A Walk on the Clifftops and a Wander in the Garden.

Benji and I managed to find a quiet area last week on the cliffs above Looe: this area is known as Hannafore.  The narrow road that leads from West Looe climbs upwards past hotels and houses and comes to an end where the fields begin.  The coastal path continues through the fields and climbs higher on its way to Talland, Polperro and all points beyond.  As you can see, Benji has no qualms about leaving my side when he has such a huge area to explore; he hardly stopped galloping backwards and forwards! 

Lovely views 

Looking back to the last few houses on Hannafore just before the field.

Looking down on the rocky foreshore below the cliffs.

Out of the holiday season, there are normally Devon Red cattle in here - calm and placid beasts that are no trouble even when they have their calves at foot.  But the farmer removes them before the tourists arrive as very few are happy to walk through a field of cows! As a result, a large area is allowed to revert to a meadow of long grasses and wildflowers.

There used to be a path and stile which led to the beach below, but the path has been damaged by the sea and is now fenced off - Mother Nature is taking over.

Here's that boy, returning from a long gallop up towards where the stream crosses the path and a little dog can have a drink - as long as he doesn't have to get his paws wet!

And now we're almost back to where the car is parked and he was reluctant to leave the field until he realised I wasn't waiting for him. 

  "Wait for meeee!"

Back home and this is the shrub in my front garden which attracts so many bees, although I managed to take a photo where there were none in sight.  Typical! It's a Persicaria, by the way - I recommend it if you want to encourage those lovely bees.

The first cherry tomatoes this year, just beginning to ripen.

A look around the garden: I have mowed the lawn since these photos were taken.  It was more like a meadow, because we seem to have had rain on more days than enough! Haven't been able to cut the hedges because there are baby birds still in their nests (2nd clutch). 

Buddleia and Butterflies go together, don't they? Though I wish this one hadn't decided to close its wings just as I lined up a photo!!! 

The Buddleia has grown much higher this year - it must be down to all that rain - there has to be something good to be thankful for.

There has been some sunshine since I started this post; those tomatoes ripened and have been eaten, along with 4 more.   

The lawns will need mowing again in a few days.

After posting about my lack of success in growing Roses,  I have now got 3 beautiful, sweet-smelling red blooms , more than a dozen white roses and the same of pink roses. Woohoo! 

A Rose and Rosie enjoying the great outdoors again.

I love Roses - but I'm useless at looking after them.  I use good quality compost, feed them, water them, keep them clear of pests and diseases but despite avidly watching Monty Don, Alan Titchmarsh and various YouTube videos, I don't have the knack of pruning them correctly. Well, that's the only reason I can think of why I don't spend my summer months enjoying their beauty and perfume.

There's just one exception.

When my huge Conifer hedge was removed from the front garden (way past it's best and consisting of more dead patches than greenery) I found a struggling little rose that had been almost completely hidden under that great hedge: it had just one bloom, a pretty speckled pink one, and I felt it deserved a chance to grow properly. Large pot, best compost, regular feeding, etc. and it stood in my back garden, just outside the kitchen door where I could keep an eye on it. And it certainly repaid me for its chance!

I've no idea what type of rose it is - perhaps someone can help with that (?) - but it has a subtle, sweet perfume and the bees love it. Since I took these photos, more flowers have opened and many more buds have appeared, so there's very much more to admire. I love it.

I managed to catch the tail-end of a lovely colourful sunset, but I hoped it might indicate a nice day, weatherwise, to follow.

 It rained in the morning but brightened up by lunchtime, so I decided to get out somewhere (anywhere!) in the car to find a quiet place for a wander. 

Cadsonbury Woods

Almost obtained a Benji-photo in this shot. Almost.

Next, he camouflaged himself quite succesfully in the sun-dappled foliage.

Finally, all of him in shot!

This was only the second time we'd been anywhere for a walk since the end of lockdown and it was so enjoyable.  However it made me realise how unfit I had become thanks to all those idle days when I spent a lot of time sitting: reading, browsing the internet, online shopping (only a little and mostly things to make the garden pretty), more reading, knitting.  Now I need to increase the walking. 

Back in February I booked a week's holiday in October, still in Cornwall, not far from Mawgan Porth: there are some lovely walks around there and I need to be fit enough to get around and enjoy the area. Hopefully, I shall have some photos to share in my blog!

Happy Fathers' Day!

