85 degrees here yesterday - what a change from these freezing winter days. But lovely and cool inside - the sound of bees, a distant saw, the smell of peat wafting through the window..........the smell of peat wafting through the window? 

We rushed outside to discover that our intrepid cleaner, Sue, had managed to set my geranium pot on fire when she stabbed out her cigarette.  No wonder they tell us we mustn't use peat based compost. Fortunately Lynsay is in the local fire crew so she knew what to do. Spray the whole thing with foliar fertiliser.

After that excitement it was a nice chance to continue with the watering. Hanging baskets are all very well but until we get the automatic sprinker system going again its a bit of a palaver keeping them moist. And now we have the 'green' roof to add to the list. Which is, incidentally, doing tremendously well and now even has poppies bobbing around in the breeze,

So there we were sitting on the balcony last Sunday and heard a familiar  clanking and round the point came The Waverley.  For those of you who haven't heard of The Waverley, it is the last sea-going paddle steamer in the world and cruises around the Clyde all summer reminding people of the good old days of going 'Doon the watter'

She is a real icon, and a few years ago we were hugely miffed when a lady from Bristol came into the workshop and said ' I see you have borrowed  our steamer', We soon put her right. But the cruising season does start in Spring when she bravely battles down to the Bristol Channel for a few weeks. Then it's back up to Oban for some marvellous trips to Coll. Tiree and around the coast. But her real home is here on the Clyde , and there couldn't be a nicer treat than catching The Waverly at Tarbert on a Wednesday afternoon and cruising up Loch Fyne. Combined with a pre-cruise lunch over at Portavadie it makes for a grand day out.

Delighted to have storm Hector last night - we were getting really fed up hosing the garage roof. Unfortunately it coincided with a day that the electricity people decided to disrupt our power for the day to do maintainence.So for the poor souls in the cottages, not only did they have to wander off to find heat and light on the first of our greyer days, but the electricity was 2 HOURS late coming back on so drenched and starving they had to wait ages before there was any respite. AND they missed the Scottish News. Here's hoping they had all been visiting the distillery. A stiff letter has gone to the Hydro Board and a lot of use that will do. But huge apologies all round.

We are delightfully sheltered at the Mains, but not so just up the Glen and poor Judi, my trusty assistant, got held up coming to work by a fallen tree.  A fairly common occurance round here and it is miraculous how quickly a few experienced guys with chain saws can clear it all away. At least the trees are all well in leaf now , so not as much damage as a gale earlier on. Our cousin sailing back to Ireland this morning had a VERY bumpy trip, and most of the ferries were off but for once the Ardrossan-Campbeltown ferry has managed to sail.  If I rush up now to the balcony I will see it on the horizon. Or not.

One of our hens is sitting ( for about the twentieth time so we don't hold out much hope) so we are hoping for chicks. They are rather special Rhode Island Red bantams, and though we started off with 6 we are now down to 3 , so the egg supply really needs replenishing. One year we had a hen who produced 20 chicks from a shed at the bottom of the garden in November. She solemnly walked them all up to the house over the gravel. We rescued most of them and they ended up at the farm next door.

I will keep you posted....