Very heavy rain as I write. Good, let’s see whether the gutters feed the newly installed water butt properly.
First Orchid: (think it’s an orchid anyway). Seen in Woodland Trust land.
Even it it’s not, still a nicely light picture I’d say.
Getting ready to plant that Hornbeam tree. It’s quite an effort because I want it near the Eucalyptus stump- so lots of hacking away at roots to dig the hole.
Film: The Road. post apocalyptic road film + father/son film. I can’t quite put a finger on why I was largely unmoved by this film The slow storyline isn’t a problem for me, it’s just that something was missing. Perhaps it’s the director, it just needs a bit more Tarkovsky. In other words it needed some magic that would lift it above the predictable.
The Eucalyptus tree is now sawn logs. Some are huge, storage might be slightly awkward.
They’re gorgeous though, such nice wood. I may polish up a few and have them in the house.
Incredible: Having trouble believing this story: BBC. A fox attacks two sleeping children in London. The response is as difficult to believe as the original story. Apparently they trapped a fox in the garden later in the day and shot it. Is this supposed to be some kind of justice, or are they taking revenge out on a whole species?
Imagine- someone burgles your house, so the police will stop the next bloke passing your front door and imprison him awaiting the firing squad in the morning. Doesn’t matter that there is no known connection between the perpetrator and the suspect, why bother finding evidence beyond the location, let’s just kill something. That’ll appease the locals, they’ll be baying for blood. Perhaps it’s a Tory ward, they’ve always liked killing foxes, no matter how cruelly.
Tales from the compost heap: dug a new compost heap space yesterday. "Dug" because there was another slab 6" below the surface. Anyway, doing that I disturbed a mouse who dived under a block which needed to be moved. Carefully, I lifted it and the mouse sprang upwards a foot in the air and scampered away. He was quite fast, apart from doing another Zebedee like leap on the way.
Conventional wisdom has it that it’s part of their escape tactic, to distract & confuse predators. It’s the word ‘confuse’ that needs a re-think; what they really do is render the predator helpless with laughter. There must be other examples of natural behaviour that needs a re-think.
It’s early, and we’ve started the day with a 5am thunderstorm.
Today: I climbed a 2,000ft mountain in the Aran range, at at the top was a nun sitting on a rock. There she was, dressed in walking boots and a full habit – all pale blue and eating her packed lunch; making tea with a camper’s stove. I invited myself a seat next to her and ate my lunch too. We swapped life stories, she told me about her old dog and made a fuss of mine. There was a pond near by and the nun encouraged us to wade in and cool off my dog (who was obviously very hot in her thick coat). Out of her rucksack, she pulled a fold-open aluminium wind-break to shelter her meths burner; that would ensure a decent hot cup of tea. After a paddle in the pond, we chatted some more and then parted in opposite directions. It didn’t take long to get the the summit where I looked back to see her steadily walking away back to her life.
Manflu: on the tail end, it’s been a whole week.
Runner beans are amusing: I feel like a little kid with this, but I planted runner beans and they shot up after 2 days. The bean drives a spear like root downwards lifting itself out of the ground. Next it splits and the first leaves grow out of the gap. Remember growing cress seeds on blotting paper when you wre at junoir school? It feels like that. Simple pleasures!
Presumably, I wait ’till the bean part has used its food up and withered before I plant it out.
Please advise.
Film: A Beautiful Mind- I’ve got mixed feelings about this one, but basically, a mathematical genius (John Forbes Nash) suffering with schizophrenic delusions struggles with his meds, brutal 1950s mental health treatment and a marriage. He lives with the imagined characters to the end, but his wife (real) also does not age with her model-like looks. According to Wiki, there is some considerable deviation from the guy’s real life.
There are plenty of other references to J Nash on the web, co-incidentally, on the BBC‘s site today in
"Creative minds ‘mimic schizophrenia’"
You must realise what a feat of concentration this page has been with the sound of my dog’s gurgling belly in here.
Getting better, had the energy to load up the compost with the neighbour’s compost binful. Grass cuttings are amazing, they come out all warm.
The Arborist is coming soon to cut that Eucalyptus tree down. that means some swift fence building at just the right time. I hope it rains, the fence posts will be so much easier to drive in. I may have the energy to replace the gutters & arrange the feed to the butt in a day or two.
Hildur Guðnadóttir:
Doesn’t that look like Clevedon Pier? It does, doesn’t it?
It’s not ironic that I have a cold on the hottest weekend of the summer so far. It’s merely a coincidence. there are always advantages to this kind of thing- maybe my Achilles tendon can recover fully with a few days off the bike. Dosed up with cold remedy I have been able to dig out another slab, plant some wild-flowers (don’t worry, I bought them, they’re legit). Comfrey and a few others.
I thought I had got all of those slabs, but there are a few left. I will route them all out in the end.
Those recycled compost bags are so cheap that it’s no problem to use them until my own compost heap is ready.
This is the Pyracanthus, the slabs were to stop Rosie digging, but she’s not interested in digging any more.So they’re gone.
Here is my newest Artemesian.
Bought a water butt; haven’t exactly figured how I’m going to plumb it in but at least I got the new guttering to feed it.
Perhaps a photo when I am not so bone tired.
That really is a fabulous Angelica plant, don’t you think?
Micycle 