fell short of the mark and I didn't stay in too long.  Not sure that the temperature gauge thing is telling the truth but it still needs to warm up a bit really - Summer has been late arriving this year.  John is desperately trying to make sure that the pool is clean and warm for our visitors as John will not be here when they arrive.

We are excited about having Jordan and Abi to stay and so this morning despite feeling like my brains were going to slip through my nose I spent some time in the garden dead-heading.  This was not wasted effort as it was my turn to have Mum and Dad today for their fridge surprise Sunday Lunch and we had decided that we would try and eat outside.

We have choices for sitting and eating but we decided to sit at the original decked area and John decided to try it out for size, warmth, shade and windiness in case we played cards there.  In the end we decided that inside was favourite for cards but that we would eat outside and this was going to be our first Sunday family meal al fresco in 2017.  Blimey how Mediterranean are we?  Well not very actually as we rarely eat outside even though we can - it's the flies so today John was on fly-watch - they weren't too much in evidence which was good.

So we started by playing our regular game of Noms indoors - this time order was restored as Mum did not win and the scorer did so John was happy.  We then moved outside to have my Chicken Thigh coq au vin served with hasselback potatoes, peas, carrots and sauteed white cabbage followed by my meringue surprise.


I love our garden at the moment - it is looking lush and colourful but if the forecast heatwave comes next week it will soon start to look tired.  This year I have allowed the vine to grow and spread over the gazebo but it was still a bit too sunny for Dad so John had to throw one of our big blankets over the top!!

My  meal went down well and the pudding looked lovely and tasted nice even though I am not a great lover of apricots.

Dad retired to Wendy and Bill corner to have a sleep after eating and was kept company by Charlie.  Dad seems to be back to his old self which is good and Mum's leg looks ok even though it is clearly going to take some time to heal.

We had a lovely afternoon - we have started to sort out the celebrations for John's 50th and Mum and Dad want to be involved in our plans so that is good as it is Dad's birthday the same day.