pumpkin in a champagne bucket and he’s called Pumpkin Bob

blog 30 / November

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the new pond area, calm and interesting with a place to sit and look at the house, watch the ducks play and contemplate our next project. Here I am with sister Mim catching up and getting close. Mim and Dick get over to us as often as they can and it is always great to have them here, to sit and chew the cud over family news and share our plans and expectations.

 

 

 

Brother Billy took this special effect picture of the pool and it makes me chuckle. I have always thought the pool is a great big blue blot on the landscape, but, when the weather is good, it is the best thing we have every done in the garden. Our season here is so short and we do wonder if it is worth the effort, but this year has been a bumper swimming year and we are very pleased we made that effort

 

Then autumn sets in and the leaves have fallen in the wood and it is time to deflate, roll up and enjoy the garden vista without our blot in the way. Mike  spent a month checking the quality of the water until there was no trace of chlorine and the ph was normal and then he spend days emptying the water into the pond. We have done this before and are  constantly entertained at the behaviour of the ducks at the outlet, they sense this water is different and spend all their time washing and preening. We were then rewarded with a bright sunny day at the point of emptying the pool and the drying, wiping and folding up was done in a morning and the pool area was back to winter mode without worry and weather interruption.

 

 

This growing season has been dominated with the pumpkin competition and finally it all came to fruition and our day of reckoning came on Halloween. We all met at Shirley and Marks for the judging and giving of prizes.  A feast was laid out on their kitchen counter and we all presented our harvest but I did feel that Trevor,  dressed in a blow  up pumpkin was just pushing the boundaries of the rules a little, but we forgave him, as he made us laugh and took the horticultural edge off the event

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was delighted to have won first prize for carved pumpkin that I called ‘pumpkin food chain’ because it became a bit of an art form by the time I had finished it. I also won best in show, so for me it was accolades all around and I did make a good speech declaring that it is not the taking part  that counts , it’s the winning……….

 

 

 

 

 

 

and what a great time we had,  31st October with the sun out and the wind warm in our faces, we could have guessed we were in the south of France, but I was lead to believe it was not that good down there that day

 

 

The time has come to seriously do some house care and the windows have haunted me in the middle of the night for the past three years.  I promised myself that whilst I was working I would get a chap in, who does, and have all the windows renovated and spruced up but in the upheaval of the job and the inability to make any proper decisions about what needs to be done and what doesn’t we missed the boat completely. Here we are now with our windows looking very sad and on the verge of beyond repair.  The thought of this immense job put Mike in a, run for the hills mood, so we got a quote to have all the windows and doors replaced and that came in at 14.000 Euros, so we then got a quote for a painter to come and paint the outsides and that came in at a cool 4.000 Euro. We have therefore picked up the gauntlet and made the spare room into workshop number five and we are, together, going to paint, renovate the in and outsides of 11 windows,  frames and two doors.  We estimate that we have 12 weeks work and that will take us to spring so this winter will be done and dusted and our house will have a smart look for 2015

 

So if you were wondering what we do with all that Pumpkin…Pie was tried and dismissed the carvings decorate the front of the house and just add colour and then the hens are given a harvest feast.  I have left them two large fruit open wide so they can climb in and enjoy.

 

 

 

And finally we must not forget Mike’s entry in most unusual category. This is a floating pumpkin in a champagne bucket and he’s called Pumpkin Bob………..