Time for Peonies and Strawberries

The peonies are out in full bloom, right beside our strawberry patch.

This is our second harvest of strawberries since planting them last year and they have come up a treat, giving us about a punnet full every day. Craig has been very diligent in keeping them free of weeds and watering them regularly.
I do love peonies, ours are mostly white with just a few pretty pink ones. Big and frilly with such a wonderful scent.

I asked the girls to take some photos for my blog and they were happy to oblige. As you can see below my two teens are literally 'jumping for joy' with the anticipation of enjoying the summer holidays.Amber is away on another camping trip this weekend. She has gone with her best friend Marcy and her family, for four nights. They are staying in a caravan and not a tent, so it will certainly be more comfortable than her last trip and of course no hiking for hours! It feels a little strange walking past her bedroom in the morning and not seeing her tucked up safely in her own bed. I took Jemma into town yesterday and my heart skipped a beat halfway there, for a split second I thought I had forgotten Amber at home! Guess I am not getting any younger and quite possibly becoming slightly 'dippy' :(
A happy ending to my raccoon tale from last week. After the trauma of the first lot we were on the look out for family number two to follow. I am happy to say that they did all manage to vacate the barn safely. This was taken whilst they were making an attempt during the daylight. We believe they left one evening after dark. Those little ones took their sweet time plucking up the courage, doing a few practice runs! We went in and out with duvets in bin bags like yo-yo's for several evenings in a row. Whether these made for a safe landing or not we will never know for sure. Finally on inspection number three, there was no evidence of them living in the barn anymore. The mess they have left behind is another story! The neighbours must think we are completely bonkers. Raccoons are a real nuisance locally and most folk would like to be rid of them.
Next year we need to put chicken wire around the 3 Coppola's on the barn roof peek, to stop them breaking in again. It has been entertaining while it lasted.

An anxious Mummy watching her two little ones cling on to an overhanging ledge above a shear drop of about 25ft!

I am going to do my proud Mummy bit now and say how thrilled I am that both Jemma and Amber were awarded 'Honours with Distinction' at the end of the school year at each of their schools.
Amber got the highest average in her year 98%!! Considering they have both had busier than usual social lives recently. Jemma also with her advanced courses and other 'distractions'. They have my permission to polish their halo's this week!
We are all looking forward to our visitors arriving this week and are hoping that the weather will be kind, so we can spend plenty of time outdoors.

Love and kisses
Hazel xx