Season's greetings

 

A line or two to say hello and wish you the very best the season has to offer. Are we all well? I do hope so. 

I have been working hard here, nose to the grindstone etc, so not much has been done in the way of festive preparation, but no doubt there will be enough.

Nothing much to report, although the urchins tend to keep me on my toes. Except, one exciting garden thing - a new visitor to the bird feeder...

A ring-necked parakeet! It's the first one I've ever seen, although the eldest and the middle one had seen them a little further north and I know they're quite common in London. I think it might be a female as it doesn't have a particularly visible ring around the neck. Sorry about the blurry photos, but I was a long way away and the eldest has spirited my long lens away with him.

Another new visitor is a squirrel, but not quite as exotic. And no photos, because the dog caught on and did a huge amount of barking. Even though Bertie was inside the house, the squirrel wasn't taking any chances. Funny, because the ones on the dog walk, of which there are many, are very tame. I think they understand the concept of a dog on a lead as well, because they saunter across in front of us very casually sometimes, as if they know he won't be able to chase them.

So that's more wildlife to add to the garden list. Still no hedgehog though, but I feel it's only a matter of time.

I hope everyone has a lovely few days. Look after yourselves, CJ xx

In search of a romantic acorn

 

An assortment of photos, mostly dog walks, with a random Van Gogh thrown in for good measure. The middle boy and I went to see the big exhibition at the National Gallery. It was completely magical. 

As suspected, I grew too many chillies. They are in bags in the freezer, awaiting the return of the middle boy from uni. I'm not sure I'd bother again. I sowed them in January and harvested the chillies over ten months later. It was a lot of work and it turns out they're too hot for most of the people here, including me. 

It was quite fun to see them develop though. The pimiento de padron plants were 2 metres tall and had loads of chillies on them. Maybe they are less hot if you pick them sooner. Mine were hot and they're supposed to be a mild chilli. They're the fatter ones in the picture. The long slender ones are Joe's Long. They're pretty good. A smaller plant, with very long chillies. 

I have been in search of an acorn over the past few weeks, and there isn't a single one to be found. I had an idea to grow some little oak seedlings, and I thought it would be nice to have acorns from a tree I walk under every day with the dog. A romantic acorn, if you will. Except, this year is most decidedly not an acorn year. I have searched under pretty much every oak tree in a mile radius and all I found was one bad one. 

I looked it up, and apparently some years are like that. And some years are bumper years. Most years are somewhere in between. Oaks are wind pollinated and if there is a wet or cold spring, then sometimes it just doesn't happen. 

I do have some silver birch seeds which I'm going to have a go with. They are a bit trickier to germinate and need complicated things like stratification, or a period of cold in the fridge. Anyway, I'm going to give it a go. They're very good for wildlife, second only to oak for the number of species they support I think.

I planted some tulips and fritillaries in the grass a couple of weekends ago. It was a devil of a job. I know that Monty insists you need to throw them randomly across the space so that they look natural, but I was worried I'd miss one and the dog would eat it, so I didn't do that. 

As it was, he was intrigued by the idea of me burying things and dug up a tulip bulb and ate a bit of it before I could stop him. It was only a very small tulip, and he only had a bit, but they are toxic to dogs and it was a tense 24 hours, I can tell you. I knew it wasn't enough to do him serious harm, but it could have had an effect if you catch my meaning.

The next day I was sat working hard at the table and I saw out of the window a magpie come along and pull out the plug of earth from a hole, whip out the bulb, throw it across the grass and on to the next one. I mean, why? So it's anyone's guess whether anything will come up. If they do, they will no doubt be in some awkward grid formation and not stylish naturalistic planting. 

I bought some crocuses as well, but I'd had enough of crawling across muddy grass by that point, so they're in pots. I am waiting for something to come along and dig them up as well, to be honest.

How are things are your end? All good I hope. Let me know if you've seen an acorn this year, I'm intrigued to know whether it's a local shortage or more of a national thing. It's got to be disappointing for the squirrels. CJ xx

Seasonal knitting

 

A few random photos from the summer and from the past few days. The wildflowers in the grass and the little wood pile in the garden, welcoming the wild creatures, and the best Ribston Pippin apples I've ever grown. Next-level radishes and a spider that has lobster markings on its back - I think a false widow. And very slow tomatoes. It's September and I haven't picked a single one yet. They're noire de crimee and supposed to be happy in cooler weather, but they're still taking forever to ripen. 

The urchins have been off of school since their exams ended partway through June. I know. We went out to eat at a local pub by the river to celebrate their results. I tried to book seats outside, but it was just as well I couldn't because it turned out to be cold and very windy. The dog came too and fidgeted the entire way through the meal. He is not one of those calm dogs you see who just lies down nicely and has a snooze. Instead, he spends his time watching the table and waiting for any lack of attention on our part.

The last time we went there, a toddler had dropped most of her macaroni cheese on the floor and he snaffled it up without me even noticing. It saved the waitress a job, but not great for Bertie as he is strictly low fat. This time, we sat by some sort of numbered spinning wheel, which provided some  dubious entertainment. "If it lands on an even number, you have to eat your napkin," etc. There were no takers for that one, although when someone suggested they would pay cold hard cash to see someone else eat their napkin (a bright red paper one), you could see people eyeing it up and calculating their price. This is why I don't go out to eat very often. Well, that and the bill, which was painful, particularly as some people were still hungry afterwards.

