Goodness! Another great week. The weather continues to be sensational, hot and sunny with temperatures into the low 30s (i.e., the mid 80s). We’ve not had any rain for about six weeks so, as you might imagine, the garden is desperate for a drink. Thankfully, no hosepipe ban in our neighbourhood yet but the first of the season has been introduced in Northern Ireland. Since we had such a lousy Spring here with lots of rain and low temperatures, the reservoirs are full, so they say. At the same time, since the privatised water companies are estimated to lose up to 30% of their product through leaking pipes it probably won’t be long. After all, it’s much more important to maintain their shareholder’s dividends than to actually fix the infrastructure. Aren’t privatised monopolies a great idea! Continue reading →

Wow! What another great week just whizzed by. We’ve had great weather, went up to town again (twice), enjoyed a primary school sports day under a blazingly hot bright blue sky and tromped up and down Edgehill with Penelope’s walking group. What’s not to like? Continue reading →

Oh my goodness! Another great week with lots of fun, lots of work and lots of pretty decent sunny weather. We had Bubble for an overnighter, we enjoyed a wandering supper as well as a date night overflowing with culture while, in between, toiling in Penelope’s woodland garden. And we enjoyed a gloriously sunny version of the longest day! Continue reading →

Oh! What a busy, busy week. We’ve been out and about in-between bouts of toiling and boiling on Ms Playchute’s latest garden project. There was a celebratory meal with the winner of an important competition, another visit to Thenford Gardens, a jaunt up to London for an exhibition and a great meal at a “pop-up” restaurant nearby. Whew! Continue reading →

Another good week – what are the chances of that? The weather has been tolerably tolerable and we’ve spent many a “happy” hour toiling in the garden. Penelope, of course, spends most of her time beating the garden into submission; I get involved only on an ad hoc basis when there are things that require my particular skill set. I.e., tasks which do not require much thinking or understanding of good gardening practice and which may or may not involve heavy lifting. And even then, I still mess up! Continue reading →

Another good week, in spite of the somewhat variable weather. We’ve had a couple of visitors, celebrated a couple of birthdays, toured the Cotswolds and enjoyed a nice lunch out. I’m not sure, once again, if I can stand the pace. Continue reading →

It’s been a lovely week, jet-lag notwithstanding. We’ve had some grand sunny days and we’ve been able to lie in the hammock with wine glasses in hand on a couple of occasions. Sadly, the weather turned cold and wet at the end of the week, just in time for our visitors. Continue reading →

Welcome back!

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At last! We’ve had some half decent weather this week. There have been a couple of days when it was actually warm and sunny! What are the chances of that? The decent weather gave me the opportunity to mow the lawns for the first time this season and, more importantly, allowed Ms Playchute to get out and start digging her vegetable garden. We’re easily two weeks behind where we should be by now and stuff that should have been in the ground is still awaiting the opportunity. Unfortunately, as far as the lawn-mowing process is concerned, the damn grass will now grow like a teenager during a growth spurt to make up for lost time. Continue reading →

Another wet, damp, dismal and dreary week, just for a change. The weather people say, though, that this coming week should be much better – here’s hoping.

Jackdaws (and crows generally) are very clever birds. I suspect that the one(s) which found themselves down our dining room fireplace learned never to attempt to build a nest on a chimney pot again, or at least not on our dining room chimney pot. What a shame that the humans who inhabit the place were not smart enough to do something about the chimney before the second batch of jackdaws made their way down. Continue reading →