under another sun

A happy day. Lorraine and I off to Steyning to a shop where we bought some plants, and then to another garden centre to buy more plants and compost. I don't know what is happening to me, but I find myself staring at the variegated leaf of a zonal geranium and deeply appreciating it. A misty day, with very low cloud over the downs, making them look particularly mysterious, and Lorraine and I pulled up in the car, got out and walked up a country path between two fields, one of which had horses galloping about for fun in it. The downs disappearing into the cloud were quite magical. Home and we planted lots of plants into the garden, with Lorraine doing the digging to save my thigh. Really exciting to see the bed fill up with plants. I can't believe how much I like our garden. Now it's just a wait to see what survives the onslaught of slugs, snails, foxes, Calliope, Brian and the rest of the neighbourhood cats. Lorraine cooked a lovely roast this evening. John came home w...

Up early for a Sunday, and Lorraine and I got ourselves ready for a stroll in the country. We picked up Anton and drove off to Dawn's place in Steyning, and then walked through the village to Helen's new flat, admired the flat, then all set off for a walk, steeply up through woods to the top of the Downs and followed the path which linked up with the South Downs Way, before threading through woods back into the village. The top of the downs is my least favourite walking, being too much sky and no cover but we were only up there for a while, and I managed this well. There were some lovely views through a fringe of trees down to the valleys below. An absolutely perfect day. Flawless blue sky, and very warm for March. We all mooched along chatting in twos and threes. Lorraine's boot fell apart and Anton cut a flappy bit off the sole with his penknife. Back down to the village and we had a really nice Sunday lunch and a couple of thirst quenching beers sitting outside in th...