What a difference some sun makes

Two weeks on and spring has kicked in. Here's an picture update comparing the situation to a fortnight ago.

Things are (finally) starting to blossom and my hard grafting over the last couple of weeks feels rewarding every time I look outside the window. It is showing some colour now, the viola are doing their very best and I managed to get rid of all the weeds by the old fashioned way. Getting down on the knees and pulling everything out by hand!

I transplanted some Sedum telephium I salvaged from the 'old' garden before the diggers tore the place apart. They survived the winter (they don't really need much of anything be it soil or water) and I planted them in the front garden. Bees and butterflies absolutely adore the big, attractive flowers (and so do I).
The pionies are doing well, I was afraid all the digging had damaged the roots, but they seem to be fine.
They are instant added greenery to the still brownish, bald looking garden.
Spring is two to three weeks late, but some things are really going well. The bee hotels are nearly full this time of year. The first few rays of sun induced the pollinators to come out and fill up several bamboo-straws in the hotel. 
Dr Livingstone moved one of the hotels next to a sitting area, I think it was hanging too much in a drafty section near the stables. 
Also some of the things I've sown such as the dill, cress and basilicum are growing steadily in the conservatory. I'm not transferring them to the outside just yet, we still had a spot of frost last week and the nights are still chilly, around 3ºC at night.
Because of the good results I've had I've bought some more seeds and have now started growing sunflowers (a low kind which only grow up to 50cms) and Tagetes patul to plant next to the strawberry plants which went in a while ago.
I hope they can go in within a week or three!

Garden panther

Stolen from somewhere on the internet.

It's finished!

My cobblestone path is finished! I even re-did three rows of the first line which were only resting in sand, not mixed with concrete.
It's looking good for a first-timer. I feel pretty proud of myself now. Tee-hee. Our neighbour still has a huge heap of cobblestones left over, maybe I'll lay a circle of them around a treetrunk or something.

And yesterday all the twigs that need to yield vast amounts of berries have found their new home outside.
It did result in some back ache, but that was gone this morning.
Now I'm just all sorts of tired and dead chuffed to have done so well in the cobblestone laying.

Dill & Cress

The dill is on schedule! A little surprise awaited me when I went to check on the pots.
It started germinating since the temperatures have stayed above freezing level.
Let's hope it goes according to plan so I can put them in terra firma as soon as they are big enough to fend for themselves outside.

Also the plants in the hall are doing ok. They've started to show some more leaves. I hope I can put them out as soon as I've cleaned up the side of the car port and they can grow on over there.
I do need some manure or soil with some extra nutrients to enrich the soil in place. It doesn't look very -eh- fertile at the moment.
But I'm dreading going to the garden centre again. Spring is going to start this weekend according to the weather forecast and I'm not too keen on slaloming between OAP's.

This inspired me to sow some watercress on a piece of old kitchen towel in a tray. Even kids can grow these so I'd be very dissapointed if this didn't catch on.

It also rained a little today, my cobblestone path has hardened and looks firm enough to last a couple of years!

Hall Berry

It is still too cold outside to plant stuff, so I am keeping some plants indoor that should have been out. They're parked next to the radiator and next to the front door so they can catch the early morning and afternoon sun.
About half of them have already started to show some leaves.
I hope the weather will get better so they can go into the ground a.s.a.p.
I want them to produce loads of berries. I've always wanted a garden where I can just walk around and pluck yummy things from greenery.

Cobblestones part 2

Around 2pm Dr Livingstone was home and I got up from my reading and comfy warm chair to lay some more cobblestones.
He fetched three wheelbarrows from next door and then I cracked on with my new found cobblestone-laying-skill.
After a lovely afternoon (around half past three I got rid of my jacket and hat!) I have now just under 4 meters to go.
Eat your heart out Tom Boonen! I'm the queen of the cobblestones!

I'm now back in my comfy chair, with dessert wine at arm's reach and considerable back ache. But I hope it will wane in due time as I feel I cannot stop now and have to finish Dr Livingstone's romantic path.

I just let Mouser out and Kitteh did NOT use the path. :-(

Garden workout

Easter Monday and finally some sunshine and a nice 8ºC.
Time to finish stuff in the garden I started on Sunday.
I had previously sanded down the garden furniture and have given them the once over with some protective fluid. They have now lost the bland grey tone and are looking a warm orangey-brown again, just like new.
I probably will be sanding them again with a very fine grain to make them feel a little more smooth and agreeable to the skin.

