Sunday, July 23, 2006

Peaceful Sunday chez nous

Woke up to gentle rain, but nowhere near enough of it, really. It all cleared away within an hour or so, and we were back to blue skies and very warm temperatures, although not quite as hot as some days have been.

So, yet again not much fibre work went on around here, but a fair bit of very enjoyable relaxing in the garden. Gave me time to wander around with the camera, something I have been meaning to do for ages.

I never did post any photographs of the New Pond. So, for your delectation....

pond

The waterlilies have definitely approved of the move to slightly larger premises, and are looking gorgeous. Now, this next is a bit fuzzy - actually taken by the DSM, balancing precariously over the water with the camera on close-up setting, and I did think it would have been a bit churlish to have made any suggestions as to how to reduce camera-shake....

frogpond

See the orange mark leading away from a gap between two rocks, towards the middle of the photo? And just below that, slightly up from the water, a blodgy blur? That's a frog, that is! There are two or three resident, a bazillion tadpoles, that I am assuming are not going to develop in to frogs, just like they didn't do when I was a kid and fished them out of the bomb crater pond up the lane into a jam jar and fed them on bacon rind (I was a sick kid....) And - there are four resident fish, too. Tiny, three inch long carp (goldfish to most people). Which all seem to be co-existing happily - there's lots of activity, critters rising to the surface and so on. It's good fun to sit and watch for a while.

Next up -

clematis

more clematis

Pretty, huh? We've been nurturing this clematis for a few years now, rescuing it from time to time from the megaslugs that inhabit the area. But this location, and the weather this year have really brought it on a treat. The colour, for once for a blue, is about right here.

Couple of other things both quite silly.

beenz

Thanks to wonderful killer Nemaslug, this year we have veggie crops for the first time in ages. Runner beans, to be fair, usually manage to escape them mostly, but not always. These are looking good, as are a few peas and some broad beans, not to mention a forest of brassicas various.

But one plant grows like a weed around here - well, apart from the actual weeds, that is. Ladies mantle seeds like crazy and pops up all over the place.
Here's one clinging happily to a brick holding down a bag of potting compost or something. Didn't have the heart to root it out!

ladies mantle

Also in my wanderings, I checked on the jungle that is the "dye garden". Harvested some woad seeds, lovely and ripe, and noted that I have golden rod, genista tinctoria and hemp agrimony doing well. Unfortunately, I am not in the mood for dyeing yellow, but I might harvest some of it to dry.

Tomorrow I need to finish off the sock samples and notes, and I haven't been doing enough spinning, so a wheel might just make it out into the garden. We are being promised sun again. Could get used to this!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Carol & Pete,
Great looking pond, I swear I'm gonna do one next spring. MY flowers are going crazy this year, good weather here in Michigan.
Gail

Twelfthknit said...

Hi - just started spinning some of that fab tencel blend - it's going like a dream.
India

Leigh said...

Hi Carol, you've been tagged. Come ready my "I've Been Tagged" post to find out what you have to do.

Oh, and the photos are lovely!