PEAR TREE LOG

pear tree log: I started this blog to keep my younger son, Jonny, in touch with life in Lincolnshire, while he spent a year working in China. That year turned into five! Now he is home and training to become a physics teacher. This is simply a patchwork quilt of some of the things I enjoy - life in rural Lincolnshire, our animals, friends, architecture, books, the gardens, and things of passing interest.



Thursday 19 July 2012

Just Another Day in Nowhere

This dismal summer is trundling along.  Everything that needs to be done  gets done, eventually.  Often in pouring rain.  The rain causes its own problems.  Drainage problems, of all kinds.  Something I never gave thought to when I was a town or city dweller.  This summer, drainage has been an everyday problem.



Holes and inspection pits have had to be dug as problems with soakaways have been an ever present headache.

Here George and Jonny are captured in a rare moment of inactivity.



The large pits are about three feet deep, so they have shifted a lot of smelly, wet, very heavy clay soil to get down there.  They have worked in sunshine and in heavy rain.

Late yesterday the job was finally declared finished, the pits were closed.


We shall see when the next monsoon rains fall.

I am happy to dig, empty wheelbarrows, etc.  but my role this time was to make coffees and hand out biscuits.


I took Toby to the fish ponds and was delighted to see that the water lilies are in bloom - the water may look murky, but the lilies are beautiful.



Toby seemed eager to go on, leg problems forgotten - so we went through the fields to Claythorpe.  

I had just climbed a stile and was watching the sheep when I felt something touch my hand - it was a sheep.



Here she is.  I spent a moment petting her and remembering the two lambs which I was fortunate to have bottle fed, many years ago in the Western Isles.

I also pondered over whether this could be the same sheep which my friend The Viking encountered on his recent walk.






This was the view from your cottage, Meggie.


It was oh so peaceful.






We walked home slowly as Toby was getting a bit tired.  He slept contentedly for the rest of the afternoon, chasing rabbits and dreaming of juicy marrowbones no doubt.


This pretty poppy was gifted to me several years ago.  It was a gift from the blue tits who took over the electric meter box one summer.

I kept them safe and protected from meter readers and in return they left me a single poppy.   I saved the seeds and now have them growing around the place.  I always think of them as my thank-you gift.
This beautiful rose grows up the cottage wall.  I don't know what it is called, but the blooms are large and the perfume is wonderful.

It was finally time for me to come back down to earth and get the kettle on, make sandwiches and check on the workers.

33 comments:

  1. Long protracted rainfall can play havoc with the dreaded septic tank and soak-away. I've recently solved our own problem by redirecting all the kitchen used-water to a separate location. Fingers crossed!

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    1. Hello Cro, I have my fingers crossed for you. We tried that first, but still had the problem, this is plan B. I hope it works. Part of the trouble is the type of rain which we have had, plus our soil is heavy clay just to make things fun!

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  2. A good walk. It is a heartening when animals come to see us voluntarilty.

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    1. Hello gz, It was a good walk - actually most walks around here are good, and nature nearly always comes up trumps. Today I was delighted to see both swallows and swifts at really close quarters, as they were swooping around feeding.

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  3. I completely agree with you - this summer has been SO dreary. Hopefully your drainage problems are now solved. It would be nice if August managed to be slightly drier. Jx

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    1. Hello Jan, The forecast is for a few days of better weather - could it be the start of summer? I won't hold my breath! Enjoy your school holidays!x

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  4. Hello Elaine.....If only you lived high on a hill like I do. Even with our heaviest of rains, drainage is never a problem. I'm in love with the rose in your last photo. What would you call the color? The shape of the rose reminds me of my Lady Banks rose. You brought tears to my eyes about the view from "my cottage"...

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    1. Hello Meggie, Ah, if only! In the years since we moved here my knowledge of septic tanks and soakaways has increased dramatically - unfortunately! I checked on the rose and it is a David Austin one, Crown Princess Margareta - named after a granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

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    2. Pity it's not a Lady Banks like Meggie's. The LB rose was named after a distant ancestor of mine's wife who lived up your way at Revesby in Lincs.

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  5. I'm glad you are finding pleasure dispite the rain. We had problems with too much rain in spring of 2011 but this summmer we in Ohio have the opposite problem...drought. Even a few minutes of rain like we had yesterday is welcomed.

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    1. Hello Pauline, It really is such a shame that we can't come to some amicable agreement to share it out fairly! The rains we have had this year are not typical for our country, they have been very heavy and prolonged. Walks still get fitted in and around them.

