Logs, Logs, More Logs and Sunshine

I can’t believe what wonderful weather we’ve been having. I sat out for four hours yesterday and again this afternoon, oiled up and in my swimmer, and came in with sun red arms, chest and face. The sun is so lovely – I’d almost forgotten what it was like to feel the warmth spreading into my bones.   I've even swopped my winter duvet for my summer weight one, as I was too hot overnight.

On Sunday morning the two large farm trailers full of logs arrived.  

My neighbour, Bruno, let the second trailer tip onto his land as I had no more room.

The logs are a mixture of oak and ash, so should burn really well.  Here are friends stacking them for me. 

I reckon they should last me several years – or as some “friends” have said – probably see me out! It’s brilliant knowing I shan’t have to even think about sourcing and buying more logs for such a long time.

Daisy came in covered in fleas a little while ago. I think she must have had her head in an old birds’ nest, and she hates being sprayed, scratching me and making a hole in my new t-shirt. I decided to get her a flea collar and try to do away with future spraying. Now none of my previous cats have ever kept one on for more than a day, which is very frustrating when you’ve just spent out for it. Daisy didn’t like it being fitted yesterday evening and did loads of twisty jumps into the air to try and shake it off, before running around the garden and rubbing her neck on everything possible.

However, today, she seems to have accepted the collar, though still isn't happy with me.  She has calmed down and am hoping to be back in favour before too long. It’s bright red and when she’s facing me head on, it can’t be seen it as it hides in her fur. I wish it didn’t smell so horrid.

A bit of weeding was the order of the morning, interspersed with sitting down in the sun and preparing the chicken and potatoes to roast in the oven. My opposite French neighbour, Sylvie, came into the road to chat while I was weeding the driveway. Apparently one of her aunts has had the parathyroid tumour thing, so it’s not that unusual.  There was a lot of raking up to do on her land with all the moss, ivy and bits of bark that were left behind when all the logs were moved to the stack.

Sunday, 20 March, was the first day of Spring, and my father's birthday.  It's now 104 years since he was born.   The following day, 21 March, saw four of my friend's have their birthdays.  What happens nine months before 21 March to make so many people have babies on that day?  Spring has brought such fine weather that this afternoon we brought out from the garage all the garden furniture.  I have many chairs and tables, which are the result of running a B&B when I lived in Cornwall.  Each part of the garden now has somewhere fairly sheltered to sit wherever the breeze is coming from.  Roll on Summer!

A Sunny Day, Pink Blossom, a Pink Insect and Blue Things

It’s been such a beautiful day today – really sunny and warm and, after a roast chicken lunch, I actually fell asleep in a recliner on the terrace and woke up over an hour later with a sun red face.

I took several photographs this morning. The first is of the very pretty flowering currant blossom at the end of my drive in the abandoned neighbouring garden.

I also took photos of some of my blue vases and other blue things. Blue is such a special colour. I think it is also one of the few colours for clothing that suits everyone in all it’s different shades.   This ginger jar belonged to my mother and it's one of a pair.

This is one of a pair of cockerel trivets which I used to use in my Cornish Bed and Breakfast.

This was a little robin blue breast jug that my middle son, Oliver, gave me for Christmas one year.  It's very precious to me.

I really like ceramic balls.  I had some in my garden in Cornwall which were quite large, but have no idea where they've got to.  I just have a couple of small ones now, which live in my dresser shelves, along with dried poppy heads and Japanese lantern seedheads.

I'm not entirely sure what this piece of china was.  I remember buying it at a car boot sale and it still had a brown card label on it then, but I don't remember whether it was supposed to have a function or just be beautiful.

This is the back door of my neighbour's abandoned house.  It's beginning to look like a scene from Sleeping Beauty with all the brambles growing across the entrance.

And this is another neighbour's west facing gite window.  They used to live in this little gite before they finished renovating their large house.

My next door neighbour has these blue railing all around his back garden and I like the intricacy of the wrought iron.

