Saturday, June 10, 2006
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Let the baking begin
The sun arrived this weekend. The mud wasteland at the rear of the garden has now become a baked and cracking plain and a magnet for bees who seem to have a thing for making subterranean hives in the most unhelpful of places (right beside the step on which I most like to sit. Billy, our cat, sees them as sport, and tries to catch them whilst in an aspect of bored repose in the shelter of the wheelbarrow.
Garden jobs this weekend (you know you’re interested) included keeping the young lawn from scorching, half excavating the circle that will be a small patio at the back near the greenhouse, transplanting a struggling clematis, putting some sage and Doone thyme in and getting some basil, chives and cornflower seeds on the go. Oh, and staring at the patch of soil where the sweet peas are planted and wondering why they aren’t coming up. I also replenished the slug traps (empty margarine containers, submerged like dug in swimming pools and filled with Morrison’s value bitter). Try it – I guarantee you an ugly mess the next day and perfectly protected young courgettes.
I went for the longest run I have done in probably 15 years today – all of 10 miles, from here to Redbourn, up past Batchwood golf course and then out into the fields, past what I think is the drive to Stanley Kubrick’s estate, past the weird clump of thirties houses with racing green doors, around by the failing gastro pub, fields of sheep, the watercress beds, down to the roundabout and then, urgh, back. It’s now 9.50pm and I’m feeling OK. Nearly dark outside – the longest day is approaching – and thunder clouds are looming.
Yesterday I had an MSN video conference with a dear old friend of mine, D, who lives in North Carolina. Great to see him and hear him after so long – largely unchanged. We last met up in NY about six or seven years ago. I’m looking forward to catching up in more detail now that we’ve established contact again.
P and I are watching Big Brother downstairs and J is now sawing logs. The kids have been on half term for a week and they’re back to school tomorrow. J’s last half term at primary school – amazing how the time is travelling.
Garden jobs this weekend (you know you’re interested) included keeping the young lawn from scorching, half excavating the circle that will be a small patio at the back near the greenhouse, transplanting a struggling clematis, putting some sage and Doone thyme in and getting some basil, chives and cornflower seeds on the go. Oh, and staring at the patch of soil where the sweet peas are planted and wondering why they aren’t coming up. I also replenished the slug traps (empty margarine containers, submerged like dug in swimming pools and filled with Morrison’s value bitter). Try it – I guarantee you an ugly mess the next day and perfectly protected young courgettes.
I went for the longest run I have done in probably 15 years today – all of 10 miles, from here to Redbourn, up past Batchwood golf course and then out into the fields, past what I think is the drive to Stanley Kubrick’s estate, past the weird clump of thirties houses with racing green doors, around by the failing gastro pub, fields of sheep, the watercress beds, down to the roundabout and then, urgh, back. It’s now 9.50pm and I’m feeling OK. Nearly dark outside – the longest day is approaching – and thunder clouds are looming.
Yesterday I had an MSN video conference with a dear old friend of mine, D, who lives in North Carolina. Great to see him and hear him after so long – largely unchanged. We last met up in NY about six or seven years ago. I’m looking forward to catching up in more detail now that we’ve established contact again.
P and I are watching Big Brother downstairs and J is now sawing logs. The kids have been on half term for a week and they’re back to school tomorrow. J’s last half term at primary school – amazing how the time is travelling.
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