Garden Vouchers...
I'm waiting for a rather large garden store gift voucher to arrive in the post. The longer it takes, the more fun I have planning how to spend it. Today I'm visualising a trolley full of Pittosporums, fat-leaf Cordylines, and black plastic (to repair the Wattle Woods' wriggling stream bed). Yesterday it was sensible consumables like gardening gloves, hand scrapers and diggers, secateurs - all those things that I am continually losing. Memo to self : if I looked after my gardening tools properly I could buy exciting plants instead of boring things.
Pittosporums and Fat-Leaf Cordylines
The longer the voucher takes to arrive, the more pleasure it will have given, hee hee. The thing is, it's for lots of dollars. Dollars that can buy quite a lot of hand scrapers. Eek! I could even branch out and buy a silly water feature with a pump. But I won't. Meanwhile life goes on. Today I spent another session lifting bricks in town, and now I'm pretty much finished. I go back tomorrow to stack the final heap. The dogs enjoy themselves barking at the town birds (well, more accurately, scavenger sea-gulls) and any pedestrian passing by the high front fence.
Gift Vouchers
Thursday 16th July
First, the dog-park. Then, possibly, the finale of my brick-stacking mission.
Later...
Done. Done. Done. I think the bricks are all done. I've left a trailer-load to bring home in the weekend, with which I will heighten the walls around my Herb Spiral. Today I brought home some bags of rubble to fill in holes on my messy boundary. This weekend is for the final scavenge - I have my eye on some thick black plastic, and maybe some fireplace tiles. The wood (e.g. floor) isn't really worth salvaging - there's a bit of borer.
I'm showered and clean-clothed, and now I'm plotting that voucher spending spree. It might even take place tomorrow. I'm going to be buying so many things that the dogs won't fit into my little car - they'll have to stay at home, hee hee.
Spring Blossom :- This is the blossom from Little Mac's memorial Prunus tree.
And I'm thinking a little larger now. Maybe a new spring blossom tree? And also smaller : if I see any tulips or hyacinths in bags, still unsold, I will rescue them. Just so I don't forget anything vital, I'll write a list of all my garden areas, and fill in any new plants they might like to have. Best not to put any new Rhododendrons or Camellias on the list, though. I sense I am well enough stocked with these lovely shrubs. Don't want to be greedy...
Oh, guess what arrived in the post today? Yippee!!!
Friday 17th July
Early this morning I took the dogs for a walk along the new dog-path and saw plenty of garden space for new shrubs. There won't be a specific 'look' to the area behind the Shrubbery, apart from evergreen foliage, that is. Another Pittosporum forest! I'll buy different varieties, making sure to include some of the larger leaf Lemonwoods. I will only buy what will grow easily in here.
Pittosporum Leaf
But now - I'm off back to the house in town to shift wood, try and dig up a white Lilac, and - yes, there's one more pile of bricks to remove and stack. As soon as I think I've stacked them all I find more. But I don't mind. I am a compulsive recycler. I'm doing this so they don't get crunched up in the house demolition, and can be used later for gardenscaping.
The Little House
Later, Lunchtime...
Have come back home briefly with a carful of stuff and three dogs. The house's roofing iron is coming off, and it's not suitable for the dogs to be on the property. I'm going back after lunch. Bad weather, maybe snow to sea level, is forecast for this coming weekend. Eek! I will be saying a chilly goodbye to the dear little hundred year-old house. Demo-Day is any day from this coming Monday.
Meanwhile my gift voucher is getting even more exciting. I'm thinking of frivolous extras. I can buy some trays of polyanthus without feeling like I'm wasting money. Yeay! Colourful winter flowers!
I also like the idea of buying a blossom tree, so Lilli-Puss (my grey cat, missing for more than a month now) can have a proper garden memorial.
Tiddles the Tabby
Regarding Cats...
It's sad losing a cat. When Little Mac went missing I was heart-broken, puzzled and very distressed, for days - weeks, even. But she was a youngster, a house cat who never went any further than the house patios. Whereas Lilli (nine years old), living down the back in the hay-barn, has always been a bit of a wanderer, leading a reclusive, secret life. I'm sad that she's gone, but in a measured, realistic way. The loss of Little Mac (three years ago) still makes me tearful. Sniff, sniff. My goodness I love my cats! My new cats Buster the Black and Tiddles the Tabby are enchanting characters. I even love you, fat Tiger, who piddled on my wallet a few nights ago. So rude!
Later...
The little house feels sadder and sadder, as more and more of its life connections are removed. Not that roofing iron has much of a life force flowing through it. The iron will be used for winter shelters for a friend's Dorper sheep (they shed their wool). That's nice.
I didn't do any bricks, just dragged macrocarpa beams out of the way, filled up my car with some stuff, and stashed other stuff in the house's garage. The rain will come, maybe with sleet and snow, but that doesn't really matter anymore. Just the wood burner and the hot water cylinder to come out now, plus some sheets of plywood and doors.
Saturday 18th July
Second to last day at the little house. Came home with my bricks. Feel a bit sad, then remember how badly built (with respect to earthquakes) it was. And how hard it was to heat. And now the weather has turned nasty, with threats of low level snow, and I give thanks for insulation, wood-burner, and double glazing in my own house.
And guess what? I still haven't spent my gift vouchers. I've chosen the spot for Lilli-Puss's memorial blossom tree, though. And I've won the online auction for that metal rooster.