In the Garden

My garden is currently a very soggy jungle as I'm waiting for the Ox-Eye Daisies to finish so that the grass can have its first cut of the year. When my daughter was here a few weeks ago, the sun shone bightly and we spent lots of time outdoors. 

Having invested in a new, corded hedge trimmer, she was the lucky person who got to try it out first (I resisted the temptation to shout "don't cut the lead!" continually as she worked). This is how my much overgrown hedge ended up.

Can you spot the deliberate mistake? She was all set to cut off the last bit of the top when she spotted a nest. There's a blackbird's nest just below the sticky up bit and there were chicks in it. Which would explain why these two were watching the hedge trimming so keenly.

This is Mrs Blackbird on the bay window just outside my bedroom window. You will see that I had the window open a bit; I thought that was a small enough gap to keep the cats in ... until I found Tolly halfway to the nest the next day. Luckily, he's a very obedient cat; I just had to say "Tolly!" in a stern voice for him to turn round and come back in. Here's Mr Blackbird anxiously watching the nest too.

Rose beat a hasty retreat indoors so that they could get back to their babies which they did at once. You can't really make it out in this photo but the nest was full of little fluffy nestlings.

They've fledged now so I think it's probably safe to finish cutting the hedge. I was very tempted to put up a sign saying "no, it's not an attempt at topiary" as it looks so daft.

Meanwhile, the cats have been making the most of the long grass in the back garden. Linnet has made herself a nest; you only see her when you get right next to it.

As she doesn't really approve of Tolly, he's not allowed to share her nest so he made his own.

There he is, curled up on a patch of old honeysuckle sticks which can hardly be comfortable. It gets worse though. Look at this ...

Yes, that's a stick poking him in the eye and yes, he's fast asleep. He really is the dimmest cat I've ever known.

While Rose was here we started the last of our seasonal cross stitch samplers. It's the first time that we've worked on them in the same place.

Mine is on the left and Rose's is the one on blue fabric.

Since then, we've both done lots more on our Summer Samplers. I'm enjoying working on this one much more than the Winter and Spring ones for some reason. I really like the colours and there's lots of variety. Here's what I've done so far ...

Rose is coming again next month so we'll be able to compare our progress then. Meanwhile, I've just bought a chart for another big cross stitch project - Jane's Joy by Carolyn Manning, one of a collection of designs inspired by the Dear Jane quilt. I'm not quite sure when I'm going to start this but I just couldn't resist it.