I got round to stripping tree branches Dr Livingstone cut off a couple of weeks ago and decimated small twigs so we can dry and stack them and then use them next year to get the stove going.

Next up I cut some kind of prickly shrub that was growing through the fence.
Goodbye and good riddance.

Our neighbour kindly helped out with his swivelling laser level to put some markers down so the guys with their bulldozers know what to dig and how to level the ground. Apparently there is a difference of 15 cms. No wonder we have a lot of water around the house. If we get all that extra ground shifted things will be a lot better.

The other neighbour (the one who believes in chem-trails and aliens) brought us a box of eggs and told us he had a mountain of cobblestones he wanted to get rid of and if we wanted to take them off his hands?
Yes please!

Dr Livingstone had already dug some trenches for the cement borders that need to go in, he was quite exhausted around 3pm. We had two St-Bernardus beers and we soaked up some sun while it lasted.

Dr Livingstone eventually got two wheelbarrows of stones from next door. He also kindly shovelled plenty of sand and screed and then I just went ahead and began to lay a little cobblestone path!
Never done it before, it's not perfect, but I'm proud of my work so far. I've come about 3 meters and still need to lay around 10 meters. The path is three cobblestones wide.

I am however feeling stiff all over (so is Dr Livingstone) and I do not think getting up in the morning will be an easy chore...

Priests and scientists review

This boring book is in a way interesting but overall gets filed under 'boring'. I'm talking about Prêtres et scientifiques by Jean-Michel Maldamé.
I thought this was going to be an interesting read. I got bogged down. It took me three afternoons to finish a mere 200 pages.
The outset is good: What is the relation between science and religion for some well known priest-scientists and did they conflict in any way in their research?

To investigate this he chooses five priest-scientists from Pierre Gassendi (tried to reconcile Epicurian atomism with christianity), Bernard Bolzano (of Bolzano theorem fame; he is erronously named 'Pierre' Bolzano on the cover), Henri Breuil (prehistorian), Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (famous for having conflicts with Rome on the doctrine of original sin and a less strict interpretation of the book of Genesis) and home-grown George Lemaître (alumni of my university and the first person to propose the theory of the expansion of the Universe, widely misattributed to Edwin Hubble). The choice looked very promising. Different fields of research, different time periods, different stances on the religion/science relationshop. But...

I don't really like the way French authors write. They never use one sentence if they can say it in three. If I were just to read the two pages of the conclusion every scientist gets at the end of his own chapter that would have saved me a lot of bother.
Plus the author is very much biassed, being a dominican himself. He interprets certain things as very pious or courageous in light of religion and priestly devotion to the catholic cause.
Plus I cannot stand sentences with exclamation marks.

I did like how he explained the way the religion shaped the scientific research or the philosophical and theological work of the priest-scientists, although Lemaître stressed several times that religion had no place in scientific research and vice versa. Somewhere toward the end Maldamé concludes that these five men voulu lier les champs du savoir separé. But he does not present any convincing evidence for the case of Lemaître, quite the opposite.

Of course the author chose 5 individuals who were easy to analyze because they had written a lot about their relationship between their research and their religious background and calling. But I would like to have Maldamé broadened his research and find some priest-scientists who failed to keep religion separated from their science. I'm sure he could have equally found five of those which would have made a more varied and balanced read.

Anyway, it was a compulsory read for a subject I'm taking this year on the Church in society in the 19th and 20th century.

Choice: confirmed

Still no change in weather. Mouser is choosing the lesser of two evils. Sleeping on the bed or sleeping on Mrs B.

Garden adventures and woe

Nine days on since my last post and I woke up (again) to a nice white sheet of snow covering the garden.
I had been busy in the garden on and off these last couple of weeks (weather permitting). 

All the trees and shrubberies had a good trim before -what I thought looked like imminent- spring. 
I got rid of some annoying green ground cover (about four wheelbarrows).  
Then I went on a garden centre shopping spree. I planted some 12 English Lavender plants (Lavandula angustifolia), bought a Common Broom (Cytisus scoparius), and a variety of sedum plants which I combined with some I had transplanted from our old garden and had kept to replant when the time was wright. Another sort of ground cover was planted alternately being Vinca minor; the white breed 'Gertrude Jeckyll' and the purple variety.

I also planted loads of gladiolus bulbs but nothing seems to be happening.

I also fetched a flexible border. Dr Livingstone didn't want a straight path in front but a winding 'romantic' one. So flex border it was.

