Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2025

@Busy-Lizzie I have repeat flowering Malvern Hills and Lady of the lake and I just prune out any dead or damaged stems then the ones that have flowered this year. Can't do that just yet as, now we've had some rain and its still reasonably warm, they're both having a late burst of flowers.

 

@Obelix-Vendée thank you. Chevy Chase flowers just once a year for about a month. It flowers on stems from the previous year, not new ones like repeat flowerers. It grew great long stems when we weren't here this summer.

 

The pruning is the same tho @Busy-Lizzie - take out the old ones so the new can grow and flower next year. That system keeps my pair from getting too big for their supports.

 

Hello all.

Continuous rain last night and this morning, forecast to last until tomorrow afternoon... I think I'll be doing a lot of tidying & cleaning (OH is in the UK this weekend), and will attempt to write a Christmas letter and some cards.

A second food dish has gone missing from the garden, but this time it's a plastic food tray from the recycling, so less precious than the cat's dish. (Not that we have a cat at present, but we'd use it again if ever we got another. And I'd prefer not to litter the countryside with plastic dishes, obviously!) No sign of the hedgehog, which I hope means either that it was too wet for him to bother getting out of bed, or that he was still full from the previous night's feasting. But we had two foxes, first a shy one with two working eyes, who ate only pieces of cooking apple - and then the one-eyed vixen, who made straight for the food dish and walked off with it. I'll reinstate the hedgehog feeding house, given we've not seen a cat hovering round at night, which will hopefully be fox-proof and give the hedgehog a share of the food, and put out some kibble on the concrete path for the dish-stealer.

That's a beautiful photo, @Ladybird4 . Would you consider putting it in the December photo competition (theme: light)? I'm sure others would enjoy it, too. I also loved your squirrel story!

Great news about your sister, @lizzie27 . Fingers crossed all will now be well.

I can't put off the housework any longer...

 

How lovely to have a hedgehog visiting, @Liriodendron! We have foxes and badgers, whoever turns up first gets the supper I’ve put out. Wholemeal bread and peanut butter sandwich, cut into little squares, some cheese if there are any slices of Gouda well past their ‘use in three days’ date, plus a mini cocktail sausage chopped into pieces. We do spoil them!

I had a busy day yesterday. My friend from the village and I had both arranged to meet our sisters in Salisbury! We travelled up on the train together, then each spent the day with our sister. Had a great time, browsing the shops and having lunch, then back to the station for slightly tearful au revoirs, then home again. It was fun having company on the train too, so lots of chat. I was almost hoarse when I got home!
Rather annoyingly, I got tempted by a pretty pair of boots, less than half their usual price, and not made in China. However, when I got home, the first thing I see on the news is that war criminal Putin enjoying a hero’s welcome in India. You can probably guess where the boots were made, so they are going straight back.
And today, I am on a train to Oxford to visit my daughter for the weekend! A trip to a Christmas fair is planned! Funny how my social life can be non existent for months, then everything at once. Next week I have a coffee and mince pies morning, and a Christmas lunch to look forward to. I shall be shattered!

 

We went to Peter Beales roses. I met one of the rose experts who had been an instructor on the day course I went to in February last year about pruning. He remembered me! Now I know what I will do with Chevy Chase and it's a lot more severe than the websites say!

I had sent back to pretty red shoes that were too small. The replacements have arrived, a size bigger that I usually take and they fit perfectly.

I've been doing Christmas cards again. Had to buy more stamps.