Jonathan Woss is on the tele

Ian and Andres have arrived and they and the dogs are sitting comfortably on the sofa watching Jonathan. Andres finished exams yesterday, and Ian today, and both look absolutely exhausted.

The rain stopped for a few hours today so I enjoyed doing some weeding when I came home from work. The weeds are growing faster than the veggies, but I'm managing to beat them. I picked some raspberries - they aren't as tasty at this time of the year as they are in the autumn, but I must get some yoghurt to make smoothies all the same. There is lots of lettuce of various tasty types, and enough spinach to sink the Queen Mary. Peas and broad beans are coming on, but it will be a while before they are ready.

It's the weekend!

Summer isn't here

The rain, it raineth. Lots of puddles and water is around and I daren't even go near the garden for fear of sinking in it.

Goldie and Leavy have been misbehaving today. Leavy seems to have taken a liking to b's best beer and removed it from a cupboard, breaking a valuable bottle in the process. Goldie has found love (as he does from time to time) and is trying to reach the bitch. This has involved trying to break and exit from the side gate. He put a fair amount of force into the twisting he did to the wire facing on it, and has also bitten through the good, new wood. Both are in the severe bad books. Pippa is the only one we are talking to.

Tomorrow Ian has music in the morning, and then he only has one exam left - Applied Maths. He and Andres are coming home here after that, to sleep. We have been told not to disturb them, and not to ask them to do anything helpful this weekend. I assume they won't expect us to do anything helpful either!

I am chair of the local branch of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) this year so had to go to a meeting earlier to arrange the schedule of meetings for next year. I think all the work has been done in one meeting, so hope I'll be able to fulfill my agreement to be just a figure-head, and not to be someone who actually has to do any work on the committee.

Boating at last

Ian came home on Friday with his Physics books. I'd hate to be doing Physics as it seems to involve a lot of learning things off by heart. I remember finding it unpleasant when I was at school, which is one of the reasons I gave it up after 5th year.

We brought up all the bedding to the boat and eventually managed to set sail at about 5pm on Saturday. We intended to go to Dromaan as we reckoned it would be quiet, and we wanted a short journey so that we could get home quickly on Sunday for Ian's sake.

As we set sail the rain started. Luckily it only lasted about 15 minutes and the evening got progressively better. As we reached Dromaan, though, we saw 3 big plastic jobbies speeding up to get there ahead of us, and it looked as if there was a crowd in there. A look around the corner into the harbour confirmed our worst fears in time for us to turn around and go away. We then headed to Garrykennedy.

Near the entrance to the harbour there was a rib with 2 teenagers in it looking distressed. Their engine had given up and they had no oars. We towed them in. Their parents had seen them and came out to help, but it was easier for us to bring them right in.

Garrykennedy was very pleasant and quiet. It was nearly 10pm by the time we ate, and then headed to bed fairly promptly.

Today the lake was like a mill-pond. We were back in Dromineer by 1pm, with an uneventful voyage.

I'd better start the Knocknagow blog for this year now.

Garden photos

This is in response to the large number of requests to see the garden (well, 1 request, but it's exciting to get a comment on my blog!). It's raining, so everything is well watered.

Hundreds of plants later...

My therapy this morning after a stressful couple of days of committees and meetings at NSW the last couple of days was to plant all the veggie seedlings given to me by Alan Pim. It's amazing how much will fit into a small garden, but it is now pretty much full. I think we will have a glut of runner beans, and maybe of beetroot, but the rest of what I've planted should just give us nice tasters. We've already had a meal of rocket, which was very tasty. More has grown back where I picked it, so there will be enough for a meal this week as well.

The tomato plants seem to be surviving their drowning and are gradually starting to get a bit more green looking again. I have about 6 sunflower seeds growing in various places at the moment - I think 3 of them were from Carolan's never-carried-out attempt to plant sunflowers in the waste patches of Bangor. Never mind, Castleconnell's best garden will gain...

b has brought a load of metal to the scrap merchants, so our front garden is beginning to clear out. There is more to be brought, and some remnants of our old kitchen cabinets, but it looks a bit tidier all the same. My hanging basket by the front door turns the eye away from the scrap now, anyway.

The dogs had a run by the lake this morning after b went to Killaloe market. They are now flat out in cool spots, trying to sleep out the heat. We have all windows open and are not venturing outside much today. Ian looked pale when I saw him yesterday as he has decided to avoid the sun - sunstroke and exams don't go well together, he says. I hope he is currently madly doing sample maths questions as tomorrow's exam is the harder of the two exams.

