Mostly Gardening.

This morning's sun had me out of bed nice and early ready to get on with some gardening. It was perfect weather, warm and sunny with a gentle breeze. I predict that we will have this sort of weather, on and off, right until the end of July when once the school holiday starts everything will turn grey and dismal. Checking back on the weather record I kept last summer I see that out of the 6 weeks holiday we only had 8 sunny days. So it really was that bad and I'm not just a grumpy old woman. (I wasn't sure.) It has been like this for a number of years so I'm determined to enjoy every moment of sun either after work or at the weekends. Perhaps I'll schedule some decorating for the summer. The sunniest spot this morning was at the front of the house so I finished off picking all the leaves and twigs out of the long raised bed. Then I thought it would be a shame to not to clean up the big stones I have on the gravel as they can look good even in the rain. I need to buy another wire brush as I've scrubbed a third of the stones and already half of Peter's barbecue cleaning brush has been worn away. The stones look good though. I had to go into town in the afternoon for a quick doctor's appointment, dropped in Lidll's for some continental delicacies and called in at BJ's for some tomato plants. They have a very good garden centre and it would have been easy to buy lots of plants for the garden but I resisted just buying some more canes and some weed & feed for the lawns as hand weeding isn't doing the job. I won't treat the small lawn that is full of daisies as I think they look so nice. Back home I moved to the pond, clearing out the grass which has reappeared in the water since last autumn and then making a start on weeding the path. I was joined by Jack who made me laugh with his conviction that a mini digger would probably do the job more easily (typical male). He is the same age as my current class and some of his stories about the things he gets up to were so funny. Especially when it came to his innocence being claimed with that well known phrase ' he made me do it'. And I'm not sure what their caretaker must think about their latest game of blocking the toilets with paper towels so that they overflow!

Yikes!

We came across not 1 but 2 full grown adders on our walk this afternoon. I didn't see the first one which rushed across the path in front of Peter as we walked down the coombe but the second one was on the path on the north side of the Point. Peter stopped suddenly so that I nearly bumped into him, then I shrieked and reached for my camera at the same time but it was slithering away too quickly into the grass for a photo. I was grateful for the fact that I was wearing walking boots but I did have bare legs so I was glad that Peter usually walks in front of me (that way he can set a pace that is comfortable for his joints and he doesn't have to keep stopping for my photo moments). Maybe that's the reason that the man always walks in front in so many cultures, to be the first to encounter danger! We did get our first sighting of a single grey seal a few paces later. It was a beautiful day and once again there were many people out enjoying the beautiful scenery. (The spring flowers are flowering in abundance, dandelions, celandines, violets, bluebells, primroses, white campion, thrift and vetch to name a few.) People usually say Hello as they pass you but some are too deep in conversation or too rude to even say thank you as you stand aside to let them pass. I had been quizzing Peter about who he had been playing golf with the day before and coming to the conclusion that one of the men who had a slightly unusual surname was probably married to a supply teacher who I have met in various schools over the years when lo and behold, said golfing friend, supply teacher wife and mother-in-law came walking around the corner on a Sunday stroll. As is the way of inhabitants of the area we stopped for a chat (this often happens when shopping) and laughed at the coincidence. Our walk today took us along the coast path and up these steps. These are the easiest of the several sets of steps in the area being only 66 steps to climb while the others have more than 80 but I must be getting fitter as I didn't feel at all puffed out when I reached the top and didn't need 'a moment to look at the view'.

Our choice of lunch spot is dictated by the direction of the wind and if somebody is already on our chosen bench. Today the best shelter was at the Point sitting on the rocks. (Peter is trying to see the screen of his phone in the shade of his hat.) Our lunch of smoked salmon (half a packet of cheap ends) in onion and poppy seed bagels followed by home made apple cake with coffee was to my mind every bit as enjoyable as last week's roast dinner and yet cost less than my one glass of fruit juice.

The day stayed sunny and fairly warm so while I mowed the lawns Peter barbecued some marinaded pork which he served up with salads and pitta bread. This corner of the scree garden is where we often end up eating in the evenings as it catches the last of the setting sun. As we ate we once again marvelled at how fortunate we are to be able to enjoy such a beautiful setting with just the sound of the birds in our ears. A far cry from the days we lived in London when all around would have been the sound of traffic, car alarms and music being 'shared' from the pub or community minded neighbours.

