13th June 2010

13th June 2010.

Dear All,

Kate has been struggling all week with flu like symptoms, she stayed at home one day and came home early on several others but has also had to look after cells all week including Saturday and Sunday. I went with her yesterday to inspect the new premises at Chesterford Park, the surroundings are pleasant but her main working area is a bit cramped.

Chesterford Park



Scientist at Work

Our college visit this week was to Sydney Sussex which has mature gardens with more trees than most which means there is quite a lot of shade. Health and Safety decreed that their large Magnolia could not be pruned with ladders this year so they had to hire a “cherry picker” – 2

gardeners hurt their backs pushing it into position!

Sydney Sussex

Star plant Dictamnus


Our chapel cricket match this week was against St Neots Methodists and we were winning easily (146-6 v 14-5) when one of their players collapsed with a dislocated knee cap so the game had to be abandoned while we waited for an ambulance. Last year we played them for the first time and sent one to hospital when he tried to catch the ball and it went through his hands and knocked several teeth out! Last week one of ours dislocated his shoulder so cricket is proving a dangerous game.
Our walk on Thursday started at Balsham and took in Horseheath, West Wickham and West Wratting. It was muddy and slippery initially and quite hard going after rain the previous day but finished OK.
After collecting a puncture on my bike last week I managed one in the car on Friday on the way to Tescos, I hope there won’t be a third!
U3A World Cup joke: A Cambridge Professor was researching the correlation between penis size and happiness. He reported that he had accumulated plenty of information but was lacking data relating to the shortest length (under 2”) so he had put out an appeal that anyone in that category should identify themselves over the next 3 weeks by flying a white flag with a red cross from either their car or bedroom window.
Looking forward to seeing some of you next Friday.


Love

Mike & Kate

6th June 2010

6th June 2010.

Dear All,

It has been a hot dry week so a deal of watering to keep things growing, but most things seem to be OK and recovering from the late frosts. We started broad beans and strawberries this week which is a sign that summer is a coming.
Kate has been suffering towards the end of the week and is currently in bed with a nasty cough and temperature.
On Friday, we drove down to Hutton to help Esther with a few jobs. The biggest was demolishing an old rotten shed covered with decades of ivy. The best bits of wood were recycled into a compost bin. We also checked sources of wood for skirting board and doors, replaced a curtain rail, rehung the front gate and tried (unsuccessfully) to stop a leak in the gutter. It was a good days work and we drove home the pretty way via the Rodings, Dunmow and Thaxsted.


Before

After

Star plant in Esther’s garden

Our Thursday walk was 12 miles starting from Godmanchester, via Hemmingford Abbots, Hemmingford Grey, St Ives, Houghton and back to the Black Bull in Godmanchester on the Ouse Valley Way. It was hot but a good walk with plenty of water and flowering meadows.

Approach to Hemmingford Abbots

Ouse Valley Way

Flower Meadow near St Ives

Yesterday we tried a bike ride along the new guided bus way to St Ives which was fine until I got a puncture on the way back just outside of St Ives so I had a long walk back pushing the bike.
Gwen phoned last night to confirm the cousins reunion arrangements. They and John and Muriel have booked into a Travel Lodge the Thursday night and Gwen and Rob are staying here on Friday night.
Love

Mike & Kate

30th May 2010

30th May 2010.

Dear All,

Kate and I were at Chelsea Flower Show on Tuesday so I could fill this letter with photos. It was warm, but not too hot and unlike Mondays was almost celebrity free. I expect most of you will have seen coverage on TV (but not Mary?) – there were more large gardens this year but I prefer the smaller ones as they are more practical and less showing off. Medwyn was back in the tent with his magnificent display of vegetables and won the Presidents prize for the best in show.