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  6. What a friendly sheep, a special moment. The poppy is beautiful as is the rose, stunning colours. Hope your drainage is better and the sun comes to stay soon. x

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    1. Hello Cheryl, A special moment indeed, one I shall never forget - just a gentle touch to get my attention and some silent communication. Magical. Fingers crossed for some sunshine - how is it all going down at the allotment?

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  7. The poppy is gorgeous...a gift indeed. I love sheep... sweet gentle vegans, although they are limited in the grey matter department!
    Jane x

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    1. Hello Jane, It was a big surprise to find the blue tits had found a way into the electrical box, through a tiny hole at the top. They made themselves very comfortable and the family fledged successfully - the hole has been filled in now. No bird is safe with Sparky and Bennie about. The poppies always take me back to those exciting days.

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  8. Your poppy story is priceless. It's lovely. Does the curious sheep belong to a local flock or is she another Albert, happy for company?

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    1. Hello Joanne, The poppy grew just after the blue tits left, just one single poppy under the electrical box. Definitely a gift. One of the local farmers has quite a large flock of sheep in that field, she is part of the collective - a special part! I wonder whether, perhaps, she was bottle fed and had more good contact with humans than the other sheep.

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  9. What a wonderful day....well except maybe for the digging. So many beautiful things to look at.

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    1. Hello Bonnie, It is one of the nicest things about living here - the walks are marvellous!

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  10. The rose and poppy are just exquisite! We have a rainy day forecasted and I was hoping it would be sunny for my grandson's arrival. Alas, that's Seattle, but it will be nice to have some rain; just glad it's not like you've had. XOXO

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    1. Hello Susan, The perfume from the rose is wonderful, I smell it every time I enter or leave the gate.
      Oh what an exciting day for you. I hope you have a wonderful time with your grandson. Rain may fall, but I am sure it won't dampen your spirits. xx

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  11. I really enjoyed this post - especially the water lily pics. I totally understand about Internet connections in out of the way places. I too live out in the middle of the Piney Woods of East Texas and even satellite service is a bit iffy at times!

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    1. Hello Kathy, The water lilies are really beautiful, I was delighted to find them in bloom at last. The internet service here has reverted to being almost as bad as when it used to be dial-up, it gets very tedious watching pages load and then sometimes disappear into the ether!

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  12. Hi Elaine,

    I still have to pinch myself that it is Summer for goodness sake...mornings are spent bucket in hand collecting the numerous slugs and snails which are loving these wet conditions and eating my vegetables. Most of my beautiful tree lilies have rotted away before having the chance to flower. And as for my oriental greens-they have given up on the Summer too and as soon as they emerge they are going straight to flower instead of producing leaves and bulking up...

    And now they say we may have an ‘Indian Summer’...

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    1. Hello Green Dragonette, The slug problem around here is pretty grim,too. Luckily we have quite large numbers of toads and frogs living in the garden, so they do their best. The vegetables are not doing well at all, we all need some sunshine to cheer us up. I have my fingers crossed that we may at least have some sun this weekend.

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  13. What a delightful post! I love the gentle sheep, the water lilies and the striking orange rose but most of all, the story behind the pink poppies.

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    1. Hello Ms Sparrow, Little moments and sights like those really do help to redress the balance of the sludge, the mud and the smells. The poppies never fail to make me smile and remember that little family.

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  14. You made a dismal beginning about bad weather, mud, and drainage turn into an uplifting post. Beautiful photos. I've never seen a poppy like that, and I have to admit I was a bit surprised when you described the ladies who gifted it to you as "blue tits." Then I caught on.

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    1. Hello Mitch, Believe me it is pretty dismal when the drains don't work! I collect the poppy seed heads each year and spread them around the gardens ...look well if they turn out to be opium poppies!!

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  15. Oh my, we have had that very same Poppy this year. I single plant in the middle of the Dahlia border, quite lovely really. My granddaughter is convinced the garden fairies planted it because they know pink is her favorite colour.

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    1. Hello Doc, Your granddaughter is quite right, the garden fairies must have planted it...for it was the garden fairies who gave it to the blue tits who left one for me. What a clever girl she is.

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  16. Lovely to see your two silver foxes hard at work! Did the sheep have a blue clip in one ear and a yellow in the other? If so then yes it could have been the same as The V's. she's very friendly isn't she. Love the pretty poppies x

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    1. Hello Dom, Yes, she did. She was a sweet and gentle old thing and I was delighted that she decided to say hello to me entirely of her own volition. The poppies may become a nuisance n the future, but for now I still love them.x

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