Happiness is sunshine and a great book
I spent most of the day in the garden. Have that strange first sun on my face feel – slightly tight tingly skin. Ate brunch out there, without my trusty new hat, to get an extra blast of vitamin D. The hat has become my favourite companion when humans are not around! Comfortable and as reassuring as a hat could be. I bumped into an old friend in Newmarket and she said how much better I’m looking. “You’ve actually got some colour in your face.” So the beneficial effects of the sun must be working. I’m loving the sunshine – it’s...
read moreFinally the true love affair has begun
Having longed for a Solar Tunnel so much that it almost hurt, I examined every photo of them that I could find on the internet and finally became the proud owner of one back in September. What was holding me back from jumping in? I have been using it since September as a holding station for overwintering plants. But as Andrew, the owner of Solar Tunnels said. “A greenhouse is for propagation and a solar tunnel is for growing things.” I have planted an apricot and a peach tree at one end. I’ve also planted a Black Hamburgh grape at...
read moreOverhauling our pond: part three
As The Contessa is diabetic she has daily insulation injections. These are given after a meal. Having devoured the large rotting fish and disposed of the same all over the downstairs of the cottage, she clearly wasn’t up for breakfast. The emergency vet was calm. “Starve her for the day and don’t give the insulin. She’ll be fine to miss it for a day.” The Contessa lay on the sofa, under a thick rug. She slept all day, snored through the rugby, enjoyed lots of attention and the next morning she was fine again. That little dog must...
read moreOverhauling our ponds: part two
I left you last with the poor little pump having died within a few hours. I tried all the normal resuscitation techniques, cleaning and pulling the pump apart, changing the fuse. But like that famous Norwegian Blue parrot it was dead and had passed onto that big pumping station in the sky. When we last used the old pond pump it blew the circuit. We have a special trip-switch fuse board so that if I’m absent minded and mow over the electrical cable I will survive to tell the tale. But there was another possible culprit – the waterproof...
read moreOverhauling our ponds: part one – how we got to this point
We have two ponds at the cottage. One circular six foot pond that is called imaginatively “The Small Pond”. I actually installed this pond myself with the help of John Coe – he bedded it on sand as my attempt was a bit wobbly. The other pond is a semi circular pond 28’ by about 14’ at its biggest point. No prizes to guess its name – it’s called “The Big Pond”. This was made when I’d been living in the cottage for about a year. Before I moved here I wasn’t very keen on ponds but there was a small pond in the garden. I...
read moreChristmas hat
Today I finally chose my Christmas present from Danny. It’s been weeks of Internet surfing procrastination. Rather fun too. I’ve moved from secateurs to gardening gloves. Books to wellies. Root trainers to cloches. I’ve had garden cloches before – very handy but not very personal – I did ask for them so it wasn’t really like being given a new vacuum cleaner. But this year I was determined to find something that was a bit more personal. Over the last 18 months or so since I’ve been off work my hair has thinned considerably. It...
read moreThe crows and our chimney
Every spring we have our annual battles with the crows that want to nest in our kitchen chimney. They are a determined lot and have won the war several times. I’m a fighter but these are true gladiators. The problem is that if they do build a nest they fill the chimney with twigs. This means we can’t use the wood burning stove, no smoking of bacon or ham. It takes ages for the birds to leave – they usually stay from January until October. That’s nine months without heat and delicious treats. Having commandeered the chimney these...
read moreHappy New Year
To me, New Year is a fresh start that is more official than a birthday. D tends to look back whilst my focus is usually forward. I reckon that I’m very lucky to have an optimistic outlook although sometimes my expectations are unrealistic – causing frustration and woe. D’s a realist and I’m a dreamer. He practices expectation management – I’d not even heard of the term until I met D. I don’t make New Years resolutions. I generally have ongoing plans in place throughout the year. These are made to stop me drifting about in a...
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