Author Archives: JDO

R’s eyebrows are likely to shoot right off the top of his head when he sees the title of this blip: I’ve been in a horrible mood for most of today. As forecast, it’s been cold, windy, and dark, and … Continued

R and I took ourselves off to Croome this morning, lugging a large flask of coffee which we drank sitting on a bench overlooking the lake. You can’t completely avoid people there of course – you have to enter through … Continued

I’m still protecting the anemones and French lavender that I bought last week by bringing them inside overnight, but during the day they get to enjoy the fresh air and light out on the patio. Today, as you can see, … Continued

After having such a good day yesterday, today was a sad one for me: this morning I emailed Choir Two and withdrew from their current season. I then sat down and cried at the thought of not singing the Brahms … Continued

I’m just back home from a fascinating day photographing kingfishers on a private estate in Staffordshire. Across eight hours there were over twenty visits to the perches outside the hide by one or other of the main pair of birds … Continued

Although not with my favourite ally, who’s at home practising social distancing. To be honest, I feel as though I should be doing the same thing – if you haven’t already seen it, I recommend that you read this article, … Continued

There were four competing hairy-footed flower bees in the front garden this morning, and at least as many in the wild garden. I’ve been keeping an eye on the wallflowers growing out of the front wall for a few days … Continued

I did my favourite kind of gardening this morning: standing around with a mug of tea in one hand and a camera in the other, issuing instructions while R did all the actual work. Once he’d removed all the bramble … Continued

I did gardening in the rain this afternoon. Double eeeurgh. We have at least two resident robins, but this is the bolder one – it barely waits for us to get out of the way before checking any freshly turned … Continued

Anemenenenome. Sorry – this is one of the things that brings out my inner Gumby. Anyway… “I thought you were looking for rosemary?” said R, looking up from his phone as I began piling anemenenenomes and French lavender into the … Continued