Gardening and a glimpse of the sea!

Yesterday evening I coloured one of the black images from the pad I sent for, they are sea pictures, I didn’t start with my favourite one but do like the way this one has turned out.

This morning I thought I had better get back into the front garden and do a bit more clearing, I wasn’t overwhelmed with enthusiasm but did get stuck in and even got a few of the plants we had put in.

After lunch Tina had some letters to deliver so I went out with her for a trip out. I stayed in the car while she dropped off her letters and when she went into the butchers as we were passing and they were open. Then she drove up to the sea front and we got out long enough to take a couple of pictures and get a breath of sea air. Nobody anywhere near us and we were only there a couple of minutes then back in the car and home.

I took a slow walk for twenty minutes round the garden and spotted the group of white flowers I had planted early last year. The daffodils are just opening and the tulips are forming.

Last night I was thinking that the wooden edging we still have a lot of might work as a path in the back garden. I just put two down to see how it looked, will get some more out of the porch another day and extend the path.

After that I did some weeding on another bed but didn’t take a photo. Removed a lot of cornflower seedlings, because I do like them but they can take over a bed if you let them! Darren had some printed targets arrive today and some lube to make it easier to remove the arrows from the board. Took some pictures, Pandora was interested but luckily didn’t try to race the arrows!

I sent for some more compression gloves, the ones I am using I got in America last year. These ones actually mentioned Carpel Tunnel so I thought it would be worth giving them a try. Nice colour too!

Flowering plants all re-homed

Not a great deal to write about today. I took a picture of the sky yesterday evening, I have taken similar ones before but there was a pink tinge to the sky this time.

Tina and I went round to the parish hall on three separate occasions today and all of those wonderful plants have been collected, so there will be lots of vulnerable and elderly folk who will have received a lovely unexpected gift over the last few days. We organised it on an appointment basis and were very conscious of social distancing and keeping everybody safe.

My knees have been getting really painful as I have not been taking actual walks although I have remained reasonable active. So today I walked round the garden for twenty minutes and will try and make a habit of it now. I was very slow today but hopefully the knees will get a bit more flexible again and I can try going a bit faster!

I had run out of coconut feeders for the birds and had enough ingredients left to make another batch. Will put lard and bird seed on a shopping list for Tina later in the week!

I sat out on the bench for a while before Darren came home and both of the cats came out with me. There was some disagreement between them who would sit by me, in the end Blue went and waited near the front door and Pandora got behind me!

I have made the orchid painting into a card this evening, but will carry on with some sorting as I have been going through things on and off during the day.

Lazy day all round!

I haven’t done a lot today, trying to rest up the hands which were particularly bad last night, probably not helped by a couple of days of harder gardening! I did go into the parish hall with Tina a few times as we had people coming by appointment from care homes to collect the donated plants for residents and staff. Quite a few have now gone to new homes and we are expecting more people tomorrow. Really good, and they will bring a real bit of joy to some of the elderly folk that are now isolated.

Back home the cats have felt lethargic too, one on my rocking chair and the other on my bed!!

I did bring a yellow orchid home as I thought I would attempt to paint it. Not a challenge at all, especially as I had no white water colour pint, but did have some white acrylic!

May make it into a card, as I have many sketches I have done which never again see the light of day!

Tina has challenged me to a game of Scrabble this evening, so that will make a change.

Turf laying

Not a lot to report today really, woke up feeling very off colour as between the knees and more so lately the hands any sort of reasonable sleep is hard to come by! When I did nod off I was having disturbing dreams so woke up in a bad, can’t be bothered mood! After sitting for a while I knew that the answer was to go and get stuck into something, preferably physical! So have spent quite a bit of the day carrying on with the turf path as it was a pity not to use the pile of turfs that were piled up by the demolished steps. I started my getting a channel ready and Darren came out and carried the turfs down for me as they are quite heave because of the depth of soil.

Had almost finished putting them in apart from a few odd bits still on the patio, but planned to go out again after lunch to finish off .

I wanted to get soil into the gaps and tidy it up as well as using the last couple of pieces. It will be okay I think when it is bedded in.

Managed to catch a couple of the crows taking off in that one!

I made dinner for this evening and baked a few buns which managed to be okay for later.

After dinner I went out and used the hose to water the new path well. It did start to hail while I was out there but it was a short sharp shower!

Orchids galore!

This morning I did a Jane Fonda exercise dvd while Tina love streamed morning prayers and then we went into the Parish Hall to move tables about and stack chairs out of the way as Sigglesthorne garden centre were donating all of their flowering house plants to the town to be distributed! They were going to stand in the parish hall for 72 hours to make sure of no infection and then it will be working out now to get them distributed! They weren’t actually being delivered until the afternoon so I went out into the garden for a while to carry on where I had left off yesterday.

Rob was working on dismantling the steps and said he would use the slabs to make a path by the greenhouse. I had visualised just a couple of slabs, he used them all and obviously thinks my legs are as long as his! Tina is threatening to take a video of me negotiating them!

I thought I could use some of those turfs to make a path where ai have been working.

The flower delivery was at about 2.30pm so we went across soon after lunch. The plants were on several wheeled racks, the staff got them off the lorry keeping well away from us and we wheeled them into the hall. They will come back for the racks when we get in touch, but there is no rush. So many beautiful orchids and lots of other plants too.

I went back out into the garden again and have started on the path, but enough is enough for one day!

Darren’s birthday soon and Tina and I have clubbed together to get him a target for practice as his archery has been cancelled for now. The big black thing you fire into is huge so no way we could hide it. It arrived yesterday and Darren assembled the stand and tonight he went out for a trial run. Very cold out there this evening!

I have done some watering with the cans this evening, including the turf path! Pretty tired now so not planning on much more activity!

Early birthday gift!

