Another good week – scorcio! by and large but we’ve also had a couple of overcast days when the temperature conveniently stayed below 30o (86o F). Yesterday, the temperature reached only 23o (73o F) and it felt decidedly cool! It looks like it is supposed to cool off a bit this coming week. A spot of rain would not go amiss, mind.
Last Sunday we ventured up the road to Adstone for a National Garden Scheme Open Garden. It was blisteringly hot and the garden looked suitably parched, especially the fields surrounding the “formal” gardens. The borders, however, were lovely, the walled garden was magnificent and the pond at the bottom of the adjacent field was temptingly inviting although thankfully Daisy did not make any effort to immerse herself.
Our garden continues to look gorgeous if somewhat sunburnt, thanks to all of Ms Penelope’s efforts. The weather this spring and summer has clearly provided an excellent mixture of conditions to elicit an abundance of fruit. The apples, plums and pears in the orchard are promising to be prolific, more fruit than we’ll manage to get through. And Sarah’s sunflowers have been outstanding!
Penny had a realisation on Friday – it was ten years to the day since we moved to Moreton Pinkney. Doesn’t time fly when you are enjoying yourself? We certainly feel very fortunate that we landed on our feet here. I know many of you will remember our house-hunting saga – there were a few homes we looked at that Penny thought were “OK” but which I disliked for one reason or another. And vice versa. Eventually though, I saw this house on Rightmove and suggested to Penny that we have a look. When we walked through the door everything seemed right and, in spite of it being bigger than we were ideally looking for and with a considerably larger garden than we wanted, somehow it spoke to us. And, we’ve been delighted ever since – the house is lovely, the garden is lovely and Moreton Pinkney is a very friendly, lovely village. Here’s to ten more years!
Penny posted a message on the village Facebook page:
I was tempted to comment that the views expressed by the Author were hers alone and did not necessarily represent the views of others in the household, but I thought some people might take me seriously. This is a lovely village and we’re delighted that we ended up here!
YCNMIU
“If I’m president, I will have that war settled in one day, 24 hours.”
“And before I even arrive at the Oval Office, shortly after I win the presidency, I will have the disastrous war between Russia and Ukraine settled.” And: “So when I say ‘end it,’ I’m going to get a settlement very quickly. And I know both people, and you can get it very, very quickly. You can only do it through the presidency, but you control the money coming in, coming out. You can get that. I will have that settlement done within 24 hours.”
Putin ready to make Ukraine deal, Trump says before Alaska summit
Guardian headline
U.S. President Donald Trump threatens “severe consequences” if Russia’s Vladimir Putin does not agree to peace in Ukraine
Reuters
“I am president, and he’s not going to mess around with me.
“I’ll know within the first two minutes, three minutes, four minutes or five minutes … whether or not we’re going to have a good meeting or a bad meeting. And if it’s a bad meeting, it’ll end very quickly, and if it’s a good meeting, we’re going to end up getting peace in the pretty near future.”
August 15, 2025
Do you think that Trump will ever understand that he’s been played and made a fool of?
And, I think that’s it about it for this week! Penny’s sister J has her birthday on Wednesday so Happy Birthday to her!
Meanwhile, keep breathing, keep happy, keep smiling, keep exercising, be good, be careful, and keep safe. And be gentle to wasps and bees – we need all the pollinators we can get.
Lots of love to you all,
Greg
Thanks, Gregory. I’d like a break from them for a few years, but they just keep on coming!!