My Dad passed away in 1966. He had chronic asthma and to make matters worse, his job involved working long days breathing in concrete dust, as he worked at a Concrete Pipeworks.

But in later years we moved to Leicester, where he and I had jobs in the same area. Sometimes, during our dinner break, I would go out for a walk and see him across the far side of a busy junction, in his blue overalls and flat cap worn at a jaunty angle, heading towards the bakery shop, where he would treat himself to a cake.

I would think "That's my Dad!" and get myself over the junction to reach him and walk with him a little way before we both had to head to our respective workplaces.

I'd give anything to see him again now; a short while ago I realised I'd forgotten his voice. :( 

But this morning, on Fathers' Day, I picked a lovely spray of white flowers and they are now on the mantelpiece in his memory.

Happy Fathers' Day, Dad.  Love you. x

Do dogs get headaches?

Yesterday I had a mechanic working on my car in the drive and I offered him a drink.  Came in and made him a coffee and a flavoured Latte (with extra teaspoonful of coffee) for myself.  Leaving mine on the coffee table, I took his drink outside, then got drawn into conversation about the car and what he was doing. 

Eventually, I remembered my cooling coffee and  went back in home to drink it.  But the mug was empty.  For the life of me I couldn't remember drinking it but put it down to my somewhat erratic memory (oh, the joys of getting old!) 

While the mechanic  was working he made a discovery . . .  the tank was full of PETROL instead of the diesel fuel that should have been there!  Oh the shame - and the panic when I realised what I'd done.

Luckily, my son had looked online and found 'Wrong Fuel Ltd' who now had a technician on the way to remove the contaminated petrol and clean the filter before adding some diesel to the tank and getting it running again.

Once again, I offered the feller a drink and made him a coffee - plus another Latte with extra teaspoon of coffee for myself. And once again, I stayed outside for a while, fascinated by what was going on. Eventually, he had the car running perfectly and made sure it was to my satisfaction before leaving, when I returned to my Latte - except once again the mug was empty.  Was I going mad?

But this time there was incriminating evidence which pointed to the culprit - splashes of coffee on the table and on the TV remote and on my book,

"It was YOU, wasn't it?" I stared at the innocent little face of Benji, who decided at that moment to make a dash for his bed in the hall. 

I'd been wondering why I had a headache as I rarely get them, but now realised it was probably caffeine withdrawal. Then it struck me that my little dog, all 10kg of him, now had quite a large amount of caffeine inside him and would possibly be climbing the walls later. I hoped he wouldn't be keeping me awake all night.  He seemed on 'high alert' for a while, but half an hour later he was crashed out on his blanket on the sofa, snoring, yipping and twitching. 

He did disturb my sleep last night but not because he was running around: quite the opposite in fact. Once in his bed he slept heavily,  so heavily that I had to keep checking that he was still breathing.  He barely flickered an eyelid when I stroked him and spoke to him, so I couldn't relax at all. 

This morning he's absolutely fine, while I am shattered. I need a strong coffee!

I wonder if he has a headache now - do dogs get headaches?

Life and death in the greenhouse.

At midnight I was in the greenhouse, with a torch, searching for whatever was chomping on my strawberry plants, petunias, fuchsias and several of the herbs.  After rearing them from tiny plug plants and carefully placing them in prime positions under glass, I wasn't ready to let them be gobbled up by slimy predators. And I found him!  A ruddy big snail, balanced on a new shoot of the strawberry plant.  I picked him off and disposed of him - no details about that. Let's just say he won't be creating havoc amongst my plants ever again.  I searched the greenhouse but found no others; now I wait to see if there are any more plant-eaters.

Stock photo

(continued . . )

Yes, there was more damage on the following day; all 5 Fuchsias have now been eaten; the strawberry plant has lost more young leaves and another herb has been destroyed. It's WAR! 

So I've re-planted the remaining Strawberry in the large GroBag alongside the two Tomato plants and stood the other plants on sharp grit in a deep tray. After 3 more torchlight forays, I've only found one more snail and that was on the floor of the greenhouse.  Now removed and disposed of - and no more chomping of my plants. Happily, the Strawberry seems to be doing well in the GroBag, being fed weekly on Tomato feed.

In the kitchen window I now have 5 more Jumbo plugs - Pelargoniums -  and a Clematis (The President), which is described as a 'rampant climber' that will have large, deep purple flowers. The Pelargoniums are a further part delivery from my order, while the Clematis was a lovely surprise present, given by my daughter-in-law. As it is such a rampant climber, I intend planting it in the front garden directly alongside  my neighbour's huge, dark (and ugly!) conifer tree which overhangs my garden by quite a lot, in the hope that the Clematis will scramble up and over it and make it a thing of beauty.

