A fine balance...
Lilli-Puss
There is a fine balance in life between the things one can do, and the things one can't do. Maybe one cannot get a really good night's sleep, but can still walk the dogs in the morning. Can't do a grand plie (a 'bend the old knees' ballet move) but can do a pretty graceful port de bras.
Aha! Can't use one-woman-by-hand means to remove the large root mass of an unwanted fern in the garden, but can negotiate for Non-Gardening Partner to apply some man-power with his chain saw. Which I very much need to do.
So (as you might have gathered) I am off to my Silver Swans Ballet class, having listened to mutterings overnight from my slightly dodgy hip. And I can't get the shovel or axe near that blasted fern to remove any part of it. Watched by Lilli-Puss my senile old cat I tried so hard yesterday - two hours with the axe, the sharp spade, a hand digger, even the kitchen scissors. Hate to be defeated, like to think that I can do things without resorting to manpower-gardening.
Uncle Bert Rhododendron
Later...
Have come home from ballet, put the hoses on, watered the rhododendron affectionately known as 'Uncle Bert', and am now contemplating the rest of the day. And what a beautiful day it is out there - I'm not totally sure what to do first. I know that bonfiring comes last, so maybe I could rake up some mess and dump it on the lawn near my ash heap, to get ahead.
Mid-afternoon...
Being a tenacious sort of girl, I had another go at that huge fern root with a different shovel and a little hand saw. No joy. Was wearing my waders, so I stayed in the water race, found some other ferns that needed removing, and managed to slice them out. Yeay! Success! Also dug out some Carexes, and trimmed more Phormiums. Stayed in there for two hours. Haven't done a good clean up of this part of the water race for some time. Good for me. Also lit the bonfire. More good on me!
Came inside to find NGP - no sign of him. This man has antennae which pick up my tiniest chain-sawing thought, so he can escape. So I gave up on the gardening day and had a shower.
The Fern Has Gone
Humble apologies. Without telling me, NGP did chain-saw out that large fern root clump. I didn't hear a thing. I could have been raking up the rubbish instead of being rude about him. Oops.
Weeping Maiden Camellia :- She's an extremely early bloomer, and often gets caught out by the winter frosts.
Late in the day, discovered the Camellia Weeping Maiden had blown right over in the wind, oops. Her leaves are still green, and now she has heavy river stones around her base, cross fingers. She's obviously put all her energy into weeping, rather than building a stable and strong root system. Silly girl!