It looks as if the weather has changed for a while. I see that on-and-off rain is forecast into May.
This means two things. The bloody grass will grow and I won't be able to cut it, and I'll be spending a lot more time indoors, which to me means boredom.
However, it also means that we won't be having any frost, and that our fruit crops will be safe. If even a fraction of the blossom develops into fruit, we'll be overwhelmed.... which is how I like it.
Elsewhere in our tiny hamlet, the wild Orchids are mostly in flower, the man building the Stalag Holiday Camp seems to have temporarily abandoned it, and one of my favourite dogs (Bok's girlfriend, Izzy) is having serious epilepsy problems, and is now half blind and sleeps 23 hrs a day. Poor gal.
We now see green everywhere, Pine pollen covers just about everything, and the Cuckoos sing all day long.
I've spread most of the compost at Haddock's, and the Courgette plants will soon go in. I shall hold back from planting-out the Tomatoes, Peppers, Aubergines, etc, until almost mid-May.
On the tedium front; Brexit has returned to haunt us, and yet again we mourn the senseless killing of those whose gods others disapprove.
N.B. PLEASE, if you're going to follow some ridiculous primitive nonsense about gods and devils, do have some respect for those who follow equally ridiculous nonsense under different names. You're all as crazy as each other, so for goodness sake, the least you could do is to shake hands and be friends in your mutual folly.
You mention not planting out your tomatoes etc until almost mid May. Where do you start them off? Do you have a hot house?
ReplyDeleteI shall buy them. I only plant a few, 8 maybe, and I like to have different varieties, so the easiest way is to buy them.
DeleteThat's what we do but I thought you grew from seed.
DeleteOur pine pollen has been washed away and replaced with African dust. Summer still seems a long way off.
ReplyDeleteAt least my pumpkins have sprouted now I'm biting my fingernails till they grow and be transplanted.
I have been told many times here by priests and a nun that greek orthodox is the only true religion and I should convert before it's too late.
I did wonder if ours was desert dust and not pollen. It may well be Sahara dust; they look very similar. My advice is similar to 'Pascal's Wager'; join now, they may be right.
DeleteI suspect that I shall cause some controvesy here but I do feel thet we have a responsibility to our canine friends and that the Last Injection may be upon Izzy.
ReplyDeleteI don't find that controversial at all. We are usually much kinder to our dogs than we are to fellow humans. Izzy is OK for the moment, but I fear that her time will come, then kindness will take over.
DeleteAmen to you N.B. If only!
ReplyDeleteThe desert dust has even reached the Hebrides.
I did think it was a bit more orangey than our standard Pine pollen.
DeleteTerrifically well put in your last line. I note, as most bloggers do, you gather readers with like minds, mostly.
ReplyDeleteI do encourage the others, as long as they are logical and polite.
DeleteHmmm, haven't seen any desert dust yet in the Isle of Man, just drizzly rain since yesterday evening. We have to wait longer for our soil to warm up before we plant out. We have a very short growing season up here!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know you lived there; I would have thought you benefited from The Gulf Stream!
DeleteWe are planning to grow tomatoes both in the greenhouse and outside this year to see what works best. At the moment Paul is bringing the young plants indoors at night.
ReplyDeleteBack in the UK, ours always did best indoors in the greenhouse.
DeleteI think you triggered a lot of peope with that picture, ha-ha :) I also think that people should just shake hands and chill.
ReplyDeleteI find it strange that so-called 'religious' people should wish to be seen as so evil.
DeleteWe have now got rain and my car is covered in desert dust !!! .... rain good for the garden dust not so good for the car ! XXXX
ReplyDeleteI've just washed the outdoor table and chairs... they've changed from brown, back to green.
DeletePollen has taken over here also and my blue car is looking green and my eyes are red.
ReplyDeleteI put in herbs yesterday and am crossing my fingers. All other plants are still in the tunnels getting bigger and stronger.
Most of my herbs are perennials, but I have sown extra Parsley and Basil.
DeleteDo you still paint Cro? If so I would have thought an enforced stay indoors because of rain would be welcome.
ReplyDeleteI'm an outdoor painter; woodland landscapes etc. We've just been having an afternoon of rumbling thunder and heavy rain. Quite pleasant in its way.
DeleteWe have cool weather and wet weather and thunder and lightening weather. Not my style at all.
ReplyDeleteSounds like here, Joanne; and we'd got so used to it being 'summery'.
DeleteWe had a wonderful Easter weekend... sunny, but cool in the hill country. But we've also had some scary weather lately here in North Texas... 60+ winds, torrential rains, huge hail, and tornadoes. But Spring is here irregardless and it's my favorite season! BTW, parsley and basil are my favorite herbs.
ReplyDeleteOur Springs are not quite as tumultuous as yours, but always full of surprises. I grow quite a lot of herbs, but actually use quite few. The most common are the Parsley and Basil, Rosemary and Mint. The others just grow and look pretty.
DeleteThe barbaric and evil attack on Christians in Sri Lanka is yet a further illustration of what Christian activist Patrick Sookhdeo in The Death of Western Christianity describes as Christianophobia: “a state of fear and hatred against Christianity and Christians”.
ReplyDeleteSookhdeo argues that we are living across the globe in an intolerant and oppressive “anti-Christian age” where those committed to the Bible suffer oppression and violence, and in extreme cases torture and death.
In China the communist government creates a climate of fear and intimidation where Christians are treated as second-class citizens and the Catholic Church is denied the freedom to act independently of government.
In Egypt the Christian Copts are also oppressed: in April 2017, on Palm Sunday, 45 worshippers were killed when two churches were bombed by Islamist terrorists. A year earlier in Pakistan, 75 Christians were killed and hundreds injured while celebrating Easter in an attack by Islamist militants.
And as explained in the just-released book The Thirty-Year Genocide by Benny Morris and Dror Ze’evi, detailing the treatment of Christians in what is now Turkey, there is a long history in the Middle East of extreme and inhumane violence and cruelty.
During the period from 1894 to 1924, covering the last years of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of the Turkish republic, Christians suffered under a state-mandated strategy of “premeditated mass killing, homicidal deportation, forced conversion, mass rape and brutal abduction”. Indeed, such is the barbaric treatment currently inflicted on Christians that Muslim commentator and author Mehdi Hasan argues online in The Intercept that commentators and politicians in the West should do more to acknowledge their brutal and merciless treatment.
After noting the widespread condemnation in response to the horrific attack on the mosques in Christchurch, Hasan writes: “I am a Muslim, and I consider myself to be on the left, but I’m embarrassed to admit that in both Muslim and left circles the issue of Christian persecution has been downplayed and even ignored for far too long.”
No civilised human being tolerates any religious group being persecuted regardless of their own opinions and belief system
Unfortunately we can expect a lot more anti-Christian attacks. Europe has been importing 'refugees' at an alarming rate, and we have no idea who they are, or what are their intentions. Most of course will become fine citizens, but one has to be concerned about the minority.
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