Ende August

Ich möchte mich entschuldigen für meine lange Abwesenheit hier im Blog, Johns Zustand ändert sich von Tag zu Tag und ich habe wenig Zeit für mich selber gefunden.  Ein paar Fotos von den letzten drei Wochen habe ich aber:

Ich liebe diese zwei friedlichen und sonnigen Fotos vom Abend des 13ten August.

 
Blumen und anderes was ich zu den Mittagessenclubs am 13.8. und 27.8. mitgenommen habe.

 
Diese Fasanenmama mit ihrem einzigen Sprössling habe ich am 15ten August vom Fenster aus geknipst, so hübsch anzusehen!  Und dann hab ich mich gewundert was mit ihren anderen Küken passiert haben könnte ...

 

Die Rosen ums Haus machen mir immer noch Freude,

und das Kaninchen von nebenan ist wieder aufgetaucht bei uns.  Ich musste an dem Tag laut lachen, eine Gruppe unserer Enten und Erpel standen auf einmal straks auf und guckten alle in eine Richtung.  Ich konnte nicht sehen oder hören was ihnen Angst gemacht haben konnte.  Dann sah ich das Kaninchen, und als es ein paar Sprünge in die Richtung der Gruppe machte flohen die mit panischem Flügelschlagen in die entgegengesetzte Richtung - wer sagt da grade "Angsthase"?

Letzten Sonntag wollte ich uns zum erstenmal Sweetcorn kochen, von weit weg hatte ich gesehen dass die Quasten obendran schon braun waren und fertig zum Ernten.  Als ich näher kam grüßte mich dieses Schlachtfeld:

Nur 8 von den Kolben konnte ich retten.  Jetzt erinnerte ich mich daran dass ich die ganze Entenschar am Rande dieses Beets versammelt gesehen hatte als ich sie zur Bettzeit reinholen wollte.  Also wirklich, ich kann mir gar nicht vorstellen dass unsere Enten genug Grips im Kopf haben um die Kolben aufzumachen, ich wette die Tauben haben's ihnen gezeigt ..........................

Sehr heftigen Regen hatten wir an mehreren Tagen in letzter Zeit:

 

Und dies ist ein Bild von John an einem seiner besseren Tage letzte Woche.

nass und stürmisch

We've had some horrendous downpours recently, Saturday and Sunday were so thoroughly wet that even the ducks sought cover and I couldn't do any gardening - HAD to do a lot of reading instead, tee hee!

And the tail end of hurricane Bertha brought fierce winds yesterday and today, we've had a few things blown down in the garden but no serious damage was done.  I took a few photos early this morning.

Lots of roses had been beheaded,

a little long-tailed tit was swinging in the wind in the squirrel-proof [yes, it really is!] peanut feeder,

                                                         half of the Rhus at the bottom of the frog pond had been broken off,

a big stem of the artichoke in the front garden had been floored,













but I was glad to see that the morass the ducks had created around the duck shed was beginning to dry up:

Am Dienstagmorgen und noch was von letzter Woche

There was an egg on top of the box, for the second time since I put a nest box into the duck shed, one of the girls obviously considers it HER place.










For some reason all ducks and drakes stayed around this morning, I can't imagine why.... unless they were too full to move after snaffling up all the cucumber and courgette bits I'd put there for them - 

- it was a similar picture after friends Pat and Graham brought them loads of overgrown and yellowed cucumbers last week:

Because tomorrow we're likely to spend most of the day in hospital for John's third chemotherapy I thought I'd better do a bit of gardening while the weather was holding, and was soon surrounded by ducks and drakes - as long as you don't go towards them they come very close to see what you're up to.
 

Tuts and his gang, that's Dotty looking up.  She goes further and further, last night I had to fetch her out of the formal garden.  She didn't like being carried in, and tonight she was already in her hut at 8!

Anke, Dash and Winnie at the water bucket opposite to where I was weeding, and below Honey disappearing into her hidey hole under the juniper:

I notice that most of the photos above look quite bright and sunny, but we did get some rain recently after 3 weeks of hot and dry weather:

The little wallflowers in the grey box which John grew from seed I've planted at the top of the front garden among lots of bulbs, there were 42 of them.  If they all survive they'll look nice in Spring!

I've done quite a lot of jobs in the front garden during last week, it looks a lot tidier now:

This blackbird made me smile, it was sitting on the fence opposite my bedroom
window for ages, singing and preening, and didn't seem to mind my taking pictures,

 ... and our former neighbour Gladys's bungalow is being converted into a 4-bedroom house.

I'm doing the best I can sharing out flowers, beans, tomatoes, cucumbers etc from the garden among friends and family and people at the Luncheon Club.

The grapes in the upper greenhouse are just too tempting - the shiny marks were made by my fingers as I can't resist picking off a few big grapes every time I go in there!


In the right hand corner of the lower greenhouse is a right green jungle, a cucumber, tomato and cucamelon plant are all going mad together.

John has been feeling well enough in the last few days to go out into the garden for short periods of time.  He's been tying up his chrysanthemums, tidying in the garage and greenhouses and he harvested the largest garlic cloves I've seen: