Future Fruit

Coming home from work I noticed the medlar is growing fresh blossoms. The strawberries are already in full flower. Fruit to come, and jam!

medlar - nèfle - mispel
strawberry - fraise - aardbei

Sunshine

Sun's out and it's getting warm. Not a cloud in the sky.

Abundance in Blue

Bluebells have come up next to our driveway, in a carpet of green leaves topped by numerous flowers.

bluebell - jacinthe des bois - wilde hyacinth

Happy Dog

The inlaws' dog is always happy to see us, scrabbling up the steps straining on the leash. It's taken a gander through the garden, slurped a lot of water and then lies still to have its back scratched. Good dog.

Soup

The missus is making tomato soup (and cheese and onion toast to go with it). Her parents are coming round so we'll have something to eat together. 

Promise Kept

While sweeping the catkins on the roof, I saw the little birches sitting in their pot of emulsion paint. When working on the roof I'd promised them a proper pot when I was done, so I figured now was the moment to do so. Got to the DIY store just before it closed for a pot and a bag of earth and set to work. Result looks good and I hope the little trees will feel at home. The paint pot's carrying handle I've moved as well, as a souvenir of their former abode.

birch - bouleau - berk

Catkins Anyone?

I got sent up on the roof to remove the birches' catkins that had amassed there. Took half an hour to fill an Ikea bag, which didn't weigh a thing and was all there was to it. 

birch - bouleau - berk

 

Lawnmower RIP

Initally we thought the starter mechanism wasn't working again so I took it apart again but there was nothing wrong with it. Turning the mower blade by hand took effort, and copious amounts of WD40 didn't bring improvement so I think it's seized up to the point of being useless. Thus ends a career of some fifteen years...

White Explosion

The Spiraea bush near the front door is bursting with delicate white flowers. The missus has cut some branches for a vase in the living room,  with Utamaro's lady peeping through behind them.

Taters

The potatoes in a bag in the cupboard had started sprouting so the missus put them in the shed. Where they continue to enthusiastically reach for the sky. 

tater - patate - aarpel

Suds

The pump in the dishwasher gave up the ghost last week, so we're washing up by hand. The missus wants to wait until we get our ecocheques so we can use those to buy a new one so we'll be washing up for a while yet. Where it's not so much the effort but where I think we're using quite a bit more water than a machine does.

Errant Visitor

This little girl squeezed itself through under the gate by the kitchen, had a wee in the grass (is how I know it's a girl) and then investigated the corner of the garden before perking up her ears and running off again round the other side of the house. Strange.

Catkin Confetti

The garden is littered in abundance with catkins from our birches. With a gust of wind they come down in a shower of what looks like miniature brown tickertape. 

Feet must be rigorously wiped or we'll have lots of brown dust inside!

birch - bouleau - berk

Monochrome Sunset

Well almost. The iPhone saw more colour than I did! 

Cottage Industry

Decades ago I made 1/6 scale military maps for use with action figures in that scale, based on originals from my collection and a few from friends. They sold reasonably well at swapmeets. I'm about to put some 1/6 figures and vehicles up for sale online, so I thought I'd also list one of each set. I'd run out of some sets so I sat down to make up the missing ones, folding up little maps from the batch I'd already trimmed to size years ago. Using the box full of examples to remind me how each map is folded again.

 

Rainbow

New Edition

Tiny little saplings are emerging from the earth in a flowerpot.  They're new purple shamrocks, this year's edition.

purple shamrock - oxalis pourpre - klaverzuring

Ferns Unfurling

Newest development in the garden is the ferns coming out. From dry brown cut-down clumps fresh green leaves are unrolling into the sky. It's a marvellous and somewhat prehistoric sight and happily we have plenty of them.

fern - fougère - varen

Pinball

I took my French brother-in-law out for dinner and pinball as a birthday prezzy (he'd discreetly let it be known he'd like that). So after a good meal and very pleasant conversation we got to work on the collection of the Brussels Pinball Museum.
The Terminator 2 machine above is a good one I'm somewhat familiar with as it used to belong to my brother - after moving house he didn't have a suitable spot for it anymore and it kept needing work so he let the museum provide it with suitable lodgings.
Other than that there's plenty of other machines of various ages to try - recommended!

Info here if you want to play too.

It's Back

And showing its back when driving up. Out of hibernation it's up on its trailer again, ready for its mysterious activities. 

Sign of Freshness

This fluffy little feather escaped from a box of bio-certified eggs. And says more than any text on the box!

Green Glow

The fresh tree leaves are sparkling in the sun as well. 

Crimson Glow

The sun is out and our Japanese maple is aglow in its light!

maple - érable - esdoorn

 

Decisions

But by the looks of it a choice was made!