This picture is for Elora who wanted to see what the arch looks like denuded of branches. Although turning those 2 trunks into an arch covered in honeysuckle is a possibility it would be a somewhat pointless grand feature and more importantly would reduce the size of what is going to be a small veg patch so I'm going to see if I can dig/cut off the roots and remove at least one of those trunks. Wish me luck with that!

Going Green.

It has finally arrived, the day I know that spring is truly here. Two weeks earlier than usual the first leaves of the beech trees have burst out of their fat brown buds. Not everywhere but in bright green patches amongst the hedges and trees. The lime green leaves with their furry edges are like a fanfare that heralds the awakening of slumbering Nature from her long winter sleep.

And with the sun shining through the leaves it was as if each leaf had its own light.

While Peter went off to play golf I finally burned the branches from my dismantled leylandii arch. I wasn't able to use my usual spot on a piece of waste ground that belongs to my neighbour as he has been leaving ponies in the adjacent field overnight and I wasn't sure how he would feel (he can be a bit odd at times). Instead I dragged all the branches down to our yard where we park, moved my car out of the way and had a bonfire there.

Eventually all that remained was a heap of glowing embers and lots of specks of ash around the garden. Now I can sort out the arch and start on my new veg patch.

Market Day.

I took myself into town today. Friday is traditionally market day and although the cattle market closed some years ago on Fridays there is a general produce market in our covered Pannier Market with quite a few farmers' stalls selling small amounts of eggs, plants, vegetables, flowers and baking. This is the place where you can still hear the true North Devon accent with plenty of indrawn breaths and words like tis & dreckly. I enjoy shopping especially when I get plenty of bargains and today was a good day. In Primark which is cheap enough anyway I got some less than half-price fleece throws, good for keeping out the winter cold, and then I put an extra one in my basket to cut up to put on the chairs that the cats to sleep on in the conservatory. Easily washed and total cost £2. I also bought some imitation ugg type boots to use as next winter's slippers, £1 a pair and some short pjs for Pete which he had asked for and also happened to be in sale. I had a good wander around the charity shops but didn't buy any clothes for myself. However I did get this lovely gravy boat. I have been looking for a gravy boat or a jug ever since our old utilitarian white jug developed a crack and had to be thrown out. The only possibilities I had found were in the 'normal' shops but one was ugly and both were expensive. Then today I came across this gravy boat which was being sold with a big lidded tureen and a stack of plates which I didn't want. Luckily this wasn't one of the main charity shops some of which are run like businesses and very inflexible. This was a shop run by the Rotary club and when I asked the nice lady sold me just the gravy boat for £1.50. It wasn't until I got home that I realised how gorgeous this piece of Royal Doulton was. After a good trail in and out of all the shops I drove to Tescos to stock up on basics and then to B&Q and bought compost and all the plants I needed for my hanging baskets. Normally I would check out several garden centres for the best prices but I was just too tired and the prices are not a lot different. I have got more or less the same plants as last year, pink, purple and burgundy surfinias and some mixed blue trailing lobelia. Planting up the baskets was my afternoon job and I also topped up the stone wall with extra compost and planted some clumps of sedum and aubretia to replace that poor old lavender plant.

One Job Leads To Another.

Looking out of my sparkling kitchen window it was obvious that the yard needed some work ie sweeping up leaves and putting away plant pots and gardening tools that had been left sitting there. Out I went, started sweeping and realised that first I ought to finish cutting back the honeysuckle and rose that climb vigorously up the front of the house. I had taken advantage of the builder's roof ladders last autumn and done the main part of the rose pruning but there were still branches to be cut on the other wall. So up my little 10ft ladder to chop away, then upstairs so I can do my hanging out of the window act though this year I didn't need to climb right out of the window. Annoyingly I still managed to knock off a few of the wisteria buds, it will be a week or 2 before that is flowering even though I've been driving past a house in town that has been covered with beautiful flowers for the last few weeks. After clearing up all the cuttings I had time to sweep the yard before the rain came down. A bit of pulling up of weeds that had grown between the paving stones and a quick diversion to weed part of a flower bed was part of the trail of jobs that occured. It was quite mild but grey and wet for most of the day. Later I was able to get out in the light drizzle and start the job of picking dead leaves etc off the gravel of the raised bed. During the rainy spells I got all the edges of the puzzle done but it is too big for my liking. I was nearly at the point of packing it away but it was a present so I shall persevere. BTW our school OFSTED results were officially made public last week. We were told straight away but were only allowed to discuss it with colleagues. We got 'outstanding' which is the highest grade you can get which is especially good as last year they changed all the categories and made them harder to get. Now we don't have to worry that any day the phone call will come and send us all into a panic.

