Morning folks. We had the lovely Nick with us yesterday tending to all things tree. He took the tops out of a row of conifers that were too tall and very close to the house. He also took out some diseased trees from the bottom of the garden so the mountain views are now framed by 2 lovely cherry trees. On his next visit the plan is to plank the trunks of the fallen trees so we can use them to build raised vegetable beds.

We have a little lizard living in our log basket. We light the log burner and he comes to bask in the heat on the tiles and then skitters back under cover. Every log is being meticulously inspected now, we don’t want to injure the little guy. 

Weather was changeable yesterday, from bright sunshine to torrential downpour in seconds, sometimes both at the same time. I like to watch the clouds and light change over the trees towards the distant valley to the front of the house. It reminds me of my favourite place to sit, the bench against the church wall in Whitby cemetery. The Abbey is next to you and you have the views over the moors in all their splendour, watching the sun and cloud cast their ever changing shadows over the heather. I have an Ashley Jackson print, split into 3 scenes showing the fading moorland light, in the first and second you can make out sheep, then the third is a dark inky grey/black. You can see why Bram Stoker was inspired by that dramatic, atmospheric place. Still, I have to share that place with tourists, here not so much.

I had a happy productive day in the kitchen. I did manage to cook potatos in a cast iron pot on top of the log burner but it took about 3 hours. Made potato salad, cucumber and feta salad, and Craig barbecued a big lump of beef, sometimes in the rain bless him. Garlic bread wrapped in foil and done on the BBQ too rounded everything off nicely.

We have 2 resident toads now, they like to press themselves against our doors last thing at night, we don’t want to hurt them or trap their little toady fingers. Perhaps we can build them a little toad house. To the tinterweb! 

We have to say goodbye to Mike & Carla today sadly but it’s been a lot of fun! I think today will be spent dragging some tree branches around but the weather looks ok for now. Will keep you posted.

TTFN xx