Abandoned

No rain today – brilliant! So HH deigned to join me and we took the dogs for a long walk (he and I did much of it by car, as the road is very rough and hard for him to keep his feet). We went way up the hill, past a waterfall and the massive rocks at its foot, to the remains of a beautiful house and garden, through which the waterfall used to run. Over the last five years, the house has been progressively looted, to the point where only the walls remain – and some of those have wide cracks. The drive is totally overgrown, virtually impassable without a scythe, the wonderful bank of hydrangeas has disappeared beneath the weeds, and some outhouses and part of the swimming pool are now at the bottom of the hill, jumbled up with the rocks under the waterfall. The extra pic shows the waterfall and the rocks, which have been partially broken up – the car’s there to give an idea of the dimensions. They were each the size of a single-decker bus before.
 

Back home, I started to clear a weed-choked flowerbed of our own. It’s in a terrible state now, after all the rain. Why do weeds grow so much faster and better than cultivated plants – and why don’t the ants destroy them to the same extent? I toiled long and hard and filled a big sack, but even so had only reached the halfway point by the evening. I’m pleased with my progress, but my knees aren’t so happy. At least the dogs didn’t need a second walk – they’re exhausted.