Navigating round Guernsey

Seagull field

Zebra corner

Hill with nasty elderly lady

Donkey hill

Sticky-out bit

Marvellous May

May promises so much: spring explodes, plants emerging, shooting...some welcome (like the self-seeded rocket and spinach which bravely endured a long winter) others not (I think of bracken... beautiful on the cliffs, not in MY garden).

The days grow so long that it seems like summer: yet, at the beginning of the month, it is cold. I regret packing away most of my warm winter woollies; socks and tights are still the order of the day. When the sun comes out, we bask in its warmth at the front of the house, sheltered from the wind, facing south. Other days and evenings, we light the fire...bizarre, as bright days descend into glorious sunsets, to be burning wood inside.

But May is filled with marvellous things, seemingly miniscule yet meaningful. My school term gallops, so fast we can barely keep up: reports are crammed in, hurriedly, with minutes to the deadline. We take the children to visit an exhibition about the Guernsey folk who, during the Occupation (1940 - 1945), were arrested, imprisoned, exiled and executed. Sobering. Sports Day, well-organised as ever. And some days off... especially Liberation Day, May 9th, when we celebrate Guernsey's liberation from Occupation by German forces. Dear Wendy came to brunch, catching us up on life and family and we remembered dear Renee... then a relaxed afternoon before going to join our friends in our home group for supper... just eight of us, fun to be together.

More fun when we went to hear Adrian and Bridget Plass: such gifted speakers, having us in helpless laughter and then the next second bringing profound God-truth in a simple sentence. What a privilege to be able to hear them here as part of the Guernsey Literary Festival.

And so many kindnesses. My colleague Barbara (Italian, teaching French, speaking fluent English) sees me limping and insists on my trying her knee brace. We have exchanged many long conversations about injured and damaged knees, discussing the merits of different treatments... The brace is highly effective and I order a similar one straight away. Dear NickyNextdoor visits with eggs, which are always pale and delightfully elongated.

My friend and colleague Carry is as thrilled as I am to see photos and videos of Cara, which arrive every couple of days. Cara is now beginning to eat solid food, delighting in feeding herself; and rolling over too, now. #soonbecrawling  Skype sessions with her are never frequent enough: we remember early-morning coffee with Cara. She sees Richard's colourful mug on the phone screen and tries to reach out to it...

The garden is growing explosively, of course: the clematis on the patio in particular is trying for world patio domination. Nellie Moser, huge, showy, a deluge of purple. I love it, not just for colour but for representing my gardening-loving Grandpa, who delighted in 'cloning' clematis and growing his own varieties. Rocket and spinach in the garden have decided to run away; the brussel sprouts went rapidly to seed.

Everywhere, farmers are hard at work: seagulls supervise, following faithfully.

Cycle rides are a joy, past fields of golden buttercups down to the orchid fields: first the purple southern marsh-orchid, then blue loose-flowered orchids (not found in mainland Britain), arriving amidst the yellow flag iris and the ragged robin. Later, we look for common-spotted and the heath-spotted orchids too. We hear the first cuckoo as swallows begin their swooping back and forth across the fields.

Then, Phil and Judy’s eagerly awaited visit arrives at last. So wonderful to have these dear, dear friends who are family to us through lovely Adele. Our times together are precious.

So we sit and chat long, share meal after meal, go on adventures together...cycle rides through the lanes, visiting the orchid fields, along the coast to have coffee at Richmond Kiosk. We visit the Trepieds dolmen up on the Catioroc, meeting a lady with a dog Jack Russell terrier named Pickle who knows the Other Patterdale on the island, living at the Collenette Hotel. That Patterdale doesn’t ‘do’ acquaintance with other dogs, either.

Then off to Sausmarez Manor to a Grand Plant Sale - so many knowledgeable gardeners. Judy finds agapanthus and other plants, I come home - not having intended to purchase anything - with a solanum jasminoides, which Judy assures me is a beautiful, scented climber.
We even fitted in a visit to the Manor's Sculpture Park and wonderful sub-tropical gardens.

Awesome October

OK, not alliteration but it sounds a bit similar.  The WEATHER!  20 degrees or thereabouts for the first half of the month – hot sun riding shotgun with warm winds from the south. Positively balmy. My only problem has been having to be in a classroom all day...
Sunrise...

                                                                                  ...Sunset

Still, we managed to get some surfing in on the back of a hurricane in the Atlantic – good waves, great fun. I wasn’t so sure about the 7.30am Sunday morning surf, though – it was pouring with rain, massive puddles across the roads as the drains were blocked with leaves – as it was really quite stingy on the face. Not that I noticed after a few minutes... just trying not to get dumped on the sand by the waves. Super exercise.

