Welcome Pickle

This is Pickle:



She spends most of her time asleep...

An Apology

I need to make an apology.

Neither to a person...

Nor to an animal...

I need to apologise to my workshop!



I am not ignoring you, I still love you. It's just that other things have been more important than you of late. I have been out of the country for three weeks out of five and lost five weekends in the process.

OK, the daylight hours in which we can enjoy each other's company are reduced but things have changed. I'll be around more over the coming weeks and I promise to come and say hello.

So, which project to embark upon? I think I should get cracking on some Christmas presents. My birch and cherry logs may be a little past their best but I think I'll still be able to get some good wood from them. I also think there is a future in the unusual furniture business, so will need to plunder some more hazel poles...

End of the season

Congratulations to Jenson Button and the Brawn GP team.

I'm sure not many people put money on them winning a race this season, let alone both championships. There promises to be plenty of driver movement between now and the first race of 2010 in March but there is one departure I am hoping for above anything else - the departure of Jonathan "Push On, Power On, Motor On, Drive On" Legard from the BBC commentary team. He is simply awful. Repeating himself incessantly. Repeating Martin Brundle's well made technical points making the commentary team sound like a badly rehearsed review of a school cross country race. Hopefully the BBC has received sufficient complaints about his ineptitude that the hostility between Legard and Brundle, that was so obvious by the latter's refusal to answer questions posed by the former, is a sign of the departure of the moron from both television and radio once and for all.

Who to replace Jonathan Legard? Me?

Don't want to be rude but...

...has anyone ever seen Natalie Cassidy in the same room as Omid Djalili?
(these are not my images, by the way)

...and then it was gone!

Nothing to report from October, I'm sorry to say.

All and only work.

Hoping November has more to offer.

Happy Halloween...

As if by magic...

...it's October.

September was fun but I'm glad it is over. Several things to look forward to in October though. Looking forward to catching up with some old friends and being able to develop my skills. Shame that it means I will have to take a few weeks away from the workshop but it is all for the greater good.

Ciao...

Holy land or danger zone?

Evening, how are you?

I'm doing well. It's one of those quiet posting months, however. This time, like most previous times, I am blaming work for my absence. I returned from a week in Israel on Friday and am shattered. The week was tough physically and mentally. Not only was I visiting a minimum of 2 clients a day (resulting in me giving ~22 presentations), I was surviving on significantly reduced sleep. By now you may have gathered that I travel quite frequently. Usually for business, sometimes for fun. My travels can usually be divided into two categories; long haul, usually to America and short haul, usually to Germany, France, Sweden, or somewhere similar. Israel rather breaks the mould though. It is a 5 hour flight which results in the loss of an entire day as opposed to just a morning, but it is only 2 hours ahead of the UK. This results in a body clock that is not completely confused as with travels to the US, just out of synch by a little bit.

I had a great time in Israel. I had my concerns prior to the trip but, as usual, the anticipation far outweighed the reality. Most of my meetings and presentations went very well and I got to see a huge amount of the country. We had to venture north of Haifa to get to one client, which meant we were a mere 45 minutes from the Lebanese border. In itself not a very scary thing but my typically bravado Israeli colleague made sure I felt uneasy even when, in actuality, I was perfectly safe. He pointed out exactly where the Lebanese missiles landed and where they were aimed, during the last "difficult times". I was looking forward to returning to my Tel Aviv hotel until he informed me that the latest Lebanese missiles can reach Tel Aviv without a problem. It is a different world!

Israeli food is amazing. I ate very well all week and look forward to taking some inspiration in my daily cooking. The freshest vegetables, perfect balance of fragrant and hot spices, fresh seafood, grilled meat, amazing bread and lemon everywhere. Alas Mrs P and lemons don't get on very well, but the citrus tang is usually from the juice squeezed over the finished dish so it should be relatively simple for me to enhance my dinner without upsetting the marital bliss. If you are ever in that neck of the woods I would highly recommend eating at Mantaray on the south Tel Aviv seafront and Big Itzik in a crazy back street of Jaffa.

So, moral dilemma of indirectly contributing to the death of innocent people aside, trip to Israel was a good one.

RIP Keith Floyd

When I was younger, I aspired to be the next Keith Floyd. I took a great deal of inspiration from him and thank him for the passion he helped to instil in me.

RIP Keith Floyd, you were an inspiration to many.

Happy Fridays

My most recent happy Friday was spent being a servant.

Last Friday Mrs P was lucky enough to attend a course at Perch Hill Farm, the beautiful location at which Sarah Raven teaches people a variety of wonderful skills. After an early rise for a day off work, we set on our way towards the south coast.

While Mrs P was learning the skills that are going to help turn our garden into the flowery oasis it wants to be, I spent the day working with head gardener at The Cutting Garden, Beata Burke. I learnt a few things from the chores I performed but infinitely more from chatting to Beata. There's nothing better than learning from the expert!

If you happen to visit Sarah Raven's establishment at Perch Hill Farm and see the particularly resplendent wallflowers or taste the fresh mizuna, spare me a thought as it is just possible that I am partly responsible...

Bienvenue...

... a Septembre.

You know by now that I tend to start my posting months slowly. Old dogs....

The ninth month of 2009 has been pretty good thus far. Managed a trip down to Wiltshire to see Grandpa Cyril. Was great to see him again. Despite the slightly drizzly weather, we visited Stourhead for the first time. It is a delightful place to visit and the walk certainly did us all some good.




Got a little time away from work to indulge myself in hobbies, business ideas, chores and all things therapeutic.

Will post some pics of my progress...

Adieu

So long little buddy.



Thanks for all the memories..

You want to know something about me?