Then I stumbled upon a sale of viola in hanging baskets. I got 9 of them (3 yellow, 3 white and 3 purple) and they're fixed to the end of the roof beams of the conservatory now. 

I also wanted a small herbgarden. I got in oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil, chives and parsley.
I fashioned a small raised planting box (which was pre-made), mixed in our own soil with some fertilizer and extra chalk and put in everything.
So far the basil has not survived the extreme low temperatures. 

I have sown some dill in the conservatory, that should be coming out in a fortnight. 
I still want coriander, sage, huge amounts of mint (mmmm, lovely fresh mint tea!) and maybe some fennel.

This week I got some eight or so strawberry plants and yesterday I got in blackcurrent, raspberries and red berries (Ribes family). Three of each for starters. We would like to plant them next to the car port together with apple and pear trees. The siding of the car port is a dark brown now and gives off loads of heat. Dr Livingstone wants to renew the sides with stuff they use on the side of lorries, as they require a lot of paintwork and something low-maintenance would be a big plus.

Dr Livingstone has been digging some trenches here and there (as long as his back permits). We still need to have some borders put in to make the garden look a bit better, corner off some areas. The guys still need to sow in large parts of the garden with grass and make some kind of sitting area in front of the conservatory, around the beach tree and make a parking space for my car.

They were here to look at the job to make us an estimate, but they haven't got back to us with a price. Nor is the weather helping us either. It is still freezing at night and temperatures do not go above some 8ºC during the day. Even if there is a small bit of sunshine, the wind makes everything ice cold.
I don't think the shrubs have survived the winter which I wanted to save and had 'translanted'. After the severe drought in august/september, the extreme wet fall and now extende winter, I'm afraid there's not much going to be left of everything.

On top of that we also need to get rid of the excess dirt where currently the exercise area for the horses is. The wrong kind of sand needs to be shifted and half of the terrain is going to be grass too. And we need to have some comfortable garden furniture so we can do some naps here and there or sit beside the petanque-area with a pastis in hand.

So lots still to do! 

I leave you with poor bewildered Mouser looking out for better weather.

March, you're doing it wrong

First day of the astronomical spring and it snowed today!

Careful now

In other news this jem of a banner popped up a while ago on the online front page of a national newspaper.

The question of the poll read: 'Do you think websites should legally be held responsible for defamatory comments that can be posted on them?'

Funnily enough, the comment box of the poll read: 'There are no comments so far on this poll'.

Oh, the irony!

Strange things get cancelled during winter

More from the hilarious snow-news corner: while scanning the traffic pages of the police on Monday I came across a message displaying parts of roads that could be suffering from disruption due to roadworks.
But if you read it literally, that's not what is says, there is absolutely no mention of roadworks whatsoever.

"Nachtelijke hinder tussen St-Stevens-Woluwe en Heverlee.
van dinsdag 12 op woensdag 13 maart"

and then it says 'geannuleerd wegens winterweer'.

So in short it actually says: Nocturnal hindrance canceled by wintry weather.

Mihi.

That would be a eucheminical question.

10 cm is all it takes.

Just a few centimeters of snow and the whole country slips into utter chaos.
Or not as is the case. Just media scaring people to death with 'total chaos on Belgian roads', 'No trainservice due to severe weather' etc.

I took a screenshot of the traffic centre map yesterday morning while enjoying a nice cup of coffee before driving to work.
I didn't even know we had 1600km+ roads here. I looked it up on wegenwiki, which is a wikipedia for roads and according to the site we only sport 1763 kms of motorways.

And the new Pope is...

Black smoke: a tell-tale sign?

What the hell are they getting up to in that Sixtine Chapel?

I've never seen such utter black smoke billow out of a chimney! As if it came straight from Satan's bottom.

I mean, we all saw the Italian fire brigade on the roof installing the pipe extension but did they sweep the chimney first?

They could be in for a down right nasty surprise down in the Vatican.

All those cardinals sealed up in a room. They could all have died from carbon monoxide poisoning for all we know.

Alternatively, they could be: 

a) having a barbeque

b) having an old fashioned cross burning

Gunning for controverse?

Bit of a no-go on the Paralympics website. I was looking for the events that are going to be hosted at Sochi at the 2014 winter paralympics. On the homepage of the London 2012 Paralympics under the banner 'Best Games Ever' I saw following screen still: Oscar Pistorius crossing a finish line with his hands in a gun hand gesture...

Just one more....

