Today was, what I think they call in the trade, a slow news day. Just an ordinary Sunday spent at home until we went down to Emba for dinner and our normal Sunday game of cards with Mum and Dad.
I had a little excitement as I was washing up because something in the garden my eye - initially I thought there was one of the larger dragonflies darting about but then I realised there was a tiny bird flitting in and out of the gazebo which is outside the guest bedroom.
When I eventually got my eyes trained on it and then the camera I realised it was one of the tiny little songbirds that visits the island - taking its life into its hands not because of the cats in the vicinity but because this little bird is Ambelopoulia - now I am not one to criticise local customs but I have to say the way in which this delicacy comes to the table is one which I just cannot endorse. I personally could derive no pleasure in eating a tiny little songbird illegally trapped and often in very inhumane circumstances. That is all I have to say on the matter. I hope this little bird gets to wherever it was planning on going and gets back home in one piece - bon voyage or kalo taxidi little bird.
On the subject of the garden I had designated today as a tidy up day for as long as I could cope with being out in the sun. Everything got a good old scalping for TD but even though it is incredibly hot everything is growing, and some!
Gardening has always been a passion of mine right from when I bought my very first house back in about 1982 and I had a tiny little back garden attached to my little terraced house which was an expanse of big fat zero nothingness and with very little money, a bit of creativity and the help of friends was turned into my little oasis. So some 30-odd years later it would seem that very little has changed with regard to my garden - very little money, a bit of creativity and the help of friends has turned our current garden into our oasis. I was so proud on the day of TD to showcase our home - our quirky little home with its quirky garden which we love and which we have worked so hard to achieve. Yes it would be nice to have more money to spend just to go and buy exactly what you want when you want it but it is amazing what you can do with a bit of time and effort. We do however have our fingers firmly crossed that John's mum is the winner of EuroMillions mega payout last week and she is going to bring over our share when she is here next...
First to be attacked with the shears was the 'poligala' plant which was transformed from Don King to Duncan Goodhew and looks all the better for it - the only trouble is that I never get to see it flower when I keep it cropped short!
I started early and this area is in the shade first thing so managed to get what I wanted done there pretty quickly.
There isn't much colour in the garden at the moment - it is a boring time of the year in terms of flowers but give it a month or so and we will have things flowering.
The clock vine that I thought had gone to meet its maker because it took soooo long to show any sign of life has now reached the top of the kitchen and is on to the railings of the roof terrace - we had one flower out on the day of TD - so thanks for that clock vine - we now await its full glory when there will be huge lilac blooms hanging down all over the place. It is glorious when it is flowering and I have to thank my lovely friend Elaine Norton for this plant as she gave it to us as a gift a couple of years ago after we had admired the one which she has in her garden.
It is amazing what effect having tall columns of green in the garden can have. It makes the garden look so much more lush and bigger and gives an impression of coolness on a really hot day.
I worked my way around the garden snipping and clipping and tidying up but it was getting increasingly hot out in the garden so we decided that when I got to the large solanum outside the kitchen we would give that a haircut and then call it a day for today. It sounded like good advice to me as I was getting hotter and hotter!
So here are the before and after shots of the large solanum. It looks so much nicer when it has been cut. I know that people worry that you will cut off all of the flowers but if you do it regularly enough then as the flowers come on the new growth there will be plenty even after you have completed the hair cut. I do fancy getting a white one like the one I gave Diana for her birthday the only trouble is that I don't really have anywhere for it to go which is a bit of a shame although I am sure I could squeeze a little one in somewhere!
For the second day in a row Boris aka Mr Boo has come home minus his collar - this is so annoying - we thought we might humiliate him but making him wear a collar with a bandanna (which I think was a gift from our neighbour Sharon). He let us put it on him, he didn't seem impressed and on reflection we thought that, as he was the one who wanders the most and seems to get into the most scrapes being the youngest, it was maybe not such a good idea to give him something that could so easily get caught on a bramble or something so we took it off and gave him one of the usual quick release collars that they normally wear.
When I eventually got my eyes trained on it and then the camera I realised it was one of the tiny little songbirds that visits the island - taking its life into its hands not because of the cats in the vicinity but because this little bird is Ambelopoulia - now I am not one to criticise local customs but I have to say the way in which this delicacy comes to the table is one which I just cannot endorse. I personally could derive no pleasure in eating a tiny little songbird illegally trapped and often in very inhumane circumstances. That is all I have to say on the matter. I hope this little bird gets to wherever it was planning on going and gets back home in one piece - bon voyage or kalo taxidi little bird.
On the subject of the garden I had designated today as a tidy up day for as long as I could cope with being out in the sun. Everything got a good old scalping for TD but even though it is incredibly hot everything is growing, and some!
Gardening has always been a passion of mine right from when I bought my very first house back in about 1982 and I had a tiny little back garden attached to my little terraced house which was an expanse of big fat zero nothingness and with very little money, a bit of creativity and the help of friends was turned into my little oasis. So some 30-odd years later it would seem that very little has changed with regard to my garden - very little money, a bit of creativity and the help of friends has turned our current garden into our oasis. I was so proud on the day of TD to showcase our home - our quirky little home with its quirky garden which we love and which we have worked so hard to achieve. Yes it would be nice to have more money to spend just to go and buy exactly what you want when you want it but it is amazing what you can do with a bit of time and effort. We do however have our fingers firmly crossed that John's mum is the winner of EuroMillions mega payout last week and she is going to bring over our share when she is here next...
First to be attacked with the shears was the 'poligala' plant which was transformed from Don King to Duncan Goodhew and looks all the better for it - the only trouble is that I never get to see it flower when I keep it cropped short!I started early and this area is in the shade first thing so managed to get what I wanted done there pretty quickly.
There isn't much colour in the garden at the moment - it is a boring time of the year in terms of flowers but give it a month or so and we will have things flowering.
The clock vine that I thought had gone to meet its maker because it took soooo long to show any sign of life has now reached the top of the kitchen and is on to the railings of the roof terrace - we had one flower out on the day of TD - so thanks for that clock vine - we now await its full glory when there will be huge lilac blooms hanging down all over the place. It is glorious when it is flowering and I have to thank my lovely friend Elaine Norton for this plant as she gave it to us as a gift a couple of years ago after we had admired the one which she has in her garden.It is amazing what effect having tall columns of green in the garden can have. It makes the garden look so much more lush and bigger and gives an impression of coolness on a really hot day.
I worked my way around the garden snipping and clipping and tidying up but it was getting increasingly hot out in the garden so we decided that when I got to the large solanum outside the kitchen we would give that a haircut and then call it a day for today. It sounded like good advice to me as I was getting hotter and hotter!
So here are the before and after shots of the large solanum. It looks so much nicer when it has been cut. I know that people worry that you will cut off all of the flowers but if you do it regularly enough then as the flowers come on the new growth there will be plenty even after you have completed the hair cut. I do fancy getting a white one like the one I gave Diana for her birthday the only trouble is that I don't really have anywhere for it to go which is a bit of a shame although I am sure I could squeeze a little one in somewhere!
For the second day in a row Boris aka Mr Boo has come home minus his collar - this is so annoying - we thought we might humiliate him but making him wear a collar with a bandanna (which I think was a gift from our neighbour Sharon). He let us put it on him, he didn't seem impressed and on reflection we thought that, as he was the one who wanders the most and seems to get into the most scrapes being the youngest, it was maybe not such a good idea to give him something that could so easily get caught on a bramble or something so we took it off and gave him one of the usual quick release collars that they normally wear.
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