Who Flung Dung?

'I've got a steaming pile of shit with your name on it,' how often do you hear this sentence and actually feel happy about it? Well, I was jubilant when Sir Cakealot aka Sir Cakeatonne (shortly to be discussed), tweeted me an image of what looked like a pile of brown lava, with a gardening fork sticking out of it. It was time to shift £80 of rotten horse manure onto our plot. Trouble was (is) the van couldn't get down to the bottom, so we had to wheelbarrow the brown gold down there ourselves. This was pre-Christmas as I was recovering from man flu. I tell you hitting a 'vein' of particularly smelly dung with a bad chest is hilarious. When I say hilarious I mean dreadful.

The cold, courtesy of our very own pleistocene epoch had frozen most of the manure, so it came away in great clods and boulders. We were really jousting a dragon; Sir Cakealot definitely had more energy than me, filling up barrows like ale in a tankard. Hence Sir Cakeatonne - he was powerloading pounds at a single bound. I was more systematic in my approach, reducing the back bit methodically. Damn my chest was sore.

Comic relief came in the form of Reg who was traipsing through the snow with a Sainsburys bag and a smile that outshone the Winter sun. Turned out he was curious who was on the plot, and was paying a flying visit. He started laughing almost straight away, real loud like. That set us off. He admired the dung and then headed off, with Cakealot shouting at the back of his head. This wasn't at all malicious, Reg is a tad deaf and Cakealot / Cakeatonne was his chivalrous self.

Mmm steamy!

The second round of dung shifting came yesterday. It was a milder day than I expected, with plenty of mist to make things atmospheric. I have seen the allotment in many ways over the year, and this was one of the most special. Cakealot and I had a good go at the pile and reduced it by approximately another quarter. Laughs were had with capsizing barrows (full to the brim), heartbreaking when that happens.

Amidst steaming plots, muddy walkways growing ever muddier and thinner, and puddles, we shifted a good six or seven barrows each. We also had time to lift up an area of carpet and black plastic we'd laid down a good long time ago. It had done the job well, with only a few hoochy coochy strands here and there. That too will be covered with the dung. There's still so much to shift though!

* * *

A great year for gardening, a lousy year for everything else, so say Brother Oregano. I hope you've enjoyed the blog almost as much as I've had writing it. Keep up the support and I'll keep up the amateur gardening. 2011 will be a feast of activity, so watch this space. Happy Millennium!

Weasel's First Allotment Visit / One Late Sunflower

Earlier this week Parsley paid 24 Rue Albert a visit with Weasel. I had my hands full with my favourite new UNIT. She was crying a wee bit so I spoke gentle words of encouragement like: 'Stop crying Weasel, you won't have time to be cribbin' when you're diggin' and a piggin,' and such like. Weasel is such a wicked little unit.

Went over to Parsley and Cakealot's to feed her some milk and for us to have a brew whilst listening to hilarious lounge music. Cakealot has a great vinyl collection. Checked out Cakealot's seed collection (wow wow and wow again, like he said - buying seeds is a tremendously optimistic thing to do). He kindly gave me a catalogue from Dobies - a veritable Aladdin's cave of seeds, bulbs and garden storage wonderment. The words Bumper Miniplant Flower Collections has an almost ludicrous charm to it.

When we'd tooled up - that is put Weasel in her pram and wrapped her up, Parsley and I went to have a look at the allotment. The whole way down there I was making jokes about Weasel being in a wagon in the Wild West. No-one laughed.

It was a lovely afternoon, subtle, crisp and golden. Rubbed off on her as she was very sedate / asleep. We had a small perusal of our patch of land and then headed home where we were assailed by Kate's neighbours, one of whom is old but COMPOST MENTIS; this time Parsley and I had a good chuckle.

* * *

Earlier in Spring, I planted a sunflower seed in a load of compost as a bit of an experiment. Clean forgot all about it, but was pleasantly surprised to see it had grown, albeit hugely late - emerging early November. So I've moved it indoors and will track it's progress here. As the cold draws in properly, these blogs will be a little more infrequent, but who knows, I will probably find more things to enthuse about. The sunflowers name is Mal, by the way. This is on account of a chrome dome I saw last night in the pub who looked like John Malkovich. I wanted to say he did but he looked like he might pop a cap in my cold frame.

Peace.

Pumpkin Carving and Mo' Weasel Blend

Paid my first visit to the newest member of G unit last week. Alice aka Weasel!

