Recipe for giving thanks
Recipe for giving thanks. First thing in the spring morning, put on extra layer of clothing and sit outside with breakfast. Listen to the birds, smell the fresh air (no bonfire smoke, please). Look around at the garden. Pat my old cat Lilli-Puss, smile at the dogs (please, dogs, no singing).
Breakfast on the Patio Table
Slurp cup of tea before it gets too cold. Congratulate the old cat for toileting in the garden. Ignore those rude dogs who 'clean up' afterwards.
Look forward to weeding?
Trying not to shiver (spring mornings can be a bit fresh), plan the gardening day. Look forward to doing some weeding. Yeay! Weeding! Celebrate the fact that weeding is still possible. The gardening fingers are still working OK (though they might not 'Bach' fluently any more, and Beethoven's right hand octaves are becoming a thing of the musical past).
Spring Sunshine
Then Bach's English Suite in A minor, take up the green wheelbarrow, collect the hand tools, and start! Put the hoses on and water the new plantings around the house. Great idea!
Later...
Have been weeding the Frisbee Lawn Border, on hands and knees, followed slowly by Lilli-Puss. Worked my way around to a rather large gap (where an overgrown Hebe used to grow), came inside to make some banana muffins and think. What to plant here? Not a rose, not a needy shrub. Hmm... A large ornamental grass?
Trailer Load Burnt
Returned to finish off. Well, not exactly. I never finish anything. Dumped some loads of burnable mess by the bonfire for tomorrow.
Wednesday 22nd September
First thing this morning I found a Beethoven sonata (an early one in C major) that my fingers can play without complaining too much. Spluttered through it. Makes a change from Bach. Also found the complete works of Liszt. Ha ha. Could use the pages as mulch? Or fire-starters? Liszt is not suitable for old arthritic fingers.
A huge day...
A huge day in the garden. Three hours weeding - mildly enjoyable, nicely small scale. I worked mainly in the Stables Garden, one of my more established areas, with well established weeds. Humph. Then to have a break I wandered over to the Hump Garden and planted all my Cliff's Kidney potatoes. Yeay. I finished something!
Spring Behind the Stables
Then in the afternoon I looked at the trailer load of hedge trimmings (full), checked the wind (none) and knew what I had to do. I started the bonfire, burnt for three hours.
Hello Lilli-Puss
Two nice things...
Two really nice things - Lilli-Puss, strange old cat, kept me company the whole time. And going to the fence-line to collect some barrow loads of mess, I passed (and noticed) some beautiful Camellias. The bright pink one is just flowering. Sooooo pretty! Worth plodding past? Oh yes.
Watered the seeds in the glasshouse - they're just starting to germinate. Raked more leaves off a path in the Hen-House. Almost planted two roses in a silly place. Almost. Meant to repot the patio succulents. Oops - ran out of oomph.
Thank you Lilli-Puss
So a huge thankyou to Lilli-Puss for spending all day following me around and always being there, close. Which is more that can be said for my lazy-bones dogs. They've spent the whole day inside snoozing on their dog couches.