At last we have a sunny day.  After last weekend’s rain and the continuation this week, it was a relief to be able to get out in the sun on Saturday.  Jim had been around the garden on the mower, having already strimmed the edges (MY edges!) so the place was looking tidy.

Oak before Ash..in for a Splash. That’s a joke with the rain we are having!

In the greenhouse the runners and french beans are all beginning to raise their heads like zombies in Thriller, the compost creaking and cracking as the beans push their heads up and start to unfurl.  Overnight they continue and during the day you feel that you could almost see the growth with the naked eye.  You just need a good book and a decent supply of coffee to keep you going.

As it happens, I have sourced both of those items this week-end.  I am currently reading Kathleen Jamie’s second book “Sightlines” – a gem of a book which is part autobiography, part observation on nature and what it is to be a human in the Grand Scheme of Things.  The book is a series of essays and her descriptions that range from Gannet colonies in the Shetlands or icebergs in a Norwegian fjord to remembrances of archaeological digs are both acute and thought-provoking.  I highly recommended read which I inspires me to get outside and view my own rural surroundings with a fresh eye.

Smoother than a Tiger in a Tuxedo. Coffee on the beach

My source for good coffee originates with a cup of coffee we had at the Dorset Food Fair a couple of summers back.  It came from a little stall selling Azorieblue coffee and tasted seriously good.  I don’t profess to know a great deal about coffee, but I know what I like – and this hit the spot.  I decided I would get some myself.  It only took two years, but finally – this past month – I ordered some beans from Azorieblue.  Unfortunately there was a mix up somewhere which meant I got ground instead of beans for my new Krupps grinder.  It was probably my fault, but when I emailed them (I say them…I reckon there are only a couple of them in the company) they invited me to visit them at the Lyme Fossil Festival where they would be supplying coffee to the thirsty palaeontologists.

We duly turned up yesterday – me with my bags of ground Brazilian espresso.   The place was heaving – it was, after all, the only sunny day of the bank holiday weekend – but we found them in a tent alongside the fossil sellers.  Adriano seemed genuinely pleased to see me and enthusiastically talked me through his coffee and why it tastes so good.  He poured me a strong latte that knocked my socks off for taste, not to mention caffeine content.  We stood and chatted while the caffeine buzz kicked in before we left with free bags of beans and other Azorieblue goodies.

The Oak tree – with stakes stored for use soon.

His promotional material claims his coffee is smoother than a tiger in a tuxedo or more luxurious than a Kashmir codpiece.  Well, Adriano shows more passion than an Italian Valentine’s Party when it comes to coffee and I recommend it wholeheartedly.

So a good afternoon in Lyme Regis was followed by more labour in the garden as I continue to reclaim the central border.  More grappling with ground ivy and nettles and we are pretty much there.  I feel that I deserve a break – perhaps a cup of coffee and good book.  Reading in the evening always sends me to sleep, but a good cup of Brazilian will keep me awake.