As you can see she was rocking the Halloween look big time. From prior experience with my three nephews, I have been notoriously hands off - afraid of hurting them with my clumsy mitts. This time I was only too glad to hold the baby - I mean come Spring, she'll be digging and pigging with the best of us!

Eric aka Smethwick (see http://parsleyandoregano.blogspot.com/2010/04/king-smethwick-funky-trunk-transplant.html) was ludicrously friendly, and curled up whilst we had tea. Cakealot provided pumpkin pie, which blew my tits off.

Speaking of pumpkins, Cakealot and I carved one, or rather I did the design and he did the carving. It was loosely based on my Groucho Marx costume of the preceding night.

from this

to this!

It was a superb afternoon. Although I did feel bad for not helping Cakealot on the allotment afterwards. We still have tonnes of manure to order and get spread over all the weeds before the frosts come on....G unit for Lyf tho' and ey! Mad skills to Weasel.

Weasel / Late Allotment Antics / Tulips

Breaking news! For those of you that don't know already Parsley and Cakealot have recently had a baby, Alice, whom cakealot in his wisdom has nicknamed weasel. That means there are now six members of the G Unit clan:

****Parsley, Oregano, Sir Cakealot, Weasel, Winks &

Smethwick****

Hurrah! The love grows even as the season grows cold!

Maybe the cold has been keeping me away from the allotment, maybe it's been the wandering to Rutland to hook up with an old friend Dan, a brilliant sculptor and wit, or maybe the barbarous few weeks I've had at work....pressure makes diamonds but I'm not seeing any cubic zirconia!

Either way I took a couple of trips down there last week to pull up some nettles to slap in our bath to make fertilizer, and to quell the brambles, remember how much I love them?!

http://parsleyandoregano.blogspot.com/2009/10/operation-blackberry-or-destruction-of.html

Didn't get too far as my pythons were getting ripped and I had a dinner date with a living Goddess. All the same, a second visit saw me clear most of the waterway that leads to the storm drain. Don't want that getting clogged up!

I was naughty and dead headed a poppy I shouldn't have. When I got home and was rattling it for all I was worth, an earwig crawled out. I screamed! Gotta hate those earwig catastrophes! Needed Cakealot to come in and joust it with a rake.

Lastly I plucked some golden apples and runner beans which I'll give to the parent Units...I'm so egalitarian and still so much of a carnivore.

Lastly, I have planted all my tulip bulbs around various parts of our garden, along the thin border just on the right of the front door and under the privet hedge at the back. I'm hoping the daffs will be back from last year. Needless to say you will be seeing a well documented account on here! PAAAAAAAACE! And a very big welcome to Weasel. You got crazy wonderful parents kid!

Epic De-seeding, Purple Sensations & Lavender

After hoarding poppy heads and ceremoniously decapitating my first sunflower, I was set to deseed my little collection. It took me a good few hours as well! First I was shaking the heads to remove the seeds into a container, then I took to crushing them en masse. There were thousands of seeds in a thousand shades of umber and topaz. Thereafter I sieved them all to get rid of the larger bits of detritus.

The sunflower was also a mini epic. I started off by gently plucking out the individual seeds which looked like mint humbugs. They had a wonderful kind of sheen to them, with miniscule hairs. As this was taking so long I just applied some torque and they were popping out all over the place. The flower still smelt great, even at this late stage.

I then funneled the poppy seeds into individual seed packets. Same for the sunflower seeds. These will go out to family and friends.

* * *

I was all set to plant my tulip bulbs but I found out it was a tad early. Menacing terms such as premature flowering etc. put me right off. Instead I opted to plant my purple sensations! These beauties belong to the onion family and will hopefully make a welcome addition to our garden when (if!) they emerge next year. Back on the waiting game. As with the daffodil planting of last year, it was a Friday and it was warm. Good omen!

http://parsleyandoregano.blogspot.com/2009/09/i-wandered-lonely-as-cloud.html

Ludicrously enthusiastic, I strategically planted the bulbs round the garden, where we have the most sun, then stuck stakes in the ground marked allium, in case I forgot where they were. As everything dies right back in winter sometimes there's no way of knowing if things are ever coming back or growing for the first time.

I call this one Hank.

Buoyed on by the fun and energy of planting the bulbs, I decided to move the lavender from the compost tray / tin catastrophe, whatever you want to call it. It was planted under the conifer where the soil is dry and somewhat dusty. I have it on good advice that it will grow well here. Watch this space!

