Autumn Cottage Diarist

Staying Close in Case of Emergency!

Here are the two Little Dears, staying very close today to "essential equipment" in case they should be caught short - well, one can never be too careful! (Click on image for larger version)

The two little dears now also have a name each - from Brigitte's suggestion, our Little Lady is now  "Lily", whilst after my five year old niece's visit, the Little Chap is now called "Pippin"

A close second, "pipped" at the post, were the lovely names of "Oro" and "Argenta" - Gold and Silver in Italian, suggested by Diana, and I was also oh, so tempted by "Charles and Camilla".

Both babies are now happily galloping over most of Autumn Cottage - Lissie, meanwhile, sits aloft upon any vantage point she can find, and looks haughtily down upon them, with the occasional, half hearted hiss and growl  - just because she thinks she ought to, not because there is any real malice in it. I suspect I might find them all eating from the same bowl in the not too distant future.

I leave you with Pippin, in training for being a Mouser, by "killing" both his felt toy and the nice, rustly piece of tissue paper by alternate attacks, ad infinitum. This sort of happy innocence is such a delight to see.

Happiness is...A Potting Shed

Just a quick visit tonight to show you that this......

has been replaced by this.....

And now the fun begins. Electricity still to be installed - after which, guess where you will find me on autumn afternoons? (And mornings, and evenings!). Its cuttings time - a lavender border is required for the pathway being laid in the background of the picture (down to the summerhouse) - so I already have my first job for the potting shed lined up. More anon!

Interim Report on Unexpected Works!

In the beginning...

Just dropping in to give an interim report on major gardening works that have been going on here at the cottage for the last week. This always happens to me – I go to the supermarket for a loaf of bread and come home with a month’s provisions – now my maintenance men, who came to put up a shed and clear a patch of ground of brambles are still here a week later, in the process of landscaping a vegetable garden & a herb garden, and sinking an old shell pond back into the ground again.

Starting to lay out the vegetable area...

Major works, but oh, so satisfying. They are the most obliging team I have ever worked with (the same guys that have painted the house), and together we are creating something very pleasing. (They do the HARD work, I have the fun!)

The half-dead old woodpecker tree (behind digger) had to go...

Just a few photos will show you how far they have come already – now it is up to me to get graph paper and pens out over the weekend and do the fun bit of the detailed planning, after the initial "planning" has happened very much on the hoof, between days of torrential rain. I can’t understand why the digger has not been creating a mudbath – but not so – the soil is good and rich – with a bed of sand four feet down to buffer the pond bottom.

Digging out the root of the woodpecker tree...

Oh, my poor garden!

Oh, and before I go – THANK YOU to everyone who commented on the Naughty Babies (as they are still known) and suggested names. We found them all imaginative, some (Charles and Camilla!!) gave us a real chuckle – but at the moment, name choosing is on hold while I plod about in the mud. Please forgive me for not responding to you all personally, your responses are really appreciated, – I’ll post the chosen names when I finally get an indoor minute for myself.

But for now – where are me wellies?

Moving the old shell pond...

Backfilling and levelling - much harder than it looks...

And this is how the area looks tonight...a blank canvas on which I can't wait to draw!

May I Introduce You?

To the latest members of the family? After two years we have succumbed and acquired two more kitty babies – so new that they don’t yet have names.

I have been bursting to tell the secret since I first saw them a week and a half ago – but they were too young to leave their mother then, and were only finally collected this morning. I wanted to keep them a surprise, and just about managed it. Now we have one little female and one little male to play with, act as a mattress for, wait upon, clean up behind, tickle, cuddle, remove from under my skirt (all done already!) and generally coo about.

Lissie has taken it reasonably well – one hiss, one gentle pat, a great deal of disdain, a toad hunt (to show that she is above such things as fawning over babies), and a rather large number of kitty treats to mollify her – all in all, I think she’s not feeling too miffed at the moment.

So – any suggestions for names? Hugh has volunteered "Dennis and Beryl" so far! Brit readers will know to whom he is alluding – others may need to be informed that "Dennis the Menace" and "Beryl the Peril" are much loved comic book characters whose adventures and escapades always got them into trouble. Hmm – perhaps they are not such bad names after all – but I am sure that there must be others...suggestions on an (e)postcard please!