Fledglings
With much flutter and cheep this morning whilst I was washing, the Great Tit nestlings in our bathroom vent pipe burst out into the open world today. The starling chicks in the roof gully nest fledged on the 17th.
Syrup tins
I'm not sure I really know what patriotism is, so I guess I'm not much of a patriot. Neither am I a monarchist. But these syrup tins from Our Lizzie's Jubilee Year make me smile. Maybe it has something to do with the childhood memory of drizzling syrup onto porridge.
Quilting
I finished a seaside themed quilt for my elder grandson.
Paid a visit to Edinburgh
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| Princes Street Gardens in May, and Edinburgh Castle |
As well as meeting Honourable Second Daughter (who will henceforth be known as the Springboard Diver until further notice) for wandering around Edinburgh, eating lunch near Tollcross, and visiting the Grassmarket shop Fabhatrix, I met some friends at the National Gallery for tea. The cakes and sandwiches are beautifully laid out and the tea itself is delicious. The Scots know how to do tea!
We ate the flowers as well.
Garden News
One sunny but not too hot day (max temp 19.3°C in the shade) when I decided to cut some grass and rushes that have been waiting a long time except it has been too cold, I and my scythe had to beat a hasty retreat from our front bank. Starting at the top of the bank I was working my way downhill when a tiny bird silently flew out from a tussock of grass near my feet. I lifted some grass and there was a robin's nest with five or six eggs. I moved away sharpish! Since then we have seen robins flying to and from the thick tussock of grass that shelters it. Mowing in that area will have to be on hold now until the chicks have fledged.
That same day I saw our first swift of the year, the ash tree buds burst, and I saw a butterfly – an orange tip – for the first time this year. Bumble bees were out in force too. Summer had definitely arrived... until the next day ;-)
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| The view up the hill from the landing window, 7 May 2013 |
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| And down the hill towards the loch, hazy and shimmering (7 May) |
Dignity in Dying
I found myself thinking one painful day this month that maybe it was time to give up hammering a splitting wedge into a hunk of tree trunk, and maybe it was time to stop breaking dead wood by stamping on lengths set at an angle against a rock, or by breaking them across my knee, but it's amazing what a full daily dose of co-codamol and some amitriptyline, followed in the evening by some whisky and cocoa nibs, will do for your resolve. So I contemplated my log basketful of broken dead ivy and my split spruce kindling with a sense of undefeated satisfaction, and I remembered my miner grandfather's motto of "Never say die" when faced with life's challenges.
And yet, alongside that, runs my full support for Dignity in Dying – for what is sometimes called assisted suicide – when suffering overpowers the resolve to live. It is a disgrace that current UK law does not allow people the human right to choose when to end their own suffering and to get help, if they need it, from their nearest and dearest. "To condemn a person to live in intolerable pain and suffering is inhumane and should have no place in a civilised society." Prof. Roy Bailey
What I have to deal with is nothing compared to, say, the locked-in syndrome that Tony Nicklinson had to live with and was forced to endure when he had truly had enough, but I think it helps me to understand the problem that many people, including our law-makers, apparently cannot understand. I think a change of attitude is beginning though.
Garden progress
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| Primroses on the NE bank early May 2009 |
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The same area of the bank (+ a bit to the right) in early May 2013
I refrain from mowing until the flowers have set seed
Love primroses :-). You can see more here: http://bit.ly/10VbhUV |
Toadlet Riding
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| Got the trot right |
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| And relax |
