Week 25

I spotted this grasshopper on one of my gladioli on Sunday evening, and I instantly rushed inside to get my camera.  It was quite a big creature as you can see.

I have begun adding a few of owls from my collection to my pots, just to give them a extra little touch. 

T-shirts
I bought myself a new t-shirt this week and it is an Italy one.  I have always supported both England and Italy in World Cup matches.  I was very disappointed to see England perform so dismally and lose their first 2 matches.  They are now well and truly out of the world cup and their next match against Costa Rica, will be rather meaningless.  I do hope they will go all out to score a few goals, just to at least win 3 points!!
Will Italy make it through to the next stage, I wonder? They play Uruguay next week....

 

 

As I am on the theme of t-shirts, I thought I would hunt out a few in my drawer, which have a special meaning for me!

Below the t-shirt I bought in Assen in 2004 for the Moto GP.  Valentino Rossi came first in that race and went on to become World Champion that year.  I have worn it lots of times and washed it, and it is in fairly good condition after 10 years!

 

Below is one of my most treasured gifts from a group of FCE students, given to me 15 years ago.  I have never worn it because I want to keep it for as long as possible without having to wash it, and risk having the lovely messages being washed away.  Reading them all again after all these years, made me smile, and  look back with great fondness for that particular class, who were a delight to teach.  They got this t-shirt made for me as their leaving gift. The joke is that I always asked them to come to class 'on the dot', as I was (and still am) very strict regarding punctuality. 

The weather this week was mostly miserable with lots of heavy rain coming down in buckets.  Our road is now well and truly a mess again, and all the work done on it recently has come undone.... This has made us feel a bit despondant, and will mean more communication with the local comune..... I really hate having to write emails / letters about this issue.

It is now set to be very hot and sunny over the next few days, so at least that will be good to get out in the garden again.

Below one of my gladioli that has come out - the colour is really vibrant and looks lovely in a vase!

I gathered lots of buckets and containers to collect all the rainfall. I was able to collect nearly 60 litres of water, to use in my garden. This will save a little bit on our water bill.  

One of the kttens has decided to use a pot planted with lillies as a sleeping area.....

 

Victoria has taken to sleeping in an Orlando cardboard box, which I placed for her on top of a small table.  She loves it!  These boxes come in useful for all sorts of recycling purposes, and when I finish with them, they go straight into the compost bin.

So Week 25, has been a bit frustrating, with the weather, the road coming undone so quickly and with England out of the World Cup so soon.  Let's hope Italy can go through to the next round, as that will be something to cheer about :-)

Roll on Week 26, the halfway point of the year!!