How are you today?

[blue]

Nadal looked flaky earlier. Murray can beat him. It's got to be his best chance.

Oh did he? I knew he'd dropped the first set yesterday, but they were implying on the highlights show last night that he'd won pretty comfortably in the end. I think he's still hiding a bit of an injury problem though. I doubt Murray will beat him, would be fantastic if he did but he doesn't seem quite ready to go all the way at Wimbledon yet. Give him a couple of years and he might be, he's only 23 or something.

I'm liking this Pironkova girl who's playing the semi-final at the moment. Hadn't heard of her before this year, but she's looking very calm and composed out there. It's just gone into a third set.

I'm so bored by Serena Williams at this point, I'd love it if she crashed out today. No chance of that happening though.

Do Iceland sell Linda McC products? I don't think I've ever shopped in Iceland...

Only the sausages which are yummy (and vegan - thanks Linda!), but they sell them half the price of anywhere else. Iceland is an absolute boon for me and everyone else in straitened financial circumstances at the minute, which is why they're one of the few supermarket chains that's still making a profit and expanding in the recession. I can go in there with a tenner and literally feed myself for a week.

You must have seen those birthday cards involving Fruit and Veg-one of the best is the one with the packet of peas-

Ha, I've never seen those! Poor peas.

[RobB]

I'm sure my holidays at the frozen food chain will be very cool

certainly cooler than that volcano anyway?

[RobB]

Rob if you're going to Iceland can you pick me up some Linda McCartney sausages? I really fancy some but it's too hot to go up town. Just post 'em to me.

I didn't make it to Iceland after all.....i got it all done at Sainburys, who incidentally sell Linda Mac product.....what a shame i read your post after i'd been.

[blue]

Never mind, I made myself some Bombay potatoes instead.

I hope it cools down soon, I really need to go into town and get some more rations but I can't bear going out in all that ghastly sunshine and heat. Maybe I should walk to the all-night Tescos. Am I prepared to walk four miles there and back for a bag of shopping is the question? *thinks not*

[blue]

I feel good, for the first time in months and months. Really good. Just thought I'd make a note of it here seeing as it's such a rare occurence these days! (Dave, I got on the scales yesterday and I've put on 5lbs in the past couple of weeks since I've been eating two good meals again - give it another couple of months and I shouldn't be looking like a scarecrow anymore! )

It's cooled down a bit here the past couple of days, thank goodness, just in time for me to go back to work tomorrow.

[RobB]

Shock horror....a woman feeling good about putting on weight.......i wonder if you'll be on the news tonight?

Its certainly been more breezey but it still feels hot to me. I've been busy in the garden this afternoon pulling up a lot of withered looking stinging nettles,who look well past their sting-by date. Thats made a nice space down under the sweet chestnut & silver birch trees to put the garden seat.

Took the two piccies below this afternoon after i'd cleared away the nettles from the area in front of where i've now placed the seat.

The second photo was taken from sitting on the seat,looking back up the garden......in case anyone cared?

[sound world]

Hey, we care!

Looks lovely, RobB, almost as jungular as ours.
Actually started to rain just now as we were picking blackcurrants (and getting stung by some of our-very stingy-nettles). We keep a lot of nettles here and there because they attract lots of different moth/butterfly species.

[blue]

Shock horror....a woman feeling good about putting on weight.......i wonder if you'll be on the news tonight?

I'm really pleased to have put a few lbs back on, I lost almost 2st between January and April what with depression and having very little money for food, it's been worrying my daughter and some other people around me, but hopefully I'll be back to my normal weight in a few months. It's nice to have my appetite back.

Rob, every time I see pics of your garden I am so jealous, I love it! It's exactly what a garden should be, to me - slightly wild looking, full of interesting nooks and crannies, good for the animals and birds .... it kind of makes me think of the garden at Misselthwaite Manor in 'The Secret Garden', except you need lots of roses climbing everywhere.

[blue]

We keep a lot of nettles here and there because they attract lots of different moth/butterfly species.

When I did the first cut this year I remembered your advice from last year and left a patch of nettles for the insect life, but I don't know what happened - they turned absolutely black and died away? In fact there's a whole swathe of my garden that's basically straw at the moment, I'm not sure what's going on. Is it likely to be just the hot dry weather we've had recently? It's weird, my garden has never done that in the whole time I've lived here.

Oh, I have bees too! There's a nest in the ground, not far from my window. I was pretty terrified when I noticed it, I have nothing but admiration for bees but I'm scared of getting stung. Mowing the grass has been a tricky business, trying not to rile them. I phoned the council about it and they said they will not destroy a bees nest (quite right too), just to leave them alone and they will probably move on in the autumn.

I'm a bit scared of my cats getting at it, I can't afford the vets fees for the treatment that would inevitably result! I just hope they have the sense to stay away.

