Category: Garden

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Showers, Spanish, and Bulbs

So last Sunday evening, I was brushing my teeth before going to bed, and over the buzz of the toothbrush I could hear a drip, drip, drip. The shower was dripping. Fortunately, I had Monday off as part of an extended exeat weekend, so was able to set too tackling the dripping shower. As I suspected, it was the cartridge. What I did not expect was how expensive it would be to get a replacement. £81 was the cheapest I could find one. Anyway, was able to remove the old one fairly easily (one nut that didn’t, initially want to crack) and then off to Bridgewater through the pouring rain (more of that later) to collect the replacement, which I re-fitted easily, once I’d figured out the order to put the parts back in. And now the shower no longer drips.

In some respects, it was good that I had the shower to fix as the weather on my extra day off was terrible – incessant, heavy rain all day, it really was miserable. We had a dry day on Tuesday, but the rain returned on Wednesday. Yesterday (Saturday) ended up being a lovely day: after a cold start, the sun shone and I enjoyed my afternoon refereeing on pitch 1.

The rain that had been forecast for today has not materialised (yet!) I didn’t run this morning – was still tired when I got up, and the weather forecast now had us dry until 2pm so I decided to have a leisurely start, and then get my (last years) bulbs planted into the lawn. I’m pleased to have got this job done, now need to wait until spring to reap the rewards.

And I’ve begun to re-engage with my Spanish. I have renewed my subscription to News in Slow Spanish – audio only, circa £6 a month – mainly for the “Rooms” where you join other Spanish learners for 20 minutes to chat in Spanish. Is great to practice chatting with other people, I’ve been into a couple of rooms so far, and enjoyed them. 20 minutes is about right – enough time to have a chat, but not too mentally draining! Hasta luego!

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Grease

Its exeat weekend, which means I had a rare Saturday off yesterday (and, as bonus, I get tomorrow off, too) and what better way to spend it than by taking in some musical theatre at the Bristol Hippodrome. We (Becky, Sophie and I) went to see Grease – it was greats, a wonderful night out. The music and dancing got my toe-tapping, and before the show we had been for a slap-up Greek meal at the Hat Bistro.

On Thursday we had a fleeting visit from Sam, he’s been in London for the last couple of weeks. He got the bus to Bristol, then 376 home, had a quick bite to eat before hoping into his silver dream machine and driving back to Cardiff. Whilst he doesn’t start back for a week or so – the final year of his degree – it was evident whilst we were in Bristol last night that lots of students were there for the first night of their undergraduate adventure. Hope he does some work this year, graduates (I’m sure he will – but two, three years ago, this was not a given!) and starts thinking about a job/career.

The weather over the last week has been good – warm and sunny – but, inevitably, it turned on Friday and we have had a lot of rain over the last three days, typically in big bursts for up to, say, an hour, before clearing up.

I did referee this morning in Somerset County Cup, Vets competition (Pilton v Ashcott, Pilton won) I would say I get wet, not soaked, somehow we missed the massive downpours. Enjoyed the game, I’m thinking maybe referee one Sunday a month? Who knows, will see how things pan out. Everywhere is beginning to look distinctly autumnal as the leaves on the trees begin to change colour.

And after last weeks endeavours, the lawn is tamed and ready for winter. I had hoped to plant some bulbs into it this weekend, but its just been too wet. A job for another day … With the rain, and the (reasonable) warmth, everything is looking verdant and fresh, and growing well. Geraniums still in full flower, nasturtium leaves providing ground cover (and the odd flower) and we have a succession of sunflowers – with a fair number still to bloom – to provide colour and cheer and keep autumn and winter at bay for a little bit longer.

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Lawn

This week, I have been cutting back the lawn for the winter. During the week, I gave it a strim, then today I gave it another strim before running the mower over it. In the top section (nearest the house) there is now little coverage of anything, so I scattered another packet of wild flower mix in the hope that they come up, not roses, but wild flowers next spring and summer. Later, but not today – here’s hoping for some half decent weather next week, I will begin to plant some of last years bulbs into the lawn.

