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Diary – 2020 May
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All my diary pages going back to 2009
DRAWING & PAINTING:
1 May
The water is still overflowing onto the path in the park, lots of mud but the birds like it.
The lovely wisteria flowers on the pergola. These plinths were rebuilt some years ago when the old ones were cracked and leaning.
2 May
On our regular river walk, the cow parsley is flowering and growing tall, and lots of buttercups in between. I like buttercups here, but dig them out of my lawn!
Brown Teddy likes this archway of tree branches, making a short tunnel over the river. The traffic cone we saw on 15 April has washed down to one of the little weirs and become wedged on the raised edge. I think it will be there for some time now.
3 May
At last a little snap of our new blackcap who comes for a bath at intervals. I think word is getting around about the choice of washing facilities here! This is a frame from a zoomed in video, so I need him to come back for a proper detailed photo.
4 May
Whilst we were reading in the greenhouse, this magpie came down looking for titbits. We don't encourage magpies to get too comfortable in the garden, as all the other birds get spooked. We let them drink and then show our faces or move! They are quite scared themselves, despite their bold appearance.
We love watching the sparrows eating the greenfly off the climbing roses. I think they sit waiting for a bird pellet, and then notice there are greenfly available to snack on. Little sweet bites for them but definitely not for us.
9 May
Here is my new birdbath, an old concrete birdbath stand, a wide shallow terracotta pot and a big plant saucer on top that exactly fits, so it is all stable. Big pebbles for the bees and bluetits to stand on. This one can't be tipped up so easily to clean out, so we will just have to get the hose jet spray on it to clear out any debris.
11 May
The hawthorn petals are falling now, and they land in the pond and stick to all the edges of everything. Fish confetti!
12 May
Today we are repairing a small leak in the pond. The plants have been dug out and here is Brown Teddy watching the cascade of water from the filter box going down the tarpaulin, which is directing it at the apple trees. We stopped it when the water level had fallen a few inches.
I watched while the liner was lifted. It took quite a while to find the tiny hole. It was repaired with very sticky special rubber tape and a spare patch of liner. The fish were very interested in all the movement going on.
14 May
Everything is now put back and the sedge plants moved to this end, where they look really good and almost natural. The foam lily leaves will be coming out of the pond soon, as the real lilies are getting their leaves. Here are the shrubs that screen the end of the pond. I will be growing some campanula over the rocks, the type that covers everything and comes out of all the cracks. It will be a sea of blue flowers in time.
16 May
This is what the fish do when someone walks past and they are ready to eat. Lots of milling about, waiting for the pellets to fall from the sky! Then there is a lot of splashing and loud slurping going on.
19 May
Here are my seeds and I have decided to give them a head start by soaking them - nasturtium in red, cornflower in blue, and calendula in yellow.
21 May
The boating pond has been filled and is a bright blue with the sanitising additive. The overflow pipe into the main stream is a bit blue as well!
We walked on and Brown Teddy and I love to watch this main outflow that comes under the main road from the park. It is noisy and bubbly. Further on the stream is calm and clear. It is shady and cool on a hot day.
Next to the stream is boggy area. This giant leaved plant would make a good umbrella for me if it rained. My favourite stream-side plant are the buttercups, although I don't allow them in my garden as they spread too much.
22 May
In the park there are some new iris beds. The deep purple ones are my favourite.
25 May
My first oriental poppy opened today. We love to listen to the bees buzzing around inside them, the buzzing echoes and you can hear it quite a distance away.
Here is the campanula that I will be taking bits of later in the year, to plant down by the pond to cover the bare stones. By the pond there are some daisies that have seeded themselves into the cracks. When there are more they will look great mixed in with the campanula. Its full name is campanula muralis, or wall bellflower.
26 May
Another poppy opening very early in the morning. Time time we were handy with the camera to catch the action over about ten minutes.
There is a damp muddy patch where the pond overflows at one corner. This female blackbird is collecting bits for the nest, and I think looking for worms as well. The rest of the garden is bone dry, so this was a good find for the bird.
27 May
Today I went all round the garden getting video clips of all the roses, to make a short video of them. Handel is my favourite with the pink edges. I really like these ones with the clustered petals in the middle.
28 May
There were too many empty glazed pots sitting around the garden not doing anything useful, so I am filling them all up with pieces of saxifrage. You can take any bit of saxifrage, poke it in and it will grow in no time. They don't need much watering, and they have really shallow roots so they don't need a huge pot. These ones will make bright yellowy green mounds to dot about the garden. I will put some under the apples trees to fill the spaces.
29 May
Here is my stream, just before a small waterfall below the wall. Further along, the traffic cone is still there, but it has moved down a bit and has water flowing out of the end. I wonder how long it will stay there.
In the riverside park the air and grass were full of floating fluff, collecting like snow. They are fluffy seeds from the trees.
Back in the garden, our regular goldfinches came down for a bath. The adult had a drink, flew off, and the young one stayed for a good old splashy bath. There is no telling when they might come, so I make sure the water is always fresh and full.
Our resident robin sitting on the hose looking intently for movement in the grass - it might be a snack! That beak looks really sharp.
30 May
With all the dry warm weather, we are on a mission to tidy and clean things. Today is Paint A Chair day. I did a little sanding, but I just watched as it was painted. It stayed in the greenhouse so it could dry without flies landing on it. It was dry almost immediately in the heat and will get another coat tomorrow.
You can use the space on your 404 page to help find missing people by embedding info from notfound.org See Yellow Teddy's 404 page
Where to report a lost or found teddy or
toy in
the UK:
https://www.facebook.com/LostboxTeddyBears
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