[RobB]

I'm really pleased to have put a few lbs back on, I lost almost 2st between January and April what with depression and having very little money for food, it's been worrying my daughter and some other people around me, but hopefully I'll be back to my normal weight in a few months.

That was a lot of weight to lose so quickly so i'm really pleased for you that you're heading in the right direction again.

Rob, every time I see pics of your garden I am so jealous, I love it! It's exactly what a garden should be, to me - slightly wild looking, full of interesting nooks and crannies, good for the animals and birds ....

Photographs can be deceptive and its probably not as big or as interesting in 'real life' as the photos suggest. But its certainly gone wild,simply because apart from cutting the hedges a couple of times and nurturing the lavendar plants, everything els eis left to fend for itself. Plants have a choice, they live or die.

The garden has gradually been taken over by the Green Alkanet weed which continually produces little blue flowers throughout the spring and summer which the bees love.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_alkanet

Ladybirds love stinging nettles i've found which is perhaps the main reason why i allow so many nettles in the garden although like yesterday,i'll have a session where i'll clear a whole area away.

[RobB]

Looks lovely, RobB, almost as jungular as ours.

I've seen aerial photos of your area Dave and its a very beautiful place to live. So much open space around you.
Here.over the last thirty years, the farmland has been developed so we're now surrounded by housing estates and retail outlets.

Luckily we have an old primary school opposite and a village playing field behind us so there is a kind of 'semi-rural' feel around the house.

[blue]

Ah yes, the urbanification of the English countryside.

I live in one of the most beautiful English counties, rolling hills and farmland, gorgeous woods ... and council estates. The one I live on is actually just half a mile from Hartwell House, one of the stunning Rothschild properties. I always wonder how the family must have felt seeing a redbrick council estate springing up just outside the walls.

[blue]

I decided to treat myself and get the bus into work today, seeing as it's too hot to walk. One of the pleasures of getting the bus is the conversations you hear while waiting at the stop. This morning there were two old geezers merrily discussing what songs they had decided to have played at their cremations, as the coffin slides into the fiery furnace. One told the other how his late wife had chosen 'Another One Bites The Dust'.

The entire queue ended up in hysterics. What an awesome woman.

[Angie]

Agassi was one of my favourite players, I might have a look for that.

Little boy! Good luck on whittling down the list of names, my daughter and her partner are currently battling over that. They want an Italian name because his daddy is Italian, but they keep veto-ing each other's choices. Kate is determined to call him Matteo, but daddy hates it. He wants Luca.

I told her the other night that when he's actually born, his name might just pop into both their heads simultaneously. When I was pregnant with her I had various names, I was quite sure I was going to go with Jamie (after Lindsay Wagner's character in the Bionic Woman - childhood hero of mine! ), the name Kathryn never entered my head until I looked down at her when she was born.

I guess this is going back a couple weeks, but I love your story about your daughter's name! At the rate we're going, we may not have a name picked out when this little one is born, so maybe that'll happen to us, too. Also, my sister has a nephew (on her hubby's side) named Luka. I think his father is Croatian. I think Luca and Matteo are both lovely names. Maybe I'll have to steal one of them!!

I had a dream last night that I was playing tennis with Agassi. Weird. Anyway, I really do recommend his book.

I've enjoyed the garden talk here. I have some nice sized flower beds but haven't gotten very adventerous with them, but I've discovered that petunias are nice and forgiving. That's been about the extent of my gardening so far.

[d.a.walker]

Hello everyone!

I'm on another nano visit, I don't even get time to blow my nose these days

I recently was commissioned by the YWCA to write an instrumental piece for a campaign they are running in August 2010 against the sexualisation of young girls in the media. It was a great experience to take part in, I created a piece of music that accompanies very shocking photographs of the ridiculous images of young girls in the popular media that is somehow allowed and deemed as acceptable. It was very challenging to create something that reflected the shocking and terribly sad message the YWCA are highlighting. I ended up creating 4 pieces of music and allowing the YWCA to pick which one they felt best suited the campaign. They actually went for the first one they heard!

It's a new avenue of work for me, something that I am quite keen to pursue alongside my main sources of income. For a while I tried to see myself doing something other than music, all part of the recovery from a major nervous breakdown (my 2nd in 10 years), and realised just how unhealthy it would be for me to give up on it. Working on this project has been such a breath of fresh air and has nicely returned some of that self confidence I used to be so abundant with in the late 90's.

My tinitus has diminished to a tolerable level now, though it has meant turning down my ipod

I'm now in the process of upgrading all my home recording equipment, which is very exciting as I love actually being able to afford what I really need. A feeling I have not had in many years.

I hope everyone is well and I see that Stina has been as saturating a presence as usual, maybe she'll release something before I turn 40 I seriously think she's gone for good, at least we have the memories!

I'm rather enjoying Vegetal by Emilie Simon, what a gorgeous album that is!

Anyone seen the Korean film 'Mother'? It's brilliant, seek it out!

Bye 4 now

daniel