Restoration

Our weather seems to have reverted, if not to summer, at least to Spring, as there was a lot of light and no rain. I took ages on my early shop today as I was silly enough to be drawn into a conversation about politics by a local worthy (ie someone who was an established someone in the town when I was pushing a baby round exploring it) possessed of the most rabidly Tory mindset. She seemed surprised by my vehemence ...The lack of breakfast didn't help.

I didn't have time to wash up my breakfast dishes before a friend (church and retreat circles) came round for coffee, bringing some papers relative to our current situation in the church. We did manage to concentrate enough to reach a decision on the papers, though the catching-up on gossip kept threatening to win and it was almost lunchtime when she left. 

We went to Benmore Gardens for this afternoon's walk, with the weather gradually growing more sunny as the time went on. My photo shows the restoration work on the famous giant redwood avenue, which had become seriously waterlogged because of the original hard road between the trees; the soil on top of it had become seriously compressed over the years of people walking on it and the trees were showing signs of distress. It seems as if the work has gone on for ages - injecting ?vermiculite? into the soil to break it up and aerate it, putting down layers of gravel and topsoil, boring holes into it ... and now the green blade riseth, as we sang at Easter, and the individual rows show just as they were sowed. 

Elsewhere the earlier rhododendrons were spreading their fallen petals around them in great pools of colour, and the pond is uniformly green from the tiny leaves of pond-weed growing in it (or whatever it was.) And the birdsong was fabulous.

We had the most glorious English asparagus with our salmon this evening - our fish-man brings us wonderful asparagus along with the fish we've ordered, and his rhubarb is cheaper and more delicious than anything in Morrison's. 

I found the waterproof trousers. They were not, Lady F, in the fridge, but instead were exactly where they should have been only a couple of inches to the right... Whaddya mean, I have too many pairs of trousers ...?