Reflecting on my week #149

It’s been a while since I started the week with one of these posts, since the start of February to be precise. That’s most probably because weeks have been pretty similar this year - eat, work, sleep, repeat and all that - and there’s been little to say. However as the whole country works its way through the milestones of the roadmap out of lockdown we’re doing more - we’ve still not managed an outside pub or restaurant visit, nor do we really have any plans to. Up until this weekend it’s been too cold to do that.

We’ve not been total hermits though - we’re gradually going further afield and planning more, and it’s great to have some semblance of normality return, with more to follow. We’ve had haircuts, our second jab, had a flying visit to Norfolk to see my parents for the first time in six months and made plans for a UK break or two. MIL’s house move is progressing and MOH is acquiring childhood stuff from his family home, which is both interesting and challenging for all involved.

MOH has started his new job, and we’re both still working from home. I’ve bagged the warmer of our two spare rooms while MOH has finally made use of the throw in his home office, and once or twice even turned on the electric heater. He’s still brilliant at bringing me tea and cakes/biscuits, and workday lunches are usually very planned or a bit ‘put together’ from leftovers in the fridge - aka Fridge Tapas - definitely a discovery of lockdown!

I randomly won a competition just by retweeting a tweet - if I’m honest I never thought anyone ever won those, but they do, as I have. My prize arrived this week and included these five jars of jam (or four jams, one honey), a bottle of rhubarb vodka liqueur, a morello cherry candle and an apple scented diffuser - all of which I can’t wait to try.

I had a lovely week off at the end of April, which cannily ran into the bank holiday extending my time away from my day job for a little extra time - it was my first full week off since last October, which is quite a while. I’d had a few days off in between, but it was nice to spend some time recharging.

I was keen to make the most of my time off and so put some structure around my days, as otherwise I knew I’d spend most of the day wondering what to do - I have lots to do and some times the choice doesn’t help. I managed daily yoga sessions - these were short (and wobbly!) - and I promised myself I’d spend at least 21 minutes a day reading. I mean, it’s not a long time so it is surely something I could commit too going forward, and mostly I have. I also spent some time really thinking about things and finally posted my word of the year, yes just before the end of April!

During that week I also got myself back into a blogging rhythm which I’m hoping to continue with. I got out and about on foot and had a first session of craniosacral therapy, something that’s new to me and I first heard of in a podcast. Looking into it further I thought it was something that could help me overcome the stresses of lockdown, and it has. I’ve since had another session with a further one booked. After the first session I felt that my body was able to relax more, and for the first time in a long time got what was meant by ‘melting into the earth’. The second session was different bringing different feelings to the fore, but it also got me logging off an hour earlier than usual and out into the evening sunlight, which in itself is quite an achievement.

On walk home the evening was one of those with that glorious golden light and a sunset that would be worthy of any horizon, but if you look closely you can see the traffic speed hump in the foreground and a litter bin on the right hand side.

I’ve some more time off in a few weeks, and we’ll be heading up to the Lake District for the holiday which was postponed last year and I’m looking forward to that. That will be the last of my leave carried over from last year, and then I can start on this year’s leave! We have plans for a long weekend away in Sussex, which is basically us in a hut complete with a hot tub in a field, and another few days in the gatehouse of a walled garden later in the summer.

All that thinking means I’ve also had a realisation about living life, as I’m sure many of us have had in this past year, and while I’m going to do that annoying thing of not saying anything more right now, it’s been quite an eye opener and given me plenty more to think about.

Looking back at my garden in August

Today let’s head back to last August and take a look at what was going on in my garden. Even though it’s a few months ago, these photos have brought the memories straight back to the surface - funny how photos can do that isn’t it?

In the greenhouse I remember being so proud of my chillies, yes they’re small but boy were they fiery. In truth though we didn’t have a great veg-growing year, so every success was welcome. Our lack of success was I think due to the amount of shade in our garden - we need our trees cut for a better return. That’s not happened yet, so I’m considering my options for this year and plan to grow things that stand a good chance of producing a yield worth the effort required.

Our beans had nabbed one of the sunniest spots and did well, the broad beans which had been there before them less so.

