Short outing and some gardening

 I was sitting doing my morning puzzles and saw a wood pigeon on a cross in the churchyard.

After Tina had finished morning prayer and caught up with emails we had a trip out to a printer in Perth as she had some leaflets to collect. There is a very good stationary store attached to it which we enjoyed looking round. We were going to get some groceries and there was a bakers shop which hd some tables and chairs. We had a very nice sandwich and drink at a r ally good price and got a couple of cakes to bring home.

It has been a day of sunshine and sudden showers, it was raining when we had a cuppa and our cake but was bright and sunny again when I was ready to get outside. I went back to the small prt I had begun and cleared a bit further and got lots more root out.

The stone collection before I started.

A few more when I was finished for today. Small rockery somewhere maybe?

I cannot do the hard work for as long as I used to, got the area levelled and planted the last of the plants we had bought.

Regular hoeing will be needed as it is still root central under there!

I was quite pooped when I came in so sat with th cat who couldn’t have stretched out any more today!

I took another photo from the chair, very different to this mornings and no wood pigeon.

Not planning to do much this evening.

Not gardening weather

 It rained overnight and on and off during the day. We did have bright, dry spells but the Earth was too wet for root extraction! I did do some repotting indoors, I had some rooting powder and am hoping that the two twigs I have had in water that were knocked off during the move will take. Also  cutting from the runes poinsettia but not too hopeful on that one! Then I put the twigs of twisted willow into soil with rooting powder, have had them in water for a while. Maybe none will actually take, but worth a try.

Took a photo of the Victorian planter while I was outside.

I had sewn three sections of patchwork together yesterday evening. This afternoon I started cutting out material for cushion comer and stitched the patchwork on the front. After dinner I finished it off and have picked ll the sewing stuff away.

Watching ‘Grace’ now.

Walk by the river and pencil shading class

 This morning I did go out in the garden for a short time, I put some plants into the Victorian planter and then made a small start on the ground elder under the bushes.

This pile of root was literally just from the corner! Do you think this is a battle I might not win?

Tina and I walked up to Dunkeld as there was craft sale in the Drill Hall. We had a good look round and all I bought was a card, although I was tempted by some beautiful framed photographs!

Tina suggested we walk back along the river, it was a lovely day but a very cold wind.

That photo is next to the large sycamore next to the Birnam Oak. The next two are of the oak, Tina is under one of the branches, and I am inside it, we hadn’t been at the back of the tree before.

Just before we got to the trees we had found a stretch of beach!

Soon after we got home I got ready to go to the pencil shading class. A lot of instruction on using pencils nd charcoal and blenders and brushes. Then we all had a go at shading apples! We just started with circles and worked through stages. It was interesting, but a lot of information on other sorts of shading as well.

One was started with an HB pencil for the base, one with grated graphite and one with grated charcoal.

Family call when I got home, then tea, and now feet up time without a cat at the moment.

Garden and lunch and shopping

 This morning I thought I would concentrate on the end of the bungalow where Tina’s office is and the side any visitors see first. I didn’t take a before shot but there was a large cracked plastic planter full of a scraggly mount of mint and compost falling out onto the path. There was another plastic pot that had one bulb and plenty of weeds. We had bought a couple of small hanging baskets a few days ago and they were already up. It took a while extracting the compost from the broken pot as it was full of roots. The got the biggest ones out and had the rest of the compost in a couple of containers and will sift through it to remove roots so that it can be reused. I put the hellebore in a pot, moved a low one that Tina had bought back from a church sale and managed to move the cast iron Victorian planter on the sack trolley. Added some garden ornaments that I brought with us and it looks a lot better now.

I moved the cordyline onto a slab in the middle of the lawn, so taken from the untouched part of the garden it looks like it is taking shape!

I felt like gong out and Tina was happy to take us. We had lunch at the garden centre and of course got a few more plants, some of those will go in the Victorian planter tomorrow, hopefully.

My parcel arrived just before we went out, I had ordered some wide fit walking shoes. I wore them when we were out and they feel fine and are wide enough. I have strayed them with protector now.

