Terminkalendar Einigung erreicht!

Die Terminkalender Tautorat/Bonke und Tautorat/Royal hatten für das letzte Wochenende eine Einigung erzielt und somit konten Silke und Dirk endlich mal wieder besuchen. Das letzte Mal waren Sie im Mai 2005 bei mir/uns auf der Insel gewesen. Es war also mal wieder höchste Zeit!

Samstags holten wir die beiden dann an unserem Lieblingsflughafen in Stansted ab und fuhren beide dann erstmal ins tiefste Essex zu einem Craft Market (so eine Art Handwerkermarkt - ist hier sehr beliebt) in der ersten Siedlung der Tempelritter. Dort sind wir dann hübschen Eulen (Silke durfte sie auch mal streicheln)und ein paar Tempelrittern begegnet (ein paar re-enactor die das Ritterleben nachgespielt haben).
Wir schlenderten uns durch ziemlich große Scheunen und probierten Käse mit Blaubeeren.... (habe ich schon erwähnt das die Briten einen komischen Geschmack haben?)
Bewundernswert war aber auf jeden Fall der "walled Garden" (Mark hätte den am liebsten mit heim genommen hätten wir dafür Platz gehabt) in dem Obst in einer Ecke, Gemüse in einer anderen, Heilkräuter in der dritten und Zierpflanzen in der letzten Ecke angebaut wurden. Alles war brav symmetrisch mit einem Springbrunnen mit Fontäne in der Mitte und einer höher gelegenen Terasse.

Zur Strkung nach dem vielen laufen, probieren und ansehen haben wir uns dann bei einem Pub lunch gestärkt bevor wir uns auf den weg in das schöne aber flache Cambridgeshire gemacht haben.

Da das Wetter uns freundlich gesonnen war, nutzen wir dann die Gelegenheit zu einem Einkauf und grillen auf der neuen Terasse - schließlic mußte die ja auch eingeweiht werden!
Hmmm war das lecker - und hinterher ein wenig frisch.... (Beweisfotos gibt es leider nicht)

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

It's going to be me soon! Today was the first night of my evening course in "Beginners German" and it went very well, even if I say so myself! Our teacher, Daniella, was facing her very first class of students (having only accepted the job last week) and the six students she was expecting swelled to thirteen. We're a rum lot, of that there's no doubt, a mixture of young and old people, with a varierty of reasons to be learning German but the biggest reason would appear to be so that we can converse properly with family and partners. Nearly everyone has been either to Germany or Austria and everyone loves the people and the country - even Bavaria.

So we've had our first lesson which was combined with a taster session for the new arrivals and it was quite good fun. It seems alot easier learning when everyone is at the same level and we're all suffering the same problems. Now all I have to do is practice and practice and practice in the hope that eventually it actually sinks in and I'm able to finally talk to the German side of the family. Next installment is in two weeks time as teacher is running off to Hamburg. Mind you, I'm running off to Lake Konstanz and Austria next week so I'm not going to complain. I'll keep you appraised of my progress and, who knows, one day I'll produce my first German blog - just don't hold your breath!

Die Terrasse ist fertig - aber der Sommer vorbei!

Schon seit wir hier vor über einem Jahr eingezogen sind hat uns unser Vermieter versprochen unsere Terrasse auf vordermann zu bringen und sich um die Stufe (aus losen Ziegelsteinen und ein paar Steinplatten) zu kümmern.....

Endlich - nach 14 Monaten war es soweit! Unser Vermieter kam mit seinem Kumpel (der eindeutig der begabtere Handwerker ist!) vorbei und hat unsere Terrasse mit einem neuen Deck versehen und eine vernünftige Stufe vom Wohnzimmer in den Garten gebaut. Von morgens bis spät nachmittags haben sie "geschuftet" wenn man das hier auf der Insel so nennen kann...

Doch das Ergebnis kann sich auf jeden Fall sehen lassen!

Unsere Terrasse ist sogar ein wenig gewachsen und so ohne alles ist es eine Tanzfläche. Aber durch eine nette Spende unserer Nachbarin Carol haben wir einen Gartentisch und Stühle geerbt (müssen nur noch ein wenig sauber gemacht und gestrichen werden). Das einzige was jetzt noch fehlt ist Farbe! Wir werden wohl ein paar bunte Blumentöpfe organisieren um das ganze etwas farblich zu gestalten...


Zu guter letzt hoffen wir jetzt natürlich auf gutes Wetter um unsere Terrasse auch geniessen zu können. Vielleicht schaffen wir es ja am kommenden Wochenende ein kleines BBQ zur Einweihung zu machen. :-)

All change in the garden

Hot on the heels of the last garden related entry comes another. Everything has changed and not all for the better. Our lovely landlord has finally come through with the new deck for the back garden and a new back step to replace the pile of unstable bricks we've been using for the last yearcd=[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[d] (that was max's contribution to the blog!). They're busy assembling it right now as I sit under the trees and type.


