New Pots, and I'm Locked Out!

Flowers on our purple heart (Tradescantia)

Yesterday was the day to take care of some long-standing issues among our plants. I got myself motivated early in the morning, while it was still relatively cool, and got to work.

First I dug up and discarded our dead tamarisk tree and our ailing broom. This is much easier said than done because the ground is as hard as iron right now, having had no rain to speak of for almost two months. (The BBC says parts of Southeast England have had their driest April on record, with just over a third of the rainfall we'd get in an average year, and May hasn't been any better. Apparently we're not technically in a drought because we had a lot of rain over the winter, but that's not helping the garden plants now!)

Then I grabbed my garden-shop gift card and headed down to Maida Vale on the bus. I went back to Clifton Nurseries and picked up some more supplies: A gigantic pot for our olive tree, two nice big pots for a couple of other plants that needed new homes, and some bags of soil. I also bought a new Brugmansia purely on a whim.

I brought everything home in an Uber and got to work on some heavy-duty repotting. The result is...

...a new home for this previously rootbound prayer plant...

...and for this ficus, which used to be a bunch of dead twigs...

...and for the new Brugmansia, now in the pot that used to hold the prayer plant.

I still have to deal with the olive, and I'm not sure how to go about that. Our passionflower vine, which grew of its own accord from a seed, is living in the same pot and growing up a wall, so it's going to be hard to maneuver the olive tree into a new pot while not damaging the vine. I just couldn't deal with it yesterday because I was already tired and sore after all that other work.

In the middle of all this, who should reappear but Mrs. Russia! You'll recall that she and her husband rented out their apartment above us, and I haven't seen her since last summer. She stopped in to trim the shrubs out on their terrace. We chatted a bit and she asked about Mrs. Kravitz's air conditioner and whether it was noisy. I said I hadn't even noticed it -- I didn't realize the Kravitzes (next door) even have an air conditioner -- but Mrs. Russia is annoyed that it's been installed within earshot of her own terrace. "Maybe we should buy one and point it at them!" she said.

Dueling air conditioners!

Then I got a bit paranoid about her wielding pruning shears, so I told her we'd planted some new bushes in the front garden so she wouldn't mistakenly cut them down. She got a bit snippy (no pun intended) about why we'd planted bushes without her approval, and I said we got our landlord's approval, and it was up to the landlord to keep her informed. And that was pretty much the end of our exchange.

But again, I got worried. We have a lot of beautiful campanula growing around our front steps, along with some pink valerian and some other wildflowers. The Russians have long chafed at my tendency to allow those plants to grow -- they like the steps pressure-washed and tidy as a hospital.

So I went out and made a video of the steps, including the bees loving the campanula. I figured if Mrs. Russia tore it out I'd at least have a record of it. I later added some music because there was a lot of street noise, including conversations from passing pedestrians, distant sirens and my own front door slamming and me exclaiming "Sh*t!" because I didn't have my house keys on me!

Yes, I was indeed locked out. I called Dave and he made plans to send a co-worker to our flat with his keys, but I knocked on the Kravitzes' door and as luck would have it someone was home and I was able to get into their back garden and, using a ladder, boost myself over the garden fence. Our own back door was open so that got me back inside our house. Criminy!

Anyway, Mrs. Russia did not trim anything in the front or weed the steps, so those worries were unfounded, at least in the immediate moment. But I'm sure she went back to wherever she's living now grousing that we're allowing the place to go to pot, not to mention fuming over Mrs. Kravitz's air conditioner. I try to be friendly with her but I hope she doesn't move back here.

Bee Scrutiny and Garden Losses

It can be surprisingly hard to get a decent photo of a bee. You'd think it would be the easiest thing in the world -- bees don't move very quickly. But they also hunch over on themselves, and their black eyes blend in with their black fur, and what you often wind up with is a dark furry blob with no distinguishing features. So I was happy with these shots, with the bee's face visible.

The bees do love that wallflower, which we've had for several years now. A co-worker gave it to me as a seedling. It seems to be losing some of its vigor so I suspect we'll have to replace it before too long. Wallflowers don't live forever.

We seem to have lost a couple of other garden plants as well. Tammy the tamarisk tree, where the goldfinches loved to perch and nibble on the buds, has apparently died. There's no green growth visible at all -- just dry brown sticks.

Likewise, our orange broom (top photo here) seems to be mostly dead. It has no flowers or leaves, and several dry brown stems. There are a few areas that are still green, but I'm thinking it's toast.

