Cool June, Organic Paint, Waiting for Silage, Ducklings in the Kitchen

With June now in full swing the flowers in the garden are really coming into glory now. These irises in my small walled garden just look fabulous and the roses are beginning to open now although some of the early varieties are almost a month later than usual, particularly Maigold which is well and truly by finished by the end of May in 'normal' years. The month is proving to be cool and damp...what ever happened to 'flaming June'?

I have been busy this past week with another decorating project, this time our sitting-room which was looking so shabby. I have used some marvellous organic paint(http://www.ecospaints.com/) which has no horrible solvents in it and no ghastly smell which lingers. It is wonderful to use, going on the walls very easily and leaving a good finish. The room has been transformed as I've used a blue/grey shade that is very different from the old rich cream and it gives the room a rather good 18th century air which I do like and it suits the house.
As always there have been vast numbers of books to take off shelves, but it does force one to have a good sort out and I have managed to glean 3 boxes of books that are not deemed necessary to keep. The criteria used is if I haven't re-read it in the past 5 years then I probably won't ever, so off it goes, although inevitably some get a last minute reprieve...'It was actually quite good and so I should read it again' or ' I can't remember anything about it but the blurb sounds good so I should give it another go'.

The Farmer is itching to get on with the silage but having had days of rain he's having to be patient. Hopefully next week will be better.The grass is ready now and so long that I can;t walk the dogs through the fields at present. We have to content ourselves with going up the the various green lanes on the farm and having lovely walks through tunnels of dappled shade under the beech and oak treees that line the paths. The may trees, the laburnum and rhododendrons are all in flower and look magnificent.

For the past three days I have had a box of 4 newly hatched ducklings in the kitchen by the Rayburn. KT hatched them out in her incubator and then kindly handed them over to me to look after. They are really rather sweet and seem to be thriving. They sit quietly for a while dozing and then suddenly wake up and start making their little peeping noises and being energetic and scrambling over each other for food & water, then exhausted setttle down again...just like all baby things. They are of course, going to imprint on to the Farmer & me but once they are fully feathered and able to go out with the other ducks on the pond they should adapt reasonably well and may even stay a little tame.