Taking a Break

The fire bombers are out and about as the heat came on with a vengeance this month and the work on the quinta has slowed down tremendously because of it. We are just focusing on watering and weeding and harvesting at the moment, getting up as early as possible, working for a few hours and then taking the rest of the day to work on our more creative side of life.Got lots of potatoes too. A basket full from the small mound and the others are being turned over when we need them. It's such a good feeling to take them out of the ground, wash them and be eating them that day.
I am making pickles early this year because we have so much coming in from the garden. We have courgettes and cucumbers coming out of our ears and so many tomatoes that the plants can't carry the weight. Hence the early start with the Mustard Pickle and Green Tomato Pickle. The chutneys can come later.
Fraser has cleared the final pile of wood that needed de-barking so now we have half a wood shed of good dry wood already for the winter. The hope is to clear off this last terrace and build a proper shadery and cover for wet wood to dry. I hope I can plant some climbers, gravel the terrace and complete the water feature below! In my dreams it will be done this summer! We discovered that we have some lovely Myrtle bushes in the forest by the lake and it would be great to be able to take a root section and grow some under the cover of the shade.

The hot weather seems to have brought out some new critters that we haven't seen before. We have seen 3 snakes in the past couple of weeks. The most exciting occasion being after hearing hissing coming from our climbers below the verandah Bugsy decided to investigate. Scraps went bananas and raised the alarm and we found a young Montpelier snake curled up suspended against the wall in the middle of the passion flower.They are venomous but their venom fangs are at the back of their mouths so you would have to shove your finger down their throats to get envenomed but of course for dogs and children with smaller bits to bite you have to be careful. However it was a beauty and we decided to leave it be and let it find its way home unmolested.
The previous week Fraser found a snake skin which had been recently shed, hanging from the rafters in the workshed. It was about 3 feet long and in good condition. Not sure if it is from the same snake though.

Again Scraps raised the alarm one afternoon when a largish centipede came trotting in through the door. It was big but not as big as the one that fell from the ceiling in the barn and nearly landed on Fraser's neck but it was the same type that can bite and ruin your day
This little fella is harmless though and as cute a stick insect as you can find on a wall!!

As for our the rest of the month, Fraser has been busy painting up some new work on board with palette knife, and I have been playing with fabrics and having lots of fun making small wall hangings in patchwork and applique.
We went to a local Arts Market day to show our work and it was a complete wash out with only 3 of us exhibiting, but it was a start I suppose.
Who knows, someday we may even get people coming to look...