Monday morning a nice brown and amber spider has set up a web across the back door. You could have done that a month ago, I said, when there were more flies.
I’ve just remembered I have two panels of clear hard plastic that used to be the fronts of big cheap poster frames. they’ve been leaning against the corner wall in the study for ooh like a year? and they’ll be perfect for cold frames when I take on the allotment! I had been thinking I’d have to beg offcuts from the local roofers.
I put the bin out just after dark and completely forgot the spider web was across the doorway, so it’s going to have to rebuild in the night.
Tuesday: I bought a £9 slow cooker, after about ten years of being like ‘they take up too much space on the counter!!’ it suddenly seems like a great idea to have the house smell of food all afternoon. I tend not to want to START preparing food at six pm, so we end up slinging boxed frozen things into the oven. And that’s fine! there will still be plenty of days we do that! It’s miles better than ordering delivery. But I do like stews and chilis and peasant food.
considering moving the domain and blog from Squarespace to WordPress, as WordPress is cheaper and we’re using it for the group blog anyway. it shouldn’t affect readers??
Wednesday morning I woke after sunrise but before the alarm. Parliament will sit today and I expect a righteous brawl of carefully thought out words. I also learn that the States are having a justice, but I have no idea what timescale we can expect from that.
Wednesday I’m embarrassed that I took down the finished bean plants at work without checking with their owner – it turned out that he wanted to try cutting them off and leaving them in over winter to see if they would be opportunistically early next spring. Tomorrow I’ll see if I can rescue any of the root balls and tuck them back in. I should have asked first, and he knows I know that.
Stayed up late reading Hansard.
Went in search of the photo app I used to use back in 2011 because I remembered it being able to just TAKE a black and white photo instead of taking a photo and then applying filters. it’s called Vignette and some time between then and now they’ve added the ability to add presets as camera shortcuts on your home screen. AMAZING OUTSTANDING LIFE CHANGED. I joke but I’m not joking.
The roots of the bean plants were quite whole and had been rained on enough overnight that I feel ok about their chances now I’ve tucked them back in to their holes. Also today I cut back about a quarter of the blackberry thicket and I’m going to need supervision for the next bit – does he really really mean no side shoots off anything that’s not coming out of the ground? It seems dramatic?
Thursday evening three humans and three dogs went to play in a field as the sun set, and talked about medication shortages. That is, we humans talked about that. The dogs talked about smells and jumping.
Friday at work was awesome. After I’d done the normal housework tasks, we rummaged through the loft and the shed for the tools and spare wallpaper to replace the patch the cats have scratched off, but we got so distracted by ancient gadgets and techniques and the family stories that go with them that the actual papering will have to wait for tomorrow.
Home to fetch Priscilla, out again on my third bus of the day to spend the afternoon at the cottage hugging dogs and listening to Elgar.
Friday afternoon’s dramatic rain took all the leaves off the young apple tree, so now I can stop wondering if they were dry because it’s sick or because it’s simply autumn. It got through last winter as a bare root stick, I’m sure it can get through a second.
Saturday morning happily patching cat-scratched paint and scrubbing wheelchair-bashed door frames. Sunny and windy out: exhilarating commutes.
A flock of very small birds just startled up out of the trees on the roundabout, and I suddenly realised I’ve not seen bats in years. A single Google search gave me the local bat conservation enthusiasts group, so I’ve added myself to their upcoming events email list. It would be nice to meet a bat during October.
hooks for 