Day 1 in Paradise Garden

The reason for the green suitcase

In 2008 and 2009 I was lucky enough to be able to visit the West Indies.
When I arrived at Pointe a Pitre, I did the usual airport thing of waiting my suitcases from the carousel. I could see my grand children up on the balcony waiting to welcome me.
My suitcases were both plain black with no ribbons or anything to identfy them.
The only mark was on the lid of one where the cat had been sick the night before I left home. But wouldn't you know it, the case was upside down and this mark wasn't showing.
I had to wait until every other piece of luggage had been reclaimed and there was only my black suitcase left.
Never again, I thought. In the years that I have had the green suitcase I have only seen one vaguely similar.
The silver lining to this cloud was that by the time I reached the customs desk, all the officials had gone home and I was able to get an apple into the country without any problem. Heather was missing her apples and had specially asked me to bring her one.

Day 1 in Paradise Garden

A history of hens at Cobham Rd.

Four hens took up residence on our return. from a family holiday in Lyme Regis. That was in 2011.

They came as day old chicks and started off life in the kitchen under  a warm light - it was around Easter time.

There was the hen with attitude Piou Piou - who pecked Joel's legs mercifully (mind you , he wasn't exactly blameless with a big stick!) 

There was Clochette, who was snatched at a very young age by Slinky Malinky, a neighbourhood cat.

She was replaced by another Clochette who turned out to behave as if she was deaf and not one of the group. 

Then there were Lucy and Lily. I never was able to tell the difference.

The first eggs were laid that summer so I kept them safely till the children returned from holiday.

Thats the order in which the hens died too. Piou Piou and Clochette had decent Christian burials and afterwards we drank irn bru instead of rum - as at a wake in Guadeloupe. All the rum had gone in the Christmas cake and a Simnel cake that year. Not that we'd have had it anyway - rum makes me dream of giant spiders.

From here on Lucy and Lily are interchangeable.

One of them was killed by a fox. Charis was in the garden at the time and heard a furious flapping and saw the branches of the bush moving.

And the other one lives to this day. She is now called Henny.  Recently we thought she was ill but it turned out she was broody! I ask you! at 5 years old! A neighbour who also keeps hens brought 15 eggs for her to sit on, which she has done faithfully for the last couple of weeks. Two of the eggs hatched out on Friday morning and today the neighbout has taken Henny and the 2 chicks to his house along the road where they will be looked after.

The garden is so quiet with no hens pecking around.but I shall visit them soon and take some photos.

I will move my garden chair to a part of the garden where I can see the bee hives. Its a bit more difficult to form a relationship with bees though.