Do you want to know something about me? OK, here is a picture of a De Havilland Chipmunk - the first, and thus far only, plane I have piloted:


Picture courtesy of Oxford University Air Squadron at www.oxforduas.co.uk

Now your turn...

Fortes fortuna adiuvat

It is true!

15th September 2009 Edit:
OK, perhaps I should qualify what I mean. It has been known for me to take the path of least resistance at times. It is not through laziness, rather through a combination of impatience with the tasks with which I am currently engrossed and desire to attain my goals in life quicker than "the little steps" can get me there. Regardless, I am finding it very useful to continually remind myself that fortune does indeed favour the bold!

What makes a weekend?

Friends, both old and new.

Food, both cooked and raw.

Cricket, both in person and on the radio.

Lord Broad

On to more important matters.

Today Stuart Broad produced the most memorable display with the ball that I can remember. OK, Fred at Lord's was impressive, but today was history. At 23 Broad is still a young guy, but today he demonstrated maturity beyond his years. Allowed to bowl his natural game, he was beyond match for the Australian batsmen.

If Paul Collingwood gets an MBE for two innings of 7 and 10 at The Oval in 2005, Stuart Broad deserves... a CBE?

There is still a long way to go so let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Last word on the subject...

Actually, I decided not to delete my comments. Having rested on my words for 24 hours I find the issue more disgusting, offensive and reprehensible.

He is a convicted murder! Of 270 people!!

Megrahi, Gaddafi and those who released the killer - may you all suffer the same slow, painful demise. You deserve it!

The News

Been an eventful couple of days. Firstly to football matters...

I was never a fan of Neil Warnock's before he was appointed to the helm of Crystal Palace by Simon Jordan, but I've warmed to him. His outspoken nature stems from passion for the game and that is admirable. You may have witnessed the gross injustice that was Palace's visit to Bristol City at the weekend. Simply atrocious that a professional referee and his assistant should disallow a goal that hit the back of the net. Rob Shoebridge should never work in football again. A harsh punishment for a solitary error you may think but he has proven he is incapable of performing his job and any other professional body would not hesitate in dismissing someone for such gross incompetence.

Then to cricket...

Today was an interesting day at The Oval. England underperformed with the bat again, but 303-8 is not terrible so the game is still alive. I was also very impressed by the score at Taunton. Sure it is traditionally an easy batting pitch but Murray Goodwin's 344 was a mighty impressive knock.

Finally a touch of controversy...

I want to keep certain subjects off this forum. Indeed politics is one of those subjects, but there are some things that rile me so much... I accept that cancer is a terrible disease and anyone suffering from it is undergoing a pain I hope I never experience. When, however, did cancer become admonishment for the murder of 270 innocent people?

I'll probably delete that last bit soon, although being associated with that decision makes me ashamed to be British.

The Latest Attack

Did you know that squirrels eat Swiss chard?

Neither did I.

Until last week.

Little swines.

Am growing some more to compensate for my losses... well, better than claiming on insurance. Swiss chard grows well in the shorter months so I should be OK getting a yield despite it being late in the year. Not just a UK thing tough, seems to happen across the pond too.

Famous Bodger

You may have heard of Antony Gormley's latest exhibit on the 4th plinth in Trafalgar Square. It is very contemporary art and not really to my taste as I feel it caters rather too much to the "Big Brother Generation" of public exhibitionism. However, I was pleased to hear that my mate Robin was accepted as one of the plinth-toppers to restore an element of natural style to proceedings. Seems he had a good time atop the stone early on Sunday morning. Here's his post on the experience. Well done Robin! I've not yet viewed the whole hour but look fwd to Jed's first appearance, albeit only audio, on the interweb.

Here and there

Hello again.

Some months I post lots, some months I post little. I don't know why. It isn't directly related to my activity levels. Maybe it is weather dependent!? Regardless, we approach the back end of August and therefore autumn is nigh.

So what's been going on?

Well, we've seen friends, seen families, tidied the house, harvested veg, got mortgage quotes, dined out at a fine French restaurant... done quite a lot and yet I feel strangely unfulfilled. Looking fwd to the final test of the Ashes of course. Glad the football season has started too. Possibly a little reserved about the magnitude of upcoming work travel - visiting clients in Stockholm and six Israeli cities, followed by at least a week in California and Colorado. All nice places. Well mostly nice places. And all enjoyable travels. But lots of time away from home.

So what am I going to do about it?

Well, be realistic is a good start. Mapping out the hurdles into small, manageable steps is the usual good place to start. Enriching the weekend time might stop it flying by so quickly too. Could be several changes in the Plutus household soon so I guess that is something to look forward to as well!

Ramprakash set for the fifth test...

No, this isn't a world exclusive, it is my attempt to come to terms with events since Friday.

I tend to get too emotionally involved in events outside of my control but I enjoy it. So I do it! The are many excuses for the dire Friday morning performance with which the twelfth man could present Messrs Bowden, Rauf and (possibly) Ponting scrawled on a piece of paper during a drinks break in England's first innings. None of them, however, are acceptable. Eleven professional athletes with team a psychologist should not let themselves get into the mire we witnessed. To our disappointment, they did! Only infrequently do I let myself indulge in the notion that people are controlling our destiny but, in this case, it is possible that subversive means have engineered what could be the pinnacle of our sporting summer. 1-1, one to play, England must win, Australia have the "momentum". There is talk of what must change in the England dressing room. Having ruminated and cogitated the issue to quite some extent these 24 hours, I have to think that very little should change. OK, Steve Harmison and Ian Bell seem to have the diametrically opposed effect on the dressing room to the presence of Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen and I think the former should be replaced by Ryan Sidebottom. Other than that, I am loathe to change too many players - after all, they are the guys who got England to 1-1 with one to play! Let me know whether you agree:

Strauss - Has to stay
Cook - Never been convinced by him but no alternative, especially considering the ECB's invetment in him
Bopara - Under huge pressure but he has class. OK, he's been nervous, unlucky and sometimes dreadful this series but if you drop him now, you destroy his career. Give him the chance to prove himself, it may be just the motivation he needs
Bell - As a Surrey fan, I love the idea of Mark Ramprakash inspiring England to an Ashes win but think it would be a decision made out of panic. Latest news implies Flintoff will be fit. Bring him in for Bell!
Collingwood - He may have under-performed but he is an experienced pro who is still excellent in the field. He stays!
Prior - Stays without doubt, except his back
Broad - I was having doubts about him prior to the 4th test but his performance (albeit with the bat once pressure was gone on Sunday) illustrates the positive influence of a vote of confidence
Swann - There is need for one spinner at the Oval and his batting is very useful
Anderson - Assuming he is fit, he stays
Harmison - No, no and no. I would love Steve Harmison to be a game changer but his head is all wrong. Needs to be replaced, Sidebottom is the man
Onions - I guess Liam Plunkett would be the only alternative but why? Onions stays

Yep, I know that replacing Bell with Flintoff seems like a bold move. I would move Collingwood up the order to 4th and slot Fred in at 5th. Prior, Broad, Swann, Sidebottom and (to an extent) Anderson can all add useful runs so I have confidence in my selection.

Over to you Messrs Miller, Flower and Strauss. Make the right decision...

Last NYC Post

OK, last New York post.

A group of pics from some of our travels:



Some details:
- view of St Patrick's Cathedral and the Rockerfeller Center from our room in the New York Palace Hotel
- Lion outside New York City Library
- Empire State Building
- Brooklyn Bridge
- Manhattan Skyline
- Central Park from above
- Villard House
- Rockerfeller Center in a storm

So that's it. New York is a distant, yet wonderful, memory...

NYC - a little more

So you have probably gathered by now that I enjoyed my first time in New York. Don't want to bore you too much with details but I was just looking at a few photos. We got the Staten Island Ferry from Manhattan to Staten Island and took the majority advice to get straight back on the same boat to Manhattan. The view of the skyline was great, despite the grotty weather:



It wasn't until we got off the ferry and walked up to the former World Trade Center site that I put one and one together. Tonight is the first time I have looked at an image of the skyline with the WTC intact:



Crazy sh!t...

My Teacher, part 2

It seems that Gardener's World is following me. They interviewed a previous teacher of mine, Juliet Sargeant, during the Hampton Court Flower Show a few weeks ago. Tonight they had a feature with Bernard Boardman, Floral Department Supervisor at RHS Wisley. Bernard ran a shrub pruning seminar at Wisley last year, that featured in this post, and I am using the knowledge he imparted upon me all the time. Thanks to Bernard's wisdom, my potted Wisteria floribunda flowered well for the first time in four years. As with most things in life, there is little substitute for experience. I work on the cutting edge of technology on a daily basis and still relish spending time with my experienced peers who invariably have some way of enlightening me. Good luck on your retirement Peter!

So it seems that I have many teachers in my life. For that, I consider myself privileged...

Central Park

Have you ever been to Central Park? The last day of our trip to the Grand Pomme was mostly spent exploring this crazy green expanse. Wikipedia informs me that it has a real estate value of $528bn but I think it is truly priceless. Without this oasis of calm in its centre, the entirety of Manhattan Island would be a busy, noisy, bustling madhouse. The respite from the madness that one attains by lazing under the park's canopy is only matched by that of overlooking the rectangular green expanse from atop one of the many surrounding skyscrapers supping on a champagne cocktail, or an Absinthe Minded Refresher in one of Rande Gerber's luxurious establishments.

Our "day in the park" entailed many a walked mile, we approached from the south, up Fifth Avenue, continuing up to the zoo. Mrs P and I have been to many zoos in our time, often finding them to be cruel, barren places. This little gem was quite different! It was small and simple yet all the animals seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves, although the lazy polar bears did their best to betray this belief:


Plenty more wonders and delights to share...

USS Intrepid

The trip to New York was a present for Mrs P but there was one thing I wanted to get in... a trip to the Sea, Air and Space Museum aboard the USS Intrepid, a decommissioned aircraft carrier that was built during WWII having been in service through Vietnam before being retired in 1974. She is now moored in Hudson River at the end of West 46th Street (the Intrepid, not Mrs P) and provides a comprehensive education on, predominantly American, military aviation history. On the deck, there is a great collection of aircraft including an F-14, an F-16, a couple of Cobra helicopters and most excitingly, an A-12 which is the prototype for the SR-71 spy plane. Here is a little taster:


We saw many other interesting and exciting things and the weather was occasionally good too! I'll post some more pics soon...

Le Retour

I have returned. I was in New York. It was great. Nice to be back though, NYC is kinda hectic. After catching up on the Ashes highlights, going out for beer and schnitzel and falling asleep on the train home (had to get a taxi back from the depths of Surrey) I made some soup from as many garden ingredients as I could get my hands on:


Good to be back...

Hmmm, foxy

I have a hate-hate-love-hate relationship with the local foxes. They are a noisy menace: stealing my shoes; stealing my gloves, leaving them in Richard's garden; "doing it" at 3am; leaving me pungent, disease-ridden "presents" and so on. Every so often, however, I feel they look me in the eyes and remind me that it is not their fault. Not their fault that they have mange. Not their fault that they need to poo. Not their fault that discarded KFC is their most convenient food source.


OK, he may be a mangy little flea bag and the middle photo may be terribly blurry, but tell me this guy isn't in some way adorable...

