A spy in the olive grove

I have been a little distracted from gardening by the on going saga of Merkel and her kittens. We had the big upset of her moving them from the store to an olive tree and then we discovered that there were only four when there had been five.
To our dismay we found that they were no longer in the tree near the back of the house and Merkel was howling in a miserable way by the steps near where they had been. We thought the worst but Merkel kept appearing for food too often to not be feeding so I followed her back down into the lower olive grove, tiptoing through the long grass and hiding behind olive trees all the way. Anyone watching from the road would have thought I had lost my marbles and I did get the giggles at one point.
Eventually , Merkel leapt up into a tree and disappeared down a hole head first. The hole must be five foot or more above ground so it must have been tough getting kittens up there.
Once I had marked the tree in my mind , I followed her again after her next meal and she swiped a tom cat that was sitting at the base of the tree and jumped in again. A tom cat is apparently the most likely creature to have killed the missing kitten.
This afternoon Merkel visited about fifteen trees around the land looking at holes so I should think she is about to move the kittens again.
I hope it is somewhere we can at least see that they are alright and see how many she has left.

On the gardening side,  I have started to dig in the manure I got from Pandelis. Fantastic stuff, rich, crumbly and no smell.
I think we will be starting to plant summer vegetables very soon as it is a warmer Spring than last year.

I have painted the top of the table we have on the roof terrace and we bought a couple of plastic chairs we can leave out there. It is a lovely spot for a morning coffee or a beer in the evening.
I bought a climbing, trailing geranium and a Mandevilla to go out there and will add to them as my cuttings grow.


Mandevilla or Brazilian Jasmine