Moorish, more-ish, moreish, morish. Which do you use?
At the end of a long day, defrosting the freezer and scrubbing the larder floor Danny and I eventually fell out. He had been engaged elsewhere, sorting the clothes from the eight foot pile in the bedroom. Finding matching socks. Some hope. After a few hours we were both feeling like slaves. I could sense the possibility of a humongous row looming so I drove off to do the weekly shop. This valiant and selfless action seemed to put things on a more even keel. I got home, spent an hour in the garden and then wrote the post for the day. Danny...
read moreChelsea Flower Show 2007
There’s nothing like a day out at Chelsea for titillating those gardening taste buds. Particularly if the ticket is a present and my companion is my sister. She has a good eye and a natural sense of design and balance. Chelsea would not be nearly so much fun if I went alone. You need someone to ooh and aah with, particularly in the Great Pavilion. Here you can find the best suppliers of every plant imaginable. If you have a large budget and a new garden to make, Chelsea would be a great place to start. If you have an established garden...
read moreDigger
I have spent the last four days with a large friendly black dog. Digger minds the house when his owners are out earning the cash for his private medical care and top of the range food. The last comment is an assumption. They love him so I’m sure that’s it is true. And he adores them. Ten minutes before they are about to return he gets up and yawns. Sniffs my hair and ranges over to the French windows. This is a handy signal as I know I have to shut Digger in the house so that they can open the five bar gate and drive in. The first...
read moreSpring. slugs and a love affair
There are a lot of rooks living in the trees around here. You can’t miss the big nests and they’re very interesting to watch. The rooks were hanging out in small groups or alone a few weeks ago. Then they started pairing up. Today, driving to the next village, I saw my first black head peeping over the rim of the nest – a female sitting on eggs. Soon all the nests will be occupied. It’s such a pleasure to watch. I told Danny about the rooks and their antics a few years ago but he didn’t really believe me. Clearly...
read moreOld friends
This little fellow lives on the dressing table in our bedroom. I was given him for Christmas when I was seven. He is called Anatole. I had read the name in a book and imagined that it was pronounced Anat-tolee. He arrived with a wardrobe of clothes that my Mother had made for him. Each outfit had a small hole for his tail to go through. This snow suit doesn’t have a hole. Perhaps my mum reckoned that the tail would be warmer zipped inside the suit, when he ventured out in frosty weather. Anatole was the companion to my favourite toy, a...
read moreHow to fix an overheating laptop or notebook
Danny bought me a state of the art HP Pavilion Entertainment Notebook just over a year ago. It was the last one in the shop and had served an apprenticeship as a display model. I didn’t care. It was just what I wanted with loads of memory, widescreen and plenty of vroom. Now I could work at the kitchen table rather than in the Rat Room. Everyone was pleased. Within a month, the laptop started overheating. I’d be beavering away when suddenly the screen would freeze. With a tremulous phut it would die. Usually when I hadn’t...
read moreHow much is your garden worth?
I went over to see my mum yesterday. It was Mothers’ Day. We gave her chocs (Box of lavender and geranium truffles and an oversized milk chocolate ladybird with cardboard legs that we attached to the carrier bag) and floral tributes (lilies and stocks). Danny was fast asleep when I left so I had to forge his signature on his card (rather badly I fear). I remembered that he always does a long line of kisses in rather a faint hand and think that I got those spot on. She smiled at them. My mother has been ill so I didn’t stay long. If...
read moreI’ve been tagged
I?ve been tagged by Lobstersquad for a meme in which the victim recounts what?s been going on in their life in leaps of five years (the years ending in 2 and 7). Also what they were eating at the time. Never mysterious in real life, I always hoped that this blog would adjust the balance. This plot has clearly failed. I was born mid September 1953 1957. I was four, living in Cambridge and still avoiding school. My birthday fell after the start of the Autumn term so I was not allowed to attend as I was a few days under four years old. We used to...
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