Convenience Food

Mrs P goes out occasionally and when she does, I tend to eat lazily. In my mind, one of the greatest lazy bites is the toasted sandwich. Mrs P and I used to (possibly still do) own a Breville sandwich toaster that was used somewhat infrequently. The end result was always so tasty, but the subsequent cleaning outweighed the gluttonous gratification. So tonight, I thought I would experiment with a low maintenance alternative. Pretty simple really:

• Butter the outside of the bread slices as you would with a traditional sandwich toaster.
• Lay one slice, butter side down, on a piece of kitchen foil large enough to wrap the entire finished article.
• Fill with contents of choice (today I opted for thinly sliced German schinken, spring onion, vine tomato and red pepper topped with mature cheddar and port salut).
• Place the other slice of bread atop the pile, again buttered side out.
• Wrap the foil over the sandwich pressing down quite hard to pack it all together.
• Chuck in a preheated hot oven. I used 230C for about 10 minutes and the results were wonderful.

Better than the original without the mess...

Some crops

I planted my potatoes in pots this year. I planted them in pots the last two year too, but you didn't know that! Some of my pots are ample for a crop o' tats, others are a little restrictive. Not a surprise that the tops of the plants in the smaller pots wilted first, thus they were the plants first to be harvested.

My first spuds of the season:



I thought I'd add a little bit of the garden to our dinner this evening. Couple of leaves of chard, few baby carrots, few baby yellow carrots and various beans. Here's a pic of a few:


Garden to table, does it get any better...?

A draw: a respectable result

And by that I mostly refer to the resolute batting of Mr Collingwood. Of course I am talking about the first Ashes test (cricket, if you hadn't already figured it out). Punter's boys gave a batting masterclass and didn't do too bad with the ball either but, despite some top order inadequacy, England held on for a stunning draw. Strange term "stunning draw" but stunning it was!

Collingwood for King, Monty for Prime Minister!

Looking fwd to Lord's...

Hampton Court Flower Show

Mr and Mrs P. Senior kindly bought me tickets to Hampton Court Flower Show for my birthday a few months ago. Today was the day! The show was great for many reasons, not least because it meant I wasn't listening to the stupid cricket on the stupid radio.

A few highlights:

The UK Horticulture stand, sponsored by Garsons Farm was inspired. A beautiful display of ornate floral arrangements dressed with examples of the delightful vegetables from their "pick your own" farm in Esher.

Wisley's 5-a-day stand was a particularly attractive collection of vegetables all grown at Surrey's RHS garden.

Eryngium, one of my favourite plants, was a consistent theme throughout the show. Several interesting varieties including Eryngium bourgatii 'Picos Blue Group' were on show.

The allotment garden was something to be envied. Not a seven deadly sins sort of envy, rather a desire for more sun and less tree cover sort of envy. They, too had purple kohl rabi on the go (see 48 hours) and these beasts would put even Mr P senior's worthy effort to shame. Nearly the size of footballs!
Other things that I didn't photograph... Well, I saw Juliet Sargeant's garden but, alas, Juliet wasn't there. It was a typically colourful yet tranquil place. I had my customary hog roast, picked up some Debbie and Andrew's sausages and had a 99 flake. Lots of other good things that are filed away in the alcoholic mush that is my brain...

New money

Haven't really noticed the new British coinage but it has been brought to my attention lately. I think it is quite attractive. For those who haven't seen it, a collection can be seen here. My personal collection only stretches to a solitary coin:


Is it not strange how things work out?

Everything has a price...

My Teacher

Well, if you watched the BBC 2 coverage of Hampton Court Flower Show tonight you will have seen my former teacher and amazingly talented garden designer Juliet Sargeant. Juliet has been and remains an inspiration to me. She taught me how to design a garden from first principles and a huge amount more about horticulture in general. Juliet is great!

Courgette violation

I have five courgette plants in my veg plot. They're looking quite healthy but the fruit are not setting properly. They get to a few inches long then start to rot at the end. One possible cause for this is incomplete pollination so I have tried the old technique of giving nature a helping hand. Removing a male flower, taking off its petals and rubbing the stamen against the inside of the female flower. The female flowers are the ones with the stubby little fruit behind them, the male flowers are on longer, thinner stems. So, I've impregnated my first vegetable! I feel dirty...

Re: Never Thought It

http://plutusjourney.blogspot.com/2009/05/never-thought-it.html

I was watching the BBC Three coverage of Glastonbury and caught the Pendulum set. Their drummer is a crazy and unbelievably talented guy. Now is not the time to be publicising respect for our friends down under, however. The greatest gladiatorial contest of the modern sporting calendar starts on Wednesday and a healthy rivalry shall remain in place until the end of August.

Anthropomorphism and me

Can't remember, nor can I be bothered to search through my previous posts to find out, whether or not I have mentioned that we have a hedgehog frequenting our garden. He usually spends his evenings snuffling around my compost bin, which he seems to have broken into, but we saw him for the first time rather close to our back door, some 130 feet from his usual chomping-ground. I haven't verified whether or not this is him but I love this video too much not to link to it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw-IAYxu5uo

However, the purpose of this post is not to inform you of yet another creature that will be leaving little presents around my garden. The purpose of this post is to inform you that I have named this little guy Horace. This is not the first thing in my garden I have named, very far from it. And I have no idea why I do it. All parakeets eating from my feeder are called Percy, all the damn tree rats are called Terry, my Mahonia is called Mahendra, my Agapanthus is called Agamemnon, even the houseplants have names. And it doesn't stop with names, they have personalities and characteristics too - well the animals do, not the plants, that would be stupid! I have started to wonder if there was some strange childhood influence that makes my first thought to anthropomorphise each new creature I encounter. Any psychologists out there...?