I just couldn't resist!

Pontiff vacancy

Which one?

So how are these Italian elections going to pan out?

American Psycho

Why do I, every time I see a picture of Lance Armstrong, think of a certain movie from 2000 starring Christian Bale?

(pdw) tribute

So sad to hear about the demise of our fellow skeptic (pdw). Dr Livingstone and I pulled into our local pub to pay our respect by drinking some Omers.
Patrick's not aware of this, but I know he's probably screaming up at us and we'll delete him from our address book in 6 weeks time.
It was awesome knowing a true skeptic like Patrick.

Dark Sky Status

I want to live in an area with a Dark Sky Status so I can resume the full star gazing experience. It must be awesome to be standing there with a telescope among the ruins of Llanthony Priory.

Pope retires ... not yet

The pope announced his retirement last week.
But no time to waste to follow up on other interests he never had time to pursue.
Pope Benedictus XVI has been confirmed for a part in the upcoming sequel to The Three Amigos.

Blond ambition

I got the results back on Monday for the January exams. I wasn't too happy with one result. I passed, but I wanted to know why I had a meh kind of grade.
Yesterday I went to the professor who had a consultation hour for students willing to get some more feedback on how they did or what went wrong.
She was very helpful but seemed to notice I was a bit disappointed with the points awarded.
- "But the exam was very good overall. Do you feel the grade is too low?"
- "Yes, but you have explained to me why you have given that grade and it is ok. I can see why you didn't award me with a higher mark."
(I wasn't there to debate or negotiate about a higher grade).
- "Are you used to different grades?"
- "Yes, they are usually higher."
- "But it's good. You're score is the average of the other exams I corrected."
- "But I don't want to be average. I want to exceed the average."

She then gave me a very queer look.
I don't know if I sounded exceedingly ambitious or extremely arrogant.

What's wrong with ambitious students?

Uncle Dicky under a car park

I saw the live broadcast of the announcement of the body under the car park being that of Richard III yesterday through the BBC live stream. 
It is true, the only thing I could think of was that Blackadder episode The Foretelling.

"My arms will end up at Essex, my torso in Norfolk, and my genitalia
stuck up a tree somewhere in Rutland."

"and my uncle under a car park in Leicester".

Garden guest

I've been putting down food every day now since the snow and replenished the balls in the trees. The birds seem to like it (and need it), not a single crumb remains.
This morning, much to my surprise, a Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) was dangling off one of the balls.
They're usually very shy and easily scared. I managed to grab my camera and take a few pictures.
I'm sharing the best one here.

Snow!

Finally winter has arrived. Snow! Ice! Cold!
I've put out fat balls and crumbs for the birds.
Mouser is prancing around in the snow, not too long, but Coldcat™ has no choice when there is business to be done.
The Continental stove has been its best friend all week, they stick together like glue.
Except when the fire goes out during the night, then teh kitteh yelps, jumps on the bed and cuddles up to me. ♥
It just stopped snowing.
Great weather for hiding under a fleece blanket, drinking some gluhwein and watching the Cyclo Cross on the telly.
That's me sorted for today.

Leave me alone. I know what I'm doing.

I got Dr Livingstone one of these. He liked it. It seemed appropriate and something he would say too.

The Amaz!ing lookalike

James Randi and Charles Darwin. Are they related? If so, I think we must be told.

Le Déménagement

Here's an idea for a French movie rooted in reality: 

The Title: 'Le Déménagement' and will be in theatres across Europe in 2013.

The Plot: A wealthy French couple, the Dépardots, played by Gérard Dépardieu  and Brigitte Bardot, are hounded by the French State's tax department and collectors (Pierre Richard). Their close friend and President of the French Republic (played by Daniel Autieul)  is -because of political pressure- not able to help them and advises them to move to Belgium to avoid paying huge amounts of money. 

They end up buying a house in a sleepy Belgian village called Estaimpuis. What seems like a simple moving of house quickly turns into chaos as they encounter the mayor of Estaimpuis (Benoit Poelvoorde) and a former Russian hitman (Jean Reno) trying to persuade them to assume the Russian nationality.

120 mins. Mrs B Productions.

Cast: Brigitte Bardot, Gérard Dépardieu, Jean Reno, Benoit Poelvoorde, Daniel Auteuil, Pierre Richard.
Rating: PG

Menace of the interior

I've just finished my first paper on interior design.
I tried to make it more light to write about interiors in comedy movies, but I got bogged down in philosophy and it turned out to be quite meta and is probably unreadable for lay people.
The professor I'm writing it for did get her post-doctoral degree in philosophy in München, so I hope she'll like it.