As I was coming back from taking these pictures, I stopped to photograph some moss and right in the middle of the patch was this little pink insect.  I've no idea what it was but it was very small, about a quarter to an eighth of an inch (1-2mm) long.  So having started with pink, I'll end with pink too.   You might have to increase your zoom to 150% to see it!

Surprise Bunny, Garden Tasks, Lunch and Plagues

The last two days have been very grey.  Yesterday it was really foggy and depressing.  Today no fog, but still grey and a cold breeze. 

In the early evening yesterday something weird happened.  I was watching television when Daisy shot past me and up the stairs with something fairly large and white in her mouth.  I went to investigate and found that she had a white fluffy bunny - unfortunately already dead.

This is clearly not a wild rabbit.  Both of my male rabbits were neutered after their first litter of two bunnies in August 2009 so it shouldn't be from my rabbits, but I've a feeling that it is.  We last cleaned out their large house two weeks ago, and as I didn't do it, I have no idea whether there was a nest within the straw that was cleared out.  In their last litter of bunnies there was one just like this, so I think perhaps the vet didn't do the job properly.  Sad.

This morning the fish pond pump which has blocked over the Autumn and Winter is  being cleaned out.  The fish look good and healthy and seem to have survived the times when my pond was iced over without a problem.

I spotted the frog I'd relocated from my kitchen to the pond, swimming around happily.

Weeding has also been underway, getting the long bed ready for some more perennials.  Here is the clean result and another photograph showing what's still to be done.

I sat down to have a rest from tying in plants and drank a mug of coffee in the sunshine which is now out and very warm.

 I had my camera and took a couple of photos of things I was looking at.

The electric post at the end of the driveway and honeysuckle buds on the stems I've woven through the wires on the top of the pergola.

I went in for my lunch - prawns in a garlic, lemon, parsley and pili pili sauce with thick slices of freshly cut bread.

As I got up from my lunch, unbelievably, another frog by my laptop table - I nearly trod on him when I got out of my chair.  This one was much smaller.  I popped him on the slate where the water runs down to the fish pond.

Could this be a plague of frogs visiting me, I wonder? What next?  Locusts?

We put up the fly nets on the doors to the garden this afternoon, as I am already getting flies coming in.  Hopefully they'll stop the locusts as well!

Chicks, Hedges and an Amphibian

The chicks born last week are getting bigger very quickly and have the beginning of proper feathers on their wings.

Only one of the four brown eggs hatched – yesterday during our Writers’ Group meeting – so I have popped it in with the original five as it was looking very lonely alone in the incubator.

They are now housed in a wooden box with a heat lamp over it. This box is part of the outside system they will live in for the first few weeks of their lives outside. It gives the older hens to get used to them before they are introduced feather to feather.

As I went over to look into the box to check on them, I passed the cats’ food dishes. Hiding between the milk and biscuit containers was a frog, or perhaps a toad, I’m not sure.

  

He seemed fine, so I walked over to the pond and gently slid him into the water. He breaststroked off, away from the goldfish, and disappeared immediately under the plants.

The flowerbed by the pond is ready to be weeded now that the very tall hedge behind it has been cut. 

In this photograph you can see that this side of the hedge has been cut, but the other side still has high growth, which has disappeared in the next photograph.

I think the chap who came and shortened it must have taken 4-5ft (120-150cm) away in many places.  It makes such a difference to the light coming into my garden and I can also enjoy my neighbour's forsythia!

I went off to the hospital on Friday last to have the tests regarding my parathyroid glands.  The scintigraph confirmed that there is a tumour - benign - on one of the right side parathyroid glands.  I am having another blood test on Friday morning to see how my calcium levels are.  If they are not raised further, I can wait to see the endocrinologist on 21 April, but the appointment may be brought forward if they are very much higher.  When I've seen her, I will go in for an operation to remove the the tumour,  after which my energy levels should be much better, which will be very welcome with all the gardening to do.

I came in from taking these photographs of a hellbore and a primula denticulata

to find myself unable to use my laptop because of these two.