General Chat

Twenty trees, Joan! My goodness, that's a forest!
Your friend has certainly been working hard.
Are you getting a lot more light in the house now - or were the trees far enough away not to make much difference?

Cool and cloudy here, with a slight breeze and occasional light showers.
Really quite a pleasant day, though not sunny.
Too cool and breezy for the midges, thank goodness!

I'm just about to do some baking for our village coffee morning tomorrow.

Hi ArgyllGran.
We have a LOT of trees, lol & most I grew myself from gathering seeds so a mixture of Sycamores, Ash, Rowans, Hawthortns, Beech, 1 silver Birch, & a couple of Christmas trees.
At the back of the house there are at least another 30 various kinds but not all are being removed, really just want to take out the ones that are too big for where they are situated.

We planted them many years ago & boy once established they just took off which was a real surprise as we were led to believe that many types of trees won't / don't / or are very slow to grow in this cold & windy area !!!!

When we first moved to this house there were just 6 trees growing in & around the place, all Sycamores, we got rid of 3 of them years ago as they were enormous, 2 others were cut down about 6 years ago but they refuse to die, I'm constantly pulling out new growth but despite me removing it & drowning them in seriously strong killer. The top cut is black & looks dead but obviously it's not.

They were not too close to the house so not seeing any difference re light but the garden is now swathed in sunshine all day long which can only help the flowering plants.

I should see a difference when the leaves fall, looking forward to not having to spend so much time sweeping them up come Autumn.

Joan.

Morning everyone

Well looking a little brighter but still windy. Our good weather expected mid week but...we shall see.

Oh my Joan, 20 trees crikey what a lot of work for the boys!!But if it means you have a lot less leaves to sweep up, then thats good for you.

My potato plants now have flowers on them, although want to leave them for as long as possible to get the biggest tatties.These are Red Roosters, good for jackets.

Yesterday between the mist, we managed to move 4 tubs and plant up a trough and 2 other tubs so all outside now. Cant wait until everything blooms!

When we were away in Oban, the pilows in the hotel were duck and goose feather and were so soft and comfy that when we returned I ordered a pack of 2 pillows.
But I find your head molds into the pillow and they are so not comfy. Im getting a stick neck and a sore head even though they were very expensive.

The hotel ones were the softest pillow I have have slept on and got the best night sleep.

Any one have duck and goose feather pillows and do you find them comfy?

Florence in the hebrides

ArgyllGran, forgot to say, hope your baking turned out well and lots come to the coffee morning.

Just been watching the news. People were saying how lovely the weather was and they wanted it to last but they were in Southsea(Portsmouth). Their temperature high will still be nearly 10 degrees lower than ours Grr :-| :-| :-|

It was 30 degrees in bedroom last night, even though the fan had been on for ages. Dreading tomorrow when it will be a bit hotter.

31 degrees here today, I suspect people like the temp in southsea if they are by the sea as there will be a breeze from across the solent. No breeze here and it is very sticky.

I checked the temp in the bedroom a little while ago and it is already at 30.

We have an outdoor thermometer says 40 . But it is in hot spot :-0

It is very hot in the Lakes. We had a dreadful journey, at one point we were stationary for thirty minutes because of a broken down cattle truck. Anyway we are here and the house is very nice. We are having a takeaway tonight as a reward for the journey. We are going to cook for two nights and just go to a restaurant for the last night. It is far too hot to be trailing out to a restaurant tonight and tomorrow is set to be even hotter.

Still cool and cloudy here in north Argyll, and the grass not quite dry enough to cut. Maybe tomorrow, as it's badly needing done!

Florence, perhaps you could contact the hotel and ask what make their pillows are, so you could get the same ones?
It's a shame the ones you bought aren't so good.

Yes, thanks, the baking turned out fine, and the coffee morning went well.
Not as many people there as usual - but we know some of our regulars are away at the moment.
I've had to bring some cake home again, to freeze for the next time.

We enjoyed the take away last night, then tried out the large hot tub cum swim spa. All seven of us were in it with room to spare
It is blistering hot today, thank goodness that it is going to be cooler tomorrow. This morning we had a trip into Bowness and Windermere, partly to pick up up some supplies and to visit the boat museum which was quite interesting and importantly air conditioned We had lunch back at the house and then went in the hot tub again. We are just staying inside now as it is ridiculously hot outside. I hope that everyone else is surviving

Heat has finally reached us today! 22 degrees, I believe. Quite hot enough for me!
We'll have another two days of this, and then some rain and back to cooler weather.

