Rosemary theft

Someone has taken a lot of the rosemary from my front garden - not even neatly cutting it, just roughly twisting and pulling it off. Presumably somewhere there is a wreath with a lot of my rosemary in it.

A neighbour did knock on my door once as he wanted some rosemary for a meal he was making for a visiting friend. I was happy to give him permission to take some whenever he needed it for his cooking.

This is the third theft from my garden - a plant was dug up many years ago just before Mother's Day, and a load of leaf mould was taken a few years ago.

I would never grow vegetables in my front garden!

Plane tree bark = wonderful fire-lighters

Because of the dry summer the plane trees dropped most of their bark. I could have filled my sitting room with black bin bags full of the bark. However, I only collected two carrier bags full.

Despite the problems I would have had storing it, I wish I had collected more. It makes such marvellous fire-lighters, whether starting the fire or when I've left the fire too long and it's mainly red ash and needs firing up again.

Christmas already for some people but still so mild!

This week I saw a decorated Christmas tree on a table in a front room in my street. And then on Friday another one on a desk in the offices behind work. And Santas and lights in the window of a house in the High Road. Usually the early birds round here start on the last full weekend of November - so mid-November is early!

I am still getting a small handful of autumn raspberries twice a week. The white Cosmos is in full flower. The rosemary in the front garden is in flower.

Some nights this week, even through in all evening I didn't have any heating.

Building community with ukeleles

At our team away day last week we did the usual team away day things but finished with a fun session when someone came in to teach us to play the ukulele.

We've decided to have ukulele sessions on Tuesday lunchtimes. Four from our team, plus Leslie from another team who has a baritone uke, had a first go on Tuesday.

I got my ukulele from Argos today and hope to get to Hobgoblin tomorrow to get a tuner.

A colleague, normally working near Birmingham, says at his local pub 10 years ago some people who had acquired ukuleles got together to learn how to play them. Sessions twice a month over a few years they got really good. Now twice a year they have a big event at the pub and the place is packed.

I am hoping that once I get to a basic standard (which might take some time!) I can find a local group.

Autumn leaves and wish for a delay before the first frost

The leaves of the Boston ivy usually turn red at the end of August - they are still green. The leaves of the mulberry have dropped.

I scattered some seeds just before the hot water but didn't water them. Some have now germinated. I have several small sunflowers which might flower if he frosts hold off, but they are unlikely to have the time to set seed..

Sunday 12 August

• First rain Tuesday evening, a lot of showers between then and now, and rain most of the day Thursday. Temperature has gone down quite a bit in the house and I am sitting typing this in a jumper.
• Out by torchlight late Thursday evening after snails and saw 5 frogs. They don't seem to jump from being caught in the torch beam just if I approach too near.
• Today I found hidden in the tomato foliage 4 cucumbers. Picked the 3 largest and had the largest of those with tomatoes from the garden and some olives this evening.
• The rain appears to have badly affected insects. Yesterday saw no bees, just 2 cabbage white butterflies. I did see two bees on the lavender outside the garden centre by the Hertford Union canal cycling back from Victoria Park. I also saw one bee in my garden on the verbena this morning.
• Where I sowed sunflower seeds ages ago I now have a 15 cm seedling. If it survives the weather, snails, etc will it flower? The sunflowers in a front garden a few doors down are 2 metres plus tall and in full bloom.

Sunday 5 August

• We had some rain last weekend. Even though it wasn't a lot, still gratefully received!
• I've started getting figs - from the new fig tree that has 2 crops a year. Still nothing from the older fig tree. There are no figs on that one for this year, just masses that will be half grown and will need to be picked off and discarded before winter.
• I have had 3 courgettes recently that almost became marrows!
• First runner beans on Monday, and first French beans yesterday.
• Plenty of tomatoes. They don't taste of tomato but lovely and sweet.
• Have collected two bag-fulls of plane bark. Presumably because of the hot, dry weather, the local plane trees have shed most of their bark. Will use this as kindling.
• Chimney sweep/stove maintenance guy due to come on Thursday, but problem with his clutch. Now coming September.
• Wednesday morning on the way to the bus stop, I passed a car with a snail on the roof! 
• Also found a goldfinch feather on the pavement.
• Yesterday morning bike ride. I picked blackberries for crumble, then cycled back to pick up (using trowels!) two lots of horse shit (there were another 3 lots I could have got if I had had room). (Blackberries on one pannier, horse shit in the other!)
• I cycled through both sections of the Walthamstow wetlands, cycled back through one and then pushed my bike along one of the walkers-only paths which brought me back to the path near the gate I enter by.
• To B&Q yesterday and got verbena and rudbeckia (both had insect friendly signs on) and dahlia (the plant in the pot beside the one I chose had a bee feeding on it). I have flowers dotted round the garden but felt the need to get some more for the insects.