the gentle sounds of domesticity

Jill PD in her early morning hatbox

Some mornings we all have a little lie in.  Since quarantine I've reduced my listening to ABC Classic.  Not because of any dissatisfaction but because I love to listen to the sounds of home.  Often in the early morning the last lines of the Ralph McTell song* comes to me

...to wake up at home in the house on the shore

with you by my side in Wales

The Flying Pig is not quite that, but it's near enough and far closer than I'd ever dared to dream.

I've been spending a lot of time in the garden.  A new idea for this little plot came to me when I realised it receives the afternoon sun the longest.  It is a piece where I have been unable to pull up the layers of carpet underneath so a sitting place is the ideal solution.  From there I can worhsip my newly developed 'magic squares'.  They are currently alternating between productivity and farrow.  The lattice indicates the 'pea square'.  The bamboo canes are for broadbeans.  I have worked the soil for these squares with aged manure, compost, blood and bone, gypsum, comfrey leaves, woodchips and weed tea, so the magic better work!  These legume crops will hopefully nitrogenate the soil so I can grow spectacular corn, or somesuch, in Spring.

using artichoke leaves to form a path between rows

Meanwhile the raised gardens continue to grow the garlic, leeks and onions I planted, plus self-sown corn salad, miner's lettuce, wasabi leaf and the occasional radish.

Funnily enough the thing I miss most in these isolated times is the passing parade of campers next door.  There have been machine noises which make me think that Gina and Alistair are preparing for a return to the accommodation business.  But it is not total isolation.  After tai chi we walk to the coffee van on the marina where there is usually a small gathering of people we know, often including the local policeman - and all staying at arm's length.  And you may just notice a young chap hosing down the bow of a fishing boat.

* Wonderful Country from The Boy with the Note - an Evocation of the Life of Dylan Thomas in Words & Music