The blog has been neglected for some while because of waves of guests. We had a lovely evening yesterday with our friend the opera singer. He decided to sing some very spooky Schubert and to give it both barrels, as it were, and I was left thinking that it was just as well the […]
Slowly, exterior paintwork is becoming pea green. The extension looks fine, though Barry, who has returned to us, was unimpressed by our failure to fill the nail holes, perfectionist that he is. Tony and his wife are patiently painting trellis of which there is acres. Barry is working on the front door, which has had […]
Year after year, the Professor has grown tomatoes. Year after year, the fruits have failed to ripen before the frosts. But the new Moro book has produced a recipe for fried green tomatoes, and I can report, having tried it, it’s very nice. The dish tastes of garlic, sherry vinegar, cumin and flaked chili. […]
It’s that time of year again … Barnyards has cut the barley, and the great outdoors is full of panic-stricken dispossessed rodents. Miss Kit brought in three yesterday, and the Rough Cats have lost all interest in their daily hand-out: they are occasionally to be seen lying in a sunny spot burping. I may leave […]
The Dramaturg needs to know that the Professor noted his comment and will do something about describing the consecration of the new bishop — but having spent some 12 hours out of the last 24 yomping about the braes of Glenlivet on University diplomatic business, it won’t be tonight. Today there has been minute progress […]
Why is it that mosquitos bite with peculiar viciousness in thundery weather? It can’t be that their nutritional requirements or m.o. change in any significant way, but it’s undoubtedly the case. One got me twice yesterday, and both bites have come up like half-oranges. It’s about to rain again. Meanwhile, the house is reverberating to […]
We have been blessed with the company of Dr Biswell and Mr Wil, also, as of yesterday night, Dr Brennan the Artist. This has enabled yet more and better tidying up. Dr Biswell has removed the last of his clothes and paraphernalia from the back of the house. We have engaged in prodigies of moving […]
Off the territory of the blog, but a major feature of life in these parts, has been Miss T’s highers and where we all went from here (Scottish results came out last week). These were wholly respectable but not alpha-plus, Vet, as a dream, had to be abandoned, but the question then took the form, […]
Much of today has been spent putting books into the Twentieth Century Room, which is gradually developing as it goes along. It’s been something of a journey of discovery — what we have masses of, what, less than we thought. My categorisation is idiosyncratic. I’ve made a pre-WWI bookcase, there’s one about Englishness, one about […]
Well, dearies: I think perhaps I should post a catch-up lest you all think we’ve been washed away or something. What has in fact happened is the fascinating variety of the depths of the summer as viewed from the Deep North. First of all, I was in London for ten days, head down in the […]