The weather was becoming quite nice, but Haarlem has a strange climate, quite different from places about ten kilometers away. I usually work outside from five thirty in the morning till at the latest nine, when the sun would send me inside, hot and bothered, to put some fluids back in my overheated body by way of a whole pot of tea, or a couple of glasses of iced tea. But every day at about two in the afternoon, a chilly wind comes up, making for some really cold evenings and nights. I have long ago packed away all my summer pajamas, as the nights were just too cold, even in mid summer!
I make my own iced tea, using a few sachets of Rooibos (indigenous to South Africa), a sachet of black or green tea, and a sachet of ordinary tea, which I put in a large holder, and then fill it up, then a cup-full of any fruit nectar, not juice, but the nectar that must be diluted with water, (I like the berries most) then the grated rind of one lemon, and also the juice of that lemon.  The sweetness can be adjusted by some sugar, or a sugar replacement. I usually bottle mine in one liter bottles, and freeze all but one. Serve ice cold with a mint leave. Very nice when baked dry by our South African sun! Rooibos is available in most countries now, and I drink it hot, with only a dash of vanilla, or a cinnamon stick. Most people have it with milk and sugar.
Johan had brought me some herbs, like rosemary, thyme, mint, fennel and some sprig onions, and that was coming on nicely. I did not lay out my herb plot as nicely as before, as I just did not have the time, but it wasn't long before I could start flavouring my food with the beautiful fresh herbs!
The fruit trees were also in full bloom, and of course the beasties can smell budding tree for miles around, and I had my work cut out trying to preserve our precious fruit. Cattle are quite destructive, as I had found, as the leader of a troop of this vagabonds would push and wrestle with a weak fence or a gate, until he manages to make a thoroughfare for his wives and kids, at which they would storm the trees, and start tearing down the branches.
Irma was at Haarlem when this happened again, and I told her that she could also help with chasing out the feasting cattle, and after some haggling, she decided to show me how easy it really was! So, armed with a long reed, she went out manfully, but was back in a minute, stating that the bull was looking at her funny, and he was scratching the ground, and he was making funny noises. I myself was not quite at ease with the bulls and their harems, so I went out with her, and standing on the other side of the fence, we managed to get them out by shouting and brandishing our weapons like two demented hags!
Later that day we noticed a few donkeys grazing on her land, and I just ignored them, but as Skramunkel was also in that camp, and on noticing them, started making one heck of a scene by galloping around and around at full speed, neighing and blowing big bubbles, she decided that she would take the chance to chase them out. It was so funny, as she had on a long skirt that was billowing behind her like an oversized balloon, shaking a quite inadequate piece of stick at the donkeys that was so engrossed at their munching, that they didn't seem to notice Irma's inefectual shoo, shoo, or the angry horse that was trying to run them down! Thing is, although Irma prophesizes that she is a born country girl, I never agreed, as to me she was a city girl who liked to meet her friends in a coffee shop, or go to shows, and just lead the easier life that one do in a city or town.
Irma of course is a very good singer, who writes her own songs and also tonesets all her songs, and also appeared in quite a number of musicals. She had just finished a musical, 'Anything Goes' in which she had the lead role.