I'm not broken up about either of these losses. I'll remove the plants in the next week or so and maybe we'll put something new in there. (Though maybe not something large -- I've always thought Tammy was in a bad location, in the middle of the roses.) Fortunately I still have about £100 on the garden shop gift card my co-workers gave me for my retirement. Maybe I'll run that errand today.

Yesterday proved to be warmer than expected -- we topped out at about 87º F (or 30º C) but it felt much more tolerable than the days before.

Still Hot, But Not Humid

The magenta spreen lambsquart is back! It returned all on its own, two of them, growing in one of our planters. Not really a surprise since it's an amaranth, which is known as a tenacious weed. But I like it.

We were back up to 92º F (about 33º C) yesterday, similar to the day before. Somehow it didn't feel quite as oppressive, though. Maybe I just got used to the heat. Still, it was the UK's highest-ever May temperature for the second day in a row, and I'm relieved that today we're only getting up to 79º F (or 26º C).

Yesterday's comments about air conditioning were interesting. I think one's comfort with a/c all depends on what you're used to, don't you? In my home state of Florida, where it's not only hot but incredibly humid, a/c is a blessed relief. Walking into an air-conditioned space on a hot summer day is like a religious experience. I don't know how my ancestors ever lived there without it. (And yet they did!) At least here in England the humidity is nothing like that. I checked yesterday and it was somewhere around 32 percent, which is half what it was yesterday in Tampa -- and it can go much higher there.

Anyway, I couldn't get motivated to get on the tube and deal with the urban crush in that kind of heat, so I just stayed home. I sat out on the garden bench in the afternoon and had more watermelon, and read "The Hunting Party," which I've almost finished. It's an entertaining book but I don't think I've ever met a more distasteful cast of characters in my life. I'm kind of hoping they all get murdered.

At one point I looked up at Totoro, hanging in the tree overhead, and admired the green bead that now functions as his bell clapper. I found that bead in the cemetery more than six years ago and wired it to Totoro to replace one that was lost. It has worked out pretty well. Poor Totoro has had quite a dramatic life in our garden.

I also spent part of yesterday arranging for someone to repair Dave's recliner. The other day he pulled the lever on the side of the chair to get it to recline, and the handle broke. This is a crisis. Dave is now unable to recline the chair, which is possibly his favorite place in the entire world. So I communicated with a repair guy and sent him pictures and he said he could do it, but he has yet to schedule his visit. Hopefully it can happen soon.

In the late afternoon, I took a walk. I felt the need for some exercise so I walked up to and around the cemetery and back down through the neighborhood on the other side of the high street. I was proud of myself for getting out and about.

Dave had a concert last night so I was on my own for dinner. I had some leftover chicken, made a martini and watched an "Absolutely Fabulous" movie, "The Last Shout," which I have already seen approximately 600 times. It was a good conclusion to an extremely warm day.

Hot

Dear God, it is hot. Just a week or so ago I needed a blanket on the couch and we were running the heat for an hour in the mornings. Now, after just a few days of a happy medium, I can't stay cool. As I understand it, cooler temperatures will return, but yesterday when I checked in the afternoon it was about 92º F (or 33º C). I realize that's pretty typical for some of you in summer, but for May in the UK it's unheard of. Remember that no one in this country (including us) has air conditioning!

So I stayed pretty quiet yesterday, mostly reading "The Hunting Party," taking pictures in the garden and watering our poor parched plants. I walked down to the high street in the late morning to get some watermelon -- it seemed like a perfect day for a summery treat. Dave and I sat out on the garden bench and ate it in the afternoon.

Like everyone, we have a drawer in the kitchen that's full of random utensils like a garlic press, a pie server, a can opener, peelers and slicers and that kind of thing. You know, that drawer. Well, the other day Dave pulled it open and part of it broke -- the front panel disconnected from the drawer itself on one side. Our cabinets are very old and this drawer has always been jankety, so this wasn't exactly a surprise.

I took it out onto the patio along with the super glue and managed to repair it. Now that I write it down, it seems like a small, insignificant thing, but at the time I felt pretty darn capable. I slid it back into the cabinetry and put only the most frequently used utensils inside so it wouldn't be as heavy. We stuck the others in the pantry. We probably could get rid of them and never notice, but you know the minute we give away the melon baller Dave will need it.

