I WorkWorkWorkWork...

....work the whole day long...

Isn't that the dwarfs song from Sleeping Beauty?

Well believe it or not, there have actually been enough dry spells in the last ten days for me to get some work done in the garden! A few drenchings too when I had my head down amongst the weeds and didn't notice the growing blackness of the sky, but maybe if I stand in the rain often enough I'll grow.....? Faint chance at this stage!

Firstly I weeded all along the montbretias, front and back, and was a bit disappointed when I realised how much of the growth was weed, not flower! Oooops! However in the last five days they have come along beautifully and are now just about flowering.

The grass and weeds along our verge were almost waist height as the strimmer is banjaxed. I took out the good old 'slasher' and hacked them down to a reasonable size. Its still all weeds, but its tidy weeds- a step in the right direction!!

 The blackberries are flowering ever so late; if we don't have an Indian summer nothing will ripen, but if we do we'll be inundated. Last year's crop was very patchy so we could do with plenty for jam!

 And I detest pulling up thistles even worse than nettles as they always seem to get me. Mind you, I was plenty stung too- anyone would think I was growing a nettle farm here. I lined the thistles up to put on the fire in the hopes of killing off any potential seeds, so alas alack but this fella is no more!

It doesn't look much does it, but the growth this summer has been something else with the wet and warm temperatures. I've done a fair bit of work around the patio and the beds along the walls but you can't really tell.

Oh well, I know everything is a bit tidier!!

Of Saucers

So you know the way Ireland is saucer shaped, geologically speaking, mountains around the edges and all them bogs and flat farmland in the middle?

D'you know why it’s so?

I’ve a theory...it’s to keep all the water in and to make sure we float.

Put a saucer in a bucket of water and you'll see.

But here's the thing now; if you get too much water into the middle of the saucer what happens?

It sinks.

So I’m just thinking here, that if anyone has immediate access to the climatic tap that's doing the unending dripping on Ireland, they might want to take a wrench to the valve and shut it off for a bit, before we either drown or sink???

And no, I wouldn't fancy living in the Sahara, and yes, I kinda like the emeraldishness of this island, but c'mon haven't we enough water to be going on with for now?

Colm Wilkinson and Enniskillen.

It was an odd weekend, warm, but incredibly wet. There was no doing anything in the garden but everything is growing apace. Sos was called to work on Friday night, and B was out at a sleep-over with a school-friend, which made the place startlingly quiet for a few hours.
Sos works in a florist shop in town when things get busy or they need a runner or a gofer. She fell into it by accident as she did her school work-experience there in 4th year, and because she was willing they’ve been calling on her ever since. It’s a great blessing for us as it means she can earn her own money for big things and we don’t have to either tell her ‘no’ or frantically try to dredge up extra. On Friday evening they were having a flower demonstration and needed an extra pair of hands, she had fun too!

Saturday I sewed, and did some indoor chores, like the ironing, well part of the ironing: I got bored and finished the Jill Mansell book (‘Sheer Mischief’) instead, then returned to the patchwork. The book was very entertaining, I’d recommend it. In the evening I went to a Concert by Colm Wilkinson. He sang in ‘Les Mis’ when it opened on Broadway, and for some time afterwards I think. We’ve several of his recordings. He was pretty entertaining, talk about the ultimate mad Irishman, and has quite the voice. I took a few photos but they didn’t come out very well.

Sunday was one of my ‘couldn’t wake up days’. Lucky it was Sunday as when they occur there is nothing I can do except sleep it off. An expenditure of too much nervous energy I think, but at least the girls are old enough for it to not be the inconvenience it once was. The Hub said I missed a good sermon on 2 Corinthians 12 v2-10: ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ The Rector was in fine form, mind you, he is a good speaker and his sermons are always worth noting and considering. I got out the passage this evening and though Paul wrote those words as being applicable to himself, they are still so relevant, perhaps even more in present times of uncertainty. Paul says he can only boast about his own weakness because it is then that God’s power is most visible to others through him. Today, as I unfortunately started to slide again down into my own black pit (the Slough of Despond) I’m holding tight to the same words- ‘My grace is sufficient for you.’ It better be, Lord!

This morning Sos, B and I went to Enniskillen with Mum and Dad for a bit of an outing. There are always some things you can’t buy in the south, but can in the north, and Enniskillen is our nearest town across the border. It poured on and off all day there too. The girls had a lovely time pottering, and B got some unusual stickers for her card- making, as well as three books in the Bargain Bookshop. Sos got a smart top, she doesn’t ‘do’ books, I think she must be a changeling. Dad and I were finished first so we sat by the main door in the Erneside and watched the rain. He started the cryptic crossword in today’s paper (1. across: ‘a pop festival’….Fathers’ Day) and I supervised! He asked to borrow a pen, then told me it was no good because it would only knew the answers to four letter clues… There’s a quote from ‘Friends’ the girls love to use at me, I think it was said by Rachel: ‘I tried so hard not to turn into my Mother that I’ve turned into my Father!’ The girls say they only have to look at my Dad to know exactly the way I’ll be in another thirty years! Hmmm…

The Hub’s Mother is supposed to be coming to visit in October and our spare-room is still in the same condition that the builders left it three years ago. The Hub is getting a bit ansty so has been pricing sheds- well yes, I thought lawn-mower, garden equipment, camping stuff, and tools etc belonged in a spare room too, but he has this funny idea that they should be in a shed. It must be a Kenyan notion I suppose. Anyhow, after some discussion with various timber-merchants, and shed-sellers, he’s decided to build a shed and then clear the spare room. Well good luck to him, he’s about three months to do it: I’ll make the curtains nearer to October, I’m not getting excited just yet! I’ll not even measure the windows just yet!! I’m not a pessimist, I’m a realist!

I was playing with the camera and the panorama program, this is the view around the north and east of our house, as you can tell its a very built up area! I'm wondering if its come out inside out though as that blobby hill shouldn't be to the east. Ah well! It was fun!