Plants in the kitchen.

I am late this evening posting a photo. We drove to Bristol early this morning to see the family.
 I took the photo of my orchid  this morning, which was a gift a few months ago, and my Christmas cactus.(Also a fuschia which was a present)  The cactus was a cutting off one my dad used to have, which I brought back here when he went into residential care in 2009. 
It had been on his windowsill for over 6 years then!  
It just kept on growing, and eventually two years ago it was beginning to lose it's strength so I took a cutting as it always reminds me of dad, (and mum who died in 1990) 
   I had to go up to Lancashire and oversee the sale of his house in November 2009 as  he no longer lived there. 
A poignant task. 
He died in March 2010 and is greatly missed. 
When the Christmas cactus flowers it gladdens my heart.
   As I write there are fireworks going off all around outside. The 1 hour 40 minute  drive back up the M5 was punctuated by rockets bursting into the sky and splintering into glorious colours all along the journey. "Bonfire Night" is this week,  November 5th.    
      (I was not driving! So I could sit back and watch)
It was good to spend the time with our three lively grandchildren. They are always so excited to see us, and rush to the door shouting  "It's Granny and Grandad! "
    It had been 6 weeks since our last visit and they always  have lots to show us. 
Grandad had taken some  ingredients to make biscuits, and he and I supervised as the 7, 6 and 3 year old stirred their biscuit mix in their individual bowls. Much licking of spoons and scraping of empty bowls followed. (Always the best part!) 
     The batches were put on individual trays and consigned to the oven. After 12 minutes they were ready and taken out to cool before being placed on individual plates which Libby, (6) had decided to label, writing all their names on stickers and putting them with the correct batch.
      3 biscuits each were consumed at snack time. 
A spot of tidying up in the garden was also enjoyed with Toby, 3, taking the cuttings and prunings to put into the big green waste bin. Libby put her cuttings into her bike basket and rode to the bin. They had each planted a bean earlier in the season and they grew enormously covering part of the fence, as they were fastened to it at various points. Sammy and Grandad were playing swingball. 
When the light started to fade at 4.00 pm we went indoors. 
     Fish and chips for tea from the shop. 
And the drive home around 6.15 pm. 
 Tired now, and so to bed. 
Extras are the climbing hydrangea once more and Doughnut, next door's cat who wandered in through the kitchen door after me this morning when I had been up the garden. 
   He eventually went out again, or I would have put him out. 
It's weird he keeps coming round since Tiger died a couple of weeks ago. A bit like he's looking for him. 
     We don't feed him, or he would not go home!