Highs and lows

Gesso painting of our cottage by James Lynch.

There are highs and lows when living in an old building. Our cottage is far from perfect, there has been a dwelling on this site for hundreds of years and old roof lines can be seen in the walls where the property has been enlarged. It tends to be warm in summer and cold in winter, when it would be far more comfortable the other way about. Last week, during heavy rain and wind, water was blown into the house above a couple of the windows. Himself has been up a ladder doing some remedial pointing. When things have dried out a bit he will apply waterproofing in the hopes of keeping us dry throughout the winter.

The poor weather has brought problems in the garden as well. Last year we lost a prolific red apple tree to honey fungus and have been carefully tending the remaining tree of the same variety.

As you can see from the photo, the tree is half dead, but I was optimistic because some of the branches still produced leaves. But this week while wandering round the garden in the wet I saw that the base of the tree was covered in a cluster of those tell-tale horrid little fungi.

I've dug them and the surrounding earth up and bagged it. The tree trunk and the earth has been doused in Jeyes fluid.

I'm not hopeful.

The pears, meanwhile, have had a splendid season. Some are still on the tree, but most have been picked to ripen indoors.

Delicious!

It has also been a good year for courgettes, they are still cropping, but the cold nights will finish them off any time soon.

And some very nice squash!