As Days Go By

I'm beginning to lose track of days as one seems very much like another.  The weather has been warm enough to sit outside so the rather tatty gazebo has been erected on the side lawn so we can sit out of the direct sunlight but still be enjoying the fresh air.  It's a good vantage point for watching the birds flit around the feeders, the visiting cats sitting by the pond harassing the newts and the squirrels running up and down the trees, keeping out of the cats' way.

One of our many cat visitors

There is a cat in the Tamarisk tree looking down on the cat by the pond.

Paul has used some poles from an even older, tattier gazebo to create a make do and mend netting cage which covers two raised beds so we can try and be more successful at growing vegetables than we have been in previous years. 

So what have I been doing  apart from flipping a duster here and there, keeping on top of the washing and ironing and making sure both kitchen and bathroom are kept clean?

Observing - Nature all around us.

Blossom on the Amelanchier tree just outside the bedroom window.

Day time fox visitor, I was lucky to have my camera handy as I'd just been photographing the hot cross buns.

 Badgers on the wildlife camera. There are four badgers including the pale one I showed you on a previous post. Also three other foxes different to the one who came onto the garden in daylight.  We see many bats too as dark descends across the garden and also on the night camera flitting by so quickly.

Behind the shed where all the garden debris and bits and bobs are lurking is an old water butt.  On it is an old folded sheet of tarpaulin, weighed down by a brick, left and forgotten but once again in use.  Robins have made a little cup shaped nest in the curl of the sheet on the far side. 

Reading

The fourth in the Marwood and Lovett series of books by Andrew Taylor.  London 1668.  As many political intrigues and plots as the previous ones and a good escape from the present day.

 
I'm going to re-read two or three of my favorite books including my most favourite and most read one 'A Month in the Country' by J L Carr.

Watching 

I've been watching things on iplayer that I've missed when they have been on tv.  I think they have all been programmes shown in the afternoons.  All BBC programmes - 'Mallory Towers' a super adaptation of the Enid Blyton books. 'London Kills' a modern day detective series with twists and turns and 'Shakespeare and Hathaway' charming, funny and easy on the eye.

Eating

Hot cross buns on Good Friday, not home made but from the Co-op around the corner and very tasty they were too.

A dark chocolate egg for Easter Sunday, although not opened until today. 

We had quite a few carrotts and onions so we made Crecy Plate Pie from the Cranks recipe book.  It lasted three days, with green veg one day, salad the next and baked beans a third day.

Listening

Sitting in the garden listening to birds tweeting and bees buzzing. Blackbirds and robins sing, starlings whistle, magpies chatter and herring gulls fly overhead and remind me of the sea. Sometimes the gentle hum of a lawn mower or harsher hum of a hedge trimmer drifts over the hedges and fences from other houses.  No planes overhead for ages but one day last week two different air ambulances passed over within half an hour of each other and the next day a huge bulbous Chinook helicopter flew low overhead.  These sounds stand out now and seem unusual in this new, quieter world. 

Wild Garlic flowers are now coming out and the garden is covered in dandelions, yellow everywhere.  Soon buttercups will join them with their bright, sunny hue.  I've never seen so many.

Of course doing all these things distracts the mind for a while but rather like waking up the morning after you've heard about some tragic event and for a brief moment it seems as if it hasn't happend before reality sets in, so the awareness returns that beyond the garden gate the unseen enemy exists and it is undoubtedly real.

Take care everyone and stay safe.