It's a funny old world

Moody or what?

It's also a very beautiful world if you take the time to have a proper look at it.  I never tire of looking at the sky when I am in the garden.

Tonight it was definitely moody and although I never actually caught sight of the sun, it was making it's presence felt.

Daytime or night, there is always something to see, be it the stars, the sunrise, the sunset or just the clouds.

Last night the Milky Way was there for all to see in all it's glory.

There are of course so many things of beauty in the garden all year round.  I discovered a Deadly Nightshade plant in with the potatoes tonight.  What a beautiful plant!  It's in the incinerator now ready to be disposed of.

Runner beans are one of my favourite crop producing plants flower wise, I love the contrast between the calm green leaves and the vibrant red flowers.

Our beans have not been great so far, but as Terry on the Radio 2 allotment said his are all behind as well I don't feel so bad.

Our dinner this evening was home produced with the exception of the meat.  I made an apple sauce from our Bramley windfalls.

I know, throw your hands up in horror. You shouldn't eat the windfalls!  When I was a kid going round the fruit farms of West Norfolk with Great Grandpa Southwellski in his lorry, we used to get given bag full's of windfalls which Great Nanny Southwellski turned into pies and crumbles and I'm still here.

I was pleased it rained today, quite heavily at times and yet when I was out in the garden around 8.30pm the soil just below the surface was bone dry and that's after 6 - 7 hours of rain!

How to stay dry Scarlett style

Never mind, I find watering up quite therapeutic.

You will, if you've read my blog before, know how much we love our dogs and how much they mean to us.

Lou, our 17 year old Rottie cross has aged rapidly in the last 3 -4 days and both Nanny Southwellski are preparing ourselves for the inevitable heartache when she goes.

She has always been a very nervous dog and has only really relaxed in the last year since she went deaf.  Now sudden noises don't worry her and she has started eating normally even during bonfire night and thunder storms blissfully unaware of anything.

We have had a bit of a love hate relationship with Lou over the years but she is very loyal and always with us despite our shortcomings.

She has had her moments such as when she refused to let 3 travellers move after they tried to come in through the back entrance to one of our building sites.  That was at the height of her nervousness, but she was showing none of that on this particular occasion.

We have to help her in and out of the house now, it's no problem and she seems happy enough just to be with us in the study or laying out in the sun and while she is clearly not suffering she will remain part of our family.

 Our apple tree is laden with fruit and I mean laden.  They are also ready and Coco and I have now replaced our morning constitutional to the peas with a trip to the apple tree, scrummy!

We went to the opticians today, our eyes are healthy enough apparently it's just that we can't see.

I saw an advert a while back for a national chain of opticians where a young boy is running round the house like a looney and bouncing on the sofa.  His father then comes through and finds his mangled specs down the back of the sofa. Off to the opticians.  Now why would anyone choose the same glasses as Brains on Thunderbirds?  Does he not know what a berk he looks? Did he do it for a bet?

I chose a simple pair and as long as they don't fall off my head and people don't point at me they will do fine.

When they arrive next week, who knows this might start to make sense.

Into the 21st century!

I need a cushion Grandpa!

It stays lighter in the evening until later and its light in the morning when we get up at about 7.00 for breakfast but there seems to be fewer hours in the day!

No, I don't understand it either.  When we moved onto BST (British Summer Time) I thought 'Great!' more time on the plot.  Instead it's more like losing the plot.

Never mind, we joined the space race today here at Grandpa Southwellski's garden we bought a Westwood S800 ride on mower/garden tractor. Now don't be thrown by the shabby exterior, remember the Delorean in Back to the future 1, 2, 3, 4, ....... 27, 28 etc etc.  I will say no more, other than we have 8.5 horses under the bonnet!

Okay, so it's not new, but it's ours and we bought it from a local church so we know it's fairly legit, don't we?  I managed to break the battery clamps this afternoon and it has no petrol but apart from that it's a beaut!

Cluck,Cluck, Cluck woof! I am a chicken now feed me!

More news from the garden, the chooks have been confined to quarters after unplanting most of our onions and levelling our potatoes, but they are laying 7-8 eggs a day so they have got off quite lightly this time.

