Friday 7 August 2015

Blue skies shining on me,

nothing but blue skies do I see. And it's such a lovely day for Skywatch Friday that even the moon is hanging around to enjoy it.
It's perfect weather for the school holidays, the time when, as children, we were always taken to the seaside. I found this old cardboard wallet this week with family photos from the late 40's and early 50's.
 'Jolly Days' indeed. Here I am in a natty white culotte playsuit on holiday in France with my cool- dude big brother in shades. Mother is sprawled out on the pebbles in the foreground. Pebbles? Uncomfortable pebbles? Who cares! The war was over and we were free to hoist our car onto the cross-channel ferry and travel wherever we wanted to go.
 But right now quite the best place to be is at home in the garden.


The wasps think so too, they are everywhere, eating into the gooseberries and other soft fruit and coming in through the automatic roof vents in the greenhouse causing us to abandon the space. They are attracted by the nectar that drips from my hoya plant. If we could locate the wasp nests we would mount a very mean counter attack!
But for the moment the wasps are winning and we are outside looking in.
Wishing all you skywatchers 'jolly days'.
Postscript. Wasps discovered in the roof, the ladder is in place, we are fighting back!

16 comments:

  1. You were a cute little girl with your pigtails - I had them too.
    Our problem is fruit flies in the garage, utility room, and trying to take over the house.
    The composter has been emptied, cleaned and placed outside, however, I have been busy with the hoover as it seems to be the only way to get rid of them. It is very satisfying sucking them up in droves.
    I am winning.

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    1. What a business long hair was in childhood before conditioner arrived to deal with tangles! On holiday in Spain when I was about ten I had the lot cut off in an 'Audrey Hepburn' style. What freedom!
      I'm glad you are winning on the fruit fly front. We have subdued the wasps with chemical warfare and hope that we have won!

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  2. Your garden is lovely! I remember many afternoons on the pebbles of Brighton Beach as a teenager!

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    1. The words, 'Brighton Beach' and, 'teenager' summon up thoughts of all kinds of high jinks!

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  3. Glad you found the wasps, they are a nuisance. You have a beautiful Hoya in your greenhouse.
    Have a nice weekend.

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    1. I've had the hoya, or cuttings of the original plant, for well over forty years. It has a beautiful structure and I've read somewhere that Victorian gentlemen used to wear the flowers in their buttonhole. I can't imagine why they would do that because my flowers drip copious amounts of sticky nectar - just the thing that brought the wasps into the greenhouse!

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  4. Such a cutie. I'll bet you wish you had the grown-up version of that adorable white jumpsuit! Yep. The mud daubers have taken over our garden, too.

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    1. The playsuit was bought while on holiday in France, I don't think that it would have been easy to buy such a pretty outfit in England as clothes rationing didn't end until 1949. My father loved clothes, he always took great pleasure in choosing my party dresses and my mother's cocktail dresses. I would love to have versions of some of those clothes to wear now!

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  5. What a wild and wonderful garden! Gooseberries!
    Good luck with the wasps.

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    1. Gooseberries indeed - there are loads! It's one thing to pick the things, altogether another to have to top and tail them. I've put a bucketful through the juicer to avoid the tedium of the job. The juice will be good for gooseberry fool.

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  6. Looks like a good place to spend sunny days.
    Merle....................

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    1. Oh, it is, Merle, and the sun is just fabulous at the moment.

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  7. The garden looks fantastic and I love that photo of you with your brother!

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    1. I'm meeting up with my brother later this month when we go to Yorkshire and shall get Himself to photograph us - my, you'll see how we've grown!

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  8. Your garden is beautiful! The heat has driven us inside. I do hope the "war of the wasps" is over soon, and you are the ones celebrating the victory.

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    1. Dear Bonnie, I do hope that in spite of the heat you are able to rest and reflect and gain energy before your return to teaching.
      A cautious optimism on the wasp front, there may be a few more skirmishes to come!

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