Other people may not quite realise it, if they live in the city, but here at Southwaite Green, Spring has definitely arrived. There is blossom on the crab apple trees in the woodland (for the first time in most cases), on the cultivated apples in the orchard, and on the pears and cherry trees. Surely this means that some fruit will eventually be forthcoming later in the year, but sadly the birds seem to be quicker finding the cherries than humans are. Also the damson orchard has blossomed properly for the first time this Spring, so perhaps this will be the year for the first damson fruit. For a long time they didn't look like proper trees, but now they are taking shape, and with blossom as well, you can start to see what it will look like in a few years' time, in all its glory.
It has been so dry here that the grass is not growing well and so has not yet been cut. People keep arriving and asking about playing on the grass court; I have to tell them that as the grass hasn't been cut yet, there are no white lines, but they are welcome to play as long as they are happy with no rules.
I ordered the white stuff for the white lining machine last week. It is labelled calcium carbonate, so presumably that is limestone or chalk, and in a middling texture, till we see how that works out. The machine came second hand from ebay, with instructions printed on the back of it, so hopefully even I should be able to work it, with some practice. I am quite excited about seeing the court laid out, as the grass has been down for a year now, and this will be the final step. However until the hedges grow to about eight feet, it won't seem finished. A way to go then.
Our family cat is in a bad way. He suddenly went downhill last October and despite many visits to the vet, no one seems able to pinpoint what is wrong with him. He has given up eating and just gets thinner and thinner, which is heartbreaking to see. I was away in Madrid last week, visiting my daughter, and when I came back he seemed much weaker. Even so, he loves to sit on my lap and purrs away quite contentedly. I have always thought of him as a gentleman cat, and it is right and proper that he has retired to his country estate. I knew he liked it as when we first moved in to the renovated farmhouse, he kept bringing me 'presents' to the back door, and calling me to admire them. Who wouldn't want a lovely fat mouse, dead or alive? And he has been with us through most of the children's growing up, and a perfect companion after they left home. So it will be hard to say goodbye to him.
I am still working on making the pond good to swim in. One leaf of a water lily has reached the surface, so that is going to be good, and water lilies are apparently very good at cleaning the water. At the moment there is a bit of a film on the surface and it is not as clear as it was last year, so whether that is because of raking out the weeds, or more tadpoles and fish in the water I don't know. There was some algae but it has disappeared when the sun arrived. And we have planted reeds, like those in the reed bed, along the culvert where the water comes into the pond, which should make the pond cleaner. So on to the summer house and decking, and let's see what happens when the really warm weather comes.
