Sundays come round so very quickly I am thinking there must about about three in a week!!!  I am being spoiled this week because Mum is bringing up Coronation Chicken so I only have to do a bit of salad and some potatoes to go with it.  Mum had also arranged to call in and see Sheila and Klaus after she had been to the cemetery.

Hazel arrives next Saturday and so I am pencilling in some time this week to tackle tidying up the garden so it looks at its best for her.  I am pleased that there is now some summer colour in the garden.  Although I have had issues with the standard rose we bought in memory of Hadge - it started out in the spring looking robust and healthy and then whilst I was away the growth in the centre all died off so when I returned I cut it all back.  The remaining leaves are a bit scraggy but it is full of flower, full of buds and thankfully not full of greenfly.

The Morning Glory is looking fabulous too - the new flowers are vibrant and abundant and as a result the plant has covered the plaque which is on the wall - Hercules I think - I will know in the winter when I cut it all back!!  I know it is a bit of a weed but I like it - sadly the fuchsia pink one I had from Klaus and Sheila self seeded for a while but has now disappeared out of the garden.

Another success story is the Passion Flower which I took as a runner from the Skrimmers many years ago.  This too is a plant which thrives by being hard cut back in the winter as the flowers appear on new growth.  The trouble is it throws up runners left, right and Chelsea so we see new plants popping up all over the place and generally where we don't want them.  By the barbeque we have a bit of decking which we put down for our Silver Wedding Anniversay in 2016 so that Louise Vreony would have a bit of a 'stage' to sing from - I have noticed that runners are poking their way up and I have a feeling that if John were to lift that bit of decking underneath would be a massive snakes wedding of Passion Flower which I really need to remove.

Another plant which seems to have found its forever home is the Hydrangea which we were given from Mum and Dad's friend Frank's garden in Tala.  Frank must have been about 90 when he returned to the UK - he was an incredibly dapper man who lost his wife Thelma shortly after John and I moved here.  Before we moved we used to do the lottery for Frank and Thelma and everytime we came across to the Island she would quiz us as to whether they had won anything - they never did and so she declared in the poshest cut crystal accent that "I don't think our Bloody Balls are even in there!".

My final item from the garden is my Magnolia tree.  When Dad was alive he saw them advertised in Lidl and was determined that he was going to buy me one because when we lived in Glenthorne Avenue we had two in the garden.

This plant is about three years old and every year until now it has started off well and then struggled as Summer came upon us.  This year I decided to move it into full shade and it loves it there - I may not get any flowers but at least the leaves are not brown and crispy.  Dad you would be proud of it.

So that is a whistlestop tour of the garden at this time of year.  Glad to report that Mum arrived safe and sound clutching her Coronation Chicken which was delicious.  We had a lovely afternoon because it was much cooler than it had been last week when she had come with Lilian.

John started to watch the final of the Cricket World Cup which was New Zealand v England and Mum left in time to get home and watch the men's Wimbledon final which was Federer v Djokovic.  Both games were something of a marathon with the tennis going five sets and to the first ever tie break in the final set which has been introduced this year.

I cannot begin to describe the excitement of the Cricket final - I am not normally a huge fan but I had enjoyed the semi final when England beat Australia but no-one reckoned on the final being anything like so exciting and many thought New Zealand were so much the underdogs that they had just as well just hand the trophy and title to England but no, no, noooooooo England were so nervous when they came in to bat looking to surpass the middling total hit by New Zealand that the opening batsman was nearly out first ball.  At the end of the 50 overs for both teams they were unbelievably level and then they had to go so a 'Super Over' and John and I had no idea what that meant - lets just say for the last couple of hours of the match I could barely contain my excitement and when New Zealand only managed to match the score of England's Super Over you could hear the cheers from our house in space!!!

Well done England!!!