Apologies for the lack of photos - I'll be so glad to get out and about again when it's safe to do so.

SURPRISE! SURPRISE!

After 10 weeks of staying at home, I'm having to stir up my brain cells just to work out what day it might be.  Staring blankly at the calendar doesn't help, I found. Thank goodness for phones and laptops that tell you the date as well as time.  It's like Groundhog Day, isn't it? 

However, I have had two lovely surprises which made the days memorable: a mystery package was left in my front porch by our local delivery driver; I couldn't recall ordering anything.  But LOOK what I found - 

A beautiful crocheted blanket!

About 4 years ago, I bought the wool, intending to make a 'Moorland' blanket/bed throw, the colours being representative of Bodmin Moor, the area where I live in Cornwall, south-west England.

But after going wrong and having to undo it several times, I lost patience and the wool was relegated to the bottom of a wardrobe.

Recently, during a de-clutter, I came across it and decided to send it to a friend, Debbie, who loves to crochet and knit during any time off her busy work as a surgery receptionist. 

I made it clear that I didn't want anything in return; she was doing me a favour by putting it to good use.

So imagine my surprise when she made this beautiful blanket for ME! 

I have now sent her a surprise of her own - some flowers and assorted Gin miniatures.  She loves a Gin and tonic, I happen to know!

The 2nd surprise for me was another delivery; it was brought to my door by a lady who said, "This is sent with love from your daughter-in-law." as she presented me with a white cardboard cake box.

Inside was a Cornish Cream Tea - 2 freshly baked scones, a small jar of Strawberry Jam, 2 pots of Cornish Clotted Cream and 2 teabags of Cornish Tea.

I can tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed my lovely Cornish Cream Tea out in my garden, in the sunshine. Many thanks to my daughter-in-law Nicola, son Peter and grandchildren Leo and Eleanor.

Update on the Garden

Well, deliveries really are slow; in fact I have no colourful plants from my order so far, just a couple of seed packets and 3 separate deliveries of plug plants, which sat on my kitchen windowsill for a couple of weeks, being watered and watched until I potted them up in readiness for going in the greenhouse. There have been some failures - only 1 Fuchsia survived out of the 4 that were sent; from the herb collection the chives and parsley plugs gave up the ghost, but the other 4 herbs all look healthy and are growing on well.  5 Dianthus are also looking good and will soon be strong enough to go out into containers, hopefully in a week or two's time. 

The GrowBags that I ordered -  Jumbo ones that are longer and deeper than the usual ones - were initially 'Lost in Transit' but an email from me brought replacement ones.  However, that presented a problem - each one was doubled over and crammed into a large cardboard box for transit, then they were placed in my front porch.  Oh how I wished for a big strong man who would effortlessly lift and carry those heavy bags round to the back garden and place them in the greenhouse! It took me ages, with the help of my grandson's skateboard (abandoned in my garage) and lots of shoving, heaving, pulling and manoeuvring - and possibly cursing - before they were at last in position.  Not surprisingly, my back and shoulders suffered for several days afterwards.  Now I have received 2 of the tomato plants so after a week in the kitchen window, they can be planted in one of those GrowBags.  Yay!

In the meantime, any colour in the garden is provided by the established shrubs and plants; here's Benji admiring them! Not really; he's watching out for anyone walking past with a dog, so he can bark furiously at them and let them know this is HIS territory.

A beautiful orange Azalea

Rhododendron

Solomon's Seal

Bleeding Heart (Dicentra)

Fuchsia - when fully opened, this one has a deep purple 'skirt'. Stunning!

Aquilegia - grown from seed 'borrowed' from my neighbour's flowers which poked through the hedge

The newest addition - a replacement fence for the one that was destroyed by stormy winds. It will look much better when it has been painted with a dark brown preservative.

The sapling on the left is self-sown and I think it might be a flowering Cherry.  If so, I shall stake it and feed it and enjoy the blossom for years  to come, I hope. 

The metal gate is the entrance to the village football pitch - we have an excellent local team, but of course they are not able to play in the present circumstances,

The building behind is the Primary School, also not in use at present. 

Benji has just discovered that he can no longer see any passing dogs!  His barking has almost ceased!