26th April 2020

Dear All,

And another one down and another week bites the dust! More walking, gardening, ZOOMing and biography writing. However there have been a few highlights this week: I received a £5,000 donation for CEEM, our Thursday walk was excellent and I have assembled a garden seat from a flat pack.

The cheque came from a guy in Ipswich who used to work in Ipswich Building Society and initially he was going to hand over cash but due to the restrictions eventually sent a cheque with no questions asked as to it’s use in Moldova. I have never knowingly been involved in money laundering so I am just concentrating on how we get the money to Moldova - usually these transactions work the opposite direction!

We have walked every day and still not repeated a walk but on Thursday did a longer outing through the RSPB reserve to the river and followed the river bank to Earith and back. It was ideal conditions so we did not hurry and took 4 hours for 9-10 miles. We heard a bittern booming, the first cuckoo and saw Marsh Harriers, Terns, goslings and ducklings. A herd of English White cattle grazing the flood bank included a decent sized bull who did not even look up when we passed a yard to his rear.

Bluntisham church across Berry Fen

View from Earith bridge

 

Spot the Bull contest

1947 Flood Memorial stone

  

A few Goslings

I ordered a new garden seat for Kate’s birthday which arrived early as a flat pack. As it was too large to hide it has been assembled and handed over prematurely.

The Queen enthroned!

Kate risked another outing to Tesco this week and was encouraged by the improved arrangements. Also they seemed to have everything needed except bread flour.

The mild weather has pushed everything earlier in the garden so a few late frosts would cause havoc.

Allotment Spuds

Judas Tree

We have a Zimbabwean chap working as a carer in the village at present and he has decided to plant a vegetable garden on his farm (back garden!). I have set him up with seed and tomato plants and his neighbour supplied seed potatoes. He asked the neighbour “When should I bury these and when will they be resurrected”. He was a translator in the court in Harare but like so many had to depart from Mr Mugabe’s benevolent regime.

Keep or get well.

With love

Mike & Kate

19th April 2020

Dear All,

And so it continues! 28^th day of walking and gardening. Highlight this week was a tour round the Manderson Trust fishing lakes at Overcote. These were originally donated for anglers with handicaps but are now open to all. John Lane – my cricket pitch colleague, is on the committee and spends most mornings working on maintenance and improvements. We happened to spot him on one of our walks and he showed us round (at social distance of course). There are 4 large lakes and a smaller pond. One is stocked with large carp – 2ft plus. We are very fortunate with the walks in that after 28 days we have not exactly repeated one yet and we have discovered several new routes.

 

Manderson Lakes

 

Lake 5

 

Carp

  

Brownshill Farm Rhubarb patch

Near Swavesey Church

Ash Flowers

Limousin calf

Garden wise I have planted Cucumbers, Peppers and Aubergines in a greenhouse and sowed Brussels Sprouts, Sprouting Broccoli, Kale, Cauliflowers, Leeks Runner beans, Climbing French Beans and Sweet Corn indoors for transplanting – some of these are a bit early but that is the season (and having time to spare!).

Highlight this year has been the Watercress, I have not grown it before as I thought it needed running water but grown in a pot and watered every day it has produced a splendid crop. Spring cabbage also started this week and asparagus is on-going. We had a decent rain on Friday night which has softened clods and made earthing up spuds much easier.

 

Watercress

 

Spring Cabbage Pyramid

Kate has come up with the idea of writing our biographies (a la David) for the benefit of our children rather than publication! It is to cover the time when they might say “I wish I had asked them that when they were alive!”. When compared to David’s account it might explain why there are 4 slightly varying Gospels!

We have had ZOOM sessions with some of the walkers and family this week and chapel are due to tune in at 10am.

John Bell rang yesterday; he has trouble with one leg and walking with a stick.

With love

Mike & Kate

12th April 2020

Dear All,

Last week it was Gardening and walking, ZOOM , painting and a few DVDs, this week I can add frogs and birds so not much change!

Gardening wise I have sown parsnips, planted more peas and Dwarf French Beans and sorted Ken Elsom’s plot. I have also experimented making my own Growbags. Kate has expanded her flower repertoire with seedlings cropping up everywhere as well as microgreens and sprouted seeds. We have also experimented with watercress and it has worked quite well so far. We have also begun harvesting asparagus this week which is a plus.

Water Cress

Early Potatoes

  

Peas

Walks continue on a daily basis but only locally. Thursday by way of tradition we went further taking in the Over Fen RSPB site where we heard Bitterns booming and saw swallows for the first time this year.

 

Over RSPB

 

New Calves

Plum Trees full of Blossom

Plenty of Butterflies this year

 

Maple in flower

Mervyn decided to fill in his pond this week and brought round about a dozen frogs. Whether they will stay remains to be seen as they have a strong homing instinct so I can picture them with their knapsacks setting out for a return journey.

We have repeated ZOOM sessions with church, walkers and family. I am coming to the conclusion that you perhaps need to think about what you are going to say before going on-line!

Over News is going on-line in reduced form next month as there are no meetings or events to publicise but I have still submitted the Garden Column – whether this is considered vital remains to be seen!

Kate finished painting the utility room this week and shopped in Willingham Co-op. Our village shop has stepped up and stocked many more items than usual.

We had a long phone call with Jackie requesting some seeds and swapped some locally for some partridge breasts!

Dave Garlick emailed for details of when we visited Ecuador and asked for some photos. He is writing some sort of report.

With love

Mike & Kate

5th April 2020

Dear All,

Last week it was Gardening and walking, this week it has been Gardening, walking, ZOOM, painting and a few DVDs.

We have managed a local walk each day and a longer Thursday walk round the Fen Drayton Lakes. It was a sunny morning and a big contrast to our last outing there in January when we could hardly plod through the mud by the river.

Kerry Sheep in Over Fen

Between Over & Swavesey

Fen Drayton Lakes

 

Cormorants in Moore Lake

The Ferryboat, Holywell, across the River Ouse

  

Kate Social distancing!

Gardening wise I have planted cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, onions, beetroot, land cress, salsify, celeriac and broad beans outside this week and tomatoes in the greenhouse. I have also pressure washed the greenhouses.

We had a ZOOM session with a few of the walking group on Thursday and the family on Friday. The latter to mark Ben’s birthday. Ben has run 100 miles in 7 days for the first time in his career!

Kate started painting in the utility room this week and I have tackled the bike shed.

Local craftsman!

The Gregory’s have invested in a Dickens box set and lent us David Copperfield in 4 episodes. It was very good with a star-studded cast. In addition, we watched “the Long Sleep” starring Humphrey Bogart last night – they don’t make them like that anymore!

Keep well and cheerful.

With love

Mike & Kate