May 16: Gardening all day!

Rene, our neighbour and owner of the whole property, called us this morning and asked if we could help him clean the ride-on lawnmower today. No problem!

From midday, we prepared the mower to be in tip-top working condition. We both got a bit sunburnt! Oops. Here’s Leo cleaning out all the caked-on grass.

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Scraping off the hard grass

I cleaned another part and Rene sharpened the blades and then we put it all back together again. After nearly two hours it was ready to go, and Rene was ready for bed!

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Rene decided to have a little pause here

The grass was still a bit too wet to mow after yesterday’s all-day rainfest, so Leo and I put up the umbrella at our house and rebuilt the hammock holder. We also made a quick trip to the local shop for some new plants and soil.

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The terrace looking all summery with the soon to be planted flowers on the table

When we came home, I jumped straight on the mower and did just the back of the house and half of the front. Rene wants to see if the grass in the furthest part of the front lawn can thicken up a bit if we cut it less. So the grass looks a bit half and half. We had lots of problems with the wet grass clogging up the mower again. Afterwards, I decided to weed around the little house Liliane calls the pergola, where they have dinner parties and so on. It’s like a small shack with two tables and an indoor fireplace. Lovely in winter and great for barbecues in summer. Didn’t take a photo of that, I’m afraid.

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Looking good

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Can you see the line where I stopped mowing?

Leo made dinner then we sat outside with Liliane and Rene admiring our handiwork and watching all the birds. We finished the night with the James Bond movie Thunderball. I’m feeling exhausted! Right butt cheek muscle is feeling better today, so that’s another win!

Looking forward to planting all the new flowers tomorrow.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

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My little garden will get a spruce up tomorrow

April 5: Just in time … Easter egg hunt!

The clock has just struck midnight, but I’m still going to say this is the post for April 5 … even though technically it’s now April 6. Who’s counting?!

We had a great day today on our Easter egg hunt – both Leos did an amazing job organising it all. On Friday we painted the eggs, Saturday afternoon the Leos hid the eggs (in the pouring rain) and today we went a’searchin.

Pastora’s Leo’s brother, sister and sister’s boyfriend joined us as well. We started near the Bern/Belp airport and finished at an outdoor picnic area further towards the city. Eichholz is also a camping place in summer, and the starting point for a great summer swim in the Aare. I say starting point, because the river flows so quickly, you’re transported to a new destination in seconds.

So, I’ll keep this short and let the photos tell the story. All up, we walked three hours and had plenty of ‘good for your mental health’ laughs. I’ve never been on an Easter egg hunt of this scale before. Next year, the guys said the girls have to organise everything – first thing we’ll do is paint the eggs a brighter colour!

Wishing you a wonderful day.

(I’m posting this so late because after we came home, we finished a Swedish TV series called ‘GSI Göteborg’ (which is also known as the ‘Johan Falk’ series) and then started on the American version of the Danish series ‘Forbrydelsen’, called ‘The Killing’. Scandinavian thriller and police shows are addictive (even though we’re watching the American version … in German … with English subtitles … I’m babbling and waffling, sorry, I’m tired. Enjoy the pics. Goodnight!)