Wasp Central / Welcome to G Unit

A couple of films I made the other day. A glorious pro active day with lots of sunshine. Wasp Central relates to an earlier film I made by the same name. This was supposed to be Bee Central, but I got caught up in the moment. Mesmeric!

As for Welcome to G Unit, did I jump or was I pushed?! Hysear Don Walker knows....perfect Summer music. Pace.

P Unit

P Unit, aka Parent Unit! This short entry honours my parents garden. I paid a visit to Manchesthair (Manchester) for a wedding this weekend gone. It was raining with a vengeance, but there were some lulls which allowed me to get a quick peek at things. I love the hollyhocks especially and hope ours are as lustrous when they come out next year.

P unit for lyf, nice one Reg / Scholteim and Sue / Oaf. X

Kings Heath Flower and Veg Show!

This year was very different from 2009's show. It was muggy and wet, Sir Cakealot had been jousting and the pair of tickets he'd bought for Parsley and himself had fallen from his gauntlet, and were nowhere to be found. I had a tasty thunderstorm brewing in my frontal lobes. In short, conditions weren't favourable.

I ventured out solo a little after one o'clock. Had a relatively short skirmish around the stalls, not forgetting to photograph some humongous pumpkins and some giant LLllllllllleeeks (http://parsleyandoregano.blogspot.com/2009/09/lll

lleeeeeeks.html). What a treat! It still amazed me to see these almost sculpted veg! What delicate means people must have gone to.

After a jaunt round most of the stalls, I went and picked up thirty tulip bulbs, five purple sensations and a clematis (Polish Spirit!). Came home and planted the clematis just by our back door. I'm hoping it will climb up the chain and the previous climber (no idea what it is, all we have is a skeletal remain).

Rounded up Parsley and Cakealot later. Mimicking last years tactics we moved in late to get the best bargains. I'd had my eye on some gorgeous hostas earlier on so we moved in on them, dividing the old 4 for £10 with my fellow G uniters. I had a good laugh at Parsley bartering for some trugs. The father and son team were having none of it. I love the word trug it just sounds so meaty and functional!

Trug negotiations!

We popped the hostas in the trugs and scouted around a bit more. I revisited The Hardy Plant Society for a last minute deal. I love these guys! The dude who was selling me the plants (nine for £2 - count em!) had no idea what most of them were, which was genuinely charming. I'd bought hostas and ferns from them last year - tiny little things they were as well. But they've grown twofold. I love the modesty and the surprise element of growing stuff that looks weedy at purchase, but one Spring later is rolling out proud like a horticultural Muhammad Ali!

What a catch!

We headed back about an hour later as it looked like it was going to pour down. We drank tea, and I sat in the same spot where it all began (my gardening existence at least!), with a surly Eric (aka Smethwick, aka Smethchick) prowling about. A nice sense of completeness.

* * *

I rushed back and planted all my treasures once I got back to our garden. Keep your peepers peeled for updates!

Hoochie Coochie Man Part II / Boardin' up

About two weeks ago Sir Cakealot and I were laying down cardboard over the particularly weedy parts of our plot. Trouble is that both grass and weeds have infiltrated the paths and many of the undug areas. This increases the chance of smashing our ankles off, as there are small but significant trenches around each bit of the plot. I've done it many a time, just started walking then UMPH! Right down the hole. So far, no casualties. It's not just a cosmetic thing, though a weed free patch of ground is always good to work on. Refer back to May's entry when I met Reg. He has *Military Precision* on his little patch of earth and it looks amazing.

Anyway the thinking was lay the cardboard down and cover it with woodchip as a mulch to keep all that damn hoochie cooch grass down and whatever else has been germinating all this time. Someone had kindly left a huge pile of woodchippings over by the portaloo, but it's almost the furthest point away from our plot, so I had to make a few journeys with our decrepit wheelbarrow. I was sweating cobs and spiders.

We have more cardboard to put down; hopefully this will exert a degree of control over our wonderfully wild allotment space.

G UNIT!

Dead Heading

Awh! We're slowly making our way towards Winter, but there's still plenty of exciting things happening in the garden. Our mutant sunflower (it has eight flowering heads) has outgrown and outclassed all the others, standing tall in spite of the regular downpours, still getting the bees in. I'm just waiting till I can collect all the seeds and disperse them to everyone. Sunflowers are so easy to grow and so much fun.