Lame donkey

As many of you know, I built my own shavehorse last year after spending a couple of days on a course with Robin Fawcett. It was an excellent course, by the way. I read Robin's blog quite frequently and he has recently needed to make a few repairs to his trusty steed. The problem from which my "shavedonkey" was suffering seemed superficial in comparison - he was slightly lame in the rear leg until... well... it fell off:



I managed to get him on the operating table and perform the necessary surgery - a shortening of the body, a reattachment of the rear leg and a general strengthening of the joints. However, I fear his days are numbered. He is stronger than he was before, but is never going to achieve his original rigidity. I'll have to consider my options for replacing the old fella. Could be a good excuse to go on another course...

48 hours

No, not the Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy film, the weekend!

Weekend was good. Got to see the niece today. She is adorable in a different way every time we see her. Also saw the folks. Gave my dad some of my purple kohl rabi (modrava) seeds earlier in the year. We started them going at roughly the same time and while mine are pushing golf ball size, his are larger than tennis balls. I know, I know, you're going to tell me it's all about the conditions. I accept that. No, really I do. But I am a competitive chap and the feeling of inadequacy is difficult to quash.

Very exciting - the folks salvaged some freshly felled cherry wood from mum's tennis club. Only been down a week or two and I'm looking fwd to getting started on it soon. Learnt an interesting lesson with the birch I'm currently working. First log I used was from some way up the trunk. All went swimmingly, cut like butter. The second log, however, was from much nearer the base of the tree and has been tearing when cut in either direction. I only have a little knowledge about this sort of thing, I'm mostly learning from experience. I am making an educated guess that higher up the tree the grain runs pretty straight. Lower down, however, the trunk is not so linear. The log I used was three feet long, over which the diameter reduced by a couple of inches. I am assuming that the tearing out, from which I am suffering, is because the grain is running at an angle and I am cutting straight. Opinions to the contrary very welcome.

Yet again it is Sunday evening. Sunday night actually. Always comes around too quickly.

Looking forward to a good harvest of French beans, potatoes, onions, garlic and peas this week. We'll see...

Thirty days

Despite my lack of belief in June, it turned out to be a pretty good 30 days in the life of Plutus. Perhaps I should reconsider my beliefs!? Here's a few things I did for the first time in June:
- visited Israel
- presented to an audience of over 500 people
- chilled with the CEO of my company
- received a perfect rating for my annual performance from my boss
- visited many wonderful, hidden gardens in London (http://www.opensquares.org/)
- visited Nymans Garden
- visited Wakehurst Place
- visited Sissinghurst
- visited Yalding organic garden
- lunched in Wisley's Conservatory Dining Room
- had a stay in the wonderfully opulent Cliveden House

Garden-wise, the place is looking great. I've had a good crop of mange tout and peas. The French beans have started producing and the borlotti beans are exhibiting admirable aspirations. The kohl rabi are starting to swell, courgettes are starting to form, aubergines are flowering, peppers are getting taller by the day, the swiss chard are looking amazing, the parsnips are bulking up, the onions and garlic are nearly ready, the carrots are romping and the new purple radishes are two inches tall one week after sowing. A few beans and peas:


All in all, a rewarding return on the investment!

Wood-wise, things have been slower going. I don't think I entered the workshop for nearly three weeks. Two weeks in California followed by busy weekends and other business trips. However, the last couple of weeks have enabled me to get cracking on the birch logs I picked up in May. I've been keeping them as cool as possible so they are still pretty green inside. Birch is a lovely wood to work, this is my first time! What I have learned thus far is that birch hates being cut against the grain. Some woods are somewhat forgiving of such amateur mistakes, but birch is rather more intolerant of such novice errors. However, items carved from birch show little resistance to being cut after pieces have been aired for a few days. This makes it a great wood for a sporadic carver. Here's a pot scraper I made for a friend recently:


Got a bunch more wood projects on the go. Will throw up some pics soon...

I call him bumhead...

...and many other names. He is our neighbour's cat. He's called Baloo. He spends a lot of time in our garden. A considerable amount of time in our house too. We love him, despite the random acts of "stipa-destruction".

Welcome back to the world. I know June was dull without Plutus musings but I'm back now so kick back, relax and prepare yourself for... some posts... hopefully...

June

S'pose I should have mentioned that I don't believe in June, that's why you've not heard from me in a while. Still, it's nearly July...

A Home made day

Another delivery of the reserved sunshine today. Most welcome! After heading to bed some time after the funniest episode of Family Guy I have seen last night, I was expecting to rise later than I'd ideally have wanted. However, sometimes one surprises oneself. I was up making bread for lunch shortly after 8am and haven't stopped since. Well, I have obviously stopped making bread, otherwise the place would be full... you know what I mean.

Got out in the morning sun to:
plant up the summer bedding;
plant out the cuttings of my Buddleja davidii "Black Knight";
plant out the cuttings of my white sedum;
pot up my capsicum and chilli seedlings;
sow an additional crop of beans (black and white kidney, borlotti, dwarf yellow and dwarf purple);
sow some more temperamental radishes (a purple German variety and white Asian variety with pink flesh);
mow the lawn, again;

I harvested a couple of lettuces for lunch and to keep us going for a few days. Nothing better than lettuce straight from the garden to the plate (via several slug and aphid rinses of course).

Home made bread with home grown lettuce and a cheeky nibble of my first home grown mange tout for lunch, embellished with some home bought cheese and ham.

What more could one ask for?


Whole load of woodwork done in the afternoon too...

