Of school concerts,child holiday labour,and hedgerows

It’s been a slow few days as I think I did too much last week and have been moving at a snail’s pace the last three days. Any spare minute and I’m dozing on the sofa …
This morning I put Dilly on the 7.15 am bus for Dublin with a suitcase almost the same size as herself. She met a school-friend at the station so I left them talking a mile a minute. Then I came home and cleared up the kitchen, loaded the dishwasher and clothes washer, and generally tidied away the debris of last night.
Yesterday morning at school we had our School Concert where each class sang to everyone else. There were no parents or visitors and it was a very low-key affair compared to the Christmas Carols when we sing round the Churches. The purpose of the Concert was to give the children a light hearted musical ending to the year, and also to build a little community togetherness. It was a lovely ¾ of an hour with lots of clapping and laughing.
Afterwards I had some errands in town, including having passport photos taken. I don’t know how Immigration ever sort the good guys from the bad as those ridiculous little photos make everyone look like master-criminals! I consider myself a moderately ordinary person, but from my photo I’d definitely be hauled in for questioning…I also got B a magazine with ideas for making occasional cards as I intend to put her time to good use this summer! And I am trying to find a hobby to interest her: I think everyone should have an interesting ,time consuming, and preferably useful, hobby. Am I very old-fashioned?
In the evening my parents came to supper to spend some time with Dilly before she headed back to Dublin to work for the summer. It was a lovely sunny evening and the evening light on the mountains around us was beautiful. I made curry and chapattis, the usual Kenyan Sunday dinner (despite it being Tuesday!), and, as Mum was bringing Strawberries, I made shortcake, which I for got in the oven. Mmmm, bit brown-ish black, but it tasted ok apparently. (I can’t eat anything with gluten).
The farmers around us have been cutting their silage and the fields are all golden green. The hedgerows on our lane are gorgeous too, clouds of dog daisies and celandines. The meadowsweet and cow parsley are just beginning to flower and the low-lying red robart gives a lovely pink-purple haze to the stone walls. The leaves on the trees are still green and healthy with lovely dark shard underneath. It’s a great year for foxgloves and honey -suckle too. I love summer hedgerows, well I love them at all times, but they are particularly full at present.
In the veg beds the broad beans are bursting with flowers, so there should be a good crop coming. The French beans are ever so slow, I had to go and speak sternly to them today- here we have fabulous hot sunny humid weather, perfect for growing and they are wasting the opportunity. The mange tout,lettuces, raspberries, and strawberries are doing well, apart from the one raspberry the Hub beheaded with the strimmer. Very miffed.
We’ve just seen the flooding around Gweedore on the RTE News: not one bit amusing. Roads and bridges washed out, I hope the Council soon have clean water restored, as in this hot weather it’ll be essential.
Sos is having a whale of a time in Madrid apparently, she’s managing one text in the evening, if she managed more I’d be more concerned. The friend with the sheepy quilt has two sheep done!
The Jehovah Wittness ladies were calling today, I don’t know why they return as I made it plain years ago that I’m a working member of my Church and happy to remain so, but its good to have others’ points of view and know that crisis’ of faith hit all denominations. I finished the hand quilting on my wall hanging today and started binding it before I keeled over on the sofa, it’s a shame to waste the gorgeous weather, but I’m wrecked. I’ll just make soup and bread for the Hub and B’s supper, then go out and give another pep-talk to the beans! B is watching ‘Friends’ re runs and cackling deafeningly so I need to move before I become hearing- devastated…