Remote...

 On a lovely softly striped dahlia.
Snoozing Bee

All those pages with me moaning away about it being too hot to garden - am ashamed of myself, being so safe, well away from cyclone troubles and subsequent flooding up north.

Remote gardening?

I've been rather remote from my garden these last few days, because it's been a bit drizzly (a pretty lame excuse). Is there such a thing as remote gardening? Nope! I think I feel rather discombobulated (groovy word, have never, ever used it before, hee hee). So the dahlias might have flopped over, the weeds might have burst into life, but the fifteen hundred piece jigsaw is finished. Hmm...

Have been busy musically, working on new arrangements for my jazz choir, and singing (sang some groovy Bach in a concert last Sunday). Then yesterday my cricketing friend and I sat in her lounge to watch a replay of the Women's T-20 World Cup. Oh my goodness. Even with the fast-forward button, New Zealand was not good.

 A hybrid musk rose which sulks a bit in my garden.
Wet Prosperity Roses

Today some rain from cyclone Gabrielle is supposed to reach us - nothing to worry about, though. My local river (the Waimakariri) is braided, really wide, and at some distance from me.

The Waimakariri river...

Ms Google tells me that in the 19th and early 20th centuries it regularly broke out of its channel when in flood. The primary stopbank was completed in the 1930s, and seems to have worked since then. Sadly, rivers can impose themselves on the roads, houses, and farms around them. They are what they are.

 The bees love the single dahlias.
Dark Red Dahlia

Drippy dahlias...

As are my dahlias, dripping heads and stems turned down, many face-planted in the lawns they grow near. I should stake them? Yes, but there are so many. Too many. So beautifully colourful, and every morning many are 'occupied' by overnight snoozing bumble bees.

Later...

Drove home from a wonderful chamber music session determined to do some gardening, no matter how wet or drippy things were. Yes? No. Hadn't factored in the wind. Decided it was too gusty. Any excuse...

Thursday 16th February

Getting ready to go to ballet (my beloved Silver Swans class). Where was my ballet gear? Oh joy. On the washing line, having enjoyed days of drizzle and (yesterday) some very determined rain. Shows how much I've been in tune with the outdoors.

 A bit wet!
Just Joey Roses

Wandered past the Herb Spiral with my bundle of dripping wet black stuff. Some weeks ago I had this beautiful feature looking wonderful, so nicely tidied up. Not so any more. All the nearby dahlias have completely gone to seed. A week of too-hot followed by days of too-wet and it's a mess - ungroomed, like me. Oops - must brush my hair. The English Sheepdog look does not flatter the more mature face.

Sheep issues...

Meanwhile Non-Gardening Partner, on his morning check up of the sheep, has found a ewe with fly-strike on her face. He's off now to clean her up, while my soaked ballet gear is whizzing around in the drier. Mine is the much easier solution.