Sep 12 2011
I harvested the first pears yesterday and today: Williams Bon Chrétien; the Conference ones on the other tree aren’t quite ready to come away, although I suspect today’s high winds may have a say in that matter. I see pear and almond crumble in my future! It’s taken seven years from planting for the Williams …
Jun 28 2010
There’s a clematis at the bottom of my garden. A vigorous, large-leaved, free-flowering variety called Madame Le Coultre, which produces glorious paper-white flowers the size of tea-plates, in great abundance, every year, in spite of–or possibly because of–my sporadic attentions. Like this one. This morning, I discovered that Mme had fallen under her own weight, …
Nov 20 2009
Cooper Towers is under attack. The enemy has taken control of the shed, and advance scouts have been making daring daylight raids across the patio for several days. They wear no uniform, operating in plain-clothes, the better to blend in with the civilian population. Modern defensive strategy is useless against this new insurgency. Day 1: …