I've cut most of the grass this afternoon - couldn't wait for the cooler weather as I have to do it while the grass is dry - but what a hot job.
I haven't quite finished it, as I was so exhausted I could hardly move.
The rest will keep for tomorrow!

I'm glad you're enjoying your holiday, Linda, in spite of the heat.

Morning everyone from a very warm and sunny village.

Yep summer has arrived....for today and tbh yesterday was pleasant as well.
We went to the garden centre to get 2 new rose bushes as one of mine is over 5 years old and not doing very well. A huge stalk is dead and other twigs too with no buds so far. So, this one is coming out and a new red one going in.

A 2nd rose is very slow so going to replace that but going to plant and keep it in the tunnel to see if I can nurse it back with fresh soil and a new pot.

Last 2 large potss to do...I know i said that the other day lol but...bought a few more plants yesterday so def the last ones. Just want the garden now to burst into flower so it should look very colourful.

Load of washing ready to go out which should dry in the breeze fairly quickly.

Think its 21 here today which is perfect as anything much hotter, I cant tolerate with me asthma.

Hope everyone looking in is also having a sunny day but not too hot. Think some parts of the south west had thunderstorms last night but they can keep those!

Florence in the hebrides

Well quite a drop in temperature here in Cumbria today. 14 degrees, very grey and very windy. So sweaters on again.

Helllo to all.
Hi Ann, still really warm here even with the wind, certainly not needing a jumper, Have had to go out & water the newest climbing Roses again this week, I don't want to lose them as they have buds showing.

The grass is very dry & starting to look a bit on the brown side,it's really needing some rain.
I was sitting out for a short while watching the Blue Tits coming & going to one of the bird boxes, they work soo hard, obviously feeding their young.
I haven't noticed any using the rest of the boxes !
Only out for a short while as it was too warm.

Joan.

Wet, windy, and cool over here, Joan!
What a change from the last few lovely sunny days.

I haven't been out further than the compost bin.
The many slow-worms which live in there aren't basking on the top of the compost, as they do in warm weather. They'll have burrowed down into the compost for warmth today.

Afternoon all

Oh what a difference a day makes.

It very windy, misty, cooler and pretty horrid here today. The rain came on late last night and is still raining and guess what????
The car windows were left open all night grrrr Yep the front seats are soaking, the floor.

Dogs cushions were wet but they saved the back seats so OH outside with lots of towels trying to mop up. Infact he's gone away probably with the car heaters on full blast to dry it all out...what next?

We were off out to the local bingo tonight but as there was a death in the village, its been cancelled out of respect which is just as well considering whats happened!

My new climbing rose arrived and is now planted. It has some good shoots on it so here's hoping it will grow well. The other is progressing albeit quite slowly.

At least with the rain we dont have to water the pots outside, only in the tunnel so takes up less time.

This rainy forecast is set to last for several days here....back to our usual weather then

Florence in the hebrides

Afternoon all

Grey and overcast here 12 degrees roughly. Clouds looming so showers look imminent.

The wind has abated somewhat but still bashing my plants grrrr

been busy cleaning the kitchen window and back door frames as full of dead midges yeeuk.

We decided we are going to paint one of the main kitchen walls as notices quite a lot now of scratches and marks so will give it a freshen up next week as nothing much on anyway.

Linda, hope you enjoyed the lake District.

Joan, hope its not too hot outside so you can get in your lovely garden.

Argyllgran, hope you managed to cut the rest of your grass?

AnninGloucs, so difficult to know what to wear isnt it? I wore a jumper yesterday as was raining hard and more like winter!

Right back to cleaning

Florence in the hebrides

Florence -
yes, I did cut all the grass, thanks!
I'm so glad to have got it done before the weather broke on Friday - but of course it keeps growing, and there's a lot of it.

Dull and damp again today, as with you.
Goodness know when I'll manage the next cut.

Thank you Florence, we did enjoy our time in the Lake District, although it was incredibly hot. We spent one day on Beatrix Potter. We went to Beatrix Potter World in Windermere on the morning That was very good, but absolutely heaving with people. After lunch, we visited Hill Top, her home farm. The house we had hired was very good and the large hot tub was a great addition.
We came back on Friday and I had a day off, but I took Esme to Lightwater Valley today. It was sunny, but only about twenty degrees, The rain and cooler weather is forecast for tomorrow onwards.

It is a lot cooler here now Linda. We are staying about a mile down the road from Hill Top in Far Sawrey.,
Pleased that you had a good time anyway and good weather.