Tree felling, the river garden and models
Spring has officially arrived after another bout of tree felling winds. This time, none of ours were lost, however, those on the adjacent river bank came our way taking out garden lighting cables, handrail, path edging and some plants. The owner of the field behind was quite prompt in tidying up some of his windfall after Dave came to the rescue with his trusty chainsaw to chunk up even more wood for next winter. Bonus for me was getting some chainsaw training on safety and protocol. With the additional outlay to remove a hollow trunked tree on our side of the river and the top of an ash, the area near the house is looking a lot safer from future wind damage. We plan on building a substantial log pile towards the front garden corner by the road, as there are currently 6 log piles scattered around the garden, three of which were “temporary” locations from last August.
The river garden is starting to take shape as I finished constructing the path edging and a set of steps. Dave, his nephew Will and I backfilled with a couple of tons of “Pantgwyn” pebbles to match the existing steps. While kitted out in full climbing harness, a small mattock on a string attached to my belt, plant trays tethered to the bank top, I gracefully abseiled sideways across the bank, planting as I went and imitated a pendulum at one point, running sideways to avoid going apex over elbow. I planted 15 Heathers, a bucket of Monbretia bulbs, 10 clumps of Primulas and a few clumps of Anemones. I’ll venture into the woods to gather some ferns to transplant onto the flat area, along with overwintered willow cuttings, hydrangeas and Japanese Laural plants to start bulking out the area. At this time of the year, I garden with the ever present stench of wild garlic which has erupted as the river garden has been left untouched for well over 10 years. I think it’s going to take a few years to establish and hope to see the fruits of my effort. The day the path was complete, June and I sat on the bench by the river; a perfect little hideaway for a glass of fizz and a good book.
For Christmas, June bought me a couple of models, a Meccano Concord and a Lego Millennium Falcon. The latter having 921 pieces and is rated 18+! I decided to start with the lower component count Concord. It’s been over half a century since I’ve built anything like this, which showed by a slight lack of dexterity when trying to place nuts and bolts in small spaces. However with age, there’s knowledge, so out with assorted tweezers and pliers. Overall, pleased with the outcome of a few days taking me away from the wet outdoors, but I feel there should have been a few more pieces to reduce the nose droop.
The last time I dabbled with Lego was when Emma was a little and I seem to recall some of the bits were originally mine. An old friend of mine, Richard, built quite a number of these kits in his later years and they always looked impressive. The assembly handbook is more comprehensive than any I’ve read for electronics projects. Each bag of bits is accompanied by a precise set of illustrations. There is so much detail that’s hidden by layers of construction, but it all adds to the stability and rigidity of the construction. I took my time over a week and thoroughly enjoyed the relaxation it offered.
