Wednesday, 20.8.08 Sun, Rain, Sun!

I seem to have missed yesterday. Jim had an abortive journey with the car to Galway. The garage didn't have the parts, so he had to go back again this morning! I had a lovely day with Buster though. I decided not to panic when he went missing but just wait. He came back each time and saved us both a lot of hassle. As I poddled about the garden, he followed. I cleared the broad beans and Buster helped me dig! My back ached a bit so I did some 'sitting down' work, ie, weeding the parking area and Buster managed to climb onto the roof of the water pump housing and lay there peacefully with Sandy. It was lovely.

Jim did some shopping while he was waiting and bought Buster a new bed. Buster was most impressed and is fast asleep in it now. It has to be an improvement on his old bed, a rather disgusting old cardboard box. He had outgrown the cats' bed.





Buster's Old Bed











Buster's New Bed (he's not sure about the little bow on the front)















He still won't part with his old de-stuffed dolly. Her head is about to fall off any day, that'll be the final disaster.

Today Jim had to go off early again to take the car.... they did have the parts in today. He hit the shops again and came back this time with:





A new bed for the cats! They have both tried it out and seem to approve. BlackJack refused to stay in it when I tried to take a photo.




As for me today, I started off with a leisurely bath, then up into the garden to carry on clearing the beans plot. It was so wet, I could hardly lift the spade, so I gave up on that. This is what it looks like now:




The greenery in the foreground - they're Jim's carrots! And very nice they are too.







I keep going on about the parking area, so I thought I'd better show it, so you can see why it's taking so long. For one thing, the bit I did at first is now mostly green again, as the new grass has grown through.













To the left you can just see the pump housing. The weedy patch here has gone now, I did that today. Can you see the old plough just opposite the pump? We have 2 of those.













This is the section up to the gate. Mostly done, the green patch you can see is secondary growth.













The bottom section (plus Buster). The other plough is on the right, you can just see the handles sticking out.

I managed to take some photos of the flowers today too, as they are fading a bit now that Autumn is approaching. I only found one rose fit to be photographed. The rest have all suffered with the wet. So here are the ones I did take:








I love the flat topped flower heads of the yellow achillea. The pink flowers are cosmos, Jim grew those from seed












This is a bright orange montbretia. The honey bee has pollen sacks bursting with pollen.












These pretty red and pink begonia brighten up a dull corner. They have flowered all Summer












These are our first blueberries. We planted 3 bushes in the Spring. Not quite
enough for jam this year










This stunning California Poppy self seeded into our garden. I hope we gets lots more next year










This fish happily belches out sedum on the rockery















Our rather dilapidated gnome plays his pipe for the haughty fairy on the fairy hill, where else!















These stripey marigolds are quite stunning













Beautiful rose bud















The huge onion flowers have left wonderful seed heads







I think that's enough for one day.

It's been a bit of a disaster on my 60th birthday front. Jim was arranging a surprise lunch for me on the day after my birthday, as his son gets married on the 6th Sept, the actual day. My young son has let the cat out of the bag by putting a message on Facebook, which of course I read. Silly boy, he'll be mortified when he realises what he's done. So it's all cancelled now! Apparently, there were other complications, which meant Jim was considering calling it off anyway. Ah well, best laid plans and all that.

I still have my surprise trip away. Well, I know we're going away but not where to, except that it should be warm. Intriguing.