Romas was off to MIA for an Airsoft game today so here we were at 8.30 in the car park of the Williams Arms to meet up with his lift for the day. It was rather grey and raining slightly so I abandoned my plans to drive down to the Velator Great Field for a photo walk. I had the house to myself as Peter had left early for his 2 hour drive to Cambourne for his study day for the CCNA course he is doing at the moment. I did more paperwork and then painted round 2 of the upstairs windows by leaning out from the inside. By the afternoon it was hot and sunny so I took some time out to carry on with reading The Sons of Hurin by Tolkien. I've had the book for a while but it needs concentration even though I've read The Silmarillion and some of the Middle-earth histories. I find that I have to make notes as I go along , part of the challenge of reading Tolkien is that most characters (& places) have a given name, a family name and a descriptive name often in several different languages. I'm not a linguist so it takes me a while to sort out who's related to who and which group of men or elves they belong to. It was so lovely to sit in the sun with just the sounds of birdsong around and read and make notes in peace. I have deliberately not been to the library this holiday because library books are like chocolate, once started I can't stop, literally.
I also had a wander around the garden with my trusty camera looking for signs of spring.
The Japanese acers are beginning to unfurl their leaves.
While the same dark red can be seen in the water lily leaves.
The blackcurrants are showing the first green berries, good news for the resident blackbird who tucks into the berries when they are ripe.
A couple of years ago I experimented with planting rubus spectabilis as a boundary hedge and it seems to be doing well. It has these magenta flowers in spring, grows no higher than 5ft, is slightly prickly and has good autumn colour. It spreads by runners and has all come from 1 plant that I bought at an Open Garden day many years ago.Last day of the holiday tomorrow. Let's hope that the weather is just as nice.
