Wild Garlic Season

A bit of a shorter blog this week as once again I have not really been at home much. As I write this in my hotel room at 5 in the morning, the Wifi is incredibly slow which will rather limit my ability to ramble as usual. However, I did get to spend some time in the garden last weekend so I do have a few pictures to post ......

Hasn’t this bank holiday weekend come around quickly?

It seems only minutes since we had the Easter holiday but here we are again looking forward to an extended weekend and the beginning of May.

May is still officially spring, and yet to look out of the window at the garden you would think it was summer. We have had such little rain that we are even watering some of the summer plants already. I am sure that it was probably just our impression but the plants looked thirsty and responded to a drop of the pure stuff.

How long before we start talking about a hosepipe ban? The local reservoir is Chew Valley lake and this has not filled up completely after last years’ summer months.  You can also walk around the outside of Blagdon lake near to the water’s edge.

This is the best time of year to get out and walk before the grass grows too high and the nettles completely invade. Sadly, I don’t think we will get much opportunity to walk this weekend, but I am there in spirit. Taming the garden and planting my seedlings has to take priority before I miss the window of opportunity.

Our Two Hairy Companions

I didn’t know this until today, but we are approaching the end of National Pet Month. The month of April has been designated as such and is supported by a charity of the same name.

http://www.nationalpetmonth.org.uk/

It has been launched to improve awareness of responsible pet ownership and appears to be sponsored by Tesco Bank. But unless I have been on a different planet this seems to have been lost on me and a few thousand people with good intentions doesn’t really seem to have made much difference. But the thought counts and it is a good excuse to think about our hairy companions a bit more than usual, (and I am not talking about my better half!).

Our hairy companions have now completely fled the nest to the extent that some days we see one of the them only for feeding and late at night when he wants somewhere comfortable to sleep.

One of our New Neighbours

In a previous blog I have mentioned that we have new neighbours in the form of a flock of sheep. Apart from being noisy at all hours of the day and night, they are also quite entertaining. They all seem to have their own personalities and habits and they have formed quite a little community.

It is also incredible how quickly they have cleared the fields around us of long grass. In a matter of days, they have gone from being tiny lambs that make that kind of high pitched ‘bah’ sound, to a more deep throated adult ‘bah’ noise. They also look like right little chubby bunnies compared to a couple of weeks ago. I’m not one who can really point the finger on this subject, but it is amazing that an animal eating mostly grass can grow so quickly.

Whilst cutting the grass on the mower I had the opportunity to see them for an hour or two. This prompted the following observations.

The weather forecast is ok, without being exceptional. Having said that, last weekend was supposed to be similar and turned out to be lovely.

I’ve been away from home for the last few days and spent an evening with colleagues discussing songs and concerts that we have attended which have remained special.

One of the group had been to various cult concerts and festivals which included a rendition of the below. Look out for one of the best guitar solos of all time (in my humble opinion).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w7OgIMMRc4

The interesting thing about this particular gig was the fact that the group had all fallen out and so none of the real band turned up apart from the lead singer, who writes the songs and owns them, with a few session musicians.

Have a great bank holiday!

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