Jeepers Creepers.

A morning spent jungle gym style.

Creepers or ivy, either love them or hate them and I belong to the latter half. Yikes, but they are prolific and multiply once you turn your back on them.

After dropping Bob off at 5.40 am, I decided to tackle those creepers and equipped myself with sheers of various sizes. Unfortunately I forgot my gardening gloves and had to put my bare hands into the unknown that constitutes a nest of creepers. Those branches are never straight but curved in a stylish snake-like fashion. Don't get me started on the many spiders and their webs.

Now I know how enthusiastic hairstylists feel with a pair of scissors...cut, snip and cut some more, step back to admire and continue to take a bit more of here and there until bare. The underlying wooden slates reappeared and do look much better.

There are a few houses scattered about the village covered in ivy. Bob loves it but how can one ever keep a window open knowing that insects of all guises have been given the welcoming mat. A bit later in the day he helped me take the cuttings away and when he saw what was beneath the ivy he quickly changed his mind about having them on the outside of our house.

Apart from anything else it proved to be a fantastic workout for arms and much better than going to a sweaty gym.

The creeping ivy...

Some of the twigs had morphed into small branches...

Biggi