Saturday, May 22, 2010

Summertime

Was it only last week we were on a frost warning?


It's been fairly warm this week, though yesterday it was also distinctly thundery (or it could be that work had given me a headache). The daily commute provided plenty with which to be distracted and it would have been churlish not to have been. Over the past few months I had come to the conclusion that the lady with the nice bottom who travels on my train had lost weight she could have done with keeping. The removal of the winter anorak midweek confirmed my fears. The summer skirt still had that hypnotic sway but there is less substance to the allure than there should be. The black high-heeled pixie boots just emphasised the loss.

My garden is currently a riot. Mostly of weed seedlings, with herb Robert and willowherbs jostling for space amongst the horsetails. Midway along the path is a patch of nipplewort seedlings. I'm inclined to leave them alone for prurience's sake. "What's them little yellow dandelion-y things?" "Them's nipplewort." We do what we can for the tourist industry. Littered amongst the foliage is a profusion of feathered hooligans. The goldfinches have gone a bit quiet, which means they have young to feed. The spadgers paraded the first batch of baby sparrows the other day and very welcome they are, too. The noise from the bottom of the garden suggests that the blue tits have decided to grace one of the six hitherto-unused nestboxes. The seventh has been used alternatively by wood mice and bumblebees. We should be OK for gooseberries and blackberries this year.

A jobbing gardener has stuck a flier through my door. I know of his work. His idea of gardening is to prune magnolias in March. I'll stick with the weeds, thank you.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I do wonder about some self-styled gardeners.I knew one who felled a huge jacaranda because"the bloody thing only flowers once a year."

savannah said...

the best time of the year her in the south, sugar! warm, but not too hot and NOT hella humid every day. xoxox

Charlie said...

In my youthfully exuberant days, I remember a woman who was afflicted with both nipplewort and blue tits—the latter, however, only during winter.

Lulu LaBonne said...

We bought this house with a gardener attached but we didn't want to keep him on so he pruned our glorious plum tree before he left (in the winter) and it finally died of bacterial canker 2 years later.

Madame DeFarge said...

We are now looking at our garden and wondering what to do with it. So far, we've filled the bird feeder and felt very pleased with ourselves.

Kevin Musgrove said...

moreidlethought: it's pillocks like that as make Xmas advertising fill up 90% of the annual broadcasting year.

savannah: sounds good.

Charlie: happy days, keeping the points well-greased.

Lulu: the rotten swine!

Madame DeF: I think you need some holly.

worm said...

I've just had to google nipplewort, a risky undertaking on a work computer...

Interestingly on that theme, the germans, always reknowned for their less-than-beautiful language, call nipples 'breast warts'

nursemyra said...

I love feathered hooligans

Joanna Cake said...

I cant believe that this morning I was back to my winter uniform and GLOVES! It was freezing out there!

Kevin Musgrove said...

worm: you brave man! Those Germans are damnably romantic.

nursemyra: they are rather sweet in their way.

Joanna: we're back on frost warnings, too! (Uniform and gloves? You fight dirty, girl!)