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Hi elle

When I posted in the middle of the night, I had been trying to sleep for several hours and given up. When I got back, I slept quite soundly but only until just before 6. Still not hungry!

Then spent about an hour watering the garden while it was cool; I have to carry heavy cans up to the strawberries etc and it takes a while. I see we might get some rain next week, I hope so. It's traditional during Wimbledon, isn't it?

So, is there tennis for you to watch now?

Hi Ros,

Oh dear! I am sorry about your lack of sleep last night - you must
have been tired if you slept for 2 hours early evening!

Could you not install some kind of large container for retaining
rain water during the rainy season, so that you could use that water
for the strawberries - positioning it close to the strawberries patch that is). I know how tiring and heavy watering carrying watering cans can
be - I used to have hydrangeas planted too far to be reached by
the hose, and you know how much water they need!

As far as the news are concerned, I am not too bothered if I don't
listen to them - like you, I find them both depressing and kind of
repetitive; one day a problem rises here, the next day it rises elsewhere; As for our new President, he is losing popularity
particularly among the elderly population, advocating economies on
retirement money, while spending at same time many thousands euros on new porcelaine tableware for his personal use, to be paid by the State of course! I am sure the Elysée Palace was not short of nice crockery before! Perhaps I should not criticize him so openly on this Forum, but I would willingly say it to his face!

There is a particular site that appears on my PC every morning
called Planet something, which gives brief resumé of what's
happening in France, and a similar one for England - That is ample
for me - If I want more detail, then I can pursue the matter.

I have never seen a red admiral 'for real', I just have the normal
common butterfly, usually white, sometimes yellow.

Hope you have recovered by now!

Good morning, Elle!

Hot up here too, Elle.
Oh for a cooling breeze!
Think you are right about Laura.
She flew into Glasgow for 48 hours for her graduation and back to training camp.
It is in Spain or USA, but I forget which!
One very hard working girl!
The British Championships are on BBC at the weekend but I do not know if that is in her plans. (Hope so!)
I had a bit of a walk earlier.
I shall head to the woods later where it should be considerably cooler.
I found the puzzle not too difficult today.
Though 14d threw me for a while, before light struck!
Not heard of them before, but something to do with the Bible, I suspect.
St Somebody's letter/epistle to the ??????????, it is.
So, a wee hint for you, if you tackle it!

Hello Elle and Rusty,

Gorgeous weather here too, slightly windy but rather warm already -
nice!

Just peeped at the kestrels and they were in their usual position
waiting for food - the 'fisticuffs' (new word to me!) was probably
because everyone wants the best position - I am afraid there is
the 'tiny' one behind the first row, but somehow he always manages
to get properly fed.

The ospreys too are getting rather bit! When will they be ringed?
They look to be the right size for it to me?

Try and stay in the cool of the house Elle, but careful the 'square
eyes' with the qualification matches, having said you should try
and restrain yourself - Difficult when it is your favourite sport, I
understand!

Hi rusty, Hope all is still well with you this morning?

Good morning, Pigale!
All's well here, though a tad too warm for me!
At least you have some wind!
I would say any day now for tagging the chicks at the loch.
They are doing very well.
Laddie came in with a biggish salmon last week.
He's a good provider!

Hi, Rusty!
I am so far resisting all calls to tennis........!
But.....Qualifying rounds for Wimbledon on the RB this morning......
Eastbourne on BBC2 from 2pm this afternoon.....
And too hot to go walking .....
What is a gal to do?!
I have finished, bar two clues, today's Times Cryptic.
I didn't find 14d too bad....... I think I have it right?
Colossians = recipient of letter (def)
Sian - Welsh woman
Co loss - business deficit
The ones I cannot do are 28a: Yippee = that's wonderful(def)
But how to arrive at that? I cannot parse it?
and 29a: ?Y?S?I?E
I have no idea there?
All else done and dusted!



Pigale, the kestrel babies seem anxious to be fed?
They are squawking for their food, and virtually jumping up and down!
I am still resisting watching the tennis.....I am being 'strong'!
I know that you are right.....and if I watch the TV too much, I shall develop a migraine...so I shall "ration" myself!


Ros, yes, tennis qualifying rounds for Wimbledon this morning...and the Eastbourne matches this afternoon....
But so far I am doing crosswords!
Have you managed to have a little snooze?
A cat nap or a dog doze?

Hi elle
No snooze for me yet, maybe after lunch. Have a friend coming for tea, don't want to doze off while talking to her (have done that to people in the past!)

My friend Peter always wanted to construct a catching device for water near the strawberries, pigale. He's 90 now so I should have said yes a while back! It would be quite a project as the fruit cage is a long way from the house or any other collecting place. I think I would have to rig up a flat collecting area leading to a barrel or something. What I do at the moment is fill a barrel from the hose while carrying the water cans up only half the garden. Get a longer hose pipe maybe

You've only ever seen large whites? Goodness me, I wonder why? I have actually seen three different types of butterfly in the garden today (hooray!) and one damselfly, Sympetrum striolatum which is very common but welcome.

Hello, Elle!
You have done well with your puzzle!
Now, "Yippee"
Six months is "ye(ar)", current is "i", and I presume "PPE" is something they teach at Oxford Uni?
29, is straightforward.
In this instance a "lower" is an "Ayrshire" coo!
I had never heard of Colossians before!
Not a bad puzzle today?

Update, Elle,
The "PPE" course at Oxford Uni is short for "Philosophy, Politics, and Economics".

Greetings all

Ros and Pigale
Regarding butterflies .
When we used to spend Summers in France, along with the Whites and Brimstones, we had dozens of these Swallowtail butterflies all over the Lavender in our garden. We also had Hoopoes and an Ostrich (yes, really ) that used to visit from a nearby farm.

https://ibb.co/d21GqT

Ros, I have a photo of what I think is a Broad Bodied Chaser taken on an iphone yesterday in a friend's garden in Dorset. Are you up for an identification if I post it ? I have been comparing to google images, but unsure. Yes, I know this is a crossword forum, but Ros is so knowledgable