I'm trying to think of some place to go today that will be cooler. The Tate, maybe. I'm not thrilled about using the tube to get there, but at least I would be comfortable while I'm indoors.

(Top photo: Fallen maple seeds on our "stinking iris.")

Garden Hunters

This is our "Bowl of Beauty" peony, which is giving us lots of flowers this year. We got just one or two last year, and nothing the year before, so we're happy with this haul. I guess it needed a rest. The ants seem to like the peonies, partly because there are always aphids on the buds.

I stayed busy yesterday but not really on anything blog-worthy. I washed a rug and the sofa throw, because we're in a period of ideal drying weather and I need to take advantage of it! There's also been a lot of plant-watering going on. I was just out there this morning before sitting down to blog, in fact. It was 87º F when I looked about 4 p.m. yesterday, and it's supposed to be even warmer today and tomorrow -- into the 90s F. (That's 32º C.)

The good news is, my flower seedlings are growing at last. They appreciate the warmth.

I finally started a book, having worked my way through all but four of my back issues of The New Yorker. It's a mystery called "The Hunting Party" by Lucy Foley, and it's good so far -- about a bunch of privileged city dwellers who descend on a remote lodge in Scotland, get snowed in, and then encounter a murder. I picked it up a couple of months ago from the Little Free Library at work.

Here's a curious find in my slide collection. This slide is unlike any of the others because it's glass, completely square and black-and-white in its original form. It looks like it was probably made for the military or some aerospace corporation. I'm not sure what this guy is doing -- measuring something coming out of those jet engines, apparently. Is that a Geiger counter? I love how he has no protection at all, not even earplugs or goggles, but he has a white coat so we know he's a professional.

Google AI is ridiculously, and perhaps erroneously, specific in its analysis: "This photograph captures a technician from the Atomic Energy Research Establishment checking for strontium during the 1960s. The scene likely documents research into nuclear safety or the effects of radioactive fallout on aircraft. The equipment pictured is a specialized portable radiation detector used for monitoring. Images similar to this highlight early nuclear research and experimentation in the mid-20th century."

OK, then.

I downloaded the week's footage from the Garden Cam. We see the foxes carrying around their mysterious dog treats -- I still have no idea who's giving them those. We also see the return of the rat, a fox that has captured a mouse, and something mysterious involving a bird.

-- We start with a fox trotting up and dropping a dog treat. These treats are blocky marrow-bone shaped things that I occasionally find buried in the garden. I think Crooked Tail brings the treat, but then Q-Tip comes sniffing around afterwards.
-- At 1:10, we have a very bouncy little bird.
-- At 1:16, Pale Cat makes an appearance.
-- At 1:29, a fox comes by and stops for a scratch.
-- At 1:47, I drop a piece of pork chop for the foxes. I know I said I'd stop doing this, but we hadn't seen any evidence of the rat for more than a week so I thought it might be safe.
-- And indeed, at 1:56 (a few hours later) Sharpie comes and eats it, thank goodness.
-- At 3:05, a fox checks out the camera. You can hear it sniffing.
-- At 3:29, a fox is back with another dog treat. Where are they coming from?!
-- At 3:58, two pigeons battle it out.
-- At 4:16, check out the squirrel in the background. What is up with that tail? At first I thought it was a monkey!
-- At 4:46, the rat is back! Ugh!
-- At 5:38, Pale Cat jumps out of the bushes and runs off. I saw this happen in real time, when I came out the back door and startled him or her.
-- At 5:42, a fox runs past with something in its mouth. I give us a slo-mo instant replay and freeze frame, but it's still hard to see. I think it's a mouse. Good!
-- At 5:52, we get a glimpse of Tabby.
-- At 5:59, one of the foxes is looking intently at the ground, evidently hunting. Good!
-- At 6:16, another vigorous scratch and some inelegant grooming.
-- At 6:31, we see a little robin next to another bird quivering on the ground. I can't tell what that bird is doing. Is it injured or ill, or has it captured some prey? It doesn't look big enough to be a raptor, and if it were a predator I doubt the robin would be so close to it. I give us a close-up, and a few minutes later it's gone.
-- At 6:54, a magpie.
-- At 7:12, a few final fox encounters.

Jinkx as Judy

Whew! I was out and about almost all day yesterday, because I had theatre tickets in the afternoon. I came across this sculpture near Liverpool Street on the way to the theatre. (More about that in a moment.) It reminds me of the Atomium in Brussels, though obviously not as large.

