Making Hay While the Sun Shines (or not!)

A real batch of mixed weather this month has meant having to do as much as we can outside while the weather permits. The grass and the wild flowers are as high as an elephants eye as the song goes, so Fraser has been busy using his new scythe to cut the high grass on the terraces, but leaving patches of flowers in the fields. Had to let the cutting dry off before we raked it all up and so far we have several high piles of hay mulching down nicely.Sylvi spent most of the month digging and weeding the various garden sites, sorting out the irrigation and planting up more veg in the food garden!

The new fence and gate is up around the pond but Bugsy is just a pain and keeps chasing the fish we had transfered. This little game has played hell with the lilies we sank in pots - he keeps knocking them over... The sides of the pond are an easy slope in for him....so we have moved the fish back into the old pond for the time being.
He now spends a lot of time staring down into the now empty pond looking very confused and worried, looking for his orange buddies. Stuff we have planted around the edge seem to be doing ok too.

On Fraser's birthday, since the weather was sunny we spent the day at the beach with Steve and Vanessa and Beanie. It was a glorious day and we were all pretty knackered after several long beach walks. Spot the ball!!! Had a picnic lunch at Tocha and then home for a few beers.
Spent the Easter weekend doing not very much at all, although we had a lovely lunch with friends at Harry and Seana's place on Easter Sunday. The month was pretty well rounded off by a visit from some very close friends from Brasil - Liz and Nigel. An all to short visit, but it was really wonderful to see them again after so long and to have them stay with us.On the Royal Wedding Day the sky changed, rain fell and the thunder roared so we joined the masses and watched the event on TV in between power surges which tripped our electrics. Glad we did too! Some happiness to view in current world chaos.

The latest Lexa update is...she has teef!!!! What a poppet!!!

Marching On

March madness seemed to set in this month, and in complete contrast to February we have been at it non-stop...work that is! Hence the delay in this post.

It all started with yet another fence which stops Bugsy from knocking me over the edge of our entry way when he is really pleased to see me. Duly constructed by Fraser in willow and finished off by me with some drift wood as a whimsical idea.
Needless to say Bugsy has found means to escape and has virtually demolished the small fan palm above in order to get out...so the project continues.
The fruit trees are blooming and the sun has shown up after the rain so it's been a good time for the garden.We might actually get some nectarines this year with a bit of luck.

The plums look like they may produce this year too...if the blossom sets and if they can weather the peach leaf curl

My new wisteria is in bloom and, as if shamed into flower, the wisteria that has grown here for 12 years and never flowered has produced two buds!!! Sooooo exciting.The bulbs are coming up as I discovered after a few days weeding... and the shrubs are starting to flower so at last the garden is giving us some colour. I've also planted up the garden with some new blooms and shrubs and we have completely revamped the front wall to give the passion flower, jasmine and virginia creeper a proper climbing frame!Found a baby salamander in the process.On the farming side..Fraser rotavated my veg patch and enjoyed every moment as you can see! Having dug in some great compost from the pond weed and my kitchen compost bin and some commercial horse poo compost it is now partially planted with broad beans, peas, onions, lettuce, spaghetti beans, rocket, carrots, parsnips, leeks and radishes. The pumpkins and squashes are being seeded in the back quad of the house along with the small cherry tomatoes and will be going in soon.
I have re-vamped the compost bin in the style of Darth Vader to make two compartments. Amazing what you can do with a dead compost bin from Lidl old gate and some pallettes.As if rotavating wasn't enough work, Fraser decided we were to become a two-pond household, so decided to dig out an extension. The dogs helped of course...overseeing the project and helping to flatten the ground!So in a period of 3 days he dug pond two. and we have lined, filled and completed it with a slate waterfall leading from pond one.and some more formal planting than the last one. We need to re-fence the area and provide another gate. Next month's job!

In the house Fraser has closed off part of the stairwell to the attic with wood panelling. Looks great and now just needs painting.

I made my first ever batch of lemon curd and learned the hard way not to try to flush chopped lemons in an attempt to help clean the system instead of using bleach. The end result was a blocked pipe...very unpleasant and meant we had to rip up the lino in the utility armazem... find and dig out the buried inspection point, complete with concrete hatch (buried halfway under a granite slab on the back path to the field,) and three hours later rodding and clearing the lemons (tempted to say lemon turd here but I won't).

For R and R we spent a day at the beach and took a walk to the river today and the stillness of the water threw up some amazing Dali-esque reflectionsBeanie came over for some playtime with Bugsy
And I have caught the weaving bug after attending a weaving day with friends Josh and Veronika in their workshop.Scraps would like to have a go at unravelling the yarn!

And Fraser has found the right colour red for his latest model, a Douglas Skyray which was a very pretty delta winged fighter with the U.S. Navy in the late 1950s.

So all in all we think we are in for a rest...
but not for long!!!!