Mom's here!

This has been a busy week! We went to Birmingham on Thursday to get my Indefinite Leave To Remain for the UK. I'm now officially allowed to come and go as I please, stay as long as I want, and even go on welfare. Woohoo! There were a lot of steps (tests, other visas, PILES of paperwork, and we're £950 lighter), but it's such a relief to be here and have the happy little piece of paper in my passport that says 'indefinite leave to remain'.

Then, Friday morning, my mom arrived for a 5-day whirlwind trip. We've been having a fantastic time - lots of gardening and touristing and eating curries and cream teas and fish & chips and pub food.

The original purpose of the trip was to come to the Bury Bach Choir's concert on Saturday night - we performed the Verdi Requiem to a packed house in the Bury Cathedral (over 700 people - we sold out!). The concert was the best we've done - I was so glad that both mom and John were there.

Here's Aldeburgh, where we went yesterday.

On the way home, we went to Helmingham Hall again - we loved the gardens so much we had to show them to Mom. She's a fan now, too. I loved these dwarf irises - so pretty.


She's here for two more days - I think we're going to go on a countryside guided walk today and do some more planting in the garden. We've mentally redesigned our garden about 400 times - we're having so much fun with it. It'll eventually settle (and we'll actually purchase the plants and put them in)!

This drop of water was caught in the leaves at the garden center we found nearby. The plants all looked really healthy and they were so much cheaper than the chain stores. Granted, the place is pretty well hidden away, but we'll be going back for more!