Settle down...
For the first time ever in my whole life I have shifted my birthday. It is rescheduled for next week, by which time hopefully my earth will have settled down and I won't be feeling quite as small...
The Driveway in Spring
Wednesday 8th September - Was My Birthday, Now Rescheduled to Next Wednesday
Late yesterday I potted eight of my new yellow roses and burnt my rubbish heap, which is still gurgling away this morning in the drizzle. The rest of the roses - I was given FORTY SIX - are lying around waiting, with the dampness doing them a world of good. So far, so good, with the two lambs I'm rearing, but little lamb makes me nervous. Their lamb creche is sheltered, covered, and warm, and we have a family roster for lots of little feeds. But she's still too small and wobbly.
Purple and White Speckled Honesty
Thanks, Thanks, Thanks...
Regarding the earthquake, which I will from now on refer to as the 'you-know-what' (thus weakening its word-power) - it's the most amazing thing to get messages of support from people all around the world. They give a hugely uplifting feeling. These sentences are often from friends I've never met, and boy! They mean a great deal. Thanks, thanks, thanks...
On the personal front I have so little to worry about (except for little lamb). But these last days I've lost my fizz. I've spent many minutes 'listening' to the earth below me and most of the time the thump-thump-thump I've heard is my own heartbeat. I'm nervously proud of my house for standing (please keep it up, house), and my cats for returning to cat-semi-normality. Even ginger Percy is back in the kitchen snacking and smooching. But...
So I'm going outside to check the lambs and take some spring garden photographs. Go me. I can do this. It's perfectly OK to feel small in the world. I am small, after all. And thirty aftershocks per day, three of which have been over 5 on the Richter scale, are not to be sniffed at. My world is going to take time to settle down. I promise that this will be the last day I allow myself to spend in an introspective semi-sulk.
Chrysomanicum Rhododendron
Thursday 9th September
Yes! It's me - I'm back. Well, it jolly well better be the positive, busy, energetic, outwards-thinking me.
Question: what does a gardener who has forty five freshly dug-out roses strewn all over the lawns by the garage, prospective garden positions unknown, immediately go out and do?
Answer: It's obvious. Go out and buy five more in an online plant auction, just because they were cheap.
OK. So today's gardening plans are pretty obvious. When I get back from morning tea (I'm checking in with a couple of town friends) I will continue potting up the plants. There will be five coral Flower Carpet roses in my car, along with four large bags of potting mix and some horse manure bags. So there!
New Pet Lambs
Lamb Report
Both lambs are now just over two days old and are doing OK. Little girl lamb (her ears are floppy) is stronger and able to stand up. Big boy lamb is just that - tough and pushy. I'll take photographs today. I'm still feeding every three hours so that little lamb can get little feeds more often, as in nature.
'You-Know-What' Report -
Animals and Aftershocks
The animals in general are 'getting used to' their house's weird behaviour. In aftershocks of 4.0 or greater (on the Richter scale) all cats run for the cat door. Under 4.0 they stop and look around with cat-cartoon circle eyes, but make absolutely no eye contact with me. I thought I was the Wonderful Cat Mother, but I am simply not there.
+10Now dogs are different. Whenever there's a rattle and a rumble (size immaterial) in the house Rusty the dog wanders over beside me, sits, and stares ardently into my eyes. Sometimes he 'wet-noses' my hand as I go to pat him. My goodness - dogs are different! I always knew that, but it hadn't really touched me until now.
And as a lapsed teacher of Statistics I can't help myself, wondering what mathematical model would best describe the sizes of all the aftershocks. It would be too easy if they were normally distributed (they won't be), but I am jolly tempted to graph them and have a look. And, of course, the varying depths affect their effect, so to speak. These musings indicate a mind which needs to 'get out more'...
Some New Roses
Much Later...
Four Iceberg roses are in the old bath behind the garage, four Sally Holmes are in my tall wheelie bin, and all other roses are potted up. Wow - what a job! Tomorrow, maybe, I start finding homes in the garden for them all. These bigger roses are going straight into the garden anyway - 'aint no container big enough'...
The two pet lambs came out of their creche for exercise this afternoon. Little lamb still doesn't feed properly and has to be grabbed in a fairly purposeful cuddle, but big boy lamb is easy - and always hungry. I spent about ten minutes trying to think like a sheep - shuffle shuffle shuffle, stop, shuffle shuffle shuffle, stop, with both lambs alongside my feet. A bit boring, perhaps? Sorry to admit this, but I've been singing to them - 'Mary had a little lamb, and a big lamb, and a little lamb...'