P.O.N.D.

Popeye, Oi've Now Dunnit!
(Initials)

Some times one has to ignore the instructions of a loved one.

We returned yesterday from a couple of nights in Selkirk, Scotland where we had explored the delights of Traquair and Abbotsford, and sat in the rain at Smailholm Tower.
After unloading the car I went out through the kitchen doors to look at the pond. Pond, what pond?

True there was a puddle at the left hand end but the rest was liner and all the plants were high and dry.
No longer could I be content to wait a month for Gary to return from Canada - I had a Popeye moment - 'I can stands so much, I can stands no more!' Tin of spinach out, one squeeze and down the hatch. Off to the shed for spade, fork and hoe then down the path to the Wendy House and around the back of the pond.
I dug towards the pond from the ditch by the hedge, uncovered the top of the liner and carefully scraped away underneath with the hoe, blade down so as to not damage the liner.
Suddenly water was flowing through my Bosphorus into my Black Sea, a veritable gush. Gradually the level of the liner fell - panic - I realised that as I drained the water from under the liner I needed to fill up the pond on top.
Off to the settling pond, block the outflow, remove the cover I had placed over the pipe leading to the pond and wait. The level rose and then water was running in over the butyl sheet that was the pond.

It is only temporary but Oh! how good it was to see pond not liner this morning.
As Popeye would say, 'Toot, toot!'

However, all that tooted, yesterday was the first lovely sunny day for a while and here is the garden in the late afternoon.

Surprises came as I looked around - this is an oriental poppy having a second fling.

However not everything was a delight - the rhubarb is well over and needs tidying for winter as does the asparagus.

And plants have arrived and need putting in somewhere - a host of hydrangeas and some grasses, bulbs by the bagful.

So, what am I going to do - go to town for a coffee with friends after I have finished reading The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair by Joel Dicker. (The o in Joel has two little dots on top but I cannot find how to do that in Blogger.)

So, I have set myself a task of some time every day in the garden (weather permitting) to try and catch up. Mind you gardening is a continuous process of catch up.

So I shall do an uptake of loin-girding and despatch myself to the Farmers Arms for a coffee.

So October ends for 2014.