Three exams complete, only Irish remaining this week

I think Ian was embarrassed into ringing at lunchtime today. He seems to be happy enough so far. I know Sylvia Plath came up on the English paper and he was keen on her. Maths 1 went fine too. So, a good start helps the rest.

The next major exam is Maths 2 on Monday.

so I did cycle today, but

b collected me for the way home as he said it was too hot for me to cycle back. I wasn't sure what it was going to be like outside but didn't feel I should demur from his offer or opinion.

I wonder how Ian got on in his first day of exams. Do ring us, Ian...

Back to work today

I fully intended to cycle to work today but just couldn't face it as I got up this morning. I had slept badly and my hands were so swollen that I couldn't get my ring off. Maybe it is the result of gardening, or maybe due to hay fever. As the day has progressed I seem to have become better. Maybe it was just an excuse designed to avoid the arduous task of cycling. We'll see what happens tomorrow morning.

The filter for the boat arrived today and b went up to Dromineer to have it fitted. We might even get to go out in the boat next Sunday....

I put a hanging basket up near the front door, with pink flowers hanging from it. It makes the house look a little less neglected than it was. I'm hoping that people also notice that I hoed the front flower bed and put some extra soil on it. The removal of the scrap metal, even if it is only into the trailer, will also help in this regard. There is only one boat left as well, so progress is being made.

I have to go now and do my daily dose of Sudoku.

The millenium forest

Well, we went exploring for our millenium tree yesterday, as promised. It was very exciting, b says, but Ian and I were less impressed. The dogs enjoyed the run, though. The forest is very close to Cloondavaun Bay, where we used to keep a boat, and is reasonably well marked. At the entrance to the soon-to-be forest there is a chart that shows what area your tree is in. Ours was about as far away from the entrance as you can get, so we set out over the hills.

I assume that they cut down a forested area in order to plant all these broad-leaved trees to celebrate the millenium. The scrub is in danger of taking over, but it is possible to pick out individual trees in rows. They are of mixed type, and were probably planted over a couple of years so vary in size.

We headed up the road and turned 2nd right. We went on down the hill and reached a dead end. There are no numbers on the trees so it isn't possible to decide which might be yours. It may be one of a thousand or so. We took a photo of one with our certificate.

On returning to the entrance we discovered we should have taken the 3rd turn on the right, so we'll just have to go there again some other day to find the true tree!

Today has been a nice lazy bank holiday day. I've been bumbling about in the garden most of the weekend so maybe some day there will be some growing things. I discovered that the pots the tomato plants are had no holes in the bottoms, which is why they were so waterlogged. b's knife helped out and water came streaming down the legs of my jeans. I hope I'm not too late to rescue the plants.

One useful task I did today was to unearth the trailer and put some scrap metal into it. b had fixed the towing hitch yesterday so we now have a means of bringing the metal to the recycling yard. It will take two journeys, but the first load is at least ready to go.

Ian and b have now headed to Waterford. Ian gets special treatment today as Leaving Cert exams officially start tomorrow (the first exams are on Wednesday).

The lads are lazing

I spent the morning gardening but began to wonder whether Ian and b were alive when I still heard no sounds at mid-day. They were both fast asleep while I was slaving away.

I hoed the veg garden, cut back over-grown plants in the main garden, planted the items I had bought at the Newtown plant sale, tidied the flower bed at the front of the house (well, a little bit, as it needs major work), and discovered that the reason the tomato plants aren't doing well is that they are water-logged. b has now helped me to lift up the large pots the tomatoes are in so that they can drain better. I hope they survive.

We're going on an expedition this afternoon to see if we can find our tree - yes, the millenium tree that was planted for the Goggin family in a forest. Surely it must have grown by now and we can find it. We have its number and I'm sure that the government minister who planted it (Seamus Brennan) will be waiting at the forest to show us where it is.

...the old man is snoring

'cos it's raining and it's pouring. Ian and B are drooling over car brochures as b thinks I need to buy a new car sometime in the next couple of years and he is trying to persuade me that it should be a Citroen Picasso. The selling point seems to be the rechargeable torch in the back of the car. I'm ignoring everything!

We've rearranged things in the big room so that it is a bit tidier, though I think we need to throw loads out. Ian has promised to do that when his exams are finished. When the boat finally gets going the shelves will clear a bit of duvets and pillows.

Leavy got her stitches out yesterday and is now a four-legged dog. She is using all four legs most of the time but the vet says that she will always sit with her leg out. I spent yesterday evening cutting out large hunks of matted hair from her back. She would make a good Rastafarian.