L881 VLB – RIP

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My utterly trusty Nissan Sunny has finally gone on to be an organ donor. The engine could have lasted for many more years, but it’s been an age since the rev counter worked. The door locking mechanisms play a symphony at random moments. The shock absorbers are giving up the ghost. The wheel bearings object noisily to multi-storey car parks. The windscreen wipers and washers are finding it all too much. The ventilation system showers the unwary with leaf fragments… my Very Lovely Beast (VLB) has come to a natural end.

The upside is that Chicago daughter’s small Peugot, stabled for 3 plus years in our garage, can now sit in the drive, releasing a fine large dry area of shed space.

I am comforting myself with the smell of lilies and the sight of the Hydrangea Paniculata Pink Diamond  (it turns pink as it fades).DSCN8154 DSCN8155 - Version 2 DSCN8156 And I’ve just discovered that the hedgehog in the pot is sort-of visible (though not posing very helpfully) in one of my photos. Pity about the embarrassing state of the back door. DSCN8152

 

 

greenhouse shame

This was going to be a boring post about TAX and ebooks, but I’ll save that until I have made a call to the US tax authorities.

In April I was putting up photos of my wonderful new greenhouse. Soon after this I started planting seeds like fury. I decided to try and use up all my old seeds (some very ancient indeed). After an anxious week or so a few little seedlings made an appearance in a couple of trays, but I didn’t really know when to take the lids of the propagators and one lot damped off. The others died on the very hot day we went into town forgetting to open the greenhouse ventilators. Absolutely nothing appeared in the other trays.

I tried again with fresher seed but had similar results. So my total greenhouse haul this year so far is four weeds, DSCN5900

the sweet pepper a friend gave me, DSCN5901

and behind that one of the two tomatoes I managed to grow, DSCN5899the other is in the vegetable patch. I did manage to grow a pot full of purple sprouting broccoli and that is in the veg bed along with some direct sown leeks, carrots etc, but still, it’s embarrassing.

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The good thing about gardens is that there is always another season and something else to admire. I rather like this last glimpse of the sun. DSCN6034 - Version 2The lilies are trying to make up for other failures,

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and the giant host is flowering madly.

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Thrilling post about tax coming in the next few days.