My challenge for 2021 is to prevent MOH picking the borlotti beans when they look like this, the idea is to let them dry on the plant - wish me luck.

The weather was good though and so we took plenty of opportunities to be in the garden, for ice creams, cocktails and meals outside.

But there was also work to do. In the rear corner the jasmine had taken over and so we spent an afternoon cutting it back. I know it will grow again, and probably be better for a good trim. While doing this we discovered the vine which had come over the fence from next doo - it’s the thick stem that’s growing horizontally. And yes, it’s clearly been there for a while.

Not only was the stem thick, but it had fruited - and we had many bunches of grapes in our cherry tree, which the vine was using as its framework. This is the cherry tree that we had a bumper harvest of cherries from too, so they looked as if they were happy to share the space. We weren’t quite so happy, and cut out what we could, though we couldn’t get all of the vine out of the cherry tree - when we have that pruned, it’ll come out and we’ll be keeping an eye on preventing that happening again.

MOH tried a few of the grapes, which were sweet enough - I tried one, and it was ok, but there were almost as many pips as grapes so for a negligible return I was happy to pass.

Back closer to the patio a garden lights plan was being hatched. I’ve struggled with lights as if they go along the sides of the garden, to me, it makes it look more like a runway. I’m not sure how it took me so long to come up with the idea of stringing them across the garden, but it did. This string of solar lights were there as a trial, and were just about high enough for us to walk under.

The trial was a success and we bought several strings of lights, which typically arrived just as the weather turned. If our plans work out, by the time this post is live, they’ll be up and sparkling just when we want them to be. I’ll let you know.

The warmer evenings meant we spent a fair amount of time after working at home in our garden, with both the barbecue and candles being key features. And the odd bottle of wine too.

The evening light was good and the agapanthus continued to flower, and enjoy the evening sun.

We definitely enjoyed the evening sun, and the morning sun too with breakfasts in the garden as well as dinners - now that’s a real treat.

Let’s hope for the same this summer!

My garden in April

It’s been quite a while since I shared a garden post here, and I’m really not sure why. I’ve been taking photos most months - as you’d expect December and January were a bit sparse - but somehow they’ve not made it onto here. So I’m restarting these online memory scrapbook of my garden with snaps taken during April, and over the next few weeks I’ll catch myself up, so don’t be surprised to see a spot of snow in the not too distant future.

But first blossom.

Both of our cherry trees are full of blossom, which can when blown have a snow effect. We don’t have the pink cherry blossom that everyone craves, and goes wild for, like Greenwich Park but white blossom is good by me. Our laurel tree has also flowered this month, and between this and the cherries the pigeons are having a blast.

The laurel needs a cut though, as I’ve noticed that when it rains only part of the stone circle which is close-but-not-that-close-by gets wet. In fact a few of our trees need a cut so we’ll need to call our tree cutters, it’s been a while.

Throughout the garden there’s pops of lime green euphorbias, it’s a colour that really lifts the space especially on the grey-er days. It seems hard to believe that last April we were already making use of the barbecue, not so much - or at all - this year.

Our reddy-pink camellia has finally flowered, it’s much later than our neighbours, as usual but even so, it’s been slow. Now that it’s here, it’s very welcome and very beautiful but I wish it wasn’t quite so reticent. In more exciting news at the far end of the garden, our newest camellia has flowered. I say new, it arrived in 2015 and has flowered before, but this year it seems to have really got the hang of it.

And like many camellias even when it’s fading, it’s still as beautiful. Our ornamental quince, with its orange flowers, is doing well with more flowers than I remember from previous years. Last year we really cut back the euonymus and I suspect that has really helped.

Some bulbs have other plants have self seeded in the grass, and we have our usual carpet of wild violets, which also seem to have found themselves a new home between the paving and slate outside the greenhouse. Both the leaves and the flowers are exquisite, though MOH is less welcoming to the ones in the grass.

We’re still waiting for the march of the forget-me-nots, they are rampant in our garden and while the blue ‘fluff’ is welcome to start with, it doesn’t last. Our challenge is always to pull them up before they set seed, so it becomes a bit of a race. We know that’s to come, but in the meantime let’s just admire the blossom while it lasts.