We need rain

There's a line you won't see very often on this place, I can tell you.  But seriously, we do.  I've been spending a lot of time in the garden these last couple of months - had a big project which has been hanging over me for a long time.  We had a small side garden, y'see, which had been allowed to 'run wild'.  Not wild as in a proper, planned, wild garden, the likes of which you might hear Charlie-boy drone on about with regard to Highgrove or some such palace.  No, we are talking wild as in a serious jungle of stinging nettles and not much else.

A grand sight - if you're standing where I was when I took this shot, it means you are on the ferry to Rathlin, just leaving Ballycastle.  And that, dear readers, is a Good Thing.

So, with the aid of Surely-to-God-Tony, as he has become known, the side garden has been tackled - strimmed, cleared, dug over, fruit trees (eating apples, cooking apples, damsons, plums) have been purchased and planted and grass seed sown.   I say sown, I mean grass seed laid out for the wild pigeons' breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Some seeds have decided to take root and actually grow, to be fair, but it's patchy to say the least.

I'm sure when the nettles re-appear next spring the bare patches will not be so noticeable.  Ah, the joys of living in the country.

There are many of these old winches dotted around the coast here in The Liberties - this one lies near Port-na-Happle in Portstewart.  Used for many years to bring in salmon nets - in the days when salmon were plentiful.  Nowadays out in the bay it's mostly lobster pots, which are brought in by boats like Lady Jade.

But anyway, since the grass seed was put down, I've been checking on it every day, as one does.  And it has been unbelievably dry since the start of September, so I've actually had to water the seed from time to time.  This is unheard of in The Liberties for this time of year.  Actually, for any time of the year, come to think about it.  And the ever-eloquent Mr Karlsvik over there in Norway-land has also something to say about the weather.  The ground actually needs rain.  It's mad.