This morning I took a photo of the wallflower type flowers just because I really love them! I was out early watering a tree that appeared to be dying! If it is from being too dry that seems strange after the amount of rain we had been getting!

I have never been particularly a fan of wallflowers but these with their delicate and varied flowers are delightful.

Tina has been using the enforced time at home to blitz her office. There has been a huge box in there for a couple of weeks now, I knew it had my birthday present in and I knew what she had ordered. Today she said I could have it early, okay by me and the box about ten times as big as the gift could be disposed of! A lovely picture and I knew just where to hang it so I will look at it every day. I removed three s ceramic hearts I decorated a while ago and a spider decoration so that the picture could hang behind the television. Well, not literally behind you understand...... two photos the second one closer for more detail.

I removed all the ornaments on my two shelving units and dusted them and polished the surfaces, not a job I do as often as I should. Do need to get on the steps to do the Peter Rabbit stand!

This afternoon Tina and I both worked in the garden for a bit. I planted a few flowers in the bit of bed I did yesterday and then went to remove weeds behind the big flower bed. Tina was digging out the Spanish bluebells and then lit the incinerator for a while. One of Tina at work and one of the clearer area, although nothing to compare it to!

Yesterday we decided the dangerous steps down to the lawn should go and we would make a rockery feature there. Rob removed some of the slabs today and Somme of the bricks, very solid construction. The slabs will be good to use up to the greenhouse which is getting quite slippery when it is wet!

Was going to add a picture of the step progress and one of an orchid that Marjorie from the church brought round for me today, but the blogger ap isn’t having any of it so will finish here for today.

Bits and bobs

Today has been quite varied but good, I am quite content not going out. I went to get the garden bin in this morning and spotted this tulip that looked like a lily at first glance!

This morning Tina had to get some things from church and let an electrician in to do some work. She has been streaming morning prayer from the dining room since she as old that the church must close. Before that she printed off a quiz sheet for me from Peterborough Parkinson’s, I got all the questions right on the last one but wasn’t picked out of the hat for a prize. I sat and started to get some of the answers. Did another load of washing and got it all out on the line. For two days now I have got washing dry outside which is great.

I have been making a lot of cards lately and thought it would be nice to send some out to friends and family so sat and wrote some before Tina went to the shops. She posted them for me, luckily we got stamps the other day and I still had some 

Christmas ones left. The stamps have increased in price again this week! While she was out I pruned the fire thorn bush, it is viscous! As I was taking cuttings up to the garden bin I could feel blood running down my leg where it has stabbed me!

After lunch I went out into the garden and thought I would carry on with the bed I have worked on for the last couple of days. But I had reached a piece I hadn’t previously worked on and it was pretty hard going, so although I did my hour or so it didn’t seem like a lot. A lot of roots like the first attempts I had when we moved here.

When we were at Lidl a while ago we got some unusual pasta so I said I would make a pasta bake for us all this evening. It had a different texture but we quite enjoyed it.

I have been out watering some of the plants tonight as the ground is as dry as a bone in some areas and the flowers are wilting! Nice coloured sky behind the trees. I have a box of craft stuff to sort through this evening so will do that for a change and listen to some music.

Early start and a productive day

I didn’t have a good night so was up and out for a walk, not a long walk, mainly to the post box with letters. Fed the birds and cats early as well so a long day ahead and I was hoping I wouldn’t be too tired! Took a picture of the magnolia and some tulips on the front garden then after that I was indoors or in the back garden. It appears to be much quieter in the town, so hopefully people are staying home. Did see a few people out with their children in the park and dog walkers of course.

We have a visiting cat, a black and white Tom. Pandora did go up and was nose to nose with him for a bit but had jumped down before I could get the phone ready!

There is a flower bed along next to Luciens bar, that was the one I decided to get started on today. This morning I did up to the bush and got a few of the plants we bought in.

This afternoon I made a start on the other side of the bush, still have more to do but very pleased with the amount I got done today.

Last night I printed and painted another scene with the stamp set. Today I have made it into another card. They are fun images to paint.

Forgot to mention that after lunch I did a little baking, half a dozen small cakes and half a dozen scones, not the best so didn’t bother with a photo!

So on the whole a good day, my knee is sore but not nearly as bad as it was last night, so first day of Lockdown completed!

A decision, and keeping busy at home

I had a call from the prescribing pharmacist at the surgery this morning. He thought my blood pressure was okay with the one tablet a day and has organised that I can now call for a repeat so that I can continue with the treatment. Phoned the hospital as requested to update them on the booked pressure, but in the end it was unnecessary as new guidelines issued said no non emergency surgery for over seventies. So now it will be carry on and the nurse told me that cancelled patients would take priority when surgeries start again. So no worrying about the blood pressure for now and I will be able to revert to my previous pain killers and gel which were off limit before surgery. So, the garden may end up being better than it has ever been! I haven’t been out today except to bring the bin in, so took some pictures in the front garden, the first honesty flowers have opened. I love the honesty and it has done a lot of self sowing so should have loads.

The daffodils near the gate to the back garden are looking good. Darren parks next to them so don’t always notice them.

I like all daffodils but really love the ones with the peach coloured centres. This next plant we think is related to the wallflowers but is so pretty with the different colours on each stem.

Tina did take a trip to the garden centre to get me some bonsai compost, some plants for the garden too so plenty to be gong on with. I underestimated the amount of compost I needed and have used it all with not even half the trees repotted! Have ordered some more on line now to save unnecessary trips out for Tina or Darren.

Last week Tina sent for some craft items on sale. She ordered me the most lovely acrylic stamp set. I think it is fabulous and have had a play this afternoon. I used the pearlescent water colours and I am really delighted with the result.

Better watch Boris in a bit and see if we are going into Lock Down!