Today should be..
My Dog is Bored
Today should be my Garden-All-Day day, but rain is forecast. I have gardens to tidy. I want to clear absolutely all that scruffy garden land and plant it in an easy care evergreen forest. Yes! I'm not so small that I can't think big. And get wet if I have to...
Thursday 11th March
Up far too early, I am seriously thinking about going back to bed with my cup of tea. If I can just get through this initial stage of sloth... And I need to put on my gardening clothes - one can't really 'think big' in pyjamas and dressing gown. Also I'm in a bit of a dreary mood - apologies for any lacklustre burbling.
Here's the plan. First of all I wander around the whole garden with Son of Moosey's new camera. This will either make or break me - I will see swathes of great wondrous beauty, as well as slightly depressing weediness. This healthy, naturally balanced mixture of images will wake me up - and I can look for Lilli-Puss as I go (not sighted now for five days).
The Willow Tree Garden
Back Inside...
Right. I'm back inside downloading squillions of photographs, most of which looked beautiful (on the camera display). It's already drizzling, but I'm going to spend an hour in the new garden where I can think big to my heart's content. No distractions (like burning, or dead-heading). I can stay outside until the water starts dripping down the back of my neck.
Daisies by the Water
Five Minutes Later...
That didn't work! Oh well - an inside day - I can have fun web-gardening! Plants like Scabious and Watsonias need their own pages. I can think big tomorrow...
Late Afternoon, Redeemed...
I went to the supermarket, and then I did one hour of speed-gardening. The new garden is now cleared right up to the next Olearia and the next irrigation stalk (not sure if that's the correct word). So much for thinking big... Vision is all very well in gardening, but sometimes stamina would be preferable.
Talking of vision - in the new garden I see arcs of mature Renga Renga gently wafting in the breeze. Then I blink and I see Agapanthus instead. Both plants would thrive in here, and are a nice way to define a path curve. Hmm... 
+20
And talking of stamina (or lack of it), it's pelting down with rather cold rain, and I'm enjoying the cosiness of being lazy inside - with four large, purry, attentive cats. Even Tiger has done a stint on my knees. Foolishly I am wearing a black woolly top, which is now extremely ginger-cat-hairy. Enjoy your pets as well as your garden, I say!
Lilli-Puss My Grey Cat
Friday 12th March
Cats! Aargh! More random than people, I reckon. It's been one of those weeks - I've been alternatively calling and searching underneath hedges for Lilli-Puss. Cat worries and hopes - poor Non-Gardening Partner! We have the same conversation about Lilli - it goes like this:
Me (all sad): 'I still can't find Lilli. What can I do about her?'
NGP (in his soft, sympathetic voice): 'You can't do anything.'
So last night I was snuggled up in bed reading and plop! Lilli bounces onto the bed, large as life, well-fed, healthy and extremely happy. She draped herself around my neck like a fox fur, wriggled and purred, rubbed her nose in mine... Lilli - where have you been? Purr, purr, smooch - this went on until dawn this morning...
I have never, ever had such a random cat (maybe she's tag-teaming two households). The puzzle is that she's so incredibly loving when she comes home. And she always smells of pine needles... I'd love to put a trace on her and see exactly where she goes.
New Allium Bulbs
There will be no gardening today. It is seriously raining, with noisy, fat rain, and is rather dark outside for the daytime. This is a good thing, though, as the paddocks were dry enough to be a fire risk. My bulb order has arrived - now I have over six hundred new daffodils (and twelve Alliums) to plant. Groovy! Last year I didn't buy any.