Delicious - but what is it?

This is a seasoning herb that tastes a bit like sage. It's absolutely wonderful and I put it in everything. Does anybody know what it is?
Lincoln brought me one of these some weeks ago. The grass-cutters came whilst I was away and I think they must have strimmed it to death because after they'd been there was no sign of it!
Lincoln, who seemed to take this as a personal insult, brought me this replacement yesterday evening and I have just planted it. (The small plant behind it is St Lucian spinach - not the water spinach that I had before.)
I'm just crossing my fingers that the dogs don't dig them up!

New Kid On The Block

This is Fifi. She has just joined our family from the St Lucia Animal Protection Society. She had been found on the beach shortly after giving birth to pups and was so nervous that she had to be trapped. She nursed her pups brilliantly, put on some weight, gained some confidence and was looking for a permanent home.

I met her for the first time shortly after she was brought in and cannot believe how different she is now. She is gentle, playful and, as you can see, very pretty. The amazing ears, that remind me of the ill-fated De Lorean Gull Wing, appear frequently in the stray dogs here, giving an appearance of permanent surprise!

The SLAPS staff christened her 'YinYang' for obvious reasons - a lovely name but impossible to shout when I call her! - so I have re-named her Phoenix, Fifi for short. She is rebuilding her life from the ashes and so am I, so it seemed a very fitting name.

Yesterday was difficult as I had to be very careful introducing her to Lukas, who can be both jealous and nervously aggressive towards other dogs - and who has enormous jaws and teeth! I wanted so much to cuddle her and reassure her, but knew that this was the worst thing I could do. Instead I made a particular fuss of Lukas, reminding him constantly that he is my no.1 (canine) son and nothing is going to change that.

Penny simply watched all this with a raised eyebrow, obviously wondering why on earth they were making such a fuss!

After 24 hours they seem to be shaking down OK together, so fingers crossed everyone!

Gate Posts - stage 2 - The Unveiling

This afternoon the shuttering was removed to reveal the gate posts in all their glory! Unfortunately I didn't catch the actual moment because I was working at the time (I close the outer doors when I'm working on client stuff to indicate that I am not 'at home' to visitors) and didn't hear the guys arrive. But we now have a concrete pillar on each side of the driveway, with steel pins sunk into it, to attach the hinges to.

Then the hole was filled in with more cement. I'd guess this is the most important part - if this isn't done properly the whole thing will blow over at the first puff of wind!

Gate Posts - stage 1 - Construction

I'm gradually getting the hang of how this works! New posts ( on Blog, not gates!) appear at the top - but so do all the pictures. So if I want to tell a story, with pictures illustrating each step, I have to do it in separate posts and begin at the end of the story!
(I have sent a message to the Help section asking if I REALLY have to do it this way!)

This is what happened yesterday - none of your boring, pre-cast nonsense here!

First, a wooden 'mould' is constructed around the frame. This is Nick, a local teacher, earning some extra cash by 'labouring' for Martin the builder during the school holidays.
Nick is so terrified of Lukas that he still won't come inside my house!

....supports are added . . . .

. . . . .Here comes the cement . . .

. . . . and the cement is poured in by the boss himself!

Fences

OK, here we go again. At the moment only my back garden is fenced so that to let the dogs out I have to go downstairs with them and make sure they go through the gate into the back. I'm now having the fencing extended to enclose the front as well, and a couple of gates erected. Work started yesterday and this is how it looks at the moment.

I don't fully comprehend the logic behind setting the fence posts, waiting for the concrete to cure and THEN cutting them to length - Sefton and the others cut them first. At the moment I feel I want to add flags, like the UN building!

The gate pillars consist of steel frames set in a large hole. These will be covered in stone later today, a process which I can't wait to watch. The frameworks look like the right hand picture.

It doesn't seem possible (at my kindergartedn level anyway) to place the photos other than at the start of each post. To get them at the end I think one needs to close the current post, post the photo then continue. This is a very interesting learning exercise!

Screen doors

I have also ordered screen doors for up here. These are, of course, to keep out the mosquitoes but of far greater importance to me is the banning of the giant moths that seem to have increased in numbers since the rains have begun. In most respects I thinkI'm as brave as the next person but these perfectly harmless creatures produce instant hysteria. I don't like killing them - in any case this takes a lot of spray and a long time - so the best thing is to keep them out. That way, I shan't have to close all my doors as soon as it gets dark and the lights go on, shutting out all the breeze and costing me a fortune in electricity running fans to keep us cool! I'm not worried about the neighbours thinking I'm insane because they already do.

Genesis Chapter 1

I don't quite know how I've done this, but I seem to have created a Blog site! Wow! I need to go and have a lie down! There are some things I probably need to alter but I need to recover from the enormity of what I've done first.

More anon!