A day at home

I have thought it was Saturday all day today because we were at home just doing bits and pieces around the house and the garden!!!

One of the things I did not get round to doing when Jackie and Janet were here doing craft was to complete the partially made, book folded angel which they had started.  They kindly brought everything I would need including the instructions and blingy bits.

I decided to slightly alter the original design by halving the length of the wings because I had visions of one of the cats brushing past, knocking it over onto a candle and the house going up in flames - well maybe not quite that dramatic but you get my drift!  

Anyway this is my version of the Angel and I am going to spend some time to make another one because I am guessing that once mum sees it she is going to want one!

Thank you J&J I am not sure I would have started one from scratch but having been given the best part of it completed I can see what I am aiming for now.  I had better get my socks on though because if I am to make another one I need to get a move on - we are one week into October already and still have visitors here or arriving in November and December!

I wanted to spend some time in the garden - it is looking a bit tired and lots of things need cutting back so as it is now a bit cooler it is a good time to start.

I always have a load of cuttings and plantlets on the go - I am not entirely sure why as I am running out of space but actually I quite like the challenge of getting things to grow.  Currently above my desk in the 'office' I have ivy, clockvine, passion fruit and basil cuttings along with two plants whose name I don't know!

I have also developed a bit of a thing about succulents so today I planted up the buddha head which previously held a citronella candle.  It is too nice to chuck away and I have been unable to find a candle that fits inside.

I have some cuttings on the go for Liselotte - we are due to catch up with her and John in a couple of weeks and we like to try and take something handmade or from the garden when we go.  She is earmarked for the unknown plant cuttings and possibly a passion fruit.

Having tended to my seedlings, cuttings and plantlets I decided to go out and tackle the great outdoors.  I wanted to cut back the wisteria which has gone mad and is making a bid for freedom over Gregoris's wall and to pick up any dead leaves and debris that blows in from the outside path.

I realised that as I was cutting back the wisteria I had company.  I was being watched by one of the huge locusts that we get here.  I am not entirely sure but I think this might be an Egyptian locust.  It was about 8cm long which would indicate it was a female as apparently they are larger than the males.

I used to think that having a locust in the garden would mean that it would be decimated but actually I have only seen the young have a good graze on one of my plants and that was because I didn't realise they were locusts. 

 A bigger problem here is mealy-bug which is absolutely rife this year.  I have been very careful to check everywhere that I think could harbour these disgusting pests but even today I noticed that there were the umistakable white bodies on one of my lantana.  Not too many fortunately and as that was due a haircut I removed all the offending branches but that was not a plant I expected to suffer as it is woody.  I will need to keep an eye on it until it gets a bit colder - it seems that mealy-bug like warm humid conditions so they hide themselves in thick dense plants and don't become apparent until the plant starts to suffer as the bugs suck out the sap.  A proliferation of ants on a plant is another good indicator as they benefit by feeding on the honeydew produced by the bugs and in return protect the mealy-bugs from predators so ridding the ants can do a lot to reduce the abundance of the bug which is a very difficult pest to eradicate.

While I was gardening John was giving his bike a bit of a clean and service.  He had noticed an issue with his gears that he was trying to fix - I could hear a lot of grumbling and decided it was probably best if I gave that area a wide berth.

He actually called in our friend Paul from Inea (superfit cycling Paul) to come and have a quick look so he popped in after completing some monumental ride - he did admit to now having a fleet of e-bikes but as he said he wanted to protect his knees and you still have to pedal!!!

There is still an issue with the gears - not enough to stop John riding next week but he is going to take it into the bike shop in Polis for a bit of attention as he has a limited number of gears available to him.  He was interested to know from Paul about the cost of a good e-bike - apparently Paul's was around €6k!  John is going to stick to what he has got for the moment!!!

I moved around to the back garden.  The plants have grown across half the width of the tiles around the pool so that was what I wanted to tackle next but of course it doesn't stop at that!

The border between Wendy and Bill corner and the pool looks lovely in the spring when it is full of osteospurmum and gazanias but now at the end of the summer it is a bit of a mess particularly as some of the gazania perish.

I decided to give it a good clear out removing anything that looked dead and cutting back everything that was overgrown.  It looks a bit bald now but I am hoping that my Gaura plantlets will grow sufficiently so I can plug some of the gaps with them.  We now at least have the whole path width available to us and the surviving plants will fair better without all the dead stuff around them.  

John and I want to tackle the living roof on the gazebo so that it does not become too heavy but as he was still huffing and puffing about his bike I decided that this would have to wait until another day!

It had actually turned out to be a warmer day than expected and I realised I had caught the sun on my back whilst I had been working.  I was hot and dirty so decided to have a shower before turning my attention to our evening meal.  It was to be fridge surprise which often fills John with dread!!!  We just have a lot of bits and pieces that need eating up.

We had a gloriously colourful salad which included pink grapefruit and roasted red peppers - that got rid of all the salad stuff which has been loafing in the fridge.

To go with the salad we were having smashed potatoes with crispy bacon and some cheese melted on top.  That got rid of the bacon and cheese that needed eating up!!!  It was actually delicious and John was happy.