As is always the case when when I mow it flat, I think it looks better than it did, and doubt whether it is worth letting it go wild, but then I remember what it looks like in February and March, and then again in May and June, and it is worth – providing colour and interest when its needed, if it does then not look so good through July and August.

Still thinking of the garden, I’m pleased with my nasturtiums – even if they are not awash with flower, they are providing healthy green foliage to keep autumn at bay a little longer. These one were virtually dead – stripped of leaves by caterpillars – when returned from Greece, but a little nurturing has seen them burst back into life.

The side of the house still seems full of life, along with the front planter – the geraniums are still going strong, even if everything is beginning to look a little leggy. And we don’t have the same amount of sunflowers as last year, but there is a steady stream of flowering plants to give that little splash of clolour. Alas, there will be no pumpkins from the garden this year – a couple of healthy plants have thrown forth their wonderful big leaves, and plenty of male flowers, but we’ve only had a couple of female flowers, and neither has been successfully pollinated.

The weather this week has been chilly – particularly in the mornings and evenings – and I have succumbed and fired up the heating on a few nights. Wednesday was cold all day, yesterday, after a very chilly start, ended up as a lovely bright, warm, sunny day; sadly today never lived up to its promise, although dry the sun never really won out. I had hoped to sit out for an hour so in the afternoon, reading and soaking up sum late summer sun, but alas, it was not to be.

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The end is nigh …

Pic of the week 23/6/24

One week to go …

One more week of school, one week to get organised before we vanish to Greece for the month of July. And after a busy week at school, that’s what I feel like doing: just vanishing for a month, away from cares, concerns and questions. Of course, living in the digital age as we do, we’ll keep in touch with the children, and up to date with the news (filled in my postal vote today – looking forward to learning of the destruction of the worst government of my lifetime whilst we are away) but I’m really looking forward to escaping for a month.

The weather hasn’t been stella this week, but it has been largely dry and with the long days I have enjoyed the evening light, like the pic of the week taken, I think, on the summer solstice.

Becky is away at the moment for a uni reunion in Ambleside; on Friday night into Saturday, at circa 4pm ish I was awoken by some noise in the back garden.  going downstairs to investigate, I saw the rear light was on, but nothing obvious. Then, looking out of the side kitchen door, on the wall I saw what I first thought was a cat, but then recognised it as a fox. I watched it for a bit – I think it was also watching me – as it calmly trotted along the wall, over the gate into the front and then across the road and away.  In the morning I discovered one of my bait boxes in the middle of the gravel, and found a dead mouse in it – I suspect this is what the fox was after, and the cause of the noise.

Went for a run today – my first for a few weeks – I was slow, but that’s not a bad thing. Other than the first k, they were all over 5 mins. In part I think this id use to not having run, and in part due to being “end of term tired” but I do think I need to be running a bit slower – better to run and enjoy it, than ran at speed be end up whacked.  Will be interesting to see how my speed changes over the summer.

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Take That!

Pic of the week 9/6/24

Last night, Becky and I went to see Take That at Ashton Gate. It was, not surprisingly, brilliant, we both really enjoyed the evening. The boys seemed comfortable with themselves and indulged in a bit of unembarrassed cheese and brief romp through their history before banging out all the favourites. They didn’t disappoint.

But before we headed off to Bristol, Sam had headed home for the weekend, to attend a party, and pick up the Civic. He’s now returned to Cardiff to start organising his house move, but it was lovely to see him, albeit briefly.

And the garden continues to flourish. We’ve not had much rain this week, and have enjoyed some sunshine, but its not been warm, even in the sun. But the days, and evenings, have been brightened by the blooming of the “Love in the Mist” flowers in the lawn, swathes of colour across a green backdrop, host to an increasing number of bees and other insects. Plus, we’ve had quite a bit of baby bird activity this week – we’ve definitely seen baby robins finding their wings flying around the garden, and salon sparrows and blue tits enjoying our little wildlife haven.

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Another glorious Sunday

Pic of the week 19/5/24

After last week’s “scorchio” mini-heatwave, this week has been back to another mixed bag of rain, grey skies and the odd bit of sun, but today has been another glorious Sunday (hooray!) – sunny all day, and not as hot as last week, making it much more pleasant.