The nasturtium have gone ballistic, really reaching out this year, coiling their way around poppy stems, the sunflowers and beyond. They were my favourite flower last year. They still live up to that reputation, in fine colours of subtle fire.

Mostly I have been dead heading the poppies. Morbleu, there are thousands and thousands of seeds. Again, the colours! The oxidised copper of the opium poppy heads...it's something else.

Anyone want some poppies for their garden next year? Don't hesitate to get in touch. Touch it!

Sunflowers & Tatty Time

I've been negligent again. Caught a bug off my nephew and have suffered accordingly for the last week or so. Prior to that there was muchas busyness at work, and a million other time sapping duties to keep me away from the blog.

A lot has happened over the last month - primarily the garden at Rue Albert has blossomed somewhat with all the corncockles having come out, and the all too brief inflorescence of poppies in a brilliant range of colours and appearance. We're talking crimson with black blotches, crimson with white blotches, some sherbet pink, others white and marbled. The variety was exceptional. Winks for that Parsley!

Then there are of course, the wonderful sunflowers. I was worried about the tallest one as something had a real go at the stem early on and it was 1/4 nibbled. Needless to say it pulled through and stands proud. The others have come out a bit, but there are still three more to flower. The biggest one is peering over into our neighbour Sam's garden. Damn heliotropism!

The bees are loving the sunflowers. This is always a good thing to see. They will go ballistic for our ivy bush when it buds up in a month or so. The smell though...I can't describe it here!

* * *

Allotment wise, I confess I haven't been down anywhere near as much as I would like. Excuses of rain aside, there is a lot to be done still. Cakealot and I went down last week to reap our harvest of potatoes. 'I'll fax you the diagram I made with all the varieties of potato we planted,' promised Cakealot anachronistically. Where's my fax Sir Cakealot! I want to know whether I'm mashing spuds that should be roasted or roasting spuds that should be mashed! Either way we had a good go at it and there was a bumper yield of mega tatties, and no, I didn't steal all the undamaged ones. Added to that were some tasty onions. I am in agreement with Michael Wale - allotment grown veg gives you a whole new perception of what veg should really taste like. And it's satisfying to bring back a bag load of it, all earth ridden and fresh. Mmmmm!

Pace.

June Drop / Cultivation Stations / Bumper Crop

Dear readers, I am so far behind it's not even funny. The past few weeks have been crammed with esoteric activities and small miracles. The June Drop for one. At first I thought Parsley was making fun of my gardening knowledge - (still small but I will

stand tall), the sad little apples that didn't make the cut are festering amongst the corncockles...

Then! The Cultivation Stations from Potty Innovations! Don't believe me? Head here:

http://www.pottyinnovations.co.uk/

These wicked little beauties were an ideal addition to the SOLARDOME. Parsley and I spent a few hours creating octagons (Doc Ocs in our parlance) and pentagons, working out what would fit best in the dome. Winks was as tired as us when we'd finished.

Awh Winks!

* * *

Day after day of blazing sun, and the odd smattering of rain ; with clouds shaped like whales, swimming overhead in slow motion. I have seen the redoubled growth of my sunflowers (now chest high), roses, my favourite nasturtiums, innumerable poppies etc. On the allotment the sunflowers have gone crazy. One has a stem the thickness of deep sea cable, twisted as an elder's staff, leaves like shields. I am jealous.

Most of my time has been put into the allotment. If there is a hell (actually there is - Sainsbury's

on the high street), there must also be a heaven, and I'm sure our allotment is one of its pillars. The walk into town or down the high street is noise ridden, grimy and dissolute. On the other hand, a walk to the allotment late afternoon is almost comically pastoral. Imagine my rolling gait, £4 bright green fork from Wilkos in hand, Take That jeans and my Stan Smith Adidas. Ever one to mix and match, I will never be out of fashion because I've never been in it.

Watering was my main duty. Courgettes, squash, carrots, beans, coriander...One day I went down at around 5 and didn't finish til after 8. The aforementioned fork couldn't break the rock hard, blood warm soil. I was panicking a bit as I had to plant courgettes before they expired. In fact later that night I couldn't sleep worrying that I hadn't planted them properly, that they would overlap or be subsumed by Mr Hoochy Coochy. I neglect to mention that we have progressively worked towards the bottom of the plot. There are still big reams of mouldy carpet to be got rid of. Moving those mounds of fabric in the pelting heat with Sir Cakealot made us both dizzy. I lay down for a bit, Cakealot roared with laughter but promptly stopped - thinking I had fainted. Thanks mate, I'm going with the first reaction.

