Sunday 28th July 2019

Sunday.

And I had planned, at least in the afternoon, orchid chasing at The Larches to check on the BLH.

Truth is, that if it is not sunny, then orchids really aren't shown to their true colours. And was windy. The BBC said sunshine would only peek through from five in the afternoon, too late as we had an evening of cards planned.

So, we had a lazy morning, sitting around, me watching the highlights of the previous day's stage of Le Tour, that took the morning to ten, and time to do something.

A wildflower meadow takes some work. Some might say hard work, but it is for just a few weeks in the late summer and autumn, then let nature do its thing. Last week I had mowed half the area, left the swathe to dry and hand gathered it on Saturday. Now I had to mow the other half.

Quite a task as the wild carrot had taken over some parts and was like a small forest. I got out the mower, did the easier parts, then began to snip each stalk off before bagging the waste, not bothing about seeds, as we already have had so many this year, any more next year and they will crowd everything else out.

After an hour or so, the meadow was looking more lawn like.

And rest.

I raked the grass into piles and left them to dry. I will collect by hand during the week and scarify to spread the seeds and be sure they make contact with the soil.

It was lunchtime, so I went to cook carbonara and garlic bread. We ate whilst listening to Desert Island Discs, and end up finishing the box of wine that had lasted several weeks! Not just the one meal!

The afternoon was spent off the computer, me laying in bed reading Skunk Works, and Jools beading, while outside the clouds thought about clearing, but didn't until half five, by which time it was time to g to Whitfield for some cards.

It has been a while, and was fun, though on a school night we make it clear that Jools and I have to be back home by ten, so giving us a deadline. Though that is hard to keep to, as once the gin starts to flow, John's mouth likes to tell stories, and if you interrupt, he just goes back to the start.

We snack on pizza and the left over snacks we had taken to Tracie's, and we were done by five to ten, as John just pipped me to the scoop the jackpot.

Darn it.