The bees are very busy in the garden, but I am still mainly in stocktaking mode (a job that can be pleasingly completed in a lounger, coffee and a cake to hand, whilst watching the swallows and housemartins dive-bomb the pond). I had been planning to have a serious go at the clover by theContinue reading “Summer Sloth”
Category Archives: musings
At Grass
The mystery warning light in the car has reappeared. All previous attempts to fix it, and there have been many, have failed. After a testy call to the garage yesterday it transpires that lockdown prevents the sending up of a replacement courtesy car and Keith must take the defective one down and pick up aContinue reading “At Grass”
In Clover
Since Lachlan came home, and I am no longer on duty for the morning and evening dog walk, I have thrown myself into a welter of other activities. The ironing pile is much reduced, the chillis and sweet peppers are all repotted and *drumroll* I have even finished the dog walking waistcoat with useful pockets.Continue reading “In Clover”
Little Pyres Everywhere (with apologies to Celeste Ng)
A few days ago I mentioned that the piles of heaped up brash, stripped twigs and branches left over by the timber harvester looked like tiny witch burning pyres. I smiled to myself when the thought emerged, as it was hard to imagine anything so brutal in my undisturbed little glade. However, theContinue reading “Little Pyres Everywhere (with apologies to Celeste Ng)”
Siesta time
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”
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..”