Birch, birch, glorious birch

Managed to find some time to stop down at a mate's place to pick up some silver birch logs he has recently felled. I now have 10 logs, each between three and four feet in length and up to nine inches diameter awaiting a purpose. First cuts made tomorrow morning...

'twas a beautiful day

London in the May sunshine is indeed a wonderful place. Today was forecast to be a particularly spectacular example and indeed it lived up to its promise. We had a table at the Bluebird Restaurant on Chelsea's King's Road booked for 1pm so thought we'd get there early and explore some of the sights before and after lunch. Lots of walking involved. Walked from Clapham Junction station through Battersea Park, over Albert Bridge, along Cheyne Walk, past the Chelsea Physic Garden, past the Royal Hospital Chelsea, up to the King's Road, through the back streets of Chelsea to Pimlico, across Lambeth Bridge, through the unexpectedly open gardens of Lambeth Palace (intended to go to the Museum of Garden History) and back home via Waterloo. Ended up being a 10 mile walk with a delightful, nearly free lunch in the middle. I didn't take my camera. Mrs P did. But I'm too exhausted to copy photos from her camera to my laptop. Instead, here are a few photos google found for me:


Albert Bridge (courtesy of tourblaze.com)



Royal Hospital Chelsea in 18th Century (courtesy of tourblaze.com)



Hornbeam Alee in the garden at Lambeth Palace (courtesy of travelstripe.com)

Wonderful day, albeit a little exhausting...

Never thought it...

...but I quite like playing the drums. Just spent some quality time with a couple of old, much missed friends who have recently acquired Rockband for the PlayStation-3. I was on drums all afternoon and it was great fun. I'm confident that I have no future as a musician but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Probably don't have the space for the equipment Chez Plutus though.

The best bit about it? I was actually exhausted from playing. Computer games have come a long way in the last couple of years, with the arrival of the Wii as something of a catalyst. No longer are people sitting motionless, staring blankly at a screen with a joystick in hand. Oh no! Now we are swinging our virtual tennis racquet, bowling our virtual balls, firing our virtual arrows and beating our virtual drums. (That isn't supposed to sound as full of innuendo as it does, BTW.) A game is never a substitute for the real thing, of course, but if the nation is going to be obsessed with silicon-emulated entertainment, I'm glad that it now involves more than a little exercise!

Right, I'm procrastinating, I have a pile of work to do...

Filoli House and Garden

I managed to find some time this morning to drive north on highway 280 to Filoli House and Garden. Filoli, which stands for Fight for a just cause; Love your fellow man; Live a good life, is a large country house built approximately 100 years ago with a traditional Lutyens/Jekyll influenced garden. Throughout the formal and traditionally planted 16 acres there are many columnar yew trees, brightly flowering camellias and rhododendrons, box-bordered roses, hidden archways, lots of red brick and magnificent trees including several Camperdown Elms.


May is a particularly good time to view the garden as many of their blooms are at their best this time of year. There are several well manicured areas, most notably the sunken garden of which the focal point is a rectangular pond. The borders are planted with delightful swathes of colour, including blocks of Aquilegia and Digitalis. Both these plants are known as being rather poisonous but the flowers of the former are apparently edible and were often consumed by native Americans.


I think the garden will look amazing in the autumn as the coppers and bronzes of the foliage appear but I am glad my first experience of the place was in the spring sunshine.

Hope to return some time...

Realisations

I am in the middle of a particularly stressful time at work. I am in California with a huge quantity of deliverables in a rather short space of time. At times, this can get on top of me and today was one of those times. However, a couple of events made me think. I have to have a demonstration working in a few days and the facilities with which I have been furnished to build this demo are limited to say the least. In an uncomfortable situation, with the possibility of failing to deliver for the first time in my life, I was starting to panic a little. That was, however, until a friend queried why I was struggling down a futile path when there was a perfectly viable alternative that I already had in hand. When stressed, it is not uncommon for people to suffer from a little tunnel vision – thinking the path they are treading is the only possible path. Being given a simple element of perspective by an uninvolved party is immensely powerful and has potentially allowed me to reclaim at least some of my weekend. This event and a frank conversation with an old friend, colleague and mentor have encouraged me to look at things a little differently. Instead of getting hung up on the things I find tough, stressful or uninteresting, I need to massage them into things that play to my strengths. Easy to realise when not in the “heat of battle” but I shall endeavour henceforth to keep a level head and always try to employ an element of perspective.

Sounds like a bit of a counselling session doesn’t it? Well, I am currently in the self-help capital of the world!

Happy weekend…

Shake, Rattle and Roll

We went to have brunch with my bro and sis-in-law yesterday morning. Lovely to see them and Anya. She's looking more adorable every day. I took along a little gift I'd made. It is my first baby rattle that I consider good enough to give away. In short: I had a log of ash, split it, shaped it, shaved it, halved it, carved it, filled it, glued it, finished it.

As it is designed to be used by a little person, my motivation was to keep everything as inert as possible. All steps of the project were done by hand. I picked up the freshly felled log from a woodland in Surrey and did all the shaping and carving using only manual hand tools. Getting the rattle to sound right was a fun task. In my prototype, I used a combination of dry wild rice and dry red lentils. Sounded OK but needed a deeper tone. After several shake tests, I settled on a combination of dry soya bean and dry pearl barley, giving a great combination of high and low tones. The finish was a couple of coats of Chestnut Products Finishing Oil which is safe for use on toys per British Standard EN 71. I like it. It is attractive, tactile and functional:


Hopefully have time to perfect the design soon...

Not all doom

Nor, indeed, all gloom.

Firstly, the new copy of Living Woods magazine arrived this morning. I must admit, it doesn't seem right without my name in it, but that merely serves as motivation for me to get working on some creative projects.

