Same Old, Same Old ...

Sunshine again - it's beginning to be a bit, shall I say ... monotonous. I couldn't put off tackling the 'stumpery' any longer, as we are going away on Tuesday and this area is full of sycamore seedlings, which have germinated in the earth left bare by the felling of the cypress trees on the bank. I managed to get most of them out before being beaten back by the heat - that area faces south-east. 
Chris the Plumber came and put in a new immersion heater - apparently it will be able to use the energy from our solar panels. Good -oh.
My hoped for sit-down after lunch didn't materialise - TM wanted to plan what to do with the area where the spruces were felled. Somehow, we failed to realise that taking out these over-mature trees would not be the end of the exercise.
Another evening at the Borders Book Festival. It's lovely this year, Harmony Gardens are looking gorgeous and people are picnicking, chatting, relaxing on the grass, browsing in the Book Tent admiring the flowers .... I went to listen to Richard Holloway, and TM to a young woman who has climbed Everest twice and done lots of other adventurous things. And written a book about it ... and she's only 31 ... and says she's risk-averse. TM was a very taken with her.
He then went to Richard Harris's talk, which was excellent and only marred by one of the audience passing out and falling off her chair. I didn't see an ambulance while I was waiting for it to finish. But I did get a shot of Melrose Abbey looking serene in the evening light.