Today's been a lovely day in Devon, bright and warm and fully sprung. This morning, we went for a walk with our fool dog in the Millennium Green, wherein were exhibited a great variety of greenliness, gleaming moss in dappled light, a fine stand of bank-top snowdrops, and a startled moth, brushed from its slumbers in a silver birch by my passing vastness: but I didn't have my camera with me, so you'll just have to take my word for it. On the way home we met our ever smiley landlord, who is perennially impressed with how well C is looking.
After that, six solid hours in the garden doing some heavy lifting, moving huge clods of earth in pursuit of my latest grandiose project (see below), deeply satisfying to my peasant genes. Chip was there for much of it, taking advantage of the true colours in the sunlight to go on the needle, then getting caught up in the spirit and doing some light weeding that got heavy enough for her to command The Eradicator. She also cooked a cheese souffle for lunch that we ate outside — can't recall lunching al fresco in February before.
About 5.00, cleared everything away, had a long shower and changed into some unsodden clothes, then took Kezzy out for a short constitutional down the hushed lane: half moon riding high with Venus and Jupiter in attendance, Parrish blue skyline etched with the black tracery of winter trees, the denizens of The Rookery making their usual crepuscular clamour, tawny owls calling, as night comes down with a sigh.
As I said, lovely.
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| C serves up the souffle at a table with a view |
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| The ever eager to please Kezzy performs a canine pre-wash on the souffle bowl |
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| C attempts the 23 labour of Hercules, salting all the keel slugs she can find, and there were plenty on those bricks. When we first came here, the whole garden was grass, and I kept cutting out beds and leaving grassy paths. As some of these are too narrow to mow properly, I've decided to chop out a load of inadequate turves (and use them in another large project in another part of the garden) and fill the gaps with a bark mulch, as below. |
Oh, and here's a pic of us both, taken by our friend Ruth when she visited last week
