Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 31 May 2020

Hello – is it wet or is it dry? As soon as we say yes to one of them it turns to the other, yet wind and sun are both almost constant! Been having a good time with baby birds – especially a Dunnock family – three consistently hungry almost tailless and wingless balls of fluff. Obviously haven’t really fledged but have followed mother out from under the Japanese anemones. They seem to have no fear of other birds – one was even appealing to juvenile Blackbird to feed it!

LINDA – thanks for latest pic of your Peonies; it s sad that their heavy blooms do make them droop when wet – yours have almost persuaded me that I would have some if we had another flower bed – but not likely to expand gardening at our time of life.

LYNETTE – yes, you are right – the seed pods do come after the flowers – definitely you need to remove them to strengthen the plants, as growing in a pot with other things they will already be stressed.

AQ – do you wear a mask on public transport? We have slightly different rules each side of the border right now, very confusing. Pleased you could research the sculptor and discovered where to photograph the third statue. I liked the weather “thoughts” – they sound very English! Glad the birthday visit went well, with soft toy greeting, dancing, piano recital and cake. It must be hard for the younger ones to understand seeing but not hugging. Kind of pleased you spooked the Ibis as it gave us a photo of them taking off so elegantly!

HARELADY – thanks for the link – will draw OH’s attention to it (this is really his page, but I hijacked it when mine disappeared). I know he and his brother used to attend some sort of Sunday School gatherings at Leiston many years ago. I seem to remember there was most of one church just about still standing when we visited the remains of Dunwich about – hmm – 50 years ago.

PAT – no hosepipe or even sprinkler ban yet, but I did see a Facebook post from Scottish Water telling us not to waste water.

OH found himself a sheltered but outside (ish) job this afternoon – washing used plant pots; I shall be pleased when they are all stacked away in the shed.

Morning all:  Well, it started a very heavy drizzle here at 3 a.m. so patio chairs soaked.  

AQ:  Lovely photos and a lovely day from the sound of it.  Little girls are so sweet.  :-)

Harelady:  That's an interesting article about the monks and their alleged unorthodox fund-raising pursuits.  I've always wanted to go on a dig and am fascinated by the new satellite images from around the world that reveal below-surface structures, roads, etc.

I'm sitting here listening to a neighbor's smoke alarm that has been beeping for about an hour. No smoke anywhere, so it must be a bad battery.  Apparently they must be gone to work or somewhere else...  Beep, beep, beep......Beep, beep, beep.....   :-(

I've decided to drive to Arizona next weekend for Ms. D's Baptism/First Communion/Confirmation (a three-for-one event!).  Will stay in LA on Thursday night with friend who lives alone and has not been out and about, then drive straight through on Friday.  Staying in LA will lop 2 hours off the 8+hour drive from here. Will pack the car with oranges off our tree for the family along with a supply of wipes, disinfectant spray, gloves and hand sanitizer plus snacks for the ride. They've not had too many virus cases there so I'm not worried.   The service was postponed from Easter after the shutdown, but has all of a sudden been scheduled as part of the launch of a brand new and much larger church, big enough for lots of social distancing though masks will be required.   I've not missed most important family events (at least on this side of the Pond) and don't want to start now.  :-)  

Off to figure out the day's agenda...

Sorry for lack of chat from me, I'll blame lack of sleep for a few nights which allows everyday worries to creep in...
I just wanted to wish DIANE a safe and pleasant trip!

PS - my grass is looking awful. It's some weed called hawkbit which started last year. I removed loads by hand but its back, worse than ever. There weren't any weeds when my OH was here. I'm afraid to use a weedkiller because of the birds. Any ideas? I've looked online but there doesn't seem to be a safe option. That's just one of the everyday worries....!

Hello, Heather. Sorry you are weighed down with worries … and especially the hawkbit, which looks a very nasty visitor. It seems either hand weeding, which you've tried, or spot weedkiller will get rid of it. But the site I was looking at didn't say whether that is not good for birds. Sorry about the lack of sleep as well … I think sleep patterns for a lot of people are being affected by our present very different way of life. Certainly I am hearing more programmes on World Service than I usually do - and also answering e-mails and doing online jigsaws at very strange hours of the night!

Just had a very short, sharp shower followed by a beautiful rainbow - a real 'bow' against a very black sky. Now we have cloudless blue again. Crazy weather!

Dunnocks -Mother feeding one baby (excuse weeds - it was hoed 2 days ago)

Baby under Japanese Anemone leaves

Two of the littl'uns  They move about a lot - can't get more than two together!

ANNETTE - I hope your plan goes well for next weekend so that you don't miss the event - have a good trip.

HEATHER - I wish you could get some sleep and stop worrying about everything!

Sorry, PAT, you posted while I was at Rich Formatting! Wishing you some better nights too.

We have some grass in amongst our daisies and buttercups, LOL!!! And that's just the green bits - a lot of our lawn is now brown where Bonnie has performed, as when it's this dry, the lawn can't cope.

Sorry you're not sleeping too well, Heather. I suspect you're never alone these days as a lot of people are finding things strange & difficult, and whatever time you're awake, others are, too. Don't think you have to keep everything exactly as your OH did, he did a lot of garden work and you can't possibly keep things up to scratch on your own. Nor should you.

Went early to the shops this morning and found it almost deserted, as it was raining. Galloped around and came home triumphant. My OH put on a scarf as a face mask and went to the market to buy some new potatoes, just enough for one meal. I have ordered two face masks today as I can see that we are going to end up wearing them quite a lot whilst out: both in colourful chintzy fabrics.

Annette, have a good trip. You sound organised.

AQ - Lovely picture of the trio, dancing. Sounds like a fun day all around. Gosh, those girls are growing.

I sent for a new TV for our bedroom yesterday as the one we have is beginning to creak a bit, and anyway I fancied something which will do more things: this is a smart tv so we can sit in bed watching & get all sorts of extra services. I said to my OH that if we're going to be stuck at home more, then we might as well enjoy it!

HEATHER - Best not to worry about lack of sleep. Just accept it will change, if not this week, maybe next. I try distraction to break my worrying thoughts. I get up, prowl the house, have a cup of camomile, or read a while, or all three. Then back to bed.

OG – We are not encouraged to wear masks in public. Those with underlying health problems should wear them but, for most people, they give a false sense of security. In the city this week I saw few and those mostly by Asian students. (Adelaide is a popular city for their university studies.)

We visited Trio yesterday as it was a “pupil-free” day. On the Friday of a long weekend! No active cases of covid in our state. We have been encouraged to travel to regions for weekend to help economy. Brrr. It will be chilly for those in tents. This morn Clare Valley was -1.4 C, Yunta -3.5 C, the Riverland (Renmark, Loxton were minus too).