Four weeks into term, and I’m starting to feel tired, so I deliberately didn’t go for a run today, but that did mean I could get plenty done. Have lifted all the bulbs from the front trugg and have started to dry them off ready for replanting into the lawn in September.  I need to get some more compost to top up the trugg, and then I’ll plant it up with geraniums – a job for the half-term to come in a week’s time.

Have also listed the 205 for sale this evening on Facebook Marketplace – will see what comes of that …

My new glasses arrived in the week and today I’ve been modelling my prescription sunglasses – its amazing the detail you can see when you wear specs, must do so more often!

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Plants

Pic of the week 5/5/24

At last, yesterday the sun shone. It has been a very long, wet autumn into winter into spring, the sky has been seemingly permanently leaden grey, with rain constantly tumbling from the skies. And Spring has been cold, too. Yesterday was the first day I wore shorts – and today I’m back in my jeans, after the early promise of an alright early morning gave way to drizzle.

But I do think it has warmed up enough to start introducing my over-wintered geraniums and spider plants to the out doors, to start hardening them off.  I wrote about them here in November: https://aboutstuff.co.uk/garden/indoor-gardening/ – I started with six geraniums and twelve spider plants that I bought of ebay. I’ve learned a  lot about how much or little water and light they have needed over the winter, and I have enjoyed my regime of nurturing and watering.  Five geraniums and eight spider plants have made it through the long, dark, wet winter and will, in the next few weeks, take up their summer residence outside. (I tried to keep a few geraniums alive outside, this was not successful.) The geraniums are looking particularly healthy, with plenty of new green growth – will they flower, that is the next question?

We’ve also purchased a lot of geranium plants – with going away for a month in July we need plants that will be tolerant of neglect in our absence – and they are now waiting for planting up. I won’t be planting lobelia this year, I’m not sure they will survive our absence.  The plan is to sow Cosmos in the front bed/trugs to go with the geranium and spider plants, and to also plant nasturtium seeds which so also, hopefully, survive (thrive) on neglect.

The alliums are now coming into flower and the garden is looking good.

And I’m including this photo (below) as a bit of a guide to see where there will be space to plant some more bulbs into the lawn come September (gave it a mow yesterday)

 

This morning I ran 10K – the first time since January. The weather was still (and dry!) and, although I wasn’t running swiftly, I felt I was cruising comfortably, so it was (relatively) easy to add the extra 3K loop onto the end of my run to make it a 10K run. Ran it 49m 30 sec.

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Birthday boy!

Pic of the week 31/3/24

Its been my birthday week! On Thursday I turned 55 – no getting away from it, I’m definitely mid-fifties now – Sophie and Sam both came home for the start of Easter on Wednesday so it was been nice to have them home for my birthday tea, and it was nice to finish for the Easter hols at lunchtime on my birthday; a couple of tough weeks at the end of term made it a bit of a slog, but now I’m on holiday, all is well with the world.

Its been a busy week. On Wednesday I went for my blood tests and on Thursday I got my results – another nice birthday gift as I have been given the all clear as my levels are all within limits and I’m signed off from the docs “Normal, stable or satisfactory – no further action required” for all test. Here are the numbers:

  • Serum cholesterol 4.6 mmol/L
  • Serum triglycerides: 1.0 mmol/L (normal is range 0.6 to 2.0)
  • Serum cholesterol/HDL ratio: 3.7
  • Se non HDL cholesterol level: 4.1 mmol/L

Wednesday also saw me get absolutely frozen on the football pitch at Kingweston. It has been a wet winter, and rain was forecast for the afternoon, but after a huge downpour that morning, I headed over in sunshine, hoping that we’d escaped. But no, on arrival it started to rain, but by the time I trotted down to pitch 5 it had stopped, and we started the game. 5 mins in, the heavens opened with a biblical hail storm that lasted a good ten minutes. It was painful and cold!  Eventually the storm passed, and the sun even came out, but ten mins from time, the hail returned, I blew for full time early, much to the delight of everyone. A truly miserable experience!