It's all looking good and a lot of our plot is under control. An achievement we should be proud of. Plus we have started to harvest. First garlic was dug up, along with some tatties and plucked courgettes - one resembling a grenade. It's a great great feeling to see the fruits of your labour, one that I barely could've conceived a year or so ago.

Lastly, check out our glacial level cool customised badges.

G Unit for lyf.

Babe!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KnLcY5Ix68

Enough said.

Apples!

First apples are growing at Rue Albert! Watch this space...

Pagan Shit Thing / Weedin' & a Seedin'

June has been a frenetic month. Principally I have been weeding as one possessed both in our garden and on the allotment, when the rain allows. The rewards? Seeing a poppy the colour of russet and the softness of taffeta, the steady growth of the hostas, the hollyhocks (now the slugs have left them alone) and the sunflowers. Although I had moved three of them and learned very quickly that I shouldn't have. They almost instantly shriveled. To say I was gutted was an understatement, but luckily they have rallied and lost only a leaf or two. The poppies are coming along as are the corncockles. My favourite nasturtiums have made a small but spritely return too.

Thrown into the mix are aquilegia which I have sown in the seed bed, foxglove FOXY MIXED (according to the seed packet) which I have sown near the southernmost apple tree, and in a bodged propagator (tin and cling film catastrophe) some lavender (Hidcote Strain for those in the know). This will eventually be transplanted under the conifer.

Paid a brief visit to the dome at Parsley and Cakealot's and it's looking damn fine, as you can see for yourself. The acoustics in there are amazing - as is the warmth. Though this isn't so great when the cats get in and leave odorous presents. HAHA! There are still a few panes remaining to be put in and then the dome will be fully complete. An amazing achievement for G Unit.

Another recent addition to the allotment was the eponymous Pagan Shit Thing - basically a frame for our runner beans. It gained the glorious title for being an uber bodge job - but totally economical as Parsley and Cakealot used sticks from our plot to support the frame. A touch of ferocious digging (mostly on the part of Cakealot as I was cream crackered from weeding beforehand), sealed the deal. We planted the beans on both sides of the precarious lean - to and marvelled at a bodge well done.

Inclement weather and a seven day shift kept me away from the allotment. When I went to weed last Friday I was greeted by a meadow. Luckily Cakealot had pointed out where I should weed and what not to pull out in haste - namely beet root, red and white onions. Moma mia! Did I get my hands stung by nettles! They're still tingling from a good session Cakealot and I had a few hours back. The plot looks a lot tidier now, we're about two thirds through weeding. The potatoes are almost ready to come out as some have flowered, we're one of two or three plot holders to have this honour!

More weeding tomorrow if the weather holds up. Watch this space!

Albert’s Spring Garden

What an amazing few weeks, though not without their worries. Let me expand.

So much is happening in the garden at the moment I can barely keep up. We have bluebells, whitebells, poppies, ferns, sunflowers, hosta, corncockles, hollyhocks, geraniums, forget me nots, daisies, lady’s mantle and roses. Some of course are still emerging, some are in full bloom.

My netted seed bed has worked a charm, but the slugs have succeeded where evil face – aka Tad Wilder’s much less charming feline cousin, has failed. They have been eating the sunflowers and some of the corncockles, and they’ve demolished two or three of the hollyhocks. This has lead me to the unfortunate (depending on how you see it) use of slug pellets. One day after putting them down I was astonished to see how many slugs had been emerging for their diurnal feast. It wasn’t pretty.

What is pretty is the salvaged hosta, which I planted last year under the elder tree. It died back very quickly after I’d bought it so I’d given it up for dead. However after some serious weeding I discovered it, a little slug eaten, but the broad dark green leaves were otherwise fine. It has been relocated along with the mystery fern just under the conifer. Safe as houses. For now.

The gernaniums, which suffered a trampling from Friendly Fred, the chocolate coloured Labrador, have bloomed. Last year the daisy had one flower. This year there

are over thirty!

In the seed bed, the sunflowers are growing steadily. Another mystery plant/weed which I mistakenly took for a sunflower, is growing slowly. I will post a picture soon and see if anyone knows what it is.

Poppies too are sprouting up in abundance, and the corncockles, which, idiot that I am, I planted in rows, are doing just fine.

The viburnum cutting is growing nicely, the wild strawberry plants have flowered (I hope we get some this year) and sycamore junior has emerged again. In short, this garden is amazing and it is progressing towards plenary awesomeness.

