Seven random garden facts
Ten days ago, Sara from Farming Friends tagged me for seven random facts about my garden. I have lived here for fifteen years now, creating and maintaining my garden is how I keep vaguely sane. When I first moved here it was just after I had been released from a short, unhappy marriage. A marriage that was so brief that all I tottered away with was half the wedding presents and a tattered heart. I am extremely lucky in “The boy stood on the burning deck” sort of way. My aunt had unexpectedly died and left me some money. I could...
read moreCooking with dogs
Daisy Beatyl drinking from the large bowl of water in the kitchen is one of the most soothing sounds. This is my Mum’s miniature Daschund. She is on the very largest end of miniature. In fact she seems to be a proper sized Daschund to me. She also has very large, soft eyes. The only small part of DB is her lack of spite. When crossed, the Min Pins can spend a day in their igloo beds with the blinds down. Daisy Beatyl is always forgiving, wanting to join in, loving being petted and returning the compliment in a Daisy Beatlyish sort of...
read moreDecorating
Sometimes I realise that I am one of the luckiest people in our part of England (East Anglia). I get to meet loads of people, rich, poor and in between. Every one of them is fascinating. Even the bad ones (and there have only been two baddie households in five years). Usually I make what Danny calls “a visitation”. Although I have pointed out that visitations are only carried out by angels and unearthly characters in novels, he sticks to his guns. Jalopy and I purr up to the client’s house where I assess the task. There is an...
read moreCharanga Keyboard Coach
Secretly, I’ve always wanted to be a rock star. I did play the fiddle and recorder many years ago. Deep down inside me, there’s a cool musician just waiting for the right moment to emerge. This time last year I went away to the seaside with my mother. She repaired to her bed to recharge her batteries every afternoon. I would snake away in Danny’s car (we had swapped for the week so my mother would not have to endure the smirks that Jalopy might attract). In one of Aldeburgh’s wonderful shops I found some small primitive...
read moreThe Barrowbecue Barbecue
One hot summer, years ago, Danny had a yearning for a barbecue. I knew that I had one knocking about in the barn. I unearthed it – an old Hitachi. The model that had two wooden legs and slots at different levels to hold the grill. The legs had rotted away but I found a few bricks and stationed the barbecue in the wheel barrow. We improvised the grill with a large wire mesh fire guard that covered the top of the wheel barrow. I even found a bag of charcoal. Danny fired up the monster and grilled sardines stuffed with lemon soaked bread...
read moreHow I learned to cook (part one)
The three lines in the small ad read, “Small Chelsea flat in return for light domestic duties and care of elderly Peke.” I grabbed the telephone and within 30 minutes was ringing the doorbell. The flat was pretty. The Pekingese was called Fanny and over a formal cup of tea, the domestic duties were explained. They wanted a cook. My heart sank. “You can cook?” The smart lady in her sixties observed me over expensive horn rimmed spectacles. “Of course,” meeting the gimlet eye. I was 22 but had never cooked...
read moreIn the little things
On Friday evening, when I am tired, it’s always the small husbandry tasks that magically make me feel better. By the end of June, the fish respond to my footfalls as I pass the by pond, rushing to be fed with mouths wide open. Food falls from the sky when they hear the thundering steps. Inca and I tend to linger by the pond, enjoying watching them feed. She loves the ceremony of the feeding of the fish because she gets to sample their diet. On the fish front the supreme personality is George. A giant now at 25 years old. His restaurant...
read moreThe secret of the empty whisky bottles
Earlier this year, I spent a few weeks working for a charming couple in the next village. They live in a lovely house set in an acre of land. The garden teemed with wildlife. It was hard not to linger by the windows and watch the natural residents. I am lucky. Generally I work in houses with far more interesting clients than the wildlife beyond the windows. Each situation is packed with surprises, of the human kind rather than the behaviour of paint and fillers. On this particular job I would arrive for work and find an empty litre bottle of...
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