As is customary for me when autumn is just around the corner, I have decided to knit something. I dug out some lovely yarn that I must have bought about a year ago and what looks at a glance like a beautifully simple pattern for an elegant cardigan. No seams, not even any need to pick up stitches along the edge and cobble on some sort of band. I even knit a little square to see how many stitches I was getting per inch, so as to avoid that disappointment at the end when it completely doesn't fit. The number of stitches I had was not the same number as the person who wrote the pattern, so I thought I'd make a slightly smaller size rather than do any complex calculations.

I started reading the pattern, and honestly, the cast on was about the only thing I could manage. How does something that looks so uncomplicated have instructions like, knit one, KE, move F, backward loop CO H pm, backward loop CO H KG move F backward loop CO H and add the number you first thought of. I am trying not to have a temper tantrum or cry. I wanted SO MUCH to knit an actual garment, and literally EVERYONE ELSE rated it as easy. 

I have stuffed the yarn into the back of a dark cupboard and I am going to knit a scarf instead. In a year's time, I will have forgotten the horror of the pattern and I'll get it out again and spend another happy hour imagining myself in a hand-knit cardy. Nothing like a seasonal routine to keep you grounded. CJ xx

Peak meadow

Glorious midsummer and I feel we have reached peak meadow. The dog is having the odd paddle in the stream, which he only does at this time of year, and all the little bird families in the garden are full-sized now. Although they are still asking their parents to feed them. 

Exams finally ended and the urchins have months of being at a loose end. I have done a little decluttering of papers and text books. The littlest boy is as anticipated clinging quite tightly to all his possessions, saying things like, "It's my CHILDHOOD," when I try to prise a Moomin book from his hands. I did manage to remove two basketballs and a football from his room, which felt like a win. There are still some in there though and he says he now needs a new basketball. Two steps forward etc. 

The garden feels a bit short on bees this year. I have lots of bean flowers and salvias and a touch of lavender, but hardly any bees. Worrying. Maybe they are going round when I'm not watching.

I have had stacks of sweet peas though, as well as strawberries and some very feisty radishes. The pigeons ate an entire row of beetroot, right down to the ground so that I forgot for a moment there was every any there. Easy come easy go. They aren't touching the bindweed. 

The asparagus is a bit mystifying. I thought there would be a few shoots, but each plant only has one single shoot. I can't decide if that's normal or if it's unhappy. 

The pond is looking like it needs some rain to top it up. It's an absolute hive of activity, with birds flapping away in there washing their feathers in happy little groups. There are lots of nests in my neighbour's huge tangle of grape vine, rambling rose and bramble, which is just next to the pond, so it's been a favourite stop for all the new little birds. I pretty much spend all day looking out of the window :) 

Two doors up is a garden with plastic grass and not a single plant. No birds and bees there. 

How is everything at your end? All good I hope. xx

An apricot rose

 

The new rose is here. You will see I went with apricot in the end. I have a little space at the end of the garden, so a pink one hasn't been ruled out... 

You will be happy to hear that the rat situation has calmed down. I think the baby rats hadn't learned to make themselves scarce yet. Now they have and we are back to not seeing each other, which we are both quite happy with. 

The garden is still full of birds, particularly starlings and sparrows. There must be almost a hundred starlings in the little local group now and the chicks have improved their flying skills no end. Before they could only do straight lines, so there was a lot of zigzagging about the place, landing on odd things and shuffling round to do another straight line to the next branch. 

I finally took the bench apart and painted it black. It was a bit of a messy job, or maybe that's just me.  The littlest boy said, 1) I preferred the green 2) it's really patchy and 3) you got paint all over yourself. In my defence, the paint was really thick. It has a three-year guarantee for outside I believe, and took around six showers to remove. I tackled the patchy green bits so that from a distance it doesn't look too bad. 

You can sit there now and enjoy the smell of the rose and look for rats.

In other news, the littlest boy turned 16. He had a GCSE on his birthday. A bit unlucky as sometimes it falls in half term. So it was a low-key celebration with pizza and Delia Smith's Ultimate Carrot Cake, which is always a winner. 

It was also the dog's 7-year anniversary of being our dog. Also a fairly low-key affair, although he did eat something revolting on the evening dog walk, which is always a red letter day for him as he's quite tightly policed when out and about. The dog food website says that when he's 8 he will be a Senior Dog. 

He still gets the zoomies and does barking and joining in when the urchins do pretend fighting, so not quite senior yet. 

Exam season plods on. I am working up to some major-league decluttering once it is over. I don't like to rock the boat at present, but the second that last paper is handed in I shall be moving in in force. At least that is the plan, assuming I have time etc. It could even be followed by some major-league cleaning, although I don't want to overcommit myself at this stage.

Hope all is well at your end and that you are enjoying the summer if you're in the Northern hemisphere. CJ xx