Summer magic
Now let me see. How many hours work in the garden can I do today? Finally the summer weather is cooler, much more pleasant. To write a list? Or not to write a list? I rather fancy flitting around like a garden fairy, sprinkling summer magic around.
I know. I'll pose a series of questions :
- Should I pull the old forget-me-nots out of the Pond Paddock Gardens?
- Should I put the watering hoses on?
- Should I clear out more of the dead rambling rose?
- Should I clear the Hump Garden paths for Christmas?
Blast! It's a list in disguise. And the final question : should I go straight outside now, or enjoy my early morning cup of tea and put a few more jigsaw pieces in?
Lunchtime...
So since when does a garden fairy have to take two rude barking dogs for a walk, and hang out the washing? And, furthermore, a fairy wearing clod-hopper garden boots, with a sore foot (no connection) and a runny nose (an irritant in the vegetation), followed around by a bad-tempered senile grey cat who keeps getting in the way and hissing for no reason. This is not magical! Am inside having lunch and a coffee.
Hump Path
Have cleared and dumped three barrow loads of mess, though. And the Hump path is almost weeded again. So it's not all bad...
Red Fred
Late afternoon...
Sometimes my cats are quite mad. Met Red Fred in the Hump - he wanted to be picked up. So, being a nice cat person, I picked him up. And since he's quite a heavy cat, I carried him around for a minute and then put him down. As is my right.
Oh no. He didn't want to be put down. So, in a flash, and with a gleam in his eyes, he leapt straight back up and wrapped his claws around my neck. Ouch! This was quite frightening - I managed to flick him off, sat down on the lawn, wiped off the blood and cried. He ignored me and washed his bottom. Humph.
Later I sat on the cottage verandah and Speckles the stray appeared immediately, sitting with me while I had my of tea. Speckles is still not tame, and won't let me touch him, but he eats food out of my hand. Then he followed me back towards the house. Oops. Not a good idea.
Speckles on the Gate
Scooped up and redirected Lilli-Puss, tickled Buster under her beautiful black chin to distract her, hoped that the Freds were busy elsewhere. Not that I want to see that rude Red Fred for a while. Am still sulking about him. Black Fred is much more benign.
Another Hump Path
Christmas Eve
No fairy flitting - I did extremely robust, heavy-duty weeding in the Hump Garden, for four hours. Four! Then dropped everything (oops - this is how I lose my hand tools, right?) and came inside for a break (have some yummy fizzy drinks in the fridge - Kombucha, no-alcohol beer, lemonade).
Then returned to do more serious weeding. Armfuls of old Campion, dandelions, clover. This time Buster my black cat was curled up by some dahlias, keeping an eye on proceedings. I have been a very busy Christmas Gardening fairy, hee hee.
Tra la la...
Am now trying to stay awake before I go out to Midnight Mass. My choir is singing Christmas Carols, then a Haydn Mass with an orchestra. Yeay! Such a great way to herald Christmas Day.