Still Sunny and Dry

Here is a photo taken a couple of weeks ago of the trellis planter showing the Nasturtiums when they were still healthy. I'm afraid my attempted cure was worse than the disease because although I seem to have gotten rid of the aphids, I believe I got rid of the Nasturtiums as well. They are still there but they are looking poorly indeed. So this afternoon I'll have to go out and, most likely, pull them out. It's too bad because they looked pretty; now they look pretty awful.

My sweetpeas seem not to be progressing well either. On Monday when we were coming back from my clothes-shopping spree in Perth, we passed Dollerie Farm which always has flowers for sale at its entrance. They had several cheery bouquets of sweetpeas in buckets of water, sitting on a roadside stand. We stopped and I bought a bouquet, paying my 2 pounds on the honor system. So fat was the bunch of sweetpeas that I was able to split the one bouquet into two. These are deliciously fragrant and refresh the air wherever I put them.

Last night we went back to Perth for a concert by two Scottish groups: Old Blind Dogs, one of our favorite traditional Scottish folk bands, and Blazing Fiddles, a 7-piece group with 5 fiddlers, a guitarist, and a keyboard player. We've been following "the Dogs" for years now--literally and figuratively. The first time we saw them, we had to drive all the way to Delaware because that was the closest they came to the D.C. area. They were playing an evening gig in a pub on a weeknight and so we had to stay overnight in a motel in order to see them, but they were worth it. That was in the early 90s when the group was fairly new. The lead singer, Ian Benzie, and another member or two left and the group reformed in the late 90s. When we saw them at Wolftrap in Virginia 5 or so years ago, we were curious to see how well the new group worked. With new lead singer Jim Malcolm the group was every bit as entertaining as with the original lineup. The anchor in the group was Jonny Hardie, a wicked fiddler. Last night's gig was Jim Malcolm's farewell performance. Malcolm, who is from Perth, has decided he wants a quieter life with less travel. The "Dogs" will continue to tour and perform with the four remaining members and, we suspect, will do quite well on their own. Die-hard fans will miss Malcolm's strong tenor at first but the remaining four are strong performers. They'll be in the States soon and are worth going to see. http://www.oldblinddogs.co.uk/

Yesterday morning our joiner boss, Barclay, brought Rick over to measure up the space (again) for the new cupboard. Rick will be putting the cupboard together and will install it by the weekend. Barclay said he has the remaining missing window vent cover and will get it installed this week. He'll also make the necessary adjustments to our bedroom window which suddenly got out of alignment so that it didn't shut and lock properly. When he comes back we will try to pin him down as to when he'll get a crew over to put the insulation in our loft. Once that and the cupboard are in, the joiners' work will be finished. Meanwhile we've put in a call to Davy, our plumber, to come check out why we have insufficient cold water pressure in our bathroom (not the new shower room) and also to see if anything can be done about the areas in the roans (guttering) where water drips rather than being channeled toward the rainwaters (downspouts).

Don's away playing 9 holes with Ross Munro. Time for me to get ready to meet Nan for coffee. Liz is helping an aging relative in Edinburgh this morning and Robbie and Peter are on holiday in British Columbia and the Canadian Rockies (with an Alaska cruise thrown into the bargain).