Letting in the light

The weekend went by in a froth of activity. Friday saw the view disappear; although we had only had it briefly during the last week, you don't miss it if you never had it, so perhaps we should have averted our gaze when it was there. Oh well. There is still a bit of the gap and we can always take a 3-minute walk down to the rocks, which is far more beneficial for the soul.

Cooler weather brought renewed enthusiasm for gardening, and Robert was soon up in the trees sawing away at thick branches that have smothered other trees and caused the neighbours to have to use their lights during the day. (As I write this, a bird has taken advantage of the extra light and space to smash beak first into my window, leaving an imprint of beak, one eye, chest and outspread wings - fortunately it survived and has disappeared into the blue yonder.)

While he sawed away, I lopped smaller branches off the hibiscus, bay tree and buddleia, and soon the garden was a heap of off-cuts waiting to be taken off to the dump for shredding and composting. We are now ready to plant for winter and spring in a much lighter, brighter and enticing space!

Next door, the rooster continues to crow at dawn and sometimes before, but I must have got used to it, as I no longer wake up! This is one feisty rooster, possibly because he is a bantam and short of stature. They have a new Labrador puppy and I heard it yelping and whining for some time down near the bottom of the garden. No one seemed to be going to investigate, so off I went and found this poor puppy a little way up a tree and jammed against my fence, trembling. The rooster (half its size) was pecking away at the puppy! I managed to alert the owner of the menagerie who said the rooster was giving her puppy a hard time. Judging by first impressions, that little dog is not going to be much use as security one day. So cute, though.