Spot the plasterer

This morning the plasterers were out in force, trying to get things done before their summer break.

Can you spot all five of them?

Getting plastered - hopefully

The final preparations have been made before the exterior plastering can start.  The scaffolding is up, the windows are covered with plastic sheets (it gets pretty stuffy at night) and there is a huge plaster hopper in the drive.

Also, a second high power outlet has been installed in the cellar.  Before I had a bright red 16 amp connection point (why?).  Now I have an additional chunkier looking 32 amp outlet too!

The plasterers should be finished by the end of July - they are off on their holidays then.

Assembly characteristics of cows (and possibly horses)

All cows in prime number groups or alone

After adjusting the moving the cucumbers up on to their new growing frame (our old shoe rack) and taking another crop from the peas, I drove home from the allotment past some cows.  Last week there were horses running about in the field next door.  After watching both I have come up with an observation:

when cows are milling about in a field, if they are not alone, they form in to groups with a prime number of members. It seems to work with horses too. Did you ever see 4 cows in a group in a field?

Die Trauerweide musste weg - demise of a huge weeping willow

After the chunk fell off the tree, it looked pretty bad.  The tree surveyors came on Monday and immediately decided it had to go.  The inside was rotten and a big storm would have knocked it down in any random direction.  Apart from our house being right next door, the other options were all pretty lousy (streets, cars, people, bikes, et c.) with just a narrow wedge of field to aim for.

The roads around were closed on Monday afternoon.  The police were ther along with a colourful assortment of experts, interested parties and hangers-on.  It was an exciting event in the end, albeit a bit sad.

Remainder of willow before felling

No more willow after felling

Only after the tree (around 35 m tall) was down could we see (and smell) inside the trunk.  Then you could really tell that the tree had not been well.

New view to Wilhelm-Leuschner-Straße

I hope we can arrange something suitable to fill in the gap.  Discussions are ongoing.  Appointment at the Town Hall this morning.  Fingers crossed.

Willow tree collapsed and basalt sculpture

On Sunday at 10:10, after a night of heavy rain, a big chunk of the weeping willow next to our house fell off.

Broken branch from Wilhelm Leuchner Strasse

Broken trunk below - rotten trunk above

The experts will take a look this week, but I expect a large part will have to be removed.  What a shame, it was a great tree.

Meanwhile in the field across the road, we strolled up to the basalt statue at the edge of the woods.

It is a remarkable place ... very quiet and with lovely views.

Across the fields 

First pea crop

The first load of peas have been collected.  And eaten.

Peas

It looks like there will shed loads more to come, which is no bad thing.

I also had the first of the physalis; it was on the greener side of orange (sort of vanilla yellow) but it tasted pretty good.

Chickens and peas

Good news from the allotments ... the neighbours have got a few chickens in the corner of their plot. Although they have forgotten the names assigned to the chickens by their daughter, they are giving them plenty of TLC.  I love the clucking and crowing in the background.

Chicken (without specific name)

The pea harvest will be a triumph this year.  There was around 90% germination and no pest damage. Fingers crossed for a corresponding crop.

Peas just after planting and germination

Two rows of peas

The pods still need to thicken a bit

I was lucky enough to catch a few minutes in the tiny courtyard garden of the Landmark Hotel in Guangzhou.
It was a lovely quiet corner away from the city rush.

Courtyard garden at the Landmark Hotel in Guangzhou

On the down-side, the dahlias were a complete wash-out, the competition sunflowers all failed to germinate, only one cosmos survived the slug-fest and the chilis look dismal.  At least the apple looks set to produce plenty of apples this year.

And we have harvested loads of white currants (and some red currants), so we are all set for jam making now.