a warning

This weekend we discovered an invasion of these in the attic bedroom... eating away at the carpet and the clothes and laying zillions of tiny little eggs in every hidden place.

I had spotted one or two flying away when I picked up bedding or things from the floor recently, but it didn't dawn on me what they were other than a bit of a nuisance.

Well. Yesterday was spent vacuuming every last inch of carpet, removing and washing every piece of clothing or fabric from the room and chucking some of it out of the window as it was too far gone and too eggy to take downstairs through the house. This was followed by the reluctant spraying of expensive foul smelling stuff and this was almost immediately followed by the glum realisation that a new carpet would have to be bought.

People! Check your wardrobes! Check the furthest corners of your carpets! Do not ignore one single solitary silver-winged fluttering! Take action now, I implore you. Otherwise, clothes moths will take over your life. Mark my words.

On a pleasanter but still domestic topic (this post is entirely housewifey and old-wivey today) this week is going to be all about TEAS. Next weekend my best friend is opening her garden for charity and we have - perhaps foolishly - offered to organise and serve tea and cakes to the ravening hoards. So, there are a hundred and one cakes to be made, the tea urn to be retrieved from the cellar and dusted down, tea cups to be counted, signs to make and tablecloths to be found and washed. Lots of fun to counteract the horrid mothy business.

Now for some weather news. I hope you are all sharing some of the hot sunny weather we are enjoying at the moment. The weather forecasters are telling us there is more to come this summer, and in an exclusive revelation, I can confirm that they are right! When I was little I learnt this country rhyme:

Oak before Ash, in for a splash
Ash before Oak, in for a soak.


Well in the course of my travels and excursions over the last month I am able to report that the Oak has definitely beaten the Ash this year. Most of the oak trees are already in full leaf and displaying their catkins, while the Ash trees are still struggling to free their spiky fingers from the buds. So, no soaking this year hopefully, but lots more of this lovely sun. Let's see if the trees are right.