Peace.

Hoochie Coochie Man / Reg / Project Solardome Part One Million

Sat here in this tropical heat, it is hard to imagine a better time to be writing my blog. Everything is properly coming into life, just to my right is a wonderfully hairy poppy, next to it a mysterious type of fern and a rediscovered hosta. More on this in a separate blog. What I want to tell you about, avid followers, is the curse of the hoochie coochie man.

I am of course talking about cooch grass. There is so much of the stuff it reminds me of the blackberry bushes from last year – the abundance, the unfettered abundance of the stuff is maddening. It’s hard work pulling it out too. Sir Cakealot and I were jousting the ground with forks for all we were worth, and then pulling it out in handfuls. Trouble is it kept snapping, which meant more hoochy coochy for the future. To that end the bagged stump chippings came into play. We poured out approximately half of the chippings over the forked and (partially) cleared areas. We then raked it in. Sir Cakealot went ballistic as the photo testifies! We then recovered the area with carpet, to leave for next year, where hopefully the cooch will all have broken down.

In the process I met a sweet old man called Reg. He was partially deaf so we were both talking very loudly. I loved the way he said ‘You’ve got to watch out for them weed seeeeeeeds,’ he grinned as he said it, flashing a majestic gold crown. ‘Do they call you Teddy?’ he asked me after I told him my name. No Reg, not enough people call me Teddy, Howard, yes, Oregano, yes, but not Teddy. Maybe that’s for my later years.

Weeds are running rife amidst the potatoes, the onions, basically all over. It will be the work of many patient years to fully regain control of the land. It always seems insurmountable. But we always overcome. G unit!

Also in the mix is Project Solardome, now in stage one million according to Parsley. Over four days her and a friend constructed the extremely intricate nexus of beams for the glass. It becomes ever clearer that our team is divided thus: Parsley is the mastermind, Cakealot is the nurturer and I’m the work mule.

The dome looks absolutely amazing, and it’s not even finished yet. I am so excited for the final result.

Sunshine. Suits me fine!

The Lucky Lackey

'Everything you ever do in your life involves bending. I just never noticed it before did you?' - Parsley

A classic statement from Parsley, who on account of her pregnancy, can't bend as much or lift heavy objects without getting jousted by an irate Sir Cakealot (the father). It has been a few days of heavy lifting and labour - hence the title of this particular blog entry. As Parsley and Cakealot had called me their lackey - I added the lucky part. Because, I do still feel really lucky to be doing this, and to be a part of shaping their amazing garden; to be a part of shaping the allotment and to visit eccentrically peopled gardening shows, amongst other things.

As Parsley's parents were preparing the foundation for the solar dome (see pics attached), it left me to move several bags of wood chippings - all that remained from the stump. There was somewhere in the region of fifteen / seventeen bags - most of them power load (heavy). I took them all over to the allotment in the course of two days and about five visits, one with Cakealot. The chippings will be used to suppress weed growth once we've removed the cooch grass or as much as possible.

We had covered most of the plot with carpet and plastic, with some areas fully treated with glyphosate - others not. The result was some areas of clear soil, others teeming with weeds. It's ongoing, and as Cakealot said from his throne in the garden yesterday - 'I can't relax there, there's still too much work to be done.' It's good agitation, if that makes sense, because it keeps you moving and tinkering. I never would've thought we would have got this far, this soon; it has undoubtedly come as a result of larger committed tasks / jobs that have taken all day - see the petrol strimmer entry, and smaller intimate fifteen minute excursions. Everything counts.

Oh and Cakealot and I have started to move a giant hump of soil from behind the solardome foundation!

To summarise it's been an exciting few days. Here's the highlights :

1. Eric aka King Smethwick going ballistic with a roll of string, becoming entangled and doing two somersaults, then running next door.
2. An unintentional matching outfit catastrophe with Cakealot and I - namely the classic white t shirt and blue jeans look. This lead to camp posing with forks and spades, sneering comments about us looking like BROS and many, many Diet Coke break moments.
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JvHroG3u5E Me singing this, much to Parsley's irritation.
4. Faux Michael Caine accent from yours truly - everything from picking up concrete chippings (Parsley has us doing the most ridiculous things), to PLOP BIRDS.
5. Things blossoming, growing, becoming beautiful. Even the two heavily weakened apple trees in our garden have flowered well this year.

Back to it! There's still lllllloads to be done!