Holiday Weekend

No, it wasn't a holiday for anyone else, just a long awaited visit by Paul which gave everything a festive air. And the sun came out again, which is always welcome.



We didn't get all that much done, too busy having fun but we did have a huge celebration dinner that you can read about here and took a first harvest from the potato patch. These are the results.



The whites are a variety called Swift, a recommended first early and the reds; Stroma, usually described as a second early but we've found it just as fast as Swift. Each bowl represents the crop from two plants, tiny amounts perhaps but the seed tubers were only planted about eight weeks ago. We will harvest them successionally which will allow the later plants to bulk up but there is no point in leaving earlies in the ground too long, their value is in their speed to commence the new potato season.

The later varieties are also growing well, the Ambo is in flower and the Ratte and Winston have made strong plants. We did find one diseased plant of Ratte which has been removed and as a precaution we have sprayed with Bordeaux mixture, still just allowable as an organic remedy, to discourage blight and mildew.

That still left time for a walk in the forest, where that beautiful foxglove and its friends were in full bloom.

Purple

I just saw a huge deer eating the grass clippings from the pile near the potatoes. I did get a picture but it was less than impressive.

It's been another dreary day, no sun, no fun.

Still, tomorrow I'm hoping Paul will be here. So I'd better get on and tidy up.

It could be Ireland

We have Lift Off

The elderflower champagne has commenced to fizz, quite spectacularly. I sampled a small bottle today and think it is still too sweet for my taste. However, if I leave it to ferment out I suspect the bottles will burst.

I've seen some recommendations for easing the pressure by releasing the caps periodically. This seems counter-productive when compared to experiences with commercial fizzes but I suppose if the thing is still fermenting the pressure will build up again.

Anyone wishing to experience this batch should hop on a ferry and arrive this weekend. I wonder if it's worth starting another batch before all the flowers fade.

Springwatch

My life as Bill Oddie is characterised by opportunities missed. For example, yesterday as I was working on clearing the pile of leylandii bits from the track so that tractors could get through when they come to cut my grass I saw a rose chafer beetle mumbling about in the brambles. I went to get the camera straight away but when I got back, it had gone.

Then I took a little wander to spot eucalyptus trees, planted last year and swamped by overgrowth this. Basking in a warm patch of sun I found a huge fat grass snake. Naturally, no camera to hand but by the time I got back with it the snake was still there. Hurrah, or actually not, as I focussed in she noticed me and disappeared into the long grass at speed.

As I sat eating a well deserved tomato sandwich in the late afternoon a bird I have never seen before in my life landed on the wall in front of me, waggled its tail suggestively and shot out of my life again. A tomato sandwich is no substitute for a camera in a situation like that. The bird was a Redstart I later discovered. I have for a time believed we have Black Redstarts as I could think of no other explanation for the rather dull looking birds with red tails that are often about the place but this was the real thing. Very very pretty.

I've long ago lost hope of photographing owls. They are so silent that there is no way of knowing they're flying past until they leave your field of vision. A couple of nights ago, maybe about the time of the full moon, I saw the barn owl fly across the yard and heard several other owl types calling in the forest. We have bats too, they roost in the yew trees near the stream but I've no idea what sort they are.

So, there is a picture of docks flowering above which is quite a lovely sight surprisingly, tall and strong and colourful, but I bet you'd rather have seen a Redstart.

Night Terrors

In the middle of the night the cat decided I'd been asleep long enough and it was time for me to get up and give him a late supper. After some feeble attempts at resistance I gave up the unequal struggle and stumbled downstairs to attend to his needs.

The cat's food is kept in the storeroom, I opened the door, switched on the light and discovered this!



Except of course, he wasn't under the glass at that point. He looked bemused, I looked bemused, I couldn't see how he had got to this high and foodless shelf and he didn't seem to be able to remember either. So with not much difficulty I popped a handy glass over his head and then proceeded to torture him by as much flash photograhpy as I could stand at three in the morning.

After that, fool that I am, I slipped a pot cover under the glass and took him outside to freedom. On the way I showed my prisoner to the cat - he was not the slightest bit interested in the convict and merely demanded I get on with real event, making his snack. I don't know what cats are coming to these days.

Promises Promises

No entries for a couple of days, sorry. Will try harder tomorrow.

I have done some stuff, including a very scary telephone call in French to negotiate the cutting of the fields for hay. This may have sapped all my strength. And a nasty midge has bitten me just under the lashes, it's all puffed up and I feel like I've been punched as I can see the swelling from the bottom of my eye.

Here is a picture of some flowers for the intermission.