Some don't like it hot

A tabby cat headbutting a green patio umbrella that's lying open on the grass to provide shade.

Right, I am not going to apologise for being rubbish at this blogging lark, because apologies are only worth anything if there's a real intention to change, and it's obvious that despite knowing I'm being rubbish I am not changing. I'm trying to catch up with reading everyone's blogs, only Bloglovin' no longer appears to be working, so if anyone can recommend me a blog reader that'd be ace. 

As you can see from Ziggy here, we survived the heatwave. I was really worried about the cats as they will not come in much in summer, even though the dining room is much cooler than outdoors on hot days. We'd bought a new patio umbrella so Pete turned the old one into a kitty shade, complete with a dish of cold water that I chucked ice cubes into every so often, and they did use it. For all that I accuse them of being brainless little beasts, they're pretty sensible in some ways and just went nocturnal in the heat. On the very hottest night Pete planned to sleep on a sun lounger in the garden, but ended up coming inside after Pippin was delighted to see him outside so late at night and blarted at him till he woke up.

The garden is doing well in the heat. My kiwi vines have finally arrived, so perhaps next year I'll be picking my own kiwi fruits, and the tomatoes are already ripening. The peppers and aubergines are both still rubbish, but they have both flowered, so if the slugs hold off I might get some fruit off them.

A red tomato growing on the vine, surrounded by green ones.

I've basically been dividing my time between work and home, nothing exciting. I did binge Stranger Things, which was fab. I hadn't bothered with series 3 when it came out, so did 3 and then 4, and really, really enjoyed it. The 80s sucked for me personally, but I didn't find the series made me nostalgic for times I lived through (which is good; I've always held that when you feel nostalgic for your own past, you've got big problems with your life right now) but it did make me recall how I felt watching things like The Goonies as a kid. It didn't make me recall a time so much as an emotion. 

Rupert Davies as Maigret.

We've also been watching old episodes of Maigret on Talking Pictures TV – the series filmed in the early 60s. It's really good, and as much as I love costume dramas or things set in past times there's always an element of dress-up to those, whereas shows set at the time they're filmed strive to feel real. (Just contrast the downbeat, muted BBC version of Tinker, Tailor from the late 70s with the much more stylish 2010s film version, or the deliberately downbeat 60s film of The Ipcress File with the 2020s TV programme.) 

I hope you're doing okay. As I say, I'm going to do my best to catch up with everyone's blogs, though I fear it may take some time!

Comments

  1. How exotic to have kiwi fruits in your garden! I only discovered kiwi fruit in the late 1980s whilst doing a teaching course at the South Bank Poly. A class mate demonstrated how to make a cheesecake in the 'teaching skills' part of our course programme and decorated it with slices of kiwi fruit...I still love them to this day.

    Our tomatoes have done well and we have loads so fingers crossed for yours. What a clever idea to have a 'cool cats' area!

    Have a great week
    xxx

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    1. I was really surprised to find they'd grow in our climate, but some varieties are really hardy. I dream of a peach tree, but I'd need a south-facing wall to grow it against and don't have one.

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  2. I have never used Bloglovin' or any other blog reader, so unfortunately I cannot recommend you one. I've always used the reader which comes with Blogger, which always worked fine for me.
    The kitty shade is a great idea! So far, we haven't let Bess into the garden, as we're quite near to a busy road. She did insist on coming upstairs with us, although it's a lot cooler downstairs.
    I don't think I've ever seen the Maigret series you've mentioned. I'm actually quite partial to the 1990s French series featuring Bruno Cremer. And much to my shame I've yet to see a single episode of Stranger Things ... xxx P.S. I don't like it hot either :-)

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    1. I should have a look at Blogger's reader and see if that does the trick for me... at the mo I'm having to fall back on the sidebar on my own blog. (Followup... I am going to seriously have to update the Blogger reader!)

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  3. Wrt a blog reader, I cannot recommend The Old Reader highly enough. It was made to replace Google Reader when that was discontinued and is a pretty close replica.

    I feel similarly about nostalgia, especially for the 80's, an objectively miserable time for most, but the optics are cute, I guess? Good music though!

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  4. I'm so glad you made it through the heat OK. Cats do seem to have some instincts about weather. I couldn't even think about sleeping outside as I'd be devoured by insects. Repellent can only do so much.
    Don't feel bad about visiting blogs-summertime is so short why spend it in front of a computer?
    Beautiful tomato! I can practically smell it from here.

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    1. They do smell so good! I harvested a few more this morning.

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  5. I'd heard Bloglovin's feed was down and now Blogger has also cancelled their email feeds. It's very annoying! I have to go through all my comments, then check the profiles of the commenters for their blog links. Anyway, no worries!

    Glad you made it through the heat - I'd always rather have cold than extreme heat - and that your kitties also adapted. What a good idea to build them a sun-shelter.

    We had a good tomato season here too! Kiwis grow well in my part of the world - I hope they work for you!

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