There is an oppressive curtain of heat over the garden, somehow exacerbated by an insistent insect hum. I have abandoned my spade and retreated to some shade but it is still much too hot. Breathing in, the air feels thick and fuzzy, like peach skin and the tingle on my neck tells me I willContinue reading “Siesta time”
Monthly Archives: May 2020
Quiet Idylls
Yesterday Lyra and I visit old haunts as it will likely be our last quiet morning walk together, just us two. We are so used to our companionable solitude that the flash of pink signalling another walker in the distance, as we turn off the road, startles Lyra and leaves me quite aggrieved. We dawdleContinue reading “Quiet Idylls”
Thinking season
It has been too hot for gardening. The clay soil has baked brick hard and the paths are dry and dusty. I pootle around weeding at the edges in a desultory fashion, but really this is the time to sit back and see what is working and what is not. Thus far I have earmarkedContinue reading “Thinking season”
Cowboys and Indians
The timber harvester has been thinning in the little woods around us – a veritable Judge Dredd of a machine. It has caterpillar tracks and a long arm which can grab a tree and hold it whilst cutting through the base, then shear off the branches to clean the harvested trunk. The machine has beenContinue reading “Cowboys and Indians”
The less travelled path
Our walk today began and ended with a further wee dug/coo charm offensive. There was much mutual nose licking and communal snuffling for the pellets of sugar beet (surely the crack cocaine of the animal world). Shuna Spurtle edges closer, but is not quite there yet…I am playing a long game. Round by Kersfield toContinue reading “The less travelled path”
Playing in..
It has been too windy for gardening the last two days so, at long last, there has been an excuse to stay in between dog walks. In a fit of enthusiasm, on the first day of indoor weather I mopped and polished the kitchen floor. I later took Lyra for a muddy walk in theContinue reading “Playing in..”
Come rain, come wind, come sunshine
The dog walk must get through…. Yesterday started rainy, so I donned the wellies and we marched forth. As I was mulling over various plots and plans for indoor things I would be getting on with when I got back, the sun sneaked out. By the time we got to Butterlaw corner it was steamyContinue reading “Come rain, come wind, come sunshine”
In the garden today
The Wisteria has just started to flower and there is a gloriously spicy smell wafting along the patio. It is all of a jumble as we always intend to prune it properly and never do… By the bottom pond the blue camassia is going back, but the white ones are just about ready to comeContinue reading “In the garden today”
Pyramus and Thisbe
This morning we received a very special gift from the cats at the end of the bed – a full sized rat they had thoughtfully killed, dragged through the cat flap and wrestled upstairs for us. Mmmm nice. Pingu and Dobby clearly feel that, with Lyra and the Cows as competition, they need to upContinue reading “Pyramus and Thisbe”
The thrill of the chase
We had light but steady rain almost all day today. I felt positively bobbish when I went out into the drizzle first thing – I could have a lazy hour or two with a podcast and my knitting with a clear conscience and, even better, the rain would soften up the soil for resumed weedingContinue reading “The thrill of the chase”
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