The moth hunt was both a dismal failure and a storming success

[helenraven]

I had planned to do the hunt on Sunday, but then a miracle occurred at 4.30 on Friday afternoon and I found a delivery slot available from Waitrose. The slot was for Sunday morning and I knew I didn't want any interruptions to the moth hunt, so I shifted it to Saturday.

I started on the schlepping at 7.30 on Saturday, wearing my hiking boots (for

Comments

[slb44]

As a knitter, no moths is very good. As are new cards for your moth traps. There's a reason I don't put the outdoor lights on during the summer/fall, thousands and thousands of moths hang out around any light source in this neighbourhood and my yarns are too precious to risk. ;-)

We had a nasty cold snap last night, I fear for the peonies which were about six inches above ground level. They've got burnt/damaged by freezes the last four years due to their too early rise from the soil. Much to my astonishment the lilies are even taller then the peonies, which is totally ridiculous, they should not be showing their heads this early no matter what the weather. And they're predicting a full two weeks of below normal temps for both highs and lows, which means no setting up the deck chairs and reading outside for a while. So I'll do it vicariously when you sit out later this week.

[helenraven]

There's a chill in the wind here, too, so the balcony isn't terribly appealing either, but it's nothing to threaten the flowers, fortunately. At the end of my walk this morning I found the park gates open , which is very unusual for that time of the morning, so I got to visit the park for the first itme in weeks and found they've been doing excellent work with the flower beds, with a couple absolutely full of peonies. I do hope yours cope - they're my favourite flower. The bluebells were out, too. No ducklings on the pond that I could see, but I did see some earlier in the walk, in one of the former docks, with a nesting swan on the far side of the dock.

[slb44]

We've gone beyond a chill here. Daily windchill temperatures have been below zero daily. Spike refused to go outside two days in a row, even with the bright sunshine late in the day. We're all shocked. *g*

So far the peonies seem untouched. Now that I know they're your favs I'll get the red head to take some pics when they bloom and send them your way. The bluebells are barely poking their heads above ground. I'm not surprised because the soil is still damn cold.

The robins are nesting, I'm sure the other birds are too but they're much more subtle about it.

[helenraven]

I would love to see some pictures of the peonies in bloom! What a great idea. And maybe some fledgling robins, too, if they'll stay still long enough?

[crazycrone]

I envy your liberation, but I find it really difficult to just throw any book(s) in the rubbish. Same with useless old clothes and stuff, I always try to take them to the chrity dhop, where they can be recycled, if no good for sales. At this point, though , I'm getting really itchy to throw stuff out. Who knows how long this will last?

[helenraven]

I used to be like that about throwing things out and had a "waiting to go to the charity shop" zone in the flat. However, after I did my Marie Kondo clearout and had umpteen DVDs to get rid off, I asked in the charity shop if they were taking DVDs, and they said they weren't and I would have to contact their Catford office to find out if any shop in the organisation wanted DVDs. I took the number for the Catford office, but then a day later decided instead to take the hint that the chance was vanishingly small that anyone else would want the stuff I was throwing out, and I put DVDs, books and everything else down the chute.

It's possible that things have changed at charity shops since the height of the Marie Kondo clearout craze. I'll check, post-lockdown, and before my next clear-out.