The day began quietly enough. I watered all the plants and finally did some maintenance on our big yucca.

You may remember this yucca used to have two stalks, and both were scraping the ceiling. Dave and I have been debating what to do with it. I considered planting it outside, but I don't think it would survive a cold winter. We moved it onto the patio several weeks ago, and the top got pretty badly sunburned because it wasn't used to being outdoors. So yesterday I cut off one stalk and cut the other shorter, but left some leaves so the plant could continue to photosynthesize. The cut stalk should grow new sprouts, and when that happens I'll cut down the other tall one too.

Anybody want yucca cuttings? I have a ton of them.

My theatre ticket was for 2:30 p.m., so just after lunch I left the house and headed to Walthamstow, in northeast London. Getting there involved taking public transport in a sort of V shape on the map, going southeast into Westminster and then back out again, if you can imagine that. Unfortunately, I discovered midway there that part of the tube was shut down for an emergency and I had to devise an alternate route, which made me a little late -- but I was meeting some friends so they arranged for me to pick up my ticket at the window and all was well. I only missed the first ten or fifteen minutes of the show, and I was hardly the only one, given the transit snafu.

I was seeing Jinkx Monsoon as Judy Garland in a play called "End of the Rainbow." Monsoon became famous more than ten years ago on "RuPaul's Drag Race," which I have never watched. Many of the audience members were young people obviously there to see Jinkx and familiar with her Drag Race persona -- I wondered how much they knew or even cared about Judy Garland. But it was a good play, if a bit strenuous, and Jinkx did well singing Garland's famous songs and portraying her struggle with disastrous addictions. It's great that she's helping to bring Garland's legacy to a younger generation.

It struck me that if the audience members were 25 or so, as many appeared to be, their seeing this play would be like me seeing one about Mary Pickford or Jean Harlow -- actresses so far back in the foggy past that I can only barely picture their faces. Then again, everyone sees "The Wizard of Oz," so that gives Garland a sort of evergreen fame.

Afterwards my friends and I decamped to this terrific pub in Walthamstow. It had a huge outdoor seating area both in front and in back, so we could enjoy the summery weather while we had some food and a couple of pints.

The window grill in the men's room made clear which loo I was in. Yes, the women's room said "Girls girls girls."

Afterwards, as I walked back to the tube, I passed this building, known as the "Ancient House." It turns out that it may indeed be the oldest house in London, built in 1435 or thereabouts, during the reign of King Henry VI. Inside it has been remodeled and looks quite comfortable.

Fortunately, by this time, the tube was running normally and getting home was much easier!

Rambling Roses

Our rambling roses are starting to come out. They're a little later than the tea roses, and unlike the teas they get pruned in summer after they stop blooming. They then produce new growth and that's where next year's flowers appear.

If you'd told me 15 years ago that I'd know anything about the pruning cycles of roses, I'd have laughed hysterically. We just never know where life will take us, do we?

Here's a blossom from another rambler -- a white variety.

Yesterday's weather was ideal. Warm temperatures, sunshine, pretty much the perfect day. I sat out on the garden bench with the intention of reading, but all I could do was gaze around at the garden. I just couldn't get enough of it. As we get older we become aware that such days are precious, don't you think?

I washed the tablecloths, which had lately been where I sorted all my slides. God only knows what pestilence they contained. I built the tablecloth monolith again and they dried in short order on such a beautiful day.

I also deadheaded the roses and did some watering. The weather was ideal for me, but it's still a bit dry for the plants.

In the afternoon I took a walk over to Kilburn and up the high street, listening to a podcast as I went. The barricades above surround the spot where the "zeal your zest" cafe used to be. Apparently they've torn it out and who knows what's going in its place.

I'm glad to see some Republicans pushing back on Trump and his plan for the slush fund to compensate the Jan. 6 insurrectionists. I certainly don't want any of my tax money going to those people. (I live in the UK, but also still pay taxes in the USA -- one of the joys of American citizenship.) I suppose Trump is now more vulnerable since many of his MAGA acolytes are questioning his decisions in Iran. Let's hope this translates into votes for Democrats, or at least resistant Republicans (outside the Trump strongholds of Kentucky and Louisiana).

Last evening, as we watched TV, Dave and I saw a tiny little fledgling wren flitting around on the patio. Well, "flitting" is an overstatement. Flying clumsily, more like. But it could indeed fly, at least, and it made a surprisingly loud peeping sound. I love seeing new birds out and about. Nature renewing itself!