I also received some great presents for my birthday on Monday. Ray Tabor's Encyclopaedia of Green Woodworking, Lost Crafts by Una McGovern, Grow Your Own Drugs by James Wong, the Slumdog soundtrack, the new Kings of Leon album, Hampton Court Flower Show tickets, a wind up lantern, a cool shed hanger, an old wooden block plane and more.

A little over thirty if you must know...

What is motivation?

Having been hideously over worked in the last few months, I am wondering what is the definition of motivation. Times have been quite tough of late and it makes one question one's beliefs, fabric and ethics. I strive to do everything with which I am tasked and with which I task myself to the best of my ability, within reason, of course, but am currently questioning why. Why bother pushing myself when there is no reward forthcoming? Why do any more than my hours? There are no long term career prospects in my office. Recent events have clearly illustrated that I'm not secure in my job regardless of how well I perform. There will be no raise this year and only sufficient bonus to purchase a Mars Bar for the outstanding performers. I am far from a socialist but am curious about the benefit of working to rule. It would likely only last a day as it rather contradicts my ethics but maybe I'll try. Once my current project is complete , of course!

At the very least, I need to redress the work-life balance. 14 hour working days are not good for anyone...

15 years - RIP

1st May 2009, fifteen years since Ayrton Senna was killed in the San Marino GP. An unmatched talent illustrated by this video of his lap around the streets of Monaco in 1991:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUkv6P-2SAw

Feel honoured to be able to remember watching him race!

The Garden in April

It is, apparently, one of those times. I've not posted for ages and now can't resist the temptation to post multiple times in one night.

So, I've been busy, as always. Work has been a struggle! It is enjoyable but we've had yet another round of redundancies which, again, I survived. Of course, I'm happy to still have a job that I enjoy, albeit a demanding one. It is hard to see friends of many years go through the hardship with which they are now faced. The company looked after them well, however, which restores a little faith. So I have now survived three rounds of lay-offs. Does that mean I am good, lucky, cheap, or a combination of the three? I dunno. What I do know is that there are fewer people in the company and we need to do the same amount of work. One of my colleagues made an amusing point about "the firm" no longer dangling the carrot in front of us, they are now beating us with both the stick and the carrot. Feels true at times. Especially when working until 9 or 10pm several consecutive weeks.

Whatever... this weekend is a five-dayer. Had Thursday and Friday off, have Monday off too. The reason? St George's Day, spring, my birthday, exhaustion, stuff planned, things to do. Had lunch at Mr. Blumenthal's place today and escaped without norovirus. Result!

I didn't realise how much gardening there was to do until I had spare time. Many things accomplished, aside from the veg planting I've already mentioned. We have many sedum growing in our garden. Most of them are the traditional Sedum spectabile but we have some white flowering variety also. Sedum can be glorious, despite their "see dem grow" reputation, and I've been experimenting with pruning them in spring to ensure they flower later and lower. The latter is more important - sedum get leggy and the weight of the flower heads coupled with the long stems means they are often found resting on the lawn rather than providing the expected late summer colour midway up the borders. My method is simple - cut all the heads off the plants, down to about one third of their growth, any time from the middle of April to the middle of May. As I say, I've been experimenting with it for a couple of years and am sufficiently confident that I have done it to every single head this year. The expected result is a beautiful cluster of self-supporting heads in early autumn that will last until December. We'll see.

Other highlights? I pruned Wesley, my wisteria, per instruction from Bernard at Wisley last year. Lo, he flowers! Wesley, not Bernard. The cornus are beautiful now that they are in leaf. The ranunculus, tulips, dicentra, azaleas, rhododendron, kerria and mahonia are all romping away, providing stunning stress-relieving colour to an already delghtful space. See:


Other news... I am now Uncle-Plutus. Welcome to the world beautiful little Anya. Also, welcome young Sen! I look forward to being an influence on both of your lives - lots to teach. And yes, I do realise that week old babies can't read blogs!

I have lots to do tomorrow. I'm currently working with some ash and some walnut and have many things to create. So little time...

Paper Potted Beans

I've been busy sowing and planting recently. Most of my veg are now in the soil having been started off in the greenhouse. Could be a little early for some of the beans to brave the elements but I'm both optimistic and impatient so, combined with the fleece protection with which I've covered them, I think things will be OK. This year I started many of my beans in newspaper pots. Last year my friend Sean gave me a paper potter made by Nether Wallop Trading Co. It is a simple, tactile design that enables you to make seed pots from newspaper. Seeing as we only get round to putting our paper out for recycling once a month, there are plenty of unmade pots round here. Incidentally, Sean runs a wonderful little oasis of tranquillity just off the Kentish Town Road called The Boma: http://www.bomagardencentre.co.uk/

If you are ever in North London, I'd highly recommend popping your head through the door, not just because he's a mate. He sells a huge array of wonderful things for your garden and it was looking particularly beautiful and serene in the spring sunshine when I popped in last Saturday while helping my friend Mo landscape her weed patch, er, I mean garden.

Anyway, back to the paper potter... I've been growing a whole variety of beans, as you will have read in a previous post, some of which are significantly more vigorous than others. The borlotti beans took off surprisingly quickly:


I had, however, evidently firmed down the compost in one of the paper pots a little too hard. He showed no sign of breaking through the surface but the pot was steadily climbing above the others. Indeed, he had broken through the bottom of the sodden pot and was propelling himself skyward:


Soon rectified and he's now happily in the veg bed awaiting summer sunshine...

