bunn

Saturday was Pp's birthday.  I had promised to make a cake and a meal, which I did, with some success in the most important department (taste) but less success in the visuals.  I intended to make a chocolate tower-cake, but my tower proved structurally unsound, and even the addition of a bamboo skewer did not entirely prevent listing and eventual crackage. 

We watched the Coronation (well, I went out and walked the hounds for part of it, but I got back in time to see the Drumming From a Horse, which was my personal highlight of the event.  That and the mounties, who against stiff competition, I think had the best horses. ) 

The forecast was for rain, but in fact the sun smiled all afternoon.  I mowed a lawn. I had intended to try for No Mow May, again (in which you don't mow till the start of June to allow time for the lawn to flower) but I think the wetter spring and dog pee combination had resulted in grass that was too lush to favor wildflowers.  So I've mowed all but the spots where I have camomile and yarrow growing, and I have done my best to mow around those.  I think I'll have to try to mow once in March next year, that might knock the grass back for long enough to let the wildflowers do their thing. 

I have a bunch of plants in pots that I really must plant out soon.  Still, a few more days won't hurt them. 

The local street party was a fairly laid-back beach party on Sunday (due to the forecast for Saturday being dismal) so we dropped by that briefly to admire the fire and chat with a few people. After that, we went out on the river in the boat, and journeyed upstream on the tide many miles, to the very fringes of Haverfordwest.  There was a fraught moment when we had to change the petrol tank and  couldn't work out why the engine wouldn't re-start afterwards, but it was resolved happily.  We do have an emergency paddle, but it would have been a long paddle home.



I've been oddly exhausted since Sunday and keep finding myself forced to stop and nap: unfortunate, since today I was dealing with a wrangle with the Oldies Club email that involved a teleconference with Google, and the Shop on the Borderlands had 28 orders to pack today, including a huge one to Australia. Still, we got it done, despite the minor niggle that the Royal Mail parcel-picking-up service is terribly glitchy and you never know when you'll have to just haul everything off to the sorting office. At least the sorting office has given us permission to ignore the 'no parking' signs when we come in with a car-load of post to send. We are allowed to park in one of the official van slots, as long as the vans are out delivering at the time. 

I am resisting the impulse to Kindle George RR Martin's Dance with Dragons at present, but if people continue this frenzied level of excitement over it then I may be forced to do so.

I note that Amazon UK seems to be taking its time sending out the print copies, and wonder if this is a marketing initiative for Kindle...

If I do Kindle it, then it will be the third book that I've found that I actually want to read that is available on Kindle, since I was given the thing several months ago.  I am still hoping that I will warm to it more, but at the moment, an awful lot of the things that cause me to go BOOK!!!! WANT WANT WANT! like a sort of pathetic book-Gollum, simply aren't available in that medium.  

Also, I find I kind of like being able to flip through actual pages. But perhaps my Kindle flipping skills will improve with use.