Found Sneezle in the Garden

It’s sunny today! Hard to believe after the weather we’ve been having but today we have summer. I take that back. I just looked out of the window and it’s starting to raid. 

Be that as it may - I went out into the garden this morning and came across a rather frightening sight. Sneezle was being menaced by a group of strange looking little aliens! They had him backed up against the stone obelisk and he looked terrified. I took a photo and waited to see what would happen (I know -not very nice of me but I knew I’d have time to intervene if things got serious). 

They started jumping around and it was obvious that they were trying to tell him something. All of a sudden, one of them jumped into his arms and then of course it was obvious - they could be played like bagpipes! Sneezle is luckily quite proficient on the bagpipes and soon they were happily dancing to the traditional tunes of Old Oak Wood. I don’t know where they came from, and I have the feeling that they won’t stay for very long, but I expect there will be some pretty interesting music making until they decide to leave. They are just in time for the Chagstock music festival, which starts tomorrow outside our village. They’re too small for the big stage there, but in a smaller venue (a tree stump perhaps) I think they would do very well indeed. 

Now - you may think they look like sprouting potatoes, but I assure you, they are SO much more than that! 

Our friend Todd and his son David have been doing us a great favour by taking ivy off of the barn wall, which has been covered up since about 1982. It’s a massive job and they are heroically battling insects, spiders and irate birds to get back to the granite surface.