Here's the abstract:

"This paper explores the impact furniture and it surroundings have on the protagonist in neo-realist comedy. It is an exercise in combining formalist film theory with design studies, which both analyze forms of visual arts.

In the introduction the outline for a definition of the neo-realist comedy genre is sketched and the delineation of film theory is given and some philosophical underpinnings of design study are touched upon. 

Using several examples from 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s movies the argument is made that furniture exerts a power and hold over individuals. The underlying mechanisms are exposed throughout and common denominators analyzed by using theories explored in interior design studies.

Not only do some pieces of furniture pose as a menace to comfort and dignity, but also to reputation and -ultimately- life itself. Each category of menace is elaborated on. Some contemporary examples will be linked to the ideas behind the set design or revealing the unseen and unexplained.

It concludes that furniture serves as a gimmick on several levels to support the alienation of the individual in the society that is shown in cinema."

The title is: 'The menace of the interior. Furniture in neo-realist comedy' and it will probably never get published! 

The IKEA relation test

We've taken the test many times, yesterday was the toughest one so far.

Dr Livingstone suddenly decided to get the office sorted and get some bookcases in we wanted since we first moved in and got rid of the old ones. And also a sofa which turns into a bed. So I can sneak away at night if the snoring gets too loud. So we measured the available space (again) and chose the stuff we wanted (again), lent a van (again) and drove all the way to the nearest IKEA store (again). We were there about an hour before closing time, not too much people about. Time was pressing on, so we quick marched across the obligatory display route and went to look at and test the sofa-bed. It was ok, except the colour for the cover. I had already printed out the location of the bits and pieces we needed in the self-service area, so we were well prepared to get out as soon as possible. Dr Livingstone started to speed walk slightly as we navigated our way to some trolleys.

We thought we had found a short cut (and we did!) but no trolleys to be seen, so we had to walk past shelves of cutlery, rugs, cushions, greenery and candles. Which seemed to last for miles and miles. We got two trolleys and sped towards the Bedthingy. Everything was in place, bar the cover. So we got a grey one.Dr Livingstone dropped the parcel the frame was rapped in, he could get his hand in the cardboard and things were rattling inside, so we decided to change it for another one. Up to this point he was extremely annoyed at everything. From the display of the stuff in the shelves, to me wanting to verify the numbers on the boxes and the store closing in 20 minutes. Next up: the bookcases. We got a large packet on the second trolley and then proceeded to the single, smaller ones.

Empty shelves. Great. Nothing in stock, while the IKEA system promised us everything had to be there. 'That's it. I've had it with this bloody store. Leave everything. We're going.' I wasn't leaving empty handed. We had just moved heavy parcels and I wasn't going to drive back with an empty van. We didn't speak a lot on the way back. We ended up having a bite in the restaurant close to the workshop. I checked the IKEA stock on Dr Livingstone's smart phone. 14. There should be 14 ruddy pieces of plywood in stock. They must have cloaked them with an IKEA force field, because we really didn't see a single one.

Cold Cat

Mouser was very surprised today. First real snow of the season, and Kiteh stayed out for at least 10 whole minutes and spent the rest of the morning safely and snugly tucked behind the woodstove. I took a snap, the quality isn't that good, but you can see Velvet Claws™ there not planning to go anywhere soon.

Dry liver

Mouser has taken to drinking from a bucket in our bathroom.
That's right. Not from the toilet bowl (although Dr Livingstone has told me he did see Kitteh do it before).
Mouser has fresh water next to it's nomnoms bowl and still blue buckets are the preferred modus operandi.
If Mouser wants to get into the bathroom I need to open two doors which separate it from the living room. I call it 'drinky-drinky'. Yelps ensue in recognition of the sounds I make which are by now associated with drinking from large blue buckets.
I couldn't resist making a snap of Velvet Claws™ in action.

Visit to the Royal Palace Het Loo

I went on a school trip to Dutchistan on Thursday. After getting stuck in traffic and a huge detour because the bus driver decided to slavishly follow his gps, we visited the Royal Palace Het Loo in Apeldoorn. One of our professors had arranged we were able to see the carriages collection behind the glass partitions. Of course we were more than half an hour later then ETA.
One of the chief stable managers showed us around, locking and unlocking doors to rooms where the public is not allowed to come.
After the stable tour we visited the palace itself. It was the object of much discussion and controverse in the eighties when restaured. The romantic garden was demolished and a 17th century garden planted instead. A lot of the rooms that had been changed were remodelled according to the original Daniel Marot designs and contemporary accounts of visitors to the William & Mary hunting pied-a-terre.