Chelsea

We travelled by coach as we can pick it up at Trumpington Park & Ride and the fare is a fraction of the train fare. The only drawback was the Queen causing chaos by opening Parliament so we were diverted all round Will’s mothers.
I had a Garden Club talk at Barton Mills in the evening so it was a long day. They were a good crowd and there were over 70 there.
On Monday our College garden tour was at St John’s another huge slice of desirable real estate in the middle of Cambridge including 2 bridges over the Cam. They have about 20 acres of grass to cut besides all the other gardening.
It has been quite a garden tour week as on Thursday night I had arranged a chapel visit to Wolfson gardens where the head gardener is an ex NIAB employee Phil Stigwood.


St Johns


Our walk on Thursday involved a train ride from Ely to Littleport and then walking back via Prickwillow – not many hills but enough water and “throbbing fertility” to make it interesting.
On Friday we were invited out to lunch with newish neighbours Geoff and Valerie Twiss opposite. They have only been here for a few months and already Geoff has stood for the District council as a Lib Dem candidate.
Cucurbit week in the garden with courgettes, squash, gourds and pumpkins being planted and cucumbers being trained. The garden is now full so no more planting until something is harvested.

Love

Mike & Kate

23rd May 2010

23rd May 2010.

Dear All,

Our College garden visit this week was to Jesus College and it was one of the better ones, 27 acres of real estate in the middle of Cambridge plus the gardeners have to look after 70 other gardens at college owned properties in town. Although it is not the oldest college in Cambridge it has the oldest building as they took over an existing nunnery. The nuns were known as “naughty nuns” as they used to sell themselves in Maids Causeway in town.

Jesus College Nun’s cloister


Jesus College Wisteria

The grounds have several splendid Wisterias and American ornamental Plane trees grown from seed in 1802. The May Balls are a nightmare for the gardeners if the weather is wet and they have just had a large lawn resown and laser levelled for £14,000!
It has been a serious gardening week resowing runner and French beans clobbered by the frost, planting sweet corn, Brussels sprouts, sprouting broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, water melons, red beet, parsnips and aubergines.
The walk this week was close to Cambridge starting at Stow cum Quy and progressing via Lode, Anglesey Abbey to Reach and back much of the route owned by the National Trust.


Lode Water Mill

Quy Water

Cricket did not go quite so well this week and having roasted in the field all afternoon I did wonder whether there are better ways of spending the day. Another birthday party last night – Julia O’Neil’s 50th at Swavesey Memorial Hall.
We have been entertaining today, the Kitsons plus Dave and Ellie Cook from the walking group as three of the four originated within 10 miles of Stowmarket conversation was not difficult.
We have a wren apparently nesting in the bat box on the back wall, the spotted flycatchers are back but not sure where they are nesting and a grass snake has just been spotted in the pond – it is almost as though they all know that “Springwatch” is returning very shortly!

Love

Mike & Kate

16th May 2010

16th May 2010.

Dear All,

It has been a busy week in Lake Wobegone, or at least Over. Monday I had a CEEM Board meeting re Moldova at Peterborough followed by a Deacons meeting. Tuesday I was at Wisley judging asparagus followed by a cricket pitch preparation and then Home Group. Wednesday was work followed by a gardening club talk at Hitchin where about 60 turned up,

Wisley

Thursday the walk started at Great Chishall and like the previous week included blue and yellow panoramas and several attractive cottages. Saturday pitch preparation followed. In the evening it was the 4th week of Alpha and 2 extra people came along so this has been encouraging so far.
Friday was paperwork, grass cutting and gardening followed by a meal at the Golden Ball, Boxworth to celebrate 39 years of married bliss – and to try out the venue for the cousin’s reunion in June. This has now been booked but I will send a separate communiqué with details.
On Saturday both Over cricket teams won on the same day which has not happened for sometime,
Today we have had a “Tea & Talk” meeting with Stuart Wood the chaplain of Cambridge Utd football club. He is an ex Covenanter from Bury St Edmunds so we have come across him a few times before.
Kate and I have just returned from a bike ride to the river (not Graham standard – but start)

Great Chishall


Love
Mike & Kate

9th May 2010

9th May 2010.

