Pond life and the great outdoors

My new restoration project: an old summerhouse. My partner re-roofed it and I have started painting the outside. This is what it looked like before we did any work to it (although I cleared the surroundings quite a bit since I bought the house). It looks OK from a distance but not so good close up. Watch this space for an amazing makeover.

Meanwhile the pond has sprung to life with lots of frogs and beautiful flowers surrounding it. I have "bumped" into the frogs while gardening as they spend a lot of time browsing my bushes for slugs and bugs. The other day an orange one with black spots jumped up while I was stirring the compost heap with a stick. Not much change indoors, though, all our efforts are devoted to the garden - the greenhouse is full of plants and we now have several bespoke raised beds! Below are a few pics I took in May, I will post updates soon.

Our first barbecue during a hot sunny spell in May. It has been quite rainy since then, good for the garden, not so good for us human sun-seekers. And even less good for BBQs. And yes, we got a huge discount on this barbecue as it was quite bad weather before the sunny spell. So buy yours when it's rainy weather.

A fungus growing on the stump by the Bradford Pear - it might have been edible, but I didn't want to risk poisoning so with deep regret I detached it and threw it away

Three of our raised beds. The fence has been painted since then and the beds are now full of plants. I will post new pics soon. Bramble plants are growing against the fence, held by a long wire that runs across it

MORE ABOUT THE SUMMERHOUSE PROJECT

I have been spending any dry day painting my summerhouse and selected sections of fencing. It's going to be a spectacular vintage summerhouse, I have lovely furniture and accessories lined up: an old table, 1940s chairs, embroidered linen and - since yesterday - a 1960s radio (looks a bit 1950ish though). When it's finished, I will film the results and hopefully play some old jazzy tunes in the background. I was hoping to sell an article about the makeover but no luck yet. If any editor reads this, I can do a budget makeover with all the stages and prices (incl. before and after pics).

And it rains again! No painting today.