Race around madly...
Right. I've just realised that November has lost a day (not strictly true), and it's traditional to race around madly at the end of the month finishing things, and now that November has one less day...
Orchard Roses
Friday 28th November
Oh dear - I'm not getting much of a response from the gardening brain. I should think about the bigger picture - I have three days to finish November off in style... Blast. I can't think of any 'big picture things' that I feel like doing. Must be nearly time for my Christmas summer holiday garden break.
- 'In good gardens nothing is ever finished.'
- -Moosey Words of Wisdom.
So what needs to be finished? Aargh! I can't think of anything. In good gardens nothing is ever really finished, that's the trouble. And that's the joy...
A list seems a polite way to tidy up the end of a calendar month. Today I will do the following:
- Cycle ride with Rusty the dog.
- Water the native garden in the Hump.
- Trim the edges in the Frisbee Border.
Saturday 29th November
Hee hee. Yesterday lunchtime I promised the New Zealand cricket team I'd watch the opening of the test on daytime TV - and sit there until the first batsman was dismissed. Three quarters of an hour later (not bad, not bad, since we are playing the world champion Australians) saw me out in the Frisbee Border.
Honesty :- I grow two flowering colours of variegated Honesty - white and purple.
I've tidied the border edges with difficulty (the mower has missed out cutting huge swathes of edge grass). I've pulled out the variegated white honesty and scattered the silver seedpods all around the garden. It's been hot work, but I've been in the shade of the great Golden Elm tree.
But I did everything on my list! Conclusion - a list with only three things on it is an optimum sized list...
Rats!
Percy the cat - am I correct in assuming that you deposited the dead rat (aargh!) at the bottom of the stairs? Good boy - I'd much rather sleepily tread on a dead rat (aargh!) than a sad scattering of bird feathers. Wouldn't I?
Percy the Mean Ginger Cat
This weekend will be a bit messy, since it is the singing-in-Christmas-concerts season. I have been practising my wassailing songs in the garden - except I've been changing the words into 'bless the roses, bless the peonies' and so on. I hope I don't make these mistakes in performance...
Saturday and Sunday - My Singing Weekend
After choir rehearsal on Saturday I weeded in the Birthday Rose Garden. What a beautifully frilly border this has turned into, with self-seeded cornflowers nicely filling all the gaps between roses and peonies. Big Fluff-Fluff lurked underneath a tussock grass - whenever I went more than three feet away from him he'd start up his pathetic squeaky-crying. Silly cat!
New Zealand Garden Seat
Goodbye Daughter of Moosey
Then first thing Sunday morning we took Daughter of Moosey to the airport - she starts her new amazing job based in Bangkok. Except that she had to fly in to Kuala Lumpur instead, with craziness at Bangkok airport. I will miss her.
I have scored some rather nice casual trendy tops, the perfect weight for an evening barbecue, but I've lost my my gourmet barbecue cook - and my tea lady, and my morning toast-maker, and...
Pre-Concert Burn-Up
Pre-concert I burned hedge trimmings, as Non-Gardening Partner flexed his arm (and shoulder muscles) and cut the Olearia hedge behind the house. But it took ages and I almost ran totally out of time to de-smoke myself, so to speak. Oops.
And the concert? It went OK. The wassailing at the end was very jolly. I'll finish burning the hedge trimmings tomorrow - as long as the fire ban hasn't been put on.
Goodbye November
Goodbyeeeee to November. Too short a month! I haven't quite finished!