The previous half term ended with the red shed dying at Kingweston, this term ended with me buying its replacement – “the silver dream machine”, “The Beast” or “The Asbo maker” depending on your view – or, more appropriately, hearing.

The Silver Dream Machine, aka The Beast

It is a 2003 Honda Civic – I really like it, drives and stops well, circa 102K miles, some good service history, but it is loud, very LOUD! I think that until 2023 it was well looked after then, for a year, was in the hands of a boy racer who added a “sports” exhaust and external air filter and some big sub-woofers in the boot (the speakers have gone, but the wiring is still there). Even Sam – and the car is earmarked to go to him in August – thinks its too loud.  I have a normal exhaust on order (£61) due to arrive on Thursday – should be a simple replacement fit and I’ll stop terrifying the locals as I cruise the streets of Street.

Saturday was a lovely day and Becky and I grabbed the opportunity to enjoy a few hours sat outside in the sunshine, Sunday remained dry (until the biblical rains returned Sunday night) but grey and cold.  On both days I took the opportunity to do some gardening – Saturday hacking back the box bush out front – it has suffered due to caterpillar action – and on Sunday I cut a lot of the top off the bush on the top deck that continues to grow and grow and, unforgivably, was casting shade when we wanted to make the most of the rare appearance of some spring sunshine. It will grow back, I’m sure, I just hope the same can be said of the box bush.

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A busy week

Pic of the week 24/3/24

Its been a busy week, definitely compounded by not having a day off last Sunday due to football house matches, and I feel I’ve just been grinding out the days at work until I’ve reached the weekend.  With Easter being early this year, thankfully the week to come is short – 3 and a half days, seeing us finish on Thursday lunchtime – a nice birthday present for me!  Work has been busy with numerous different challenges, but I think I’ve just about got on top of them.  I have a busy teaching day tomorrow (4 out of 5 lessons, and meetings at break and lunch time) but I’m hopeful that it will be my last big day of the term, and I can then begin to cruise towards the end of term.

Today has seen the sun shine, although a strong wind has kept it feeling “fresh”. I’ve been busy in the garden, clearing the growth on the top of the shed and filling the brown bin with cuttings, then I’ve been building IKEA furniture (desk and a set of drawers) for Becky. The trugg out front has looked magnificent, with the red tulips coming into bloom (although curiously, only on the side nearest the door, on the other side they are poking up, but not yet flowering) but did take a bit of a battering on Friday and Saturday in some strong winds. But signs of life everywhere – trees greening up, celandines beginning to flower in the lawn, although the temperatures could be higher, and the threat of (yet more) rain is always just around the corner, spring does feel like it has arrived, making everything seem better.

On Thursday, EasyJet opened their December flights and we bagged two seats to Madeira for the Christmas hols.  Seems like a long time away (it is – we’ve got summer to enjoy first) but looking forward to it already.

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Jesus Christ, Superstar

Pic of the week 17/3/24

On Friday evening Becky and I went to see Jesus Christ Superstar at the Bristol Hippodrome. I enjoyed it, a good bit of musical drama, probably helped that the story was familiar (!) And, on an old man note, it was super convenient, being able to sit, and then still be home before 11pm were all bonuses.

Julian Clary had a guest/cameo role as Herod and was, no surprise, excellent, as were all the cast.

It has been a busy weekend – I use that term a little loosely, Friday evening through to Sunday is the weekend, but they are not days off work for me. On Saturday night I had the Year 10 social (Formal Dinner), which went well, and then this afternoon I have had House Football from 1pm to 4pm.  At least the sun came out and I felt some warmth (unlike refereeing yesterday when it was normal Kingweston cold) but I I don’t feel like I’ve had a break this weekend (and my legs ache !)  At least it should be downhill from here, a little over a week and a half until the Easter hols – that is an encouraging thought!

In the garden, it is also encouraging to see things poking up and greening up. The Magnolia is pretty over (I always think they are an overrated flash in the pan) but out the front the bushes are going green, the tulips coming up in the front trugg, and in the back today I noticed the first forget-me-not flowers and the hostas are beginning to poke up through the soil in their pots – both signs of better days to come.