Pesky varmint!

I am supposed to be editing today, but I'm grumpy and can't settle, not least because I'm chasing payment of an invoice for a raft of yoga classes that began on 3 July. It's not acceptable and I'm banging my head against a brick wall. In an attempt to boost my mood I've been for a walk, but that hasn't helped. So, I'm writing a blog instead. I should probably have tried this first. Here goes.

We have a beautiful hazel tree in our garden that this year has yielded a particularly spectacular harvest. We like hazelnuts, but not, apparently, as much as the squirrels, who have been quicker off the mark than we have in their picking. Now, I like a squirrel as much as the next woman, but they've gone too far.

Usually they skitter about in pairs, but I've had regular visits from a Gang of Four who, not content with stripping the tree, have also been fighting amongst themselves. If you think squirrels are cute, I assure you you'd change your mind if you had one snarling at you from the conservatory roof. And the noise!

I would be quite  happy to share the produce with them, but they haven't left us any at all. They eaten quite a few, judging by the debris on the patio, but they've also buried dozens in my lawn. I fully expect that we shall have our own burgeoning woodland this time next year. They've been at the peanut feeder, too, and during their acrobatics have annihilated the trellis over the shed window. 

What's the solution? I don't want to cut down the tree, but this can't go on. One friend has suggested we cut off the nuts. Whether he means from the tree or from the squirrels isn't clear.

Hello, Monday

Well, that was a good weekend. Number Two son Joe has been with us on and off. He had a couple of gigs locally, so stayed over rather than spending money on train fares. Lovely to see him, as always. His brother Sam joined us for Sunday tea and a political rant or two, bless him.

Before that, though, the weather was so grand on Saturday I took myself off for a walk in the morning and then pottered in the garden all afternoon. I had a bit of a tidy round, then sowed the first of the new season's seeds. That allotment won't fill itself!

Don't you think that a corkscrew hazel (see pic) is the most excellent value? In the winter, it has wonderful contorted branches that make amazing shapes, followed by glorious catkins. OK, the summer is a bit so-so, when the leaves adorn it like hankies that need ironing, but they are a lovely colour. Then come the nuts, if you can get there before the squirrels do.

Yesterday morning I went to a yoga session with the lovely Lindsey Watson in Loughborough on the theme of  radiance and bliss, something I'm always looking for! She incorporated a gong into the relaxation session. Who doesn't love a gong?

I watched some of the Comic Relief Danceathon yesterday on the red button. I know of three people who took part and I saw two of them on TV. Amazing, given how many folk were there. I thought it looked great fun and I wish I'd been part of it. Cynical son said it looked like hell on earth, all that jigging about with strangers and self-aggrandising celebrities. Undeterred, I leapt around the living room to show my support.