Ready to Entertain!

Hello All,

We have been busy busy at Minion HQ and things are going great guns in the garden. Despite the weather's best efforts we are finally seeing some results Veg wise and this week we were scoffing delicious carrots and homegrown potatoes! The mangetout are also starting to pop out and we're hoping for lots more sun so everything gets the boost that it needs. This week however there were more practical considerations as I had to tackle one of the toughest jobs of the year and cut back the Beech Hedges and we had to tidy up our 'patio' area ready for Charlie to have a few friends round. 

Exhibit A, the hedges are going a bit mad. There's also been
an explosion of pink as Minion 5 is currently in residence.

As you can see from exhibit A the beech hedges were looking a bit wild and wooly. So I set to work. It really is a massive job and requires lots of precarious ladder climbing. The lady who lived here before us apparently broke her wrist falling off a ladder when cutting these hedges and I almost did the same. Shortly after Charlie took the picture, when I was overextending to cut the back edge of the hedge I went one way and the ladder went the other. Luckily my fat bottom broke my fall and I ended up with just a few bruises...phew!

That's some precision hedge cutting for you! To the Right is the
  aforementioned fat bottom that saved the day!

It took me all day to get the beech hedges under control but it makes such a difference when they are done. However, it is a truth universally acknowledged that you get one job done in the garden and there's another huge job awaiting, and after the hedge-cutting there were a LOT of clippings to clean up and the patio looked like this...

Minions 1-3 and Charlie are good for heavy lifting etc. but they are sandpeople (i.e they get the job don't but it's not pretty)...for aesthetics you need precision, you need a woman's eye for detail...you need the Imperial storm troopers that are myself and Minion 5. We set to work raking weeding and relocating and pretty soon the patio area and the rest of the garden was looking good.

I'd like to point out that although Charlie managed to sneek into this picture putting those candles back in was his only
contribution of the day :-)

So a good days work and although I had a sore hip for a few days I was relatively unharmed by the experience. The next day the table turned up. This was time for Charlie to come into his own and for me and Minons 5 and 6 to relax and enjoy the fruits of our labour. After a little self assembly the new table and chairs were ready to go and we enjoyed an impromptu BBQ before Charlie welcomed his guests.

The Master at work :-)

The prospect of food even smoked Minion 2 out of his cave!!

Charlie, with wine and snacks awaiting the arrival of his cronies...it doesn't get any better than this!!