At 1:30 this afternoon, the opening ceremony for this year's two-week village fete kicked off at the riverside. At 2, the Street Market opened featuring stalls and tombolas run by various charities, organizations, and businesses in the village. Don had a tee-off at 1:30 for the St Fillans Seniors Tournament. I missed the opening but went along at almost 2 for the street market. I came home with 3 plants purchased from the Comrie Horticultural Society booth (known as "the Horties"): a Borage [boarAGE with a soft French "g"], a trailing Companula [comPANulah], and a pot of 8 or so Basil plants [BASul]. Now I must decide where I'll put them.
Crossing the bridge on my way home, I encountered Louise, who works in one of the estate agents, walking home with her elderly Dad. She was carrying a plant and espied the 3 plants sticking out of the carrier bags I was lugging along. "Oh," she said, pointing to one of them, "that Borage is from MY garden." So we chatted about how to plant it and care for it. She says the lovely purple flowers are good to put in a Pimm's Cup (an alcoholic drink that is popular over here in the summertime and which tastes a bit like a Long Island Iced Tea but is only an eighth as "lethal").
Her old Dad is getting a bit dottie as the years go on, but he is as sweet as can be. Many mornings he walks to the busstop in a shirt and his bermuda shorts (in this warm weather) carrying a briefcase. He doesn't go anywhere, just sits at the busstop chatting with anyone who's waiting for the bus. Folks in the village sort of keep an eye on him and chat with him. He seems to be quite lonely and very gregarious. He and I have chatted several times over the years but he forgets and so we have the same conversation each time. This afternoon, however, after he had asked where I was from and I had told him, and he had asked how long was I here for on holiday and I had told him we live here, his face lit up and he said "Oh! And Do you have a husband who likes to play golf?" I said "Yes, that would be Don." He responded "Don! That's right. I know Don!" So Donald has certainly made an impression.
The Duck Race began at 4. You buy a chance on a rubber duck which has a number on it. At 4 the ducks are put in the water on one side of the bridge. They "swim" downstream under the bridge. The first to reach the finish line pays off. The water is so low and there is so little breeze today that it is likely to be more of a Duck Meander than a Duck Race. It's fun, though, as people line the bank and the bridge to cheer on "their" duck.
All of these activities raise money for various local volunteer and charitable organizations as well as for the Comrie Fortnight fund. At 6:30 tonight in Melville Square just outside the Royal Hotel the Comrie Pipes and Drums will perform. Tonight there is a family ceilidh (KAYlee) in the White Church as well as an evening of musical entertainment (fiddling and singing) at the Earnbank Hotel.
It's another beautiful day. Again the forecast called for today to be cloudy and for there to be rain showers for the next 4 days. Each day starts out cloudy and we do have some overcast periods, but the sun usually breaks through by 11 or so and mostly the days are warm and sunny with blue skies. I'm having to water the plants almost every day. At least temperatures moderated somewhat so that the highs are in the mid-70s and the humidity is lower now.
Yesterday afternoon, Don and I both worked on removing a large overgrown shrub that sat at the edge of the pathway near our front entrance. Using clippers and heavy-duty pruning shears, I managed to get about 2/3 of the growth cut off. Don then dug out around the roots (which took about an hour of back-breaking work) and wrestled the remaining third of the plant plus the rootball out of the ground. We clipped the debris into smaller pieces and Don carried it to the skip in Crieff. I made a start at cutting back the overgrown evergreens that have taken over the rock garden that sits in front of the entryway and beside the dining area. It will take a lot of work to reclaim that area but it will be worth it. Just removing the shrub has opened the area up completely. We now have more light in the dining area--but we also now have a better view of all the overgrowth!
Comrie Fortnight events continue tomorrow with a variety of activities: a cricket game, a garden tour, an outdoor religious service, and a quiz night at The White Church. We will be entertaining tomorrow evening. We've invited Sophie and Simon Thomson, the folks who own and run Comrie's deli, to come share a meal with us. They moved to Comrie in August of 2003 and we came in September of that year, so we feel like kindred spirits. He's English and she is from Belgium. They're both lovely folks and we've been wanting to get to know them better.
Also on our horizon--Billy Joel!
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