The garden has still looked great. At the beginning of the month we chopped down and dug up one of the cabbage palms – the smallest, near the garden patio – as it had died. It really was a ‘we’ – the Gardener (also Handyman/Plumber/Carvalet/Carmechanic etc etc) used the kango to dig up the root but it kept getting stuck in the woody fibres so I had to help pull it out and unstick it.  I then managed to persuade him to let me plant an apple tree, a long-held desire, which is now growing there in its place. Hopefully it will survive. I’d still like to get another tree or two... have my eye on a spot on the kitchen patio where a cotoneaster died after the winter. The fuchsias have still been flowering madly, giving up just in time to welcome the nerines - the Guernsey lily - shining pinkly, almost fluorescent, in patches.

And there are still tomatoes...and jars and jars of chutney...

And breakfast with friends:

Of course, it turned wet and windy halfway through the month, but really, it didn’t matter. Pickle still enjoyed napping in the window.

Good news from Cat and Andy on the other side of the world: Andy found a job in Auckland; finished his master's a month early; and they moved into a house, sharing with Andy's sister and Cat's dear friend Bex. Now, just waiting for Baby to arrive next month...

Jonny and Adele enjoyed half term camping on the Tanzanian coast...

Meanwhile, at home, half term was rapidly approaching, bringing with it the prospect of a breather: off to England for the motorhome’s yearly check. A good excuse to catch up with friends and family...

The biggest excitement for me, though, was an invitation to a tea party at Buckingham Palace. No, not with the Queen. More next month....

Jaunty June

This has to be the best month of the year. Spring has exploded into summer, the air is warm and the sun is shining - most days, it seems. Flowers are EVERYWHERE.

Drooping over the patio from our neighbours' garden.

Tree hydrangea

I am amazed at how quickly June is flying  by. The cycle commute to school has changed, as the hedges and banks which, at the beginning of the month were towering over my head, have been cut. It does make cycling down the lanes safer... I can now see vehicles coming, although the tractors which tear round the island are somewhat daunting....

One day, a magpie hopped insouciantly along the bank by my shoulder, so close I could see its wing feathers; a cock pheasant strutted his stuff at the edge of a field, just a couple of metres away from me, quite unconcerned; then, as I took one of my favourite back lanes near home, I saw a buzzard dive down and land at the edge of the field. He hadn't seen me, so I quietly drifted to a halt and climbed the ban to peep over. He flew up, almost in my face, yellow legs dangling as he slowly flapped white-patched wings towards the nearest tree before continuing on across the meadow. mobbed by two crows who pursued him with tremendous determination until he had safely left the area.

Goldfinches swoop busily in and out of the trees and bushes which blackbirds fly low-level across the garden, assiduously digging for worms in the early morning. Thrushes shriek from our neighbour's tree, almost deafening at times. A baby chaffinch rested thankfully on the bird table, its parent perched anxiously above it while it caught its breath.

There was other wildlife, too. Sawfly larvae emerged and started chomping away at the Solomon's Seal, effectively stripping the leaves. Nature's pruning. I started off the season by trying to remove them, before giving up: perhaps they would be food for the birds... but not before the leaves had been stripped to bare stems...

Inbetween bird watching, I teach; read the incredible World War 2 adventure stories the children have written; help them put together a 'museum' of all the incredible work they have done this term; help a group of girls created miniature Guernsey landmarks for our wheelbarrow 'garden'. Our entry this year for the annual schools' gardening wheelbarrow competition is a living 'map' of our island, surrounded by a beaches of bright yellow tagetes and a sea of trailing blue and white lobelia....  Our school 'garden' has now been converted into an outdoor learning area, so no more gardening club for me...

And lastly: Activities' Week. This year, I was fortunate to be with Year 4, 'supervising' them at the beach while they attended Surf School. Apart from a couple of misty, windy mornings, we sat in blazing sunshine, rejoicing over every successful attempt at standing up on the board. It was a blessing, too, to get to know colleagues who normally pass by briefly in the staffroom, as we don't usually work together. My journey down on the bike afforded me wonderful views of the coastline as I navigated the lanes. 30 minutes freewheeling downhill....40 - 50 minutes back up again....

View from the lookout at Le Grantez: site of a former windmill, a Napoleonic era fort and a German defence fortification.

A jack rabbit rests in the shade...

Vazon bay. #tropical

Then, as if I didn't have enough to do, we started making kombucha: fermented tea. Boy, reading the instructions and researching on the internet took hours of my life, but eventually I combined tea, sugar and hot water, letting it cool before gently inserting the mushroom-like 'SCOBY'. Waited a few days, then decanted the sweet fizzy drink. It was actually quite tasty... Now, can we keep it alive and going over the next couple of hot summer months...?

The SCOBY from above. Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast. So there we are.