We bought a second coop before we got the last chooks but they all insist on sleeping in one coop which is supposedly designed for 6 tops.

The chooks weren't impressed with the fencing but it kept Mr Bumble in!

We have had some stunning sunsets just recently, this (below) was a few days ago. Where we live we are lucky enough to be on the top of a hill and get the sunrise and the sunset all under a wide Norfolk sky.

Even on grey days the skies here are stunning, and the way nanny Southwellski designed the kitchen means we have the maximum light all the time and the sunsets as well.

Its made a difference health wise as well, we were all much more relaxed this winter.

We have worked on the Forest garden and the middle level trees I orderedlast weekend arrived and have been planted.  We have three nut trees, two Red Filberts, and an Almond all of which shouldn't grow too tall so won't challenge the taller fruit trees for light and will offer some protection to the ground cover plants and fruits.

We also planted two apples, one pear and a plum. Our raspberries are yet to arrive and we are planning to split these between the garden and the forest garden.

We have a scarecrow on the veggie plot now, Frosty our long standing snowman is now a permanent resident to keep the birds and animals off our veggies.

The chooks love him and make a bee line to say hello to him in the mornings, and just for good measure they dig up the onions while they are there.

Well tomorrow is fast approaching so it's off to bed, Coco was asleep hours ago so will no doubt be up nice and early.

No rosettes today

We took Scarlett and Mr Bumble to a dog show at the showground near Norwich today.  Came away empty handed but met up with some familiar faces again so it was worth it. Before Coco came to stay with us we did about twenty or shows a year and travelled all over the country.

Last year we did maybe two or three shows, Coco's first show was at the Royal Norfolk Show in July last year and it was a scorcher of a day. We did quite well there with a first for Mr Bumble and a Third for Scarlett.  Now that Coco is a bit older we will be doing more shows this year, fuel prices allowing of course. 

Mr Bumble moved really well today for Nanny Southwellski and he looked a picture.  The judge seemed to prefer leggier dogs and the terrier group was won by an Irish Terrier, in fact in both Scarlett and Bumble's classes the littlies came in the last positions.  Scarlett looked lovely like she always does, but judges generally don't seem to like her very much.  Never mind we love her and are very proud of her.

An Orpington Cockerel

The Norfolk Poultry Club had their show at the showground today as well, so Coco and I had a little look in the building and boy what a racket! Coco was completely overwhelmed by the noise of whole plethora of cockerels all crowing at the same time.

I thought Brutus was a big lad but compared to some of the cockerels there today, like the Orpington (Left) he is a budgie!

We were surprised at how many entries there were in the show, it was packed with cages.  The website address for the club is www.norfolkpoultryclub.org.uk.

Our girls, with only enough feathers to make one decent hen between the lot of them, would have looked out of place there today but they were happily scratching about in the paddock when we got back and they laid two eggs today which seems to be the average for them at the moment so we don't care what they look like as long as they are happy.

We took some photos of Coco sitting in the apple tree in our garden it was meant to have been taken on her birthday but we just ran out of time and never got round to it but we will make sure we take it on the right day in future.

Just to put your mind at rest I was behind the tree with a handful of wooly trousers while Nanny Southwellski took the photo.

I love you.... says it all really

Wet and Cold

Its wet and cold and grey here in Grandpa Southwellski's Garden today. Too cold for Coco to venture outside but we will see what tomorrow brings.  I did manage to pot up some short stemmed lillies this afternoon in the potting shed and have a look at our little feathered friend who whilst in good spirits and very noisy isn't flying any further today than the stool.  It came and sat on my hand on the floor so I sat very still until it hopped off.

My christmas prezzie arrived from Nanny Southwellski a couple of days ago, its a grow your own miseltoe kit and we have a very old and large Bramley apple tree which will make the perfect home for it, especially now that Coco's little friend Calypso's daddy Harvey came and trimmed it for us.

Coco and I really need to get out and do some serious digging in the next few days so that we are ready for the planting out to begin.  Watch this space because we are taking the camera with us next time out.

Grandpa Southwellski