Weekend-tastic

Been a busy and exhausting weekend. Spent Saturday in Wiltshire tending to grandpa-in-law's garden. Lovely to catch up with Cyril and to enjoy his beautiful view over a sheep-filled field. Sunday was a garden day. I managed to get my first crop of peas planted - yellow mange tout, hurst green shaft, little marvel and the 10ft climbers. About 80 plants in all I think. Sure the slugs, mice, squirrels, foxes, cats and other critters will each claim their share. Planted out some purple kohl rabi and a couple of radish varieties too. Also put out my broad beans of the red epicure variety and a few red little gem lettuces between my onion rows. Hopefully they'll all work in harmony together!

No photos this time I'm afraid. A relatively woodwork free weekend too. Next one's a four-dayer tho', can't help but get some good stuff done...

I Love Spring

It's true, I do. Here's why...

So many forgotten treasures in the garden reminding you of why you love them
Progress in the greenhouse every day
Longer, lighter days
Sunglasses need dusting off
The Formula One season has started
It's the business end of the football season
Nearly the beginning of the cricket season AND it's an Ashes summer

All wonderful things! What makes this spring better than all the others? Not only am I very proud of Mrs P, I am also soon to be an uncle and am rather excited. Looking forward to meeting little niece-P soon (note I don't refer to her as P-niece - say it to yourself a few times and you'll understand why).

Here's a picture of a viola from my garden:

Gone for a predominantly yellow theme this spring with more colours joining the party as spring grows into summer.

Few other things before you go.
Had a great weekend. Got up for the live qualifying and race in Australia. Knackered now but I only have to meet my new CEO for the first time tomorrow, nothing important. Busy day Saturday in the workshop. Made a few things - a bench hook, a sanding pad and a mahogany test tube holder for Mrs P senior's botanical drawing classes (although stupidly forgot to take a photo). Experimented with some ideas - built working prototypes that look pretty good. Today had a lovely lunch with the family. Got home, planted up all my beautifully chitted potatoes, weeded my onion and garlic beds and added a few filler plants, including a couple of interesting dwarf miscanthus, to the borders courtesy of Mr & Mrs P senior-in-law last weekend.

Happy days...

Le jardin

Garden's going well too. While much of my time has been occupied with the workshop, there has been a little time to plant a few new additions. A bunch of Cornus sericea 'Flaviramea' offset by a single Cornus alba 'Sibirica' underplanted with several Heucheras (Key Lime Pie and a purple one, possibly Amethyst Myst). All this has a quickthorn hedge as a backdrop with a young laburnum to give a bit of height. All sounds very impressive but the plants are quite young so will take a while to establish.

Veggie-wise, last week's warm weather has helped things along very well. This year, I'm concentrating mostly on peas and beans with a few root crops. Here's a few of the varieties I'm trying:
Peas - Hurst Green Shaft, Little Marvel and some yellow mange tout and another clibming variety from Mr. H
Beans - Dwarf french 'purple king', broad 'red epicure', climbing purple, borlotti, dwarf french yellow 'berggold', Kidney bean 'yin yang' (from the Eden Project range!) and dwarf green 'Triomphe de Farcy
Kohl Rabi - both purple ('Modrava') and white ('Lanro')
Radish - normal red ones and some 'Hilds blauer Herbst und Winter'

Then there's the salad crops, a few brassicas and some peppers, a couple of types of carrots, my potatoes, japanese onions, garlic and horseradish. Sounds like a lot but we'll see what survives the squirrel attacks. Things are looking OK so far:


You should stop by some time...

Another New Beginning

Hello. Yes, yes, another long time between posts. I reluctantly apologise for keeping you waiting but there are two good reasons:
1) I've been spending every waking hour that I've not been at work building and furnishing my workshop
2) You don't exist and therefore are not entitled to voice an opinion (if, in fact, you do exist please post a comment, send me an email, give me a call, write about me on your blog, publish my URL... anything you like really).

So what's been going on in the world?

I'll go first...
OK, the usual rubbish about work - it's busy, challenging, tough, but actually quite fun. Enough of that. What about important stuff? Well, as you may have seen and guessed, I've been building my workshop. Woodworking outside in the winter doesn't sound too hard but it has been a rough winter and I have been suffering having been exposed to such miserable weather. Also, as the warmer weather arrives, I don't really want to be sawing and banging within earshot of all and sundry so a remote location (end of my garden) is perfect. Previous post shows the base Mr P senior and I built in January. Here it is again:
So then we built the workshop a few weeks later. It was on sale from a garden building website - actually remarkably good quality and easy to assemble:

So Mrs P and I agreed that "generic shed orange" wasn't the colour this building was going to stay. After a discussion about masculinity and a couple of Cuprinol tester pots, we agreed on a light green called willow. The result? Judge for yourself:

What do you think? I rather like it.

So in all, the project didn't cost too much. Aside from the building itself:
- I already had the slabs for the base so that part only cost me a few bags of sand and cement
- No additional screws or nails were needed to build the thing although I did invest in a roll of stronger felt for the roof
- I chose to insulate the interior. I was debating what would be the best solution and, despite being tempted by Celotex decided upon polystyrene and hardboard from Wickes. In all, that job cost about £50.
- The furniture? Bench is made out of an old door courtesy of my friends HY and W. Thanks again - it is perfect! The legs are made out of old fence posts etc that I had.
- I built a shelf unit for the right wall. I had a load of old pine shelves (also courtesy of HY&W) that had been sitting in the shed awaiting a purpose. Indeed they found one. I needed a few lengths of timber for the upright and long, lower shelves but managed to pick these up from a local timber yard for buttons.

So, in all, while it took quite a few hours, it cost me very little. Result!

Now, however, I must allow my little paradise to fulfill its potential. The potential to transform my spare time from well-intentioned pottering to a productive and lucrative past-time. Indeed this is a new beginning...