I have been working on the quiz sheet I got yesterday, think I have ten more to work out now. Not doing a lot this evening, maybe a bit of the patchwork.

Tomorrow I hope to get the plants into the planter and in the afternoon I am going to a pencil shading workshop!

Quieter day

 I will start with a photo that Darren sent when he was leaving work yesterday, he knows o like different skies.

This morning I wrote some Easter cards and also one to get my address changed on a subscription and got them in the post. After lunch I walked into Dunkeld to get some air, had a drink while is was there and bought a couple of bits in one of the shops. There was a boat out on the river with fishermen, I hadn’t spotted any before.

I did a sketch of the flowers that Tina got form me, a bit daunting!

I received a quiz sheet today, rising money for Parkinson’s UK, they are very good, this one is all household items. I have worked out more than half, it means I didn’t do any patchwork which is what I intended,

Tina hasn’t felt too well today but hopefully she will feel better for a service in the morning.

Fairly busy day

 This morning I went out into the garden to at least get the prepared square planted up, it was a bright but very cold morning. I took the photo of the plants, not too many for now!

I did get the bed planted up before setting about the bed under the bushes.

I started to work along from where I had stopped the other day, when I had cleared the corner a bit I decided this unsightly bush needed to come out.

This turned out to be more of a challenge than I had thought. It really didn’t want to budge, and o had trouble finding the roots that were stopping it from moving. I trimmed it back and eventually managed to turn it over.

I haven’t filled the hole in heat as I will need to find the rest of the roots.

I perhaps did a yard more of first de rooting but the whole area I have done will need much more clearing .

After I had cleared the tool away and had a bit of lunch I walked to Dunkeld to get some fresh vegetables to make up a stir fry. The greengrocer wasn’t open, another shop that says it has vegetables didn’t have any so ended up at the Co-op. There was a reasonable selection. It had rained, not sleet but very icy on the way there but was dry gain on the way home. Snow hd been a possibility this afternoon.

After tea Tina drove us up to the Hermitage, it hailstoned for a few minutes there, but cleared quickly.. it was nice to go at a different time of day.

We wondered if that had been the work of a beaver, a very shredded tree trunk!

Feeling pretty achy this evening and frustrated with the printer! But not intending to do much more this evening.

Sorting cards and a couple of outings.

 This morning I started going through all the cards and notelets that I have collected. I do write to folk quite a lot but the amounts I have are silly. Some will go to the charity shop a nd the ones that I have bought  because I like them particularly I put in a pile and thought I would stick them all to a large piece of paper to go on my bedroom wall. Tina had a reasonably clear day today, she spent quite a while helping me apply for my Scottish bus pass. So pleased she helped me, left alone I wouldn’t be getting one! 

Before I forget, Pandora sits on my lap, well, more like my legs in the morning when I m doing my daily on line word puzzles. She digs her claws into my legs and I have spotted blood spot legs as a result! So I decided to put a throw over my legs this morning. Amazingly she laid with her head near to me,  very unusual, and no pin pricks today!

With the bus pass applied for we went off to find a plant nursery, genuinely in the middle of nowhere! We did find it but sadly there was nothing there that caught our eye today. We were then ready for a drink and something to eat. We drove into two places that hd signs out but weren’t open, so we ended up at a Scottish chocolate making place that had a cafe inside. Well, bit posh to call a cafe, but not a restaurant. We had a very naughty chocolate and cake lunch! Tina also bought some of their lovely truffles nd a bar of chocolate for me. A couple of photos from inside and a water bed outside.

We came home for a while, had a cuppa and watched a Bargain Hunt then we went to a B&Q and bought a small garden fork and some plants, a picture of them tomorrow. There was the beginning of a rainbow on the way home.

We had some tea and then I started cutting up the cards that I had kept and arranging them on a piece of A3 paper. I have them stuck on now and even managed to get it onto the wall in the bedroom. Near the bed as I was sitting on it!

Have just cleared up all the debris! Will sit quietly for a bit before bed. Gardening tomorrow, wether permitting.