Wednesday 19 June 2013

Summer Time, But The Living Ain't Easy

It's dry, it's sunny, it's hot.
It's unbelievable.
June - for once - is doing what is says on the tin.
We must have brought a little bit of Paris back in our bags.


I'm even getting a bit of a tan - a farmer's tan, that is, which ends where the clothes begin.
I've been working non-stop in the garden, along with our lovely French Canadian wwoofers, Olivia and Marie Christine.
They've been slaving away, as you can see.

Knit, knit, knit...




In fact, they're practically on their knees.






But then, wwoofing is exhausting work.





However, it only takes a quick look round the garden to see just how hard they really have been working, bless their cotton socks.
They've weeded, edged grass, dug beds, pruned, cleared paths and carted endless barrow-loads of garden rubbish away .


See how hard we've all been working.








The dogs, on the other hand, have played tag with the girls, chased each other, chewed bones and tried to chew each other's teeth.
TeenQueen has done a good deal of walking about in the flower beds.
Admonishment runs off her like water off a duck's back.
But they haven't done a whole lot of sleeping in the garden.

Perhaps that's because it's extremely noisy. And I don't mean the digger rumbling in the field outside.
Every bird in the west seems to be nesting somewhere in our patch, and the orchard is full of young rooks. Half of them are learning how to take off and land , the others are being initiated into the joys of digging for leather-jackets. Its a raucous business.
But the swallows outdo them easily. They have got their young ones out on the bean arches, and in between loud singing and flying lessons, there are noisy feeding sessions.
It's a sound, I have to say, that makes my summer.




Me! Me! Me!


We sit around the table at supper almost too tired to talk.
Well, Olivia's never too tired to talk.
And Marie Christine enjoys a good natter.
Come to that, I'm not often too tired to talk myself.
In fact, now I think about it, there are only two family members who are so fast asleep they don't talk at supper.
The ones who didn't do any work in the garden at all - unless you count burying bones in the compost heap as work, that is. 

Model Dog and the TeenQueen hard at work as usual, chewing each other's teeth







11 comments:

  1. ah, TeenQueen is looking great! And glad to hear that she doesn't get upset at admonishment! >:-D

    Ooops, should mention, your garden is beautiful!

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    1. Yes, she's really settled down, L. I sometimes wish she'd do as she's told!!! Thank you - yes the garden is beautiful, and worth all the back-ache!

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  2. Oh what happy days and happy dogs. Be grateful the bones are buried in the compost. My parents had a cairn when they were first married. She buried bones under their pillows.

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    1. Yes, happy dogs and cats. Certainly couldn't cope with bones under the pillow! I thought bones in my precious herbaceous border was bad enough...

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  3. Replies
    1. Thanks, Mara! And for you 'Like' on the Facebook page!

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  4. ahhhhhhhhhh. lovely update. And I love those dogs. Even seeing them here on your blog makes me smile. garden looks really fab, glad u have gr8 help to bring out its very best!

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    1. Hi Anon (Could it be Clare?) Nice to see you here. Yes, it's always good to have a bit of help, especially at this time of year when it grows while you watch.
      They're great dogs, my girls, aren't they!

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  5. Love this blog Lorely, all the dog updates too, the Lurcher Girls look like they are happier than happy!

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  6. Gardens looking lovely Lol. X

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  7. Gardens looking lovely Lol. X

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