A pair of blue damselflies mating on our pond It's been a beautiful day here on the Wirral.  Lunch was taken in the garden, and then later in the day there were three pairs of blue damselflies courting over the pond, plus a fifth blue damselfly and a red damselfly resting on rhubarb leaves overhanging the water.  A family of pond skaters has hatched out, and a water boatman has been scooting around for the last few days. Work on the fourth novel in the Artisan-Sorcerer Series continues, and the word count now stands at 90,000 with a fair chunk of plot left.  I'm toying with murdering a popular character...  Maybe, maybe not; I've not entirely made up my mind yet, mostly because this is one of my favourite characters too and it would be a shame to wave goodbye.  But, hey, I can always create another one....

The first rose of 2014 The lawn already has a sprinkling of fallen rose petals.  The first rose to open was by the entrance to the grove.  This photo was taken from just inside the grove, which is approached down a narrow grassy path which turns sharply to the east-facing entrance.  Shade is cast by a towering contorted hazel tree ( Corylus avelana 'Contorta' ) and a wall of ivy.  Tucked next to the entrance is a small pond, which you can just about see half-hidden behind the ornamental grass in the lower left corner of the photo. Click on the images to view them larger. Within the Grove In the photo above, you can see where the circular lawn of the grove has been re-edged.  Bare soil is already disappearing under poppy seedlings and the allysum which I've since planted.  I also planted some French marigolds but they were eaten overnight by slugs and snails.  For the same reason, hostas don't survive long in my garden, which is a pity as ...