11 June: Sounds of Summer

The blackbirds must have chosen a nest site that is easily spotted by the local cats. And now they are exhausting themselves jumping up and down on the fence or in a tree, shouting "There's a cat! There's a cat!" in blackbird-speak. They spend so long doing that, I begin to wonder if they have enough time and energy left to gather food for the nestlings (their second batch this year).

And the black cat from across the street strolls casually along the path, glancing up at the birds just out of reach in the little trees, and then stops to drink from the ground level bird bath, before sauntering off to check out another garden.

Meanwhile, the bathroom fitter is hammering, bashing and crashing as he removes the fittings, tiles, carpet, the lot, from the bathroom. From time to time he calls me to make a decision about the exact place one of the new items is going to go.

Then another call - can I find a couple of old towels - quick!

While he is cutting a hole in the floor for new pipework, the cutting machine has caught a (plastic) pipe to the existing radiator, and water is spurting out under the floor, onto the ceiling of the kitchen below.

Frantic scrabbling to shove a thick towel underneath, then I take over pressing my thumbs onto the ends of the pipes, while he swiftly grabs some valves and seals the cut pipe ends. And what looked like gallons of water gushing out turns out to be just a couple of damp towels.

9 April: Socks

The charcoal and marmalade socks are finished and are drying in the bathroom. Even though the skein of wool was rinsing clear when I dyed it, some dye came off on my fingers while I was knitting, so I've given the finished socks a couple of good hot washes to get rid of any remaining loose dye. Photo to follow.

So pleased with those socks that I have started another pair. The pattern I usually use for socks is designed for a thinner yarn than my handspun, so I have dug out a different pattern and swatched to get a gauge. And as I've never made socks starting at the toe, I've turned the pattern upside down and cast on at the toe - having changed the pattern already before I started as I didn't like the slope of the toe shaping. Oh, and I'm trying out knitting them on 2 circular needles too, as I've never done socks on circs before.

Do I know what I'm doing? Well, sort of. It's fun using the *what if* approach, and so far it looks good. The cast on came from the latest issue of Spin Off magazine, and worked very well. The wool is purple and orange, with some interesting shades where the dyes merge. And if it goes wrong, or I don't like it, I can always frog it.

25 March: Gardens, mine and theirs

The Met office promised us a fine weekend - well at least it didn't rain, but it's been overcast and chilly yesterday and today, with brief spells of sun just to rub it in.

Yesterday DH and I at last got our new rain water butts connected up to the downpipes. First we did the small one, placed to gather the rain from the conservatory. The placing of the cut into the downpipe was critical, the instructions told us. Careful work with a spirit level was totally negated by my inability to saw straight, but the botch job turned out to be very effective in practice.

On to the big butt (if you'll pardon the expression) to take the water from the back roof. As the downpipe is in an awkward place by the kitchen door, where there is only a narrow path to the back garden, we wanted to site the butt just round the corner. The connecting hose wasn't long enough, but a search of B&Q produced a washing machine hose that was just the right diameter and length. Only one extra trip to the shops to get a jubilee clip the right size, and we were ready to go.

Again the proof that I can't cut straight, and the fiddly job to insert the diverter into the gap in the downpipe. This was unexpectedly easy, then I saw why - the pipe had become detached from the gutter. Right up there at the house eaves. About 17 feet off the ground.

Faced with the alternative of getting *a little man* to fix it, I went up the ladder and fixed it myself. And those who know my feelings about heights will be marvelling. (And yes, I was wearing brown trousers.)

No photos of all that, but we both took lots of photos when we went to the RHS garden at Harlow Carr today. DH is still getting the hang of downloading and printing from his New Camera, but I have whizzed these through just for you.

Most of the gardens are still dormant, but here and there things are coming along nicely. This gets my vote as the best ever use of dogwood -


As a support for peonies. And this is a view of the trees and containers near the alpine house -


Elsewhere, there were several willow sculptures - it looks as though these two will support some plants later in the year -


Most of the colour was in the conservatory and alpine house. This is a double daffodil, I think, with what looks like a lettuce behind it (but it isn't) -


Then these hyacinths were bonny -


And I love the colour of this primula -


The sun did come out as we walked round the arboretum. And just look at this sofa we found among the trees!