Garden pests!

We had a relaxed start to Sunday, and Keith and I popped to Mawsley to buy the newspaper. I decided to venture out into the garden when we got back, and I really wish I hadn't! We have two box hedge shrubs at the back of the garage, and they looked as if they had been decimated by something!

My first thought was that it was weedkiller, but when I took the photos and uploaded them to the internet, it became clear that the problem was the Box Caterpillar, which had stripped all the foliage from the bushes. It really gave me the shudders and explained why one of our neighbours had posted a message on our local Facebook page to say she'd sprayed her front garden hedge with pesticide. With this and the ants that are still everywhere, I've lost all heart to tidy up the back garden.

I did tidy the front, though, and chatted to a couple of neighbours who passed by. Sophie sat with me on the front steps and kept me company while I weeded, trimmed the verge and swept up all the leaves and debris that had accumulated.

It was warm when the sun came out, and at lunchtime, Sophie heated the Chinese takeaway leftovers. We spent the afternoon pottering about and not doing much. I have started to transfer my old diary from my trip to Nepal onto the blog, so that was great to read after 38 years! Phew! Where has the time gone?

We swapped tonight's dinner for the one we had planned on having tomorrow. None of us fancied chicken en croute! After a simpler dinner of chicken escalopes, we watched another couple of episodes of The Black Forest Murders, which were riveting!