Dear All,

After Mondays family gathering at Hutton the week has mainly been report writing, photo downloading and catching up in the garden.

Swan & Cygnet wood, Stock

63rd Birthday gathering

I have sown courgettes, squash, gourds, pumpkins, water melons, cucumbers, beetroot, peas, carrots and radish this week and planted out runner beans, French beans, celeriac and cabbage. The rain has been useful but outdoor crops are slow due to the cool weather.
Our Thursday walk began at Hail Weston near St Neots and proceeded via Great Staunton for 11.2 miles notable for vivid blue swaths of bluebells and yellow splurges of rape.

Royal Oak, Hail Weston

Hail Weston

Cricket got off to a traditional damp start with both matches cancelled on Saturday.
Alpha seems to be going OK with 8 guests turning up for the third week.
Our Labour candidate was deselected at the last minute due to unwise utterances so we must have been the only constituency in the land not to have that option.

Love

Mike & Kate

3rd May 2010

3rd May 2010.

Dear All,

We have just completed another successful trip to Moldova. The preparation was a bit fraught with the volcano ash threatening the flight so we were not sure how psyched up to be until we were actually airborne. This time there were three of us: John Law, Chris Chanter from Southampton and myself and for the first time we flew direct to Chisnau via Bucharest instead of travelling overland from Romania. The other two had trouble in the transit customs in Bucharest and for a time I thought I might be in Moldova on my own!



Chisnau flats

In Chisnau we stayed with a new family who were friends of our translator Igor. On Saturday we shopped for seed and travelled to Leover where CEEM supports 2 pastors. Leover used to have 90,000 inhabitants in communist times this has shrunk to 15,000 with emigration and resembles a ghost town. We then finally arrived at Burlacu where we have the agricultural project and were due to stay the week. All three were housed in one small room which was cosy! But as usual the welcome was warm and fantastic. We took the service Sunday am and there was a 40th birthday picnic in the hills in the pm.
On Monday we measured up the field they had hired for experiments and we had to apply fertilizer to a hectare by hand. This was cultivated in by a contractor and then we drilled 4 maize varieties on 75% of the field, and hand broadcast large plots of Lucerne and red clover. Next day we filled in the rest of the field with 48 different grass and clover plots so we had a flying start and finished the field work by Tuesday lunchtime. A family from St Neots, who had raised money for Moldova arrived en route for Australia overland with a Land Rover, caravan and 2 small children. They




Picnic

were able to see how the money was being spent at the school and the children joined in classes for the day. The locals made them very welcome and fed them for the rest of the week.
On Wednesday we sowed vegetable seeds and visited some of the growers who had received tunnels and they all seemed to be using them very constructively.
Our highlight was a training seminar for the local growers on Wednesday afternoon. We were helped by a Moldovan grower and Christian called Daniel Apostu who gave two excellent talks on “Using your tunnels” and “Using your garden for profit”. In between I gave a talk about “UK Vegetable growing and seed production”. We were due to start at 4.00 pm when about 7 people were present, we eventually started at 4.45 pm when 38 were present.



Burlacu mechanisation

Thursday we went to Cahul to visit the vegetable market while John visited the local Baptist supervisor. After we travelled to Hiratop to see the 4th pastor Oleg who is by far the best grower, he had tomatoes almost ready and does a great job employing local lads without jobs.



Oleg

We travelled back to Chisnau on Thursday evening and rose at 3 am to travel back, I was just in time to help prepare the wicket for the first match of the season.
After it has been a birthday series Donna’s 40th Saturday, Bob’s 60th Sunday and today we have been to Hutton to celebrates Kate’s birthday with Esther, Mary-Ann and Ben including a good walk in the “Swan and Cygnet Wood” at Stock.

Love

Mike & Kate