August Sun

Birthday for Robert on the 12th and it also marks the end to his studies and work at Essex University. Been quite a journey for this originally shy boy who started his studies 5 years ago. He now has his degree after 3 years at Essex University and 1 year in the United States of Moron, San Francisco to be exact. Followed that with one year working for the University. He has grown and matured and is now a self-confident man, starting a new chapter of his life in Bath. Yep, you guessed it, he is back to uni, Bath university to study the migration of the Pieris brassicae butterfly as it flies from one garden to another, fascinating stuff.  

The office window has a good view of the garden, giving me a close-up view of the squabbling wood pigeons with their distinctive call ‘I told you so Alex’ and of course the normal hustle and bustle of our garden with flowers and vegetable mixture in the borders. Had a very good crop of potatoes this year and the tomatoes are forming nicely. This has created a diverse pattern of colours highlighted with bright red strawberries. Yes, we have the most amazing amount of strawberries this year, growing next to the basil, makes for and good contrast of foliage and fruit. Needless to say, this has attracted bumblebees, butterflies and birds. I did plant Sprouting Broccoli and the large and small white butterflies are partially attracted to this brassica, in fact, the Scientific name for the large white is Pieris brassicae. The small white is also known as the Cabbage butterfly. The two sprouting broccoli plants have been destroyed by the caterpillars which have hatched from the eggs the female butterfly laid on the leaves. 

The discussions roll on with respect to the extension and renovation we would like to do with the house. The most talked-about is the kitchen, do we go open plan kitchen/dining room or leave the kitchen as it and maybe spend the money on the bathroom? We did pick two lovely sofas for the snug room but as is the ways of the world, we decided to change their colours from cream and chocolate to graphite and light grey. The furniture shop will let us know on Monday if they have already been made and have shipped. Hopefully, those Asians will be true to form and will not have even seen the original order yet, one can dream.

On to other matters of news. Micheal and Kate have gone to London to dog sit a sausage dog with an under bit. I think that was a dog for Christmas, owners are holidaying in Italy. Hopefully, they will be able to fly back with all this coronavirus threat of lockdown.