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.