Summer was now in full swing, and the fruit trees were very obliging and thankful for the care we had taken of them earlier, and still did, and produced loads of beautiful flowers which became lovely young fruit.
My plum trees that were so damaged the previous summer by Sheila's gluttonous goats had sprouted some new strong branches, and this branches were also full of fruit, actually so much that I had to take off a lot of the plums, as the branches were also hanging on the ground. We were set for a bumper harvest.
Life was going it's normal lazy way, with cattle, pigs, chickens, donkeys, and horses passing by every day, grazing on the grassy verges, but the cows were always looking for a way to come into the yard, and were so clever that, if they found the smallest weak spot in the fence , or maybe a badly closed gate, they would somehow find their way in.
I was busy sewing one of the bags that I made for students to carry their books, but I also find them really handy when going to the library. I loved doing the bags, as I could let my imagination run riot, and did applique, and fancy stitching, and also did some painting, and sometimes I even overdyed them. It is amazing what one can do with some smaller pieces of material that would otherwise have been used as rags, or thrown away!
I was deep in concentration, painting a dolphin at the side of some appliqued letters spelling 'Love Earth', when I became aware that all was not well outside, because I could hear some strange noises. As I was alone, Jan and family having gone to George to fetch Rene from boarding school, I rushed to lock my front door that I had foolishly left open, but found two brown cows grazing away on the strip of grass between the children's and my place, and I was actually glad for the open gate! when I saw how nicely the high and unruly grass were disappearing into their huge tummies! I decided to leave them grazing away to their hearts content, as I just did not have the guts to have a go at mowing that lot, and Jan was so busy with a big project that he didn't have the time! And to get some abled body being in Haarlem that was sober enough, or willing enough to do the smallest of tasks was almost impossible, as the able bodied and willing men were all working on the apple farms.
I commenced with my sewing after closing the gate, meaning to let the cows out when I was satisfied with their effort to get rid of all the grass, but shortly after I heard another commotion outside, and rushed out to see what on earth was going on now!
Outside the gate was a huge and angry bull, and he was pawing the ground in an ominous way, kicking up big clusters of grass and weed, while the strangest and scariest noises came out of his foaming mouth! This bull was trying to get to his cows, and after showing them how cross he was, he stopped his pawing, and started shaking the gate, and as I had not locked it, I knew that he would get it open with his relentness shaking, so I decided to take a chance and try to put the lock up, but when this irate thing saw me he got ravingly mad, and with one huge grunt he pushed the gate almost off it's hinges, and that was the moment I made a run for my door, as I can see when trouble was on it's way! He then calmly inspected his brides to see if all was well with them, then joined them for a good feed.
I was a bitty worried, as I was to scared to leave my house, and as Jan and Nina would be late in coming back, I had to feed their animals, and kept on peeping out to see if they had any plan for leaving. However, I was saved by two very young boys who came to fetch the cattle, and as there was still a lot of grass left, I asked them if they couldn't take the bull and leave the cows for a while, but as it was milkinh time, they promised to bring the cows early the next morning for a graze!