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This climbing rose nearly ceased to be during last winter with mildew and blackspot.  Naomi nurtured it back to health, a process that included some radical pruning.  But it worked and now it is healthy again and growing strongly.  

Today, the ride on mower decided that it, too, was going to cease being.  Instead of bursting into ear cracking life, it made only a weak clicking sound when the ignition key was turned.  Usually that points to a faulty starter solenoid so I wrestled said part free and photographed the type number so that I could order up a replacement.  One other possibility was a faulty battery, quite a long shot since the battery had turned the motor over strongly just before the whole thing decided it wasn't going to come out to play any more.  I borrowed jump leads from the neighbours and tried jump starting.  It worked!  So I kept the motor running while I detached the jump leads and was able to finish off the grass cutting.  So, a new battery is required, not a solenoid, which is a bit of a bummer as the whole machine is only a couple of years old.

It was hot today, 33 degrees or so, and we were in the pool late afternoon just to cool down.  Aperos on the terrace, but there were a couple of tiger mosquitoes circling and we didn't sit out as long as we would have liked.