Stormy...

The weather in October this year has been rather dire up here in the hills but it is good for gardening and that was what I had on my agenda for today - John didn't!!

I want to do something with the front garden outside our bedroom window.  This has just become a bit messy and it suffers a bit with poor light so the plants have struggled.  This is where we have our two rather sickly fruit trees although the lemon has bucked its ideas up of late and has put on a bit of growth but you wouldn't believe it is about seven years old.

Another problem with the front garden is that there is no drainage whatsoever and the rainwater buckets off of the roof of the bedroom and the conservatory causing a flood.  This flood water used to make its way in underneath the front door but we eventually fixed that issue.  In order to deal with the rainwater we installed guttering and then a large water butt so that we could manage the water as the butt filled up so the butt has an overflow which takes the excess water out into the garden.  On occasions though the rain has been so hard that the water butt has overflowed - no-one believes us when we say it rains hard but they should because it does!

Anyway I have started to clear the front and removed some of the excess shells and pebbles and removed some of the self seeded local lavender which is ok but very sticky and with a strong smell more akin to camphor.  We need more shingle but that will have to wait - in the meantime I think I have just created a new toilet for the cats.

I guess you could say that we are now in Autumn up here in the hills.  Things are changing and although the field next door looks rather bereft of food the goats are being walked this way again.  They are ok at the moment because we have put our garden waste over the side for them to eat.  I smile at how we used to panic when Chivers was a small kitten and the goats came along - we had visions of him getting in amongst their hooves and being booted out of the way.  Now the cats just ignore the visitors we just wish the accompanying ticks would ignore the cats!

The weather deteriorated early afternoon and we had rumblings of thunder and then a short burst of heavy rain - blimey we are getting more than our fair share this month!  It isn't really cold - still in the 20s here but it is beginning to get a real autumnal feel in the evenings and early mornings.

Once the rain stopped there was nothing for it but to don our bathers and go in and get wet!!!

The water temperature is around 21 degrees which really isn't cold, not when you consider we were still going in when it was just 10 degrees last year but it still gives you a bit of a shock when you first get in.  It would be so easy not to bother but actually once you are in it is fine and then you get the reward of a nice hot shower afterwards.  We chose to have our pool tiled in a light greeny-blue colour when we had it done a couple of years ago we had been going to have a natural 'gravel like finish because I wanted it to look more natural and blend in with the garden.

You can see how different a pool looks with a different coloured tile - this pool belongs to Lakis and Argy and they chose to have a dark blue tile and that, combined with the surrounding tiles, makes it stand out.  They have refurbished their holiday home beautifully - it is hard to believe that it was empty for such a long time and now looks so fabulous.  I shall have to try and find some old photographs that I would have taken before they started the work, when the shutters used to be hanging off the windows, the pool was full of filthy rain water and you could see nothing for the weeds.  It just goes to show what you can achieve with some thought and planning - mind you Argy most definitely has an 'eye' for style.

John went out this evening for a pint or two with Arodes John - Liselotte is away at the moment.  I was Taxi Driver and after I had dropped them off and headed home I managed to capture the sun just before it disappeared behind a bank of cloud.  We had electrical storms again this evening with a fabulous display of lightning behind the clouds similar to last week.  I didn't take the photograph - I have to thank our friend Iris who posted it on social media and I have pinched it.