Timey Wimey

No, don't worry - we're not getting all Doctor Who on you. Remember, though that we used to have the Denis N Memorial bay tree in the garden, but it was blocking out the light, so Diamond's John and his trusty chain-saw reduced it to the Denis N Memorial Stump (pictured), onto the top of which will be attached the Denis N Memorial Sundial (picture soon). Well, that's now arrived and Mum and Dad, not satisfied with any old sundial, went for a "proper" one.

They had no idea what this would entail, but chose a shiny brass one and filled in all the details on the form, this just for the design proofs. They had to give latitude and longitude and there is a place for some bigger-script words (we chose "For Denis") and another for a suitable quote or, for example, biblical text. Mum chose "The garden is a lovesome thing, God wot" from a favourite poem.

The dial has now arrived and the setting up is quite a pallaver, especially as John's chain saw cut was not... um.... how shall we put it..... exactly horizontal. The disc of the dial has to sit exactly horizontal (spirit level job) so that meant a bed of putty with suitable sized stones embedded. It then has to be exactly aligned to the meridian.

Amazingly (we learned), the sun's movements relative to earth are not exactly regular - the 24 hours is only an average - in fact the apparent position of the sun at each hour varies by +15 to -15 minutes depending on month (14.20 minutes "slow" by a sundial on 12th Feb, 16.23 mins fast on 3rd November, almost correct on 16th April, 14th June, 2nd Sept and 25th Dec) I kid you not - it's called the "Equation of Time". Neither the sundial nor the clock are "wrong", they are just measuring different versions of time.

The need for latitude (we are 51 degrees, 20 minutes North) is so that the "finger" of the dial (called a "gnomon) can point exactly at the North Star.

And then, of course, there's the fact that the dial is calculated and configured to GMT, so for all the Summer it's an hour wrong.

And then Mum decided she didn't like it just perched on the stump, but would prefer it to have some kind of "table" on which to sit, so a suitable flagstone was bought, the thing dismantled, and the re-assembled with the flag twixt stump and brass.

That's all human stuff - I'm only interested in Breakfast Time, Dinner Time, walk time and bed time

Deefer

Garden heroics

The weather's gone all change-able so quite often our walks are snatched between rain showers but we still seem to get about, covering all the usual favourite routes - "cemetery and rec", "back of the allotments", "boatyard and town", "boatyard and school fields", "high ridge path" etc. There are plenty of people about so we keep track of all the friends.

Mum and Dad occasionally get "one on them"; that look in their eye about some aspect of the garden which is slowly but surely starting to over-power their veiw on how it should be; a small tree which is now starting to block light to the sun-terrace, a climber led up a trellis which now threatens to collapse the trellis with its weight, a nice spot-plant which has now started to merge with its neighbours on all sides, that kind of thing.

Last month it was the Denis Memorial Bay Tree which came to us from Denis when he was alive, as a very healthy 3-stem tree about 5 foot high and quickly established itself. At some point Dad cut down 2 of the stems to reduce its bulk, but the one left, relieved of competition really started to motor. Soon there was no sun on the terrace at the vital 4-6pm time, and the top of it was on the level with the upstairs toilet window. That had to go, lopped clean of branches and then chain-sawed down to 2 foot by John to become the post for a Denis Memorial sun-dial. The terrace is a sunny place again.

Next up, this weekend, was a massive thatch-thick jasmine which started life as a nice shady cover for an arbour, giving you dappled coolth as you sat on the gravel garden looking at the pond. By now, 10 years later the trunks of it, all gnarly and wound round each other go 4 inches thick, and the top of the arbour has layer upon layer of dead, decaying "thatch" going about 2 feet, with this year's new growth hooping out of the top another 2 feet. The timbers of the arbour are twisted and bowed by the weight and growth-forces of the jasmine, and the whole rocks alarmingly in a cross wind.

Or it did. Mum and Dad got that look in their eye again and soon they were armed with secateurs, pruning saw, grass-hook and bill-hook. The floppy sides of the "roof" were first cut back to the perimeter of the arbour, but then roof "panels" were cut away one by one. Now there is a great pile of cut jasmine on the gravel, and a naked, twisted, weak looking arbour waiting to be taken for recycling when it's not actually tanking down with rain. We had just under an inch of rain last night. It's hammering down.

Look after yourselves

Deefski

In disgrace

Remember old Denis? Dad to Rags, and frequent visitor along with Diamond? Well, he's passed away now, but 10 years ago he gave Mum and Dad a small bay tree about 4 feet high. My third pic today shows that this is now more like 15 feet and badly shades the "sun terrace", the kitchen window and even the upstairs bathroom window. It had to go. Coming originally as a gift from Denis it was jokingly known round here as the Denis N Memorial Bay Tree.

This was a job for Saturday afternoon, Dad manning the pruning saw and secateurs, Mum moving load after load of cut-up bay to the tip in her car. We had also booked JW, partner of Diamond, and his chain saw to come and finish off the job with a neat horizontal cut just over two feet from the ground. The plan is to buy a sun-dial here after known as the Denis N Memorial Sundial. JW also sawed the bigger bits into logs, which was handy - these are now stacked in the "log-wall" down by the gravel garden.

Today's main emtertainment was the Friends of Kingswood "bluebell walk" which Dad was due to lead. Unfortunately with the cold winter and slow spring, the bluebells are barely out. Even in the known "best places" you are looking across a blanket of the dark green foliage with maybe half a dozen open flowers spotted about. It will be a good 2 weeks (even if it's as warm as this) before there's a good show, but of course, FoKW can't predict this last October when they are putting together their walks programme.

No matter - we have a good walk in the warm forest and everybody has a good time. We are accompanied by 14 humans and a large ancient shaggy black Alsatian. I am in disgrace now though because at one point I spot a group of 5 sheep in a paddock and I'm gone and under the gate before anyone can stop me. Farmers are allowed shoot any dog worrying their sheep and ask questions afterwards, so my charge (which is admittedly not full-hearted, and only makes the sheep collect together and move a few yards up the field) has Dad bellowing anxiously and grabbing to open the gate and get on my tail.

Unkind spectators have suggested that the farmer, alarmed by seeing his sheep suddenly group and trot up the paddock might have then fallen about laughing at the sight of a rabbit-sized fluffy white westie racing up the grass, and then got more worried by the roaring human risking heart attack in hot pursuit. Dad shouted enough to make me crouch in fear of my life and he grabbed me up and trotted back down to the gate not daring to look behind him at the farmhouse in case he made eye contact with the farmer.

Ooops.

Deefski

ps - my other pic here is another bit of old junk now owned by Dad, a rotovator, now back in working order, dating from 1967.