My garden in November

November was all about leaves. Or rather, collecting all the leaves that autumn deposited on the grass. And when I say collecting leaves, that’s something I leave to MOH. This year rather than managing to collect them over a few weekends it was left to a single weekend, and there was a master plan, to use the lawn mower. I was a fan as it gave me a legitimate excuse to make myself scarce.

That gave me a good opportunity to take some pictures. The agapanthus are always good fodder and even this month was no exception. I was supposed to be covering them up for winter, and I did, but first a couple more pictures…

The fatsia was flowering and the flowers are a great contrast against the dark leaves.

Phase one of leaf collection, was still to create piles on the grass. Phase two was to mow them.

Next door’s scaffolding is still up and providing some shelter for the jasmine. On closer inspection it wasn’t providing that much for the patio as that has mortar chippings, as does the conservatory roof. Our neighbour has already offered to pay for the cleaning, so that’s all good.

Meanwhile, phase three of the leaves was taking shape. And the bag was filling up.

There is still some colour in the garden, mostly just the pyracantha berries, but they’re very welcome.

But that’s all I can muster for colour in the garden at the moment, how about you?

Reflecting on my week #106

* This post contains items that were gifted by Tesalate and the London Graphic Centre

Ah, what a week. Midweek I thought I’d succumbed to the lurgy that seems to be doing the rounds, and so sensibly took myself off home for a lemsip. Turns out I wasn’t, but it’s better to be safe than sorry hey? Especially when working in a small and densely populated office.

Then Friday brought a ‘streaming’ eye, peculiarly a few days after MOH, and both of our left eyes. This time though I made a tactical error of going with contact lenses and not popping my glasses into my bag. By the end of the day cue one swollen and sore eye, and that’s with the lens discarded. Salt water eye washes helped a little, but eye drops have helped more, and now my eye and eyelid are back to their normal size, there’s less streaming and it no longer feels like there’s grit in my eye either, so that’s all a positive.

It’s grim to feel under the weather though, but a trip to watch Charlton play helped. Not only was it a good game (they drew in the end) but it was good to give my eye a bit of a rest too. Before we left home I’d persuaded MOH to pop some shopping bags into his coat pockets so we could pick up supplies on the way home. I’m not sure he was convinced, but it all worked out and there was also time for an impromptu lunch out too.

Sunday morning he headed out on his bike, returning with these pictures of a foggy Thames and Thames Barrier. You can’t see where river meets the sky, and if it weren’t for the iconic structure I’m not sure you’d believe that it was the RiveR Thames at all.

In sunnier developments, this sand free beach towel gifted by Tesalate arrived and I’m looking forward to putting that to the test when we head off to Barbados next month - I can’t wait!

More on that to follow, but in the meantime I’m really pleased with the design of this lightweight towel, which comes with its own storage pouch.

This week I’ve also been trying my hand at some brush lettering using some of the items sent by the London Graphic Centre, starting small before practicing some modern lettering and colour blending. While it was clear I need more practice - it’s been a while since I’ve done anything like this, but it’s something I really want to get back into. I’ve a feeling I’ve got an early example of my work upstairs somewhere, so will look that out and share if I find it.

I STRUGGLED WITH THE FS MORE THAN ANYTHING - AND NOW I’M AVOIDING WORDS WITH FS!!

We realised that this weekend is probably going to be our last chance to get out into the garden this year - eek! And with the grass being overtaken with leaves, we knew we should. MOH is a bit of a leaf fiend, and set about sweeping up piles to ‘lawn mower’ over. By the time he finished you could see the grass again, though of course this morning more leaves (though not as many) have taken their place.

He tackled the leaves, I wrapped up pots in bubble wrap to protect them from any frosts. The agapanthus too are covered in fleece to give them the best chance next year. Our new pots are bubble wrapped, though they were harder to lift than the more traditional round pots, so MOH’s muscles were needed. I think they were harder as being square/oblong they were less easy to rock and manoeuvre, although it could also be that I was having a particularly weak moment! Either way, our garden is all set for winter - even if I’m still in denial about the time of year.

How can it be so close to the end of November, and so close to Christmas. I’m sure each year, it comes round more quickly…

Big Ideas: A spa-style bathroom

I’m sure we’ve all had days where we’ve wished we’ve had a spa to walk into as soon as we step through the front door, and while that may not always be possible, and we may have to plan our spa visits in advance, there are some style tips we can adopt to make the most of our own bathrooms to make them a haven of relaxation.

The Big Ideas for this bathroom are:

1. Tactile finishes such as natural woods and limewash tiles

2. A neutral palette which enhances the hygge design, but is also easy to update

3. A relaxing vibe, as we all know a calming atmosphere promotes wellbeing.

For me in this bathroom, it’s the tiles that make it. I’m sure they’re the type of tiles that builders love to hate and will tell you how hard they are to put up, but if they can look this good, I think that’s worth it. And if they are hard to put up, then I think I’d recommend a builder than trying to do them yourselves. I’ve said before that MOH and I are DIY-incompatible, and these don’t look like materials that would help with that.

He’d be a big fan of the shower though, even if the tiles aren’t quite his thing.

The other thing about this bathroom is that it’s full of texture. The wood, the tiles, the mats, even the basket with the candles in on the bench. Texture is satisfying for our eyes, and our soul I think.

It’s unusual to have artwork in a bathroom, often because they’re small and steamy places, and so it’s not practical. But if you have the space, then it’s worth considering. I like the picture above even for a non-bathroom space - it’s the type of image that challenges your eyes and brain, but also rewards them with a pleasing image once you’ve really seen it.

Even if we can’t fit all of this into our own more normal sized bathrooms, some of the Big Ideas would be relatively easy to incorporate, and I’m sure the benefit would be ten-fold.