April showers?

Luis here:

We have commenced my favourite month of the year, April, with Ian´s return from the UK where he spent a busy time. I stayed behind at La Pasera with Gawber and nursing Wentworth who has now returned to full health after been very poorly. He ended spending the night in hospital and we feared that he might have been poisoned accidentally when we gave him some flea treatment that we have used in the past. The flea drops were Bob Martins Spot On, needless to say that we shall not used this particular brand again as it is notorious for causing harm including the death of people's cats- the accompaning literature did not mention how harmful it can be, we only realised it once Wentworth bacame unwell and after checking the chemicals over the Internet. Use this at your peril. Wentworth´s health was further complicated few days after being discharged when he had a bad abcess on his tail resulting from an earlier fight with a local cat. Both cats are now back to normal and being such good hunters, gawber still hunts more than Wentworth and it is Wentworth the one with a taste for meat.

The weather is unsettled and changeable at present. I hope that the windy and wet spell we had in the last two weeks in March is now over. The cherry blossom this year was a lesser show than the previous due to the two weeks arround Easter when we experienced a cold spell with heavy rain, strong winds, storms and hailstone. The vegetable plot benefitted with the moisture as the soil was rather dry. We were able to fill up the water tubs with the rain from the shed roof, this water is being used already to water different seeds and young plants and helps us with our efforts at being more environmentally conscious by reducing the use of the hose pipe even when we do not have a drought.

I recently finished making a pebble mosaic using the indirect method, this entails bedding the pebbles on a bit of dry sand until you have finished the desired design and before filling the mould up to the top with mortar and once dry you turn it upside down, if there are any mistakes, you need to live with them but unfortunately I was far too impatient to see the results of the new technique and it broke in two pieces coming out of the mould. We will be able to repair and use somewhere in the garden.

In the vegetable plot, we continue to enjoy a variety of vegetables and this years sowings are starting to delight out meals, at present the baby radishes and early sprouting broccoli are very tasty.