Gardening, nowhere near as hard as they make out ...
I've never been blessed with patience to do the gardening thing, I've never understood the attraction of non-immediate gratification I suppose but I thought I'd share some success in a horticultural sense. As regular readers will know last Easter saw me engaged in the back-breaking effort of installing some 42 assorted fruit trees in an effort to create a lovely orchard where only
sward had thrived. Here's the before and after pic. Lo and behold 12 months later (and despite the best efforts of the water board to dessicate my sorrowful saplings) the advent of loads of stunning blossom informs us that we have a death rate of only two.
I'll be digging up the tragically deceased and delivering them to the in-tray of the nearest hospipe ban inspector.
I confess that my gardening usually falls into 3 areas, in order o
f preference, sitting on the mower, chainsawing stuff and occasional (reluctant) strimming, actually now I think about it my favourite gardening thing is sitting on the bench with a book and a beer enjoying the bluebells, which arrive, a glorious carpet through the wood, no matter what I've done in the meantime.
Which seems like a good reason to leave nature to do its stuff, it's easier and it seems much better at it than I.
Not letting all that religion stuff get in the way of the ruthless quest for chocolate
It was an odd Easter at the barn this year, we were very short on small people due to holidays and various family commitments which meant that delightful nephew Rhett was the only participant in the Easter egg hunt. I put together some edited highlights (Click on the egg) which preceded a delightful al fresco lunch.
50 again
Now the thing is, I quite enjoyed becoming 50 a year ago, it's easy to remember and a nice round number so I've determined to remain 50 as it will avoid me learning a new number. As it happens Charlie and I were together on my birthday as part of her Easter break and we'd arranged to go climbing together at Craggy Island, a splendid indoor climbing wa
ll. This is always a mixed experience for me, I love climbing but don't do it often enough to feel climbing fit and the young folk who instruct there are very young. I have to use an instructor when I'm with Cha as she is neither experienced enough or heavy enough to hold my weight if (when) I plummet earthwards. The lovely Taz who was our coach for the session probably felt that she was being complimentary when she looked at my 15 year old gear and said " that's a very retro look, when did that harness last fit you?"
Injured pride apart we had a lovely work out, once the ibuprofen kicked in I climbed well for an elderly sloth and Charlie has a natural aptitude for climbing and no apparent fear. We then popped into one of our favourite bistros for a 'putting the calories back lunch'. Thanks to all our readers for your kind wishes on (or around) the day.
A walk on the wire side...
Cha Cha and I have some quality time together this week, her mama is moving house, it's half term and we'd cancelled our plans for late spring skiing due to work pressures. So it seemed like a good opportunity to re-acquaint ourselves with the Go-ape experience. A set of
obstacles and passages, linking the trees at 20 feet or so up in a local forest, clambers, zipwires, swings and traverses, good clean outdoor physical fun for a couple of hours. This morning started beautifully, a fresh April dawn, and after a leisurely breakfast we turned up to find that we had the entire course to ourselves for the first half hour. It was a beautiful morning and a great start to the day as we dangled, slid, scrambled and screamed our way around the course. I managed to catch a few snaps, click on the gorilla for the youtube experience.
sward had thrived. Here's the before and after pic. Lo and behold 12 months later (and despite the best efforts of the water board to dessicate my sorrowful saplings) the advent of loads of stunning blossom informs us that we have a death rate of only two.
f preference, sitting on the mower, chainsawing stuff and occasional (reluctant) strimming, actually now I think about it my favourite gardening thing is sitting on the bench with a book and a beer enjoying the bluebells, which arrive, a glorious carpet through the wood, no matter what I've done in the meantime.
