Stormy Weather

Rain, cold, I got the duvet out and put the heating on and lit the fire... Huge winds, big rain, trees falling over, humungous puddles, and firmly closed windows...

...and I've been making kites and flags, see here for what there is in stock. Still no commissions, I don't plan to do that ever again...

I did get a few late squashes

And here's a Roadkill entry - Tiny Boot In The Rain
Also, still cross with Blogger, now no formatting for text. Sigh...

 

Cat Does Impersonations

 

Cat Inspects The Strawberries "I don't eat these, what are they good for?"

Slug Impression "Why would I need to Walk Anywhere?"

Slag

Roadkill

And, not photographed, but this morning - "I'm starving, I'm going to pat your head till you get up!" while meandering along my back

Good friends...

 ...are worth more than gold. We went to Suffolk to buy up a retired mechanic's stock of parts, and had a picnic on the way back, parked in Thetford Forest.. Such a nice day, and I didn't work too hard. I can't say how much that means to me...

On the other hand, here's a not-helping cat...

Too Darned Hot

 I spent much of yesterday in the shade, with a book, gently steaming. I couldn't sleep till 3am, it was breathless and much too still, apart from a rampant black beetle which decided to ramble round my bedroom...

Best job of the day was washing pots - the green house was full of little dirty stacks, and I put a bucket under the tap and indulged in cold water. My herb garden got watered too, one cup full at a time. Thoughts about irrigation and dry-gardens abound...

Aaaand Blogger is being Horrid again.. PLEASE leave it be, folks, I don't need a learning curve this steep every single time...

Clean pots

Garden produce

Need to Get Out More

And a lovely new art piece by Sarah Hibbert, mounted and hung in my (so far) tidy dining room

Frustrating, but Lovely

I'm so limited in what I can do, no bending, no lifting, no twisting, so, no weeding, no planting-out, no grass-cutting (although I am getting that done for me.. )
Just want to be on my knees, communing with the slightly damp earth..
Greenhouse is flourishing, 2 sorts of cucumbers, lots of types of tomatoes, Chinese lanterns!




I picked all the gooseberries (too much, too much, made me hurt for two days) and sat today in the garden topping-and-tailing, then made Jam!

Cat is being helpful

And the hollyhock is holding up the sky...

A Big Commitment To The Future

Like many of us creative types, this Lockdown Thing has been hard - in theory, lots of time to create, in practice (and particularly for me, living on my own) a lot of time spent doing essential scut-work and no energy left at the end of the day. And the sewing machine parts have been flying out of the door into the Post Office, for which I am suitably grateful...

So, my Commitment...
Two big boxes of smaller boxes.  The surgeon found rather more of a mess than we had hoped (and why wasn't I given better advice beforehand?) Eh? Would it have been so hard to say "limit this sort of bending, don't twist"  at some point before the surgery? Now I'm much more limited forever, it would have been good to get in some practice.. And how about the Booklet about Back Surgery before, instead of after, rather than 3 copies of the "How to avoid blood clots" which I got?  Or it is, perhaps that too many people, faced with 6-12 weeks of recovery, just run away screaming?

Anyway, I have to re-sort all my fabrics, cut the dross, fold, pick, pack some for sale (next year!, that seems like a long way off) and destash generally.  And, more smaller lighter boxes, more shelves, fewer heavy loads.. Nothing over 2 kilos above my head...

These arrived yesterday, 20 medium and 30 smaller boxes.. HB has put the first couple  of full ones needing sorted on to the big table, and I'm going up to start. I'm going to set a timer, maximum of1/2 hour at a time, and see how it goes...
And, I will get to revisit my Stash..

Onwards and Upwards

I have been neglecting..

...my Death of Literacy posts, but this one really caught my eye, while queueing for the Post Office

Now, tell me, my darlings, what does this actually mean?

Garden Part 2 - Details and The Indoor Garden

Cat loves the hardy geraniums

Strawberries in pots

Clematis Montana on one of two big arches that divide the garden - this was overgrown and horrible, so I hacked it mercilessly last year. Seems to be recovering...

Honeysuckle on the other arch, doing rather too well, may need cutting back

Cherries

Squashes

Apples

Crocosmia - when I planted this I was expecting "Lucifer" the orange-red type - this seems to be most unusual and has seeded all over the garden

Lily bulbs emerging in a very old pot

Nicotiana in a big pot, hoping for scent at dusk

This lovely and highly-scented pink rose was a present from Lizzie, to go with the golden hop you can just see - the hop is so rambunctious that i have to cut it back every day before breakfast...

