Sitting by the open patio door eating my breakfast I am serenaded again by 'my' beautiful Song Thrush ('he sings each song twice over, lest he can ne'er recapture that first fine, careless rapture). To think that for years we had not heard a Song Thrush at the farm on our morning walks and now - only three fields away - I am hearing one almost every morning and have been watching Song Thrush babies being fed in my garden; and all this on a housing estate too.
There was a pleasant chill in the air first thing this morning but now, at half past eight, the cloudy sky is gradually clearing and the sun is coming out and it is destined to be another scorching hot day. Last evening I watered the part of the garden I can easily reach with the hose pipe. The pressure on my new tap is quite low as the water comes from the tank in the roof, but it is easier than hauling the watering can up steps. I suspect that any day now a Hose Pipe Ban with come into place - it has already done so in some areas of the country. Then it will be - water the courgettes and gro bag beans with cans of water (hard work for me).
Yesterday at coffee a friend told how she had heard good advice on the radio about walking dogs in hot weather. Go out on to a pavement in the sun and put the back of your hand flat onto the path and hold it there for five seconds. If the pavement feels very hot to your hand and almost burns it then don't expect your dog to walk on there in the heat of the day!
The Marestail weed in my garden has now totally reacted to the spray put on last Monday by the gardener and is shrivelled, brown and seemingly dead. You and I know better of course! It is only sleeping and as I write those pre-historic roots are planning to re-emerge. But we shall be ready and waiting with a second application of weedkiller,and a third, and a fourth. Somehow between us D, the gardener, and I will beat it (fingers crossed).
A totally free day today suggests I may drive into town to buy a Times newspaper to add to today's Guardian already delivered. I am ashamed to say that I have almost the whole of this month's Book
Club book to read. 'The Leopard' by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa is an interesting read: not a book I would ever have chosen to read but 'good for me to have read'. I am aiming at a chapter a day. I am told that the title should have been 'The Ocelot' but that the publishers on its reissue (it is a Vintage Classic re-issue) thought it would sell more easily if it was called The Leopard!
Have a good day whatever the weather in your part of the world.
About Me
- The Weaver of Grass
- I am a widow for the second time - first marrriage 39 years, second marriage 23 years - both very happy. My second marriage was to a farmer and when he died the farm was sold. I now live in the nearby small town on the edge of Wensleydale in The Yorkshire Dales. My beloved Border Terrier died a couple of years ago - I still miss her but as I am 90 and need carers I shalln't get another I have one son,who lives nearby with his wife, three grandchildren, one step grandchild, two great grandchildren and two step great grandchildren..Life is good.
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17 comments:
I'll be very interested to know if your mare's tail remains dead or simply re-shoots up again. What is the stuff that you used called.
Are you suffering with this persistent N. wind that we are here on Sheppey. When it combines with hot sun in the afternoons it renders watering the garden pointless, it simply dries any water straight out of the ground. I estimate my pond loses an inch of water a day at the moment.
No song thrush serenades here sadly, but I am sitting near an open window and enjoying the gentle cool movement of air from it.
I have found an easy way to water my few plants. They are right under my bay window. I fill two empty plastic 2pt milk bottles and one largish jug with water and place them by the open window. Then I go outside and can just reach them from the pathway. Saves a lot of lugging about.
It is 9.30am and overcast so I'm making the most of it. Good luck with the marestail. Die marestail, die!
In Holland it's already very hot as well, I think I am going to stay inside for most of the day, though I actually have to remove weeds out of the garden.
All the water companies have advised not to sprinkle the garden (and farmers not their fields/crops), though we couldn't resist it last night. The plants really needed a lof of water.
I occasionally hear a Song Thrush here but not as often as I'd like. Hope the Mare's Tail is suitably trimmed by its treatment. Somehow a book called The Ocelot sounds more intriguing to me than The Leopard, but then I always was one of the awkward squad.
Putting one's hand down on the pavement assumes that one can get down that far down to put one's hand on the pavement.
No song thrush here sadly, but a blackbird sang to me yesterday evening and there is plenty of chatter from the sparrows.
Have a good weekend and enjoy your meal out on Sunday
Setting up for a really hot day in Lazio, the first of the year, already feeling exhausted and wishing the plastic pool was up. The thrush is singing as I type and we have swallows, lovely, Have a great weekend and keep cool.
Mare's Tail is (I think) I primeval plant. It's used to surviving for millions of years. The film of 'The Leopard' is a good one too.
I am currently listening to my daughter learning to play the ukelele. Rick has covered his ears with his paws. Have a good weekend.
Just ordered a book on Vikings, must admit all this talk of book clubs (Rachel included) has put me off a bit because of the required reading. Done A level literature a long time ago and you should enjoy a book. And yes the weeds, or the mares tail will never disappear they have been around a long time...
As Rachel said, down is as down does. I would need a staff to lean on.
Scorching heat here also Pat (Arkansas) with very high humidity... blech! I i shall hibenate in my aircond. home..playing with my art and crafts.. Jinx has taken up lying beside the air vent... He knows a good thing..lol Life's too short to read a book i really don't want to... Yes it can be a good thing to read outside of your comfort zone once in a while... I do make myself read a classic once or twice a year. But still... i don't do it too often..
We had Mockingbirds in Texas but i hadn't seen any here but i had read they were suppose to be here in Arkansas.. Then one day i saw one in town....and now thats the only place i see them is in town.. strange.. Stay cool Pat and you too Tess.. Hugs! deb
No further soundings from the Corncrake I'm afraid,a neighbour confirmed it was a Corncrake,they are now quite endangered I believe.Hope you and Tess manage to keep cool.
My Dad fought a hard battle with Mares Tail for many years on his allotment, as fast as he got rid of his it came over from neighbouring plots. You sound to be planning success over yours 🙂
It's far too hot to do anything once the morning cool vanishes, I look forward to dusk and a returning drop in temperature ... but you have to be in just the right place to get the benefit of any breeze.
We live in a housing developement and hear the beautiful singing of birds every morning and evening. I also put out a humming bird feeder and they visit in the spring and summer. That is wise information on checking the pavement. I have heard of dogs getting serious burns on their feet. We've had temperatures in the upper 90sF all week so we have mainly stayed inside. Enjoy your weekend and your book!
Your last paragraph in the Hot Thursday post was very touching and meaningful.
32 Celsius here today, and it already felt very warm at 10 to 7 this morning in my east facing kitchen. But it's been a thoroughly lovely summer's day, not muggy or humid, just warm and sunny.
Around my house live many blackbirds, each of them has their own song to recognise, one of them has some really funny bits that always make me smile when I hear it.
The Leopard is THE classic book of Sicilian literature, I wonder how you will like it. To be perfectly precise, its English title would have to be The Serval, as the original title "Il Gattopardo" means Felis serval.
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