Great expectations for grapes

This was the first grape harvest in August 2011 

This was June 2012 

And now here we are in August. 

Another close encounter with a bird of prey

The last time I was this close to a bird of prey was in 2010 when it made two attempts at breaking and entering. This time we just chanced upon what was probably a kestrel (must get the bird book out) hunting down the lane. It posed on a telegraph post, inviting a photo, then flew to the next post and struck another pose. Very annoying that I ended up with two shots of an empty lane. Here's one of them:

Then I switched to video and tried again. More empty lane, but just a fraction of a second of flapping wings as it dives out of range. Maybe I should stick to writing. Photos are not my thing.

The grapes, the grapes.

If all the baby grapes ripen into adult bunches, the roof will cave in, which would be a shame because we can only use this room in Summer. See a very bad video here.

Bright sunshine to a violent hailstorm and back again in 10 minutes

It just doesn’t feel like British weather but I expect we say that every year. And it is April. April showers and all that. However, we went from bright sunshine...

... to a violent hail storm with ear-splitting thunder - the garden was white over for a while, the hail stayed on the roof, until the storm turned to torrential rain and then passed on all within a few minutes.

It made the Jawbone Gang walk very muddy. The boots accumulate mud so you get taller and taller the further you go.

No sinister finds this time.

The opening salvo in a century of grapes

We think they are a variety called Black Hamburgh but can’t be sure.  This is the first bunch to be harvested.

Apparently they can crop for 100 years or more so it is a certainty that the vine will outlive the garden room. 
From this:

To this in one summer:

We might make wine one day, but unlikely this year.  Unless the weather holds for another 4 or 5 weeks not enough will ripen.  And anyway, they taste very nice and we’ll have eaten them before anyone gets round to remembering where the demijohns are stored.

Nominee for Worst Idea of the Week Award

The idea: that Snowball, young H’s new hamster, would love to have an hour in the small hen run on the lawn.

Turned out to be a hole in both the idea and the run.  Didn’t spot it until going to check up on him.  Too small a gap for a hen to squeeze through but a breeze for an adventurous hamster.  Feared it might mean a trip to the pet shop for a lookalike, but spotted him in the flower bed under the crab apple tree.

G said later he thought I was weeding (as if).  I was rugby tackling a hamster in amongst the lobelia.  He’s safely back in custody now.

Robin Hood’s Bay and Whitby

In honour of G’s birthday we went to Robin Hood’s Bay.  It ain’t ’alf steep, but great views.  And amazing old streets.

And then on to Whitby – some great book shops.  Loads of Dracula-related stuff of course.  Some interesting looking boat trips, but we got no nearer than watching them set off.  Even more amazing old streets, quite a maze.  We got lost.

Lovely weather, enough walking for muscles to be complaining next day.

To eat or not to eat...

First sighting of a puffball at LTF coincides with the camera screwing up so it has been sitting there for two days now – see all the bite marks?  Not ours. Despite always saying we’d eat puffballs because they can’t be mistaken for anything else, we’re not mushroom-pickers by nature and found ourselves wondering if it was something else, something deadly.

However, we can find solace in the blueberries in their first year under cover (hard luck, feathered friends, these are ours)

and the pears that are on their way – first year of fruiting for this tree.  Gravity-defying fruit by the looks of it.  I forgot to flip the picture before uploading it.

We don’t eat these, but neither did the slugs this year.

 And we won’t eat these if they grow up to give us eggs.

And on the subject of first crop, these aren’t doing so badly and if they ripen, we might end up drinking them.

An Amazing April

This is the jungle from the big cats' perspective

And this from ours:

No rain equals no mud so the hens are laying clean eggs

And there are nests all over the garden, including a wren in here only visible to those who know where to look

and a dopey dove sitting on this egg out in plain sight.

How she'll keep an unruly chick in such a poor excuse for a nest, I don't know.

The pond is almost dry

but the lilac is out in style

Onward and upward into May.

A crocus fest at Lilac Tree

Including white ones with halos. I’ve never seen anything like it. It isn’t the camera. Or if it is, it’s my eyes too.

The snowdrop battalion still marches down the garden

But crocuses – or croci if you prefer – are out in all colours.

It’s not just snowdrops and crocus. The winter pansies are holding their own

Along with these things – the ones whose name I can never remember – something-anthemum I think.

The daffodils are poised too.

We are not free of the threat of snow which would not be good news, yet they come back in greater numbers every year so maybe we shouldn’t worry.

Trees turned to into an ice forest

They are old enough to have seen this weather before but this close to the coast it’s unusual to have so much snow or such a hard frost.

Recognisable trees, but only a day ago, recognisable grass too. Snow smoothes it all out.

 

The pampas grass looks disgruntled but it's still standing.  The clumps at the end of the drive thwack the windscreens of any cars that pass and if anyone is careless enough to drive past with the window open, the grass arms reach inside and flap about releasing a shower of snow.  I'm yet to get a photo of that, but live in hope.

How to keep your feet warm and dry whilst not allowing the animals to starve

When you need to go out in this

You should always keep these warm and dry

Heres how: first put on a those things like heavy-duty shower caps that medics put on over their shoes when they enter the OR suite. Heavy-duty shower caps would probably do the job too.

Then add a supermarket carrier bag to each foot.

Then a sturdy pair of boots

And you’re good to go.

Alternatively, get in a gang of kids to turn this

Into this

Feeling bad at leaving husband and daughter-in-law stranded in the snow on an isolated country lane

The agreement was that whoever was behind the wheel at the point the others managed to push the car back into motion must continue going (if possible) until out of deep snow.

We thought we’d done the hard bit in getting up the hill so didn’t expect deep snow in the dip at the bottom. Daft really, where else would deep snow go? There was one spot 100 yards on where I could have stopped and waited but I thought they’d been picked up by the grain lorry now following and it wasn’t that secure a spot, just slightly shallower snow. By the time real traction on the wheels returned and I stopped to retrieve the family from the grain lorry, I was a mile or so further on. He hadn’t dared stop for them, he told me, or he’d have been in the deep snow too.

What could I do? I couldn’t leave the car in the middle of the road to go back for them; couldn’t drive back for them, so went home, picked up spare gloves and hats and things (would have included huskies and a hip flask but we have neither) and yomped back across country.

Trudged almost as far as the mill. No sign of anyone. Called out but the blizzard was against me. Then spied a lone figure. And here it gets into lucky-after-all territory. If I hadn’t driven off and left them or had realised they weren’t in the grain lorry and stopped sooner, then we might have made it home but Son would have ended up stranded with a much longer walk.

They spied him in the distance heading for home via the same route in the little car. Since the big car hadn’t made it, the little car hadn’t a hope, but luckily it gave up way before getting to the dip so they could push it back to the main road and try another route in.

Father and Son headed off in the little car, leaving daughter-in-law to walk back. That’s not as heartless as it sounds. The little car won’t fit more than two and going the long way round they were in serious danger of ending up in a snow drift much further from home.

Neighbouring farmer with 4*4 picked us up and dropped us at the door. Thank you very much. Father and son arrived soon afterwards having made it all the way to the bottom of the drive before getting stuck.

Hot food and drinks all round and a happy ending. I’m due to go in for a Radio Humberside interview tomorrow. Not yet decided if I’ll brave it into town or sit tight and ask to do it by phone.

Pure coincidence that I took my phone out and snapped a pic of the road ahead just as we were gliding down towards the drift that caught us.