Heading for the English rain....

I've not had a lot to say the past couple of weeks and I'll have even less over the next week as I'm off to UK tomorrow for a wedding.....that is, if I can wrestle my case away from Yin and Yang. Like most pets, they know something's up when the cases come out. I thought I 'd hide mine under the bed, but when I got it out to finish packing, there was Yin staking her claim - her new favourite sleeping place.

Adios hasta la proxima......

Yang in a hammock

Can you see him? The silhouette of his tail is on the right. We have an awning halfway over the pergola and he's got himself comfy in it to make a kind of hammock. He's got shade up there from the pink trumpet vine and solanum - and company as we think that's where the chameleons walk about, judging by the droppings.

The awning has been a blessing because we've learned that even sun-loving plants like geraniums need a respite, so most of the pots have been brought over and we're still able to water them with our rainwater reserves in the three depositos. Like Gintoino over in Portugal, most of our plants are waiting for the Sept/Oct rains.....not long now. That's why it's such a pleasure visiting Cheryl in Kent, Yolanda in Holland and D in Devon to get my fix of lush greenery.

DERMOT (DERMY) THE BURMAN

It's official - Dermy has given his seal of approval. He is 20 years old and has been very ill lately. Now he seems to be on the mend and has been out investigating his new pot.




He is the shoutiest cat I've ever met, and here he is giving full voice
That was a bit exhausting, so he'll just have a lie down near his new property.

What a lovely picture this makes.....

SNAZZY SCARECROW.

We usually see CDs strung along veg and fruit plots in our Spanish neighbours' gardens and this is the first scarecrow (espantapájaros) we've ever seen. He's guarding the vine and listing ever more to the right as time goes on. We keep forgetting he's a scarecrow and call out "hola, buenas dias) whenever we pass before giggling at our mistake.

For the fig lovers

Gonzalo insisted we had some of his figs and here they are.... they put our little black ones to shame. Each tastes slightly different. I sent el jefe round with a small bowl but noone can get out of Gonzalo's garden without a sackful of something. Luckily, I was able to offload some to our friends who helped with the horse manure gathering - figs, tomatoes (huge ones) green peppers and beautiful purple aubergines.

Where did July go?

It's true, the older I get, the more time whooshes by. This is echoed by other garden bloggers who are seeing signs of Autumn already, literally and metaphorically.

Yesterday we collected our horse manure. We thought we'd have to do a lot of shovelling up and got suitably dressed with our Cornish shovels but, no, it was all bagged so today we have to release it to rot down. I don't think it'll take long in this heat and we can then get on with creating our raised vegetable beds.

Thanks to D, here
I've added a Playlist widget to listen to some of my favourite music while I blog. Turn up the volume and enjoy.....

I've also taken a leaf out of other bloggers' design and used the new layout thingy to introduce gardening buddies' blogs on the right sidebar. Further down is an Affinity List (to borrow a term from Time Goes By) of other interesting sites.

I can hardly keep up with all the bells and whistles that technology has to offer. I do struggle with it but it's been a change from "garden-keeping" to fiddling around further customising this blog. I've only just caught up with Google Reader to alert me to new posts on favourite blogs
- late developer or what.