The pre-Christmas singing season...
It's the silly but lovely pre-Christmas singing season, with morning carols in the sunshine and serious warbling concerts held indoors in the heat of a summer afternoon. Would I possibly rather be gardening? Oops - naughty!
William Lobb Rose by the Water
Monday 5th December
Right. I'm off to pick up my latest gardening purchase - six second hand garden forks and diggers. I am not buying any more roses - and definitely not digging up any more Agapanthus. And then on to a piano playing gig with carols, and dreaming of a white Christmas? Not really - I can't imagine anything but a mid-summer Christmas.
Floppy Pink Peonies
- 'Cats do not like to swim.'
- -Moosey's Duck Advice.
An agitated mother duck with six rather small ducklings has been stuck in the middle of my pond, while three of my cats (little Minimus the grey, ginger Percy and big Fluff-Fluff) have been sitting on the deck staring. I couldn't intervene, in case mother duck did something foolish. I kept sending her the strongest mental message over and over again. Cats do not like to swim. Cats do not like to swim. Cats do not like to swim...
The Pilgrim Rose
Later...
Oops. I seem to be having a day off from the garden. I had three hours up my sleeve before the next musical event - a serious singing rehearsal. So what have I done? Oh yes - I've put on the hoses, and watered the tomatoes, and taken photographs of the roses, and (trying to put this final phrase in the tiniest letters) watched the Bachelor on TV. How silly!
Tuesday 6th December
Rain all day - great for the garden, allowing me to have a moochy day without feeling guilty. I've played the piano, done my jigsaw, done some web-gardening, and bought some cheap terracotta pots from the Ecostore. Now I'm off to bed with two huge gardening library books - Heritage Gardens of England and Best Gardens of Italy, hee hee. Snug and warm in Pond Cottage I can go travelling and not spend any money.
Wednesday 7th December
Oh dear. Just when I thought I had Mozart in his rightful place, personally speaking (that is, in the 'not really my music' bin)... At the Ecostore yesterday I picked up a CD of two of his piano concerti and they are really groovy. Why haven't I listened to these before? I am so silly.
Raindrops on Roses...
Another Rainy Day
It's another rainy, rainy day, and the plan was to stay inside reading, writing, playing the piano, and eating. Seemed fair! I thought I might wander around to take some more raindrops on roses photographs. But...
Not a Greedy Gardener, But...
I don't normally consider myself a greedy gardener. But when there's been two days of quite heavy rain, and I go outside to cut any peonies that have flopped down in the wet, and I come inside and fill five vases and three water jugs... Enough said. This gardener seems to have rather a lot of peonies, all in the Birthday Rose Garden. A pity that my idea to contain them with wire hoops has only half worked.
Lots of my roses have also flopped down (or broken) under the weight of the water. As a result my house is very fragrant, and any sneezers (not me) will cause a flurry of petals. The highly perfumed Compassions and Westerlands each have a vase to themselves, needing no florist's trimmings to be absolutely beautiful.
Compassion Roses
Anyway, it's lighter and brighter this afternoon, and the birds are squeaking again - a sure sign that the rain is over. I could even do some gardening. I will wander over to check the river pumps - in case they've been impeded by any debris. Better take the garden scissors (for any more roses).
Half an Hour Later...
I've cleaned up some floppy foxgloves and lupins, and trimmed some aquilegias. Then I collected more roses, squashed all my rescued flowers into a vase, and took some photographs for my Moosey Forum friend. That's only half an hour's work, but in my good clothes, and not a mark on them, I might add. We won't mention the fingernails.
Hmm...
The garden seems to have moved into a new summer perennials phase (heralded by lots of flowering Lychnis), and I've only been missing for three days. Hmm...