GARDEN GLIMPSES 21

The first weekend in July arrived and I took the following shot to show the passionflowers and clematis outside the front door. A week later I took another shot of the view from the doorway, looking down the garden path.

The above shot is of four plants my friend gave me from her garden. I was worried about having to clear too much of my wildlife inspired overgrowth and decided to make a friendship patch using plants friends had given me to do so and these are what she gave me. As you can see in the next shot, they are sited next to my mint/chives.

This shot shows that I have been taking action clearing the yard. It ended up that I needed to clear the back end and this shot shows about half of the stuff I cleared. Yes folks, my Dad the super hoarder did not only store a load of junk in the house I inherited, but in the yard at the very back...

In the front yard, a scene of contrast was erupting as the usually darker roses burst into a show of pale pink second flowering. This brightened up the yard considerable, as the aquilegias and azaleas are done flowering.

SUMMER SLOSHING 13

Here is the latest shot of the drinks closet, which had a tidy up at the close of June. Also at the end of the month I completed the painting of the toilet door trim as demonstrated in the second picture above. It was not long before the door itself got my attention, and by the close of the first weekend in July, the upstair hallway painting was completed.

While I still have the view, I will share a shot of the 'overgrown' back yard. neighbors have accused me of having rats and household garbage in situ as well as being overgrown, and although I don't, I am supposed to clear my vegetation. THIS shot shows the habitat I love - as do more than 4 species of butterfly, 6 of bee, multiple of bird - http://birdaugb.blogspot.co.uk/ , and various other creatures including hedgehogs and frogs.

Alas, this may not be the view I have while cooking for much longer due to heartless ignorant neighbors and bureaucratic council ponces.

Continuing into July/August, I placed out a brand new, clean duster and the polish bottle for my son...

...to get these back. I think he actually used it! I was hopefull that the lemony scent might make him realize that his room stunk - as whiffs issued out into the hallway everytime he opened his door, and indeed it appeared to be that way for a few days as he began to open his windows. However, it appears it is the lemon scent he dislikes, as he soon stopped and has trapped the 'yukky' smell back in his room again, since.

GARDEN GLIMPSES 20

We start from the middle of June with a shot of a lemon balm plant that a friend of mine gave to me the previous year. I split her offering into two pieces and this half is doing well. I am uncertain where the other half is - it may have died, or be covered by something else.... only winter will tell!

In the front yard, much blooming is occuring - the azalea, fuchsia, valerian, rose, and sea bells are all going well. Friends who took me out noted on dropping me off that I had 2 different colors of one plant - which can be seen in the second of the following pictures. The clematis is JUST flowering - as the third week of June begins to expire.

July began and much blossoming is occuring. I took a few shots in the front yard once more. This first shot shows the 2 colors of valerian and the azalea, which has just finished blooming and is begining to lose its flowers.

The second shot portrays the mixture of proper plant and weed. The fuchsia and pieris on the one hand with the blue weed and columbine/bindweed on the other.

SUMMER SLOSHING 12

I then began to paint the trim, with the last of the second pot of Tibetan Gold gloss. After the initial trim and window frame, I began on the windowsill and blanket box.

A brief detour from paint to dust brings us to the arrival of a new vacuum cleaner into the household. Flashing back, I had a Vacstream in Aussie with which I was more than happy. HERE is a picture of the model I had. It lasted five years, and was still going when I left the country to come to England to take care of my late father. My father had an upright vacuum, and as I do not like those very much, as soon as it failed a little I got rid of the thing and purchased a small floor-runner, or 'cylinder' as they are called here.

That model lasted a little over 1.5 years, before the filter was not replaceable and the head wore out. I invested in a Hoover shortly after my father passed away, due to my mother having had one that lasted many years in my childhood and my assumption that this model might also last a long time. Alas, within 2-3 months of the 1-year guarantee expiry, it began to have its faults - I could not really expect better - it was only 'made in China' after all, and such models don't last long or work well.

It was time to buy a new vac. Payday arrived in June, and within minutes of checking my pay had arrived safely into my bank account, I ordered a Henry. Henry is the name of a red/black vacuum that is made in England, works properly, and has a 2-YEAR guarantee so if this one carcs it as have the last two, I won't need to fork out another £50-£100.

Although the face is somewhat 'childish' in my view, I might keep it on rather than remove it - as it smiles. I also wear a smile, knowing it is likely to last me the 5-10 years I 'expect' a vacuum to last.

SUMMER SLOSHING 11

I decided to remove it. So, instead of painting, I did this task on my next free day. Ripping away the bubble wrap was easy enough - but that left me with a dusty, dirty, flakey-painted partly worn out wooden framed window. The first thing I did was wipe it over as best I could. It then looked brighter, at least.

I was slightly concerned about the state of the wood, so decided to put a layer of polyfilla over it. Now before you stare in horror at the result in my next picture - I must tell you that I did not care too much about being neat and tidy, as it will be hidden behind the bright pink curtain anyway - so I just slopped the polyfilla on carelessly; providing it covered the risky bits, I did not mind what it looked like.

I actually thought it looked rather nice done roughly, like lumps of snow.

SUMMER SLOSHING 10

As you can see, although not very clearly in this shot, I have now completed polyfillaing the upper hallway. I got to the stage where I could not squidge out a single blob more of the dried up polyfilla, so used the new tub of Asda-polyfilla along with them old canister of semi-liquid polyfilla.

Then, it was onto painting. I broke the Cookie Dough areas down into 2 - the wall/ceiling and the blanket box area, and painted the first, repainting a day after. An additional job was to fix a small paintbrush onto the end of the roller and fill in the unpainted gap as shown above, that resulted when rollered ceiling and painted wall were left unjoined. Here it is at the undercoat stage ...

My next task was going to be to Tibetan Gold gloss the trim, window, toilet door, blanket box and loft cover - but this was delayed. When I took down the curtain to prepare the window area, I remembered that my late father had made a fake double glazed window when most of the house windows were replaced with double glazing. I therefore had to decide what to do - leave it and paint around it or remove it and paint the wood behind it.

GARDEN GLIMPSES 19

Here is a shot of the front yard, taken the second week in May. As you can see it too is a bit of wilderness amidst a village in natural decline. As the council steal more country from our countryside village, I turn more built up area back to nature. SOMEONE has to care more for wildlife than human pleasure.

I have the pretty yellow poppies flowering, along with grape hyacinths and a single bluebell. I am not sure how the bluebell arrived in the front yard - wind or bird no doubt are responsible. Sea-bells, aquilegias, dandelions and flowering weeds all grow together in peace here, circling the pieris tree which is currently yellowing.

This shot shows the back yard again - and the area where lily-of-the-valley are begining to bud and bloom. It will be a day or two before enough are flowering to scent the air, however.

We move on to summer months, and as June began I took some photos of the yards' progress. The first were of the large fluffy yellow roses, which were the first to bloom this season. The next photo is of the olde fashioned pale pink rose in the back yard near the patio - along with some blue weed-flowers and bird poops.

A shot of the 'overgrown mess' of my wildlife-loved back yard shows the foxgloves now flowering.