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Carpets of blue
Bluebells are out in the local woods. Their deep blue flowers look beautiful among their deep green leaves.
I polished off the last of the curly kale for lunch. There is still much purple kale, purple sprouting broccoli and spinach in the garden. Today I noticed that my potatoes are coming up and my beetroot seeds have germinated. This time of year there is never a dull moment in the garden. When I feel I have so much to do I take a break and read a book.
Thought for today
Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
Susan Ertz, (1894 - 1985) British novelist
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1.5.08 20:07
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More mouths to feed
There are more pigeons round here than there used to be. Right now twelve are perched in the tree opposite my house pecking at leaves at the ends of branches. Perhaps as food prices increase pigeon pie will become popular.
The greenhouse soon heats up now when the sun shines even if its vents and door are open. It makes a good drying room. This afternoon I installed the blinds in it. Bees are good at spotting flowers but they are hopeless at spotting open doors and windows when they end up inside greenhouses. They buzz at the glass inches away from freedom.
Thought for today
DNR or PEACE?
I have huge difficulty in discussing "do not resuscitate" (DNR) orders with people whose loved ones are close to death, especially if this is untimely, unexpected, or non malignant. This remains the case even when we know cardiopulmonary intervention would be futile. ... There is a general public acceptance that the end of life must come and would be better if it were dignified and calm. Perhaps that is what our terminology should emphasise. We should change the name of the DNR order. I would suggest "patient's end of life avoidance of cardiopumlonary efforts"--PEACE. "We think it is only right to leave your loved one in PEACE." ...
John Crampton, Consultant physician, BMJ 2008;336;1015
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2.5.08 20:37
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Homer nods
I dropped a plastic bag today. What a crime. Yesterday I bought nine tomato plants and put them in the plastic bag that I keep in the boot of my car; I didn't want them to fall over or dirty the carpet. When I arrived home I dried the bag and tucked it on the arm of the offside external mirror where I would see it next time I drove the car. This would remind me to replace it in the boot. Twenty-four hours later when I went out in the car I had forgotten all about the bag. And worse, I failed to spot it. Ten yards down the road it blew off. I saw something white detach itself from my car and fly down the road. D'Oh, it was the bag. The road was narrow and there was a car behind me so I didn't wish to be more of a nuisance by stopping to retrieve it.
I looked for it when I arrived home and think I spotted it in a front garden. The bag was next to a skip in the drive (the house is having an extension built) and there was a car next to the skip with a workman eating his lunch. I left the bag where it was as I didn't have the guts to look closer. Anyone spotting it would be likely to think that one of the workmen had dropped it or it had blown out of the skip. I felt miffed at forgetting about the bag, more miffed at being unobservant, and miffed at losing it.
Thought for today
We like to moralise when we are old because it makes a merit of many deprivations which have become a necessity.
Mme de Salm-Dyck, quoted in A Cynic's Breviary by J R Solly, 1925
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3.5.08 20:36
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No nails
Today I decided to mend the back gate. One of the panels is loose because some of the nails have rusted and broken. I need only three nails but, wouldn't you know it, I have screws by the ton but no nails. On Tuesday after I've been to the library to download more podcasts I'll buy nails. I've just realised that a vice to hold the planks in the gate together would make the job easier. And wouldn't you know it, I have no vice. I found two in my parents' garage a year ago and gave them to my brother because I thought I'd never need them. Sigh, such is life.
Thought for today
Although it rains, throw not away your watering pot.
English proverb
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4.5.08 19:36
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Neighbourly neighbours
There was an item on the news this morning about people not knowing their neighbours. Times have changed; we live private lives and rarely communicate with our neighbours. Some wouldn't recognise them if they saw them, and those they know they wouldn't trust with the key to their front door.
I must be fortunate. I know many of my neighbours and would trust all of them with my house keys. Two things distinguish the area. One is that the properties have open plan front gardens; the other is that few move from the area. There is a community spirit because people see each other; they do not stay hidden in their homes. They cut their grass, clean their cars and walk their dogs.
The neighbours who installed the back gate last week now have a dog. This afternoon I heard the wife saying Good boy several times in the way people reserve for pets. The gate must have been, not to keep foxes out, but to keep dogs in.
Thought for today
It is one thing to praise discipline, and another to submit to it.
Cervantes, The Dialogue of the Dogs, 1613
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5.5.08 20:50
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Support and protection
I fixed the back gate using nails though I think it would have been less traumatic for the gate if I'd used screws as someone suggested. (Thanks F; I should have paid attention to you.) Two of the nails went in sideways, which was just as well because they were too long. The third poked out of the other side of the panel. I think I am safer with an electric drill than with a hammer.
The mange tout peas that I sowed two weeks ago have sprouted. Yesterday, having noticed a few green shoots emerging, I erected wire netting by them for their support. I put a strip of netting each side of the rows in a v shape with the strips meeting at the top and overlapping at the ends. This has the added advantage of preventing pigeons from eating them. Today most of the peas have sprouted and the shoots are bigger than yesterday. I got my netting up just in time.
Thought for today
Before you buy your shoes, measure your feet.
West African proverb
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7.5.08 21:31
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Yet more progress
Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
For the past two evenings I have been struggling to understand the menus of the latest version of my anti-virus program. I want to set the schedules for updates and scans according to how I use the computer not how the programmers think I should use it. I don't have broadband, I use a dial-up connection, and I surf the web little so I fail to see the need for a daily scan for viruses.
I heard a nice description of a brain recently--a kilo and a half of jelly with electricity.
My broad beans, safe from pigeons under netting tunnels, had outgrown the tunnels. This afternoon I removed the tunnels and replaced them with an elaborate construction of stakes, string and a roll of netting which, I hope, will provide support and protection from pigeons. Slugs and snails, responsible for the nibbles in the plants, will still be able to munch on them. Pigeons might not eat broad beans but I am taking no chances.
Thought for today
How can he explain to this impatient young man what it has taken him forty-five years to learn--that loss is an essential part of the human condition? That even as we are moving on down that long lonesome road, destination unknown, there is always something we are leaving behind us.
Marina Lewycka, Two Caravans, 2007
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9.5.08 19:59
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