The arrangement and furnishings of the room do give an excellent idea of the shift in styles in furniture and interiour design from the late 17th century up till the 20th.
If you're not really very versed in furniture periods etc. I recommend the audio guide, which does give a lot of context about the kings and queens who resided there too.
On the whole, we as art students enjoyed discussing the furnishings. It was an agreeable visit. Alas we didn't have time to stroll around in the forest next to the castle. I think a visit is worthwhile, but if I were to return, I'd come back in spring or summer to explore the grounds too.

Two ex chickens

The chickens didn't last very long. One of them failed to make it into the henhouse during the evening and was found the next morning nibbled to death. It was the chick I named Krimhilde.
This was about two weeks after we gave them to the neighbour. Last weekend the other hen, the one Dr Livingstone named Ingebjorg disappeared. Probably snatched by some prowling animal.
But we still get eggs, UFO's other chickens are doing what they're supposed to.

Playing catch-up

Hello my lovelies, it's been far too long since I blogged again. I'm still trying to get the hang of the new blogger dashboard interface. I tried to hold on to the old one as long as possible, but alas.

Anyway, what has been going on in my world recently:
1) As of two weeks I am now known as Mrs B, BA. Yes, I finally got that degree. With great distinction too I might smirkingly add!

2) We rented a machine to plough over the garden. It looks grand, but the grass and weeds are springing up.

3) the petanque area is finished!

4) three men are here and taking out all of the old windows and putting in new ones. They're in luck. The sun is out and it isn't raining today. So let's hope it stays that way.

5) We still have to shift the second sh*tload of wood we received over a month ago. We're both knackered and there's just not enough time to do everything we want.

6) Dr Livingstone and myself attended a wedding where strange things happened like waving about napkins (twice) and dancing something called a polonaise. If time allows I will dedicate an entire post to this... I will leave you with a picture from this morning when the lads turned up and removed the old double glazing.


Bye!

Chicken(s) in a basket

No, not really. It was two chickens in a cardboard box.
Dr Livingstone and myself went to the shop this afternoon to collect the two egg-ready chickens he'd ordered earlier.
We gave them to our woo-loving neighbour and named them Ingeborg and Krimhilde.
The big black one (Ingeborg, the one Dr Livingstone named) was out and about and fended off the other chickens in the coop. It felt at home straight away, pecking at little grains and drinking some water. The other one (Krimhilde, the docile one I named), a cross between a black and a brown one was bullied by all the other hens and was pecked at several times. -_-
Seems they were not amused with the new hens.

An hour or so later we ventured into our neighbours garden again to check out the coop. All the autochthonous chickens were already nesting in the safety of the little chicken house, the two new hens were out exploring the outdoors.
We did tell them the hatch of the little house closes at dusk when the sensor decides to trigger the little motor.
They weren't really paying much attention to us.
Curious if they're still there in the morning...

A floating raspberry

I was watering the plants I had transplanted during the bulldozing and noticed a big shiny red blob suspended between some twigs.
It looked like a raspberry floating in mid air.
No, it was a huge spider with a big red abdomen with white dots over it.
It looks like it is the Araneus quadratus, or the Four-spot orb-weaver as it is commonly known.
Judging from pictures on the web they vary from green to yellow to red.
I presume the green ones aren't ripe yet.

[Yes -for all you movie buffs- that is a slight tribute to Kevin Klein in A Fish Called Wanda].

Quick round up

My apologies for the lack of posting, it's been an incredible week and a half. I'm ill, of course, and have been sleeping all day.
I want to give a brief recap on the garden and our activities in it.
We managed to shift all of the concrete rubble, the water reservoir is in (although the measurements the store gave us were not the same as the real dimensions of the thing they delivered), the petanque course is (nearly) finished and we did some weeding too.

And we managed to shift wood that was delivered three weeks ago, just in time for another load that was dumped here on Friday evening.
Last weekend we went to get rid of the railway sleepers. All 995kgs of them.
It is -very slowly- all taking shape.
Yesterday evening we even had a short inaugural throw with petanque balls!
Oh, and while digging in front of our driveway the crane hit a grey cable which apparantly was the telephone cable from our neigbours.