The Boundary Fence

I have never installed a new Apple Operating System without experiencing a consequent problem. Overnight I let Catalina in. It is not compatible with my scanner. I followed the directions to resolve the issue, but hit a brick wall. This will mean another call to Peacock Computers.

This morning Elizabeth came for coffee and stayed for lunch.

Jackie planted more bulbs in the New Bed

while Aaron reinforced the back of this with breeze blocks. At one corner Jackie had planted pansies and a fern in a pot with no back wedged against a larger one with no front.

Aaron reported that while he had been working on the wall Nugget had put in an appearance and breakfasted on disturbed worms.  On the back drive our robin’s rival perched on our friend’s container of cuttings. By the time I had returned with my camera the newcomer had repaired to the

larch which forms the avian boundary fence as agreed by the two rivals. The interloper sang from this tree, but I couldn’t spot him.

The bright morning sunshine streaked shadows along the various paths including the

Heligan, where Jackie admired a campanula in the Cryptomeria Bed.

but uprooted one of the invasive white alliums from the gravel.

After lunch I rather snoozed over the Rugby World Cup quarter final match between Wales and South Africa, then wandered around the garden again.

Antirrhinums surprisingly still thrive beyond the avian boundary fence;

Less surprisingly, mushrooms emerge from a log left to encourage insect life;

and the bank of chrysanthemums glows gloriously.

Autumn leaves still linger on the Weeping Birch,

and those of the Parthenocissus brighten the shadows on the south fence.

The winter flowering clematis has announced the coming season,

While an earlier variety rests on a bed of Erigeron.

Mum in a million lets her hair down in the Rose Garden.

Nugget worked at making eye contact with his favourite perching owl.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s spicy piri-piri chicken; flavoursome savoury rice; and succulent lava beans and sweet potato ratatouille, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Fleurie.

 

 

79 comments

  1. I just spent ten minutes minutely examining the larch to find Nugget’s neighbour but after finding several possibilities were all cones I had to admit defeat. Nugget however perched on the wicker owl is an absolute delight!

    1. Thanks very much, Pauline. The cone confusion was my problem, too. Jackie did the same as you and couldn’t find him. He could well have been in the hawthorn just behind. Usually I do spot him in the larch.

  2. Robins usually either sit right at the top of the tree or somewhere near the middle, I’ve found. Ours likes the middle of the Hawthorn. I think I can see something a bit bird-shaped in your tree, but could be something else. I can take a screenshot if you want?

    Your garden is still looking beautiful. I have to say I have a fondness for snapdragons. 🙂

  3. Apple have much to answer for. Their updates have caused havoc with my iPad communicating with WP. I’ve wasted a lot of time this weekend eeedetrying to rectify my problem which for now appears to have been resolved!

    Lovely to see Nugget

  4. I gather that the second semi final didn’t match the first one for quality. Nugget is a wonderful subject, I must say. I wish our robin would be as co-operative. I sympathise with you new operating system woe. Installing one is always a march into the shadows.

    1. A perfect phrase for the updates issue. Unfortunately I learned the hard way a few years ago that if you don’t update it your machine becomes obsolete within 6 years. Thanks very much, Tootlepedal.

  5. Campanula and cryptomeria together in one bed?
    I find it most unseemly. I must block it from my head.
    Such shocking behavior from ones of mixed genera.
    Perhaps you could move one of them to a far-distant terra?

  6. Catalina has been causing disruptions the world over. It certainly appears to be their worst release since the Macs have fascinated the world since 1984. I am sure Steve Jobs is turning in his tomb somewhere. Not that Windows has made my life easier, rendering the laptops of my daughters useless.

    Jackie stopping in the Cryptomeria Bed, the chrysanthemums, the weeping birch and the parthenocissus are sparkling photos.

  7. That was bordering on the Machiavelian Sir! Larch cones and robins share a remarkable similarity at that distance.

    Fortunately the same cannot be said of twiggy owls! Nugget was easily spotted today.

    So I forgive you. 😉

  8. I’d never heard of Antirrhinums, but they certainly looked like our snapdragons. Lo! That’s exactly what they are. The landscape gardeners who tend to local medians, apartment complex gardens, and such, are beginning to put in our pansies and snapdragons. For us, they’re winter bedding plants.

  9. Sorry about the update problems. Perhaps there is an update for your scanner that will help. I’m behind on updates. That is interesting about the avian boundary. Nugget is looking as handsome as ever, and I’m happy that he is continuing to hang around. Your garden remains beautiful, and your descriptions are as fun as every–my favorite this time: “Mum in a million lets her hair down in the Rose Garden.” 🙂

  10. It still looks so green! The Antirrhinums are what my mother used to call ‘Butter & Eggs’.

    Little Nugget seems like he is getting a good diet of worms with all that digging going on!

  11. If you run out of worms for Nugget, you can buy freeze dried mealworms which seem to hit the spot not just for robins, but, as we realised yesterday, for a passing hedgehog as well.

  12. I had grave concerns after clicking to install Catalina. I must have only been half looking at what I was doing as I had just thought it was an ‘ordinary’ update and had a blue fit when I saw how long it was taking and what it was doing to my photo files. My fingers are crossed that your scanner can be coaxed into playing nicely with it. Your pictures are wonderfully evocative although, as Laurie observed, Nugget steals the show.

    1. Me, too. Apple’s message was to consult the supplier, namely Epson. Epson said there was no driver with my model so I should use the iMac one. I gave up until I am feeling stronger.Thanks very much, Sherry.

  13. Since I was a little girl I’ve always been intrigued by pansies and snapdragons…the little pansy-faces and the snapdragon mouths would conjure up flower-stories in my head! 🙂

    Love the photos of brave Nugget and the owl! 🙂 I bet they had a nice chat!
    So nice of Aaron to “bring” lunch for Nugget! 😉

    Hope your tech issues get resolved. All of that is so frustrating. 🙁

    The meal looks yummy! 🙂
    HUGS!!! 🙂

  14. My dream garden would look like yours (ours is beautiful thanks to my gardener but more cactusy so I prefer yours) and have a little bird mascot. And she cooks, too. You are so blessed!

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