Speaking of trees, they've had rather a severe haircut this week and are now looking very sorry for themselves. The big bully tree is about a third of its height, the cherry has been thinned, the conifers in the front have lost about a foot of height and one even got the chop entirely! The garden is much lighter now and unfortunately alot windier too. I say unfortunately because the wind no longer breaks against the trees and instead slams against the garage and the new greenhouse. It fell over :-( Despite pegs and rope to hold it together the wind picked it up and threw it down causing plant damage in the process. The entire late salad crop was tipped out and ruined, the tomataoes got a bit broken and the rocket was tossed about like it was in a salad but wasn't. Not a good day all in all. The greenhouse is now standing up again and it's been lashed to the ground with big ropes and pegs, whether it lasts the winter remains to be seen but I have my doubts - it is bloody windy here at times.

Despite the upsets and the haircuts the garden is looking quite good although Max has enjoyed jumping through the netting around the vegtables and then, when caught, running full tilt into the sides and knocking himself senseless! So funny to watch until you realise that the leeks and the cabbage are taking the brunt of the panic. The netting has now been made Max-proof and hopefully everything will recover.

Ah well, we're apple hunting tomorrow or rather going to bang on the doors of people who have trees but are obviously doing nothing with their apples to ask if they would mind if we helped ourselves. Hopefully they'll say yes, and we (our neighbour Carol and I) will be swimming in apples by the end of the weekend. The freezer is going to be bulging with a bit of luck!

Nachwuchs bei Royal Tautorat - Meet Max!

Bei uns gibt es wieder Nachwuchs - vierbeinigen.

Nachdem Abraxas von uns gegangen ist, haben wir uns entschlossen für Moritz einen Spielgefährten zu suchen - und gefunden.

Max, (wie könnte er auch anders heißen..) 11 Wochen alt und überhaupt nicht ängstlich und verschüchtert. Die Cats Protection League Dame von der wir ihn haben, meinte er sei ein kleiner Draufgänger - genau das Richtige für Moritz!

Riesen Augen, neugierig und furchtlos. Eine handvoll Katze, die Streicheleinheiten liebt und mit allem spielt was nicht niet und nagelfest ist.

Momentan gewöhnen sich die beiden noch aneinander, was nicht immer lautlos von statten geht..... Gestern und heute erkunden wir den Garten, fressen Schneider und Gras und stecken unsere Nase aber auch überall rein und rennen dann wie von der Biene gestochen im Kreis rum.

Ein kleines Bündel Energie :-)

How does your garden grow?

Let's be honest, it's been a crap year in the garden for growing vegtables. We've had some good flowers struggle through the variable conditions and a whole host of California poppies sewn in early July (from seeds 2 years old) put on a wonderful show during August and are still gamely producing blooms even though it's mid September. But it's the veggies that failed the most. The wet weather - let's be honest, the sun went on vacation in May and didn't show up again til August and even then was less than enthusiastic - conspired to kill alot of things even before they started and whole potential crops rotted in the ground. Then again, it could be the fact that I am not a dedicated green fingered must be out there every day or I get twitchy kind of gardener. I'm going to blame the weather :-)

It has been a good year for the fruit trees. The cherries were moist, succulent, very tasty and then eaten by birds (we did get a few), the apple and the pear tree were groaning and still are despite having several kilo's of fruit taken off already. The freezer will be groaning again with pies and crumbles before long.

The biggest and best news though is that I've now got a greenhouse! Yay!!! This was an early birthday present from Rolf and Steffi and it's wonderful. THANK YOU!!! We put it up a couple of weeks ago and moved all the plants in: tomatoes (that haven't yet fruited), salad (that's thinking about giving us another crop) and the late sewn veg (that slugs and bugs have reduced to 1 leek, 1 cabbage and 1 beetroot!). It looks lovely and the plants are really really grateful. Everything is now growing madly and even the tomatoes are starting to put out fruit (10 little green ones so far). It bodes well for next year as I'll be able to grow my seeds undercover before hardening them off in the cold frame (I haven't built this yet or told Inga I'm going to so let's keep it a secret between you and I, eh?) and then transplanting them to big tubs and pots. We've decided that the area set aside for veggies just isn't good enough to grow them properly so it's going to get manured over winter and made into a plant border next year.



So this year may still give us salad and tomatoes, maybe a couple of beetroot,a cabbage and about a dozen leeks. Pitiful if we were thinking of living off the sweat of my brow, but not bad for my first real attempt at growing things. Next year will be alot better. Promise.

New kid on the block!

It was going to happen sooner rather than later. A replacement for Abraxas was going to be procured and added to the Royal-Tautorat family. Ladies and Gentlemen, Kids, grannies, tramps, bums, friends and foes alike - meet Max.



Max is small and cute, and boy does he know it. He's about 11 weeks old and into everything. There's no timidity about this little kitten at all. When they said "curiosity killed the cat", it was with cats like Max in mind! He's been named Max to go along with Moritz - apparently Max and Moritz are a famous, or infamous duo, in Germany, and it would appear they have now been exported to the UK to take up residence in our little house. Suffice to say, Moritz is not impressed with the new addition, and there will be tears and flying fur over the next few days until things settle down again. He arrived last night from the Cats Protection League, who are a wonderful and well worthwhile charity to support if you like cats, and is in fine condition. He wasn't bothered at all by being moved to yet another home and is settling in very very quickly. Right now he's crashed out on one of the beds upstairs having exhausted himself exploring the garden (which was hastily secured this morning so he can't escape its confines!) but no doubt he'll be up again soon to restart exploring his new home and causing trouble.

Welcome to the family Max, I'm sure you'll fit in just fine.