Just take a little off the top...

...and sides. We've all said it, haven't we?
We've been trimming a badly thought-through eucalyptus tree. When we came to this house 12 years ago it came with us in a half barrel and was 4 feet high. Now it's in the garden, too close to our house (and consequently that of our neighbours) and is taller than the house. A bad combination all round.


You can see that it was taller than the chimney of the two storey house.

Even J, who has a real head for heights conceded that he would wear the safety harness, which must mean that it was very high. i don't do heights. Neither, it turns out, does the friend who was helping J. He did go up, but came straight down again.
I was on sawing up and running to the tip's composting skips with j. We did 5 trips without being to see out of the back of J's work car. It smells really nice now, though.



I shall take some 'after' shots when I find the camera again - it's had a fairly severe pruning. Our neighbour will be happy, it hung mostly over his side of the fence.
We'd take it out, but J's squadron of sparrows live in the ivy that clads it, along with the wren, the hoverflies, the clematis montana that hangs from it each spring...you get the picture.

It's been a good year for butterflies. we've seen lots that we don't usually get. J snapped this one this morning.



Must say, the frogs and hedgehogs aren't keeping their end up when it comes to slugs - just look at the state of the hostas!
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I've made a start on my International Scarf Exchange project. I've exchanged a few nice emails with the person I am knitting for and I'm resonably confident (well, as sure as I dare be about making for a stranger!) that this will suit her tastes. I also wasn't sure about how well the cabled design I had chosen would work with the variegated repeat of this yarn, but I think it's working out well. It has a lovely soft handle. Feels odd to be making cosy scarves in 24 degrees though, but I wanted to get the scarf underway before SockWars starts.