A Cleaning Day.

I woke to grey skies and wet and colder weather. Hooray! said my back which was protesting mightily at the unaccustomed garden work. Instead I spent the morning spring cleaning in the kitchen, mainly the window over the sink. It is amazing how much work there is in cleaning one small area, blue glass washed, junk cleared, curtains washed, dried over the Rayburn, ironed and hung back up and of course the window itself. I prefer the frugal method of soap and water and polishing off with crumpled newspaper. I have tried 'proper' window cleaners but have never found them as good as newspaper. We don't buy any papers but there are always some around left by friends or the free ones that come through the door. And of course you have to clean the outside of the window, and the door windows and the other window and in fact I could spend the rest of my holiday simply working my way round all the windows and mirrors in the house but I shall resist. Every now and again my peace was interrupted by a hollow banging coming from the fireplace. Those jackdaws must be truly imprinted on the chimney and loft as they are still hanging around and spend a lot of time sitting on the 'hat' banging at the bars and hoping they will break or simply disappear as suddenly as they appeared. My reward to myself was to spend the afternoon getting started on my 3,000 piece jigsaw puzzle in the semi-tidy conservatory. It was very soothing listening to the rain on the roof and hunting for those elusive edge pieces (even after I thought I had sorted through all the pieces first.) Peter always buys me a puzzle for Christmas but this year I did not have the time or the space to do it during the Christmas holidays and have been saving it for now. Jigsaw puzzles are so pointless with nothing created (mine go straight back to the charity shop once done), but they are very soothing and give a ridiculous amount of satisfaction when you find that missing piece. Oh and I never look at the picture and this time I got Peter to put it in a bag so I haven't even seen the box. So far it looks to be tulips and trees.

Chips Away.

We are back to standard April weather for the moment, sunshine and wind which is fine for gardening though the recent hot weather was a bonus. I'm spending as much time as possible in the garden so that I can just whip round with the mower to keep things tidy once the school term begins.

Today's job was cutting the grass on the steps and the little patch below it with a pair of shears. The grass was so matted and mixed with thick moss that hacking at it with the strimmer would not have done the job properly and this way I have been able to dig out any nasty weeds first. (I can see a real fortune to be made by the person who develops a rabbit that only eats grass, one you could let loose in your garden to permanently maintain your lawns without touching the other plants.) The extra cold of last winter caused a lot of damage in the garden and for the first time the heathers were affected. I'm having to clear lots of dead branches but there is still lots of healthy growth which is putting on its spring show. I keep seeing jobs round the garden which all seem urgent but I am resisting doing anything at the little pond until next week when I shall, hopefully, clear the grass out of the water and weed the circular gravel path. I can easily while away many minutes simply sitting by the pond and watching all the wildlife but work needs to be done first. I finally got the chips on the car windscreen seen to (which didn't cost anything as the insurance pays for it) and while I was waiting for the man to ring and confirm I worked in the front yard finally digging out the ancient lavender bush that was growing in the raised bed/wall. I was fond of this bush, the only one of 4 that had survived in the exposed conditions, with its gnarled and twisted trunk but last year I noticed that a lot of the leaves were dead and although it had many flowers they were wizened and grey so it was time to say goodbye. I shall replace it with some sedums that I can split form my existing plants so that although there wont be that lovely scent the butterflies will be attracted to the flowers. I may buy some aubretia to plant in the top of the wall as well as I love seeing those purple cushions tumbling over stone walls.