Viola "Mystical Pineapple Crush" _ i just had to get these. Bought just before lockdown and still doing really well

Pelargoniums, and a bit more of that hop

Beans!

Pink pelargoniums, in a hanging basket. i love this colour

My "Fish Rising" sculpture in the herb garden

And John's "Five Fishes" on the back of the shed by the car park (carp ark?)

Indoors is thriving too


I appear to have broken Blogger, so I'll go away. I did have more images...


Oh, perhaps not. The greenhouse casts a spell on next-door's wall
Enough for tonight...

Around The Garden

Long post, but I have been requested to show my garden, and this seems to be how we do this now...

Starting by the back door, washing line and tiny lawn...

This huge hollyhock self-seeded by the washing-post - last year it grew to almost 12 feet tall, and I have hopes of more this year. I tie it to the post as it grows. Pale pink, when it does the flowering thing.

The greenhouse is now tidy (well, almost) and the tomatoes are doing well. Cucumbers to plant up today, two long and two round. I had to go and buy more pots!

The unlovely-but-useful oil tank is nearly hidden by the wisteria (now over, but it flowers twice, see you again in August). The hardy geraniums are doing well, apart from the ones the cat has decided to nest on. Beyond that, beans, squashes, cherry, apple and damson trees, sweet-corn, shallots, and so on, all needing watering every day but thriving... You can just see the corner of the fruit cage, repositioning of which which may mean I get some white currants this year

And gooseberries!

Lawn, not shown, is nicely shorn, and I'm using it for qigong and sitting-about-in-shade-in-chair-with-book. Note the scrap pile. I am working, honestly...

My lovely summerhouse, refuge, workroom, showroom (whenever), place of safety for parcels, and slowly getting covered in hanging baskets...

Purple spotted petunias

and pink pelargoniums...

These pink things appeared when I mowed something else off the top of them. Once, a very long time ago, I asked John what he wanted in the garden. After some thought, he said "Not too much pink" - that might be a fail, then...
(I note here that the new Blogger is utterly screwed, will not format or reposition the text or the images, and is soooooo slow)

By the front door - this greeted my on windy Friday, my lovely Hydrangea Petiolaris had made a spirited attempt to escape. I bought this from the Estate nursery when I first came here, in an 8-inch pot. It was a lot of money, I thought... Now about 9 feet high and the same wide, and just about to be awash with creamy flowers, so perhaps not expensive. After about half-an-hour of ladder, swearing, and string, I got it behaving again. Might need pruning next Winter... The base stems are 3 inches thick and twisted like ropes

This clump of posh thistles (can't remember the name) and Bear's Breeches was weedy, sad, and full of dead stems, and was one of the first things I attacked in the front garden. I remade the wibbly-wobbly brick edgings at Easter, and have saved all the potted spring bulbs in here for next year. I'm waiting for rain to seed some grass. I also appear to have baby rabbits. I may have to Pie...

This Rowan was planted after we had a drunk driver run through the hedge at 3 am, ruin my Laburnam and Holly, and run away.. The police were just so nice..

When the "I had it stolen" man turned up; having been threatened with a £200 bill to return his car; to tow it away, he said it was "Our fault, because we was incomers and had flars"  (Took a while, "flowers") - the police were with me that, if you dump a stolen car you do not politely turn the engine off, close the doors, and take the keys with you...

The gate and gateposts went too - the bill from the estate for remaking solid oak 6-inch square posts and a handmade gate must have made his eyes water. Or, at, least, I hope so...

It has yellow berries in the Autumn, much loved by blackbirds

Finally, this wonderfully sweet-scented rose was here when we came. Every Winter I give it a major haircut, and every Summer it flowers for three months. The purple Cotinus behind it I planted about 10 years ago. It did well for a couple of years, then fell over, and I cut it off at ground level, intending to dig it out. It threw a side-branch skywards and is now thriving.. So, perhaps I won't be mean to it.

The part of the garden behind that still needs a lot of work. it was laid out in squares, like a slightly under-endowed chess board, with the idea that it would be best viewed from the bedroom window. Bedroom is now my workroom, and I'm rethinking (probably remaking) it. We planted pears 5 years ago (John loved pears) but he never saw any fruits. Apparently you plant pears for your children.. 

My lovely three-legged Muesli is buried in on square, and a cherry has self-seeded there...

Thanks for walking round with me, and I will return later in the year when different things are flowering