One of Those Mornings...
Minimus my Grey Cat
It's been one of those mornings. A cat-jumping competition, just before dawn, with Percy and Minimus leaping up on the cottage window-sill, off onto the floor, back onto the sill, and out onto the verandah - a series of loud 'kerthumps', with my tiny cottage, organically responsive, kerthumping back.
Then a variation - a big-air leap onto the gardener's bed, generating a deep thud from the cottage walls, an almost musical rattle from the bed, and a groan from the gardener.
Aftershocks?
This all felt and sounded horribly like earthquake aftershocks - to which it's hard not to instinctively react in some alarm. So I gave up trying to snooze and made a dawn cup of hot tea. Aargh! I spilt it down my (bare) leg. Immediate first aid - a dripping towel, wet with cold pond water, me shivering on the verandah.
+3 
+3Ah... Back to bed with new cup of tea, leg OK, listening to soothing noises of bird chirping, two daft cats now fighting the super-scary path mulch monster... Time to calmly reflect, give thanks, and write a creative, exciting gardening list in my (paper) cottage notebook. Hmm - here it is:
My Creative, Exciting List :
- Seeds
- Bricks
- Weeds
OK. I can do better than this! I'll try desperately grabbing my most recent gardening memory: all the groovy things I did in the garden yesterday. Alas there are not so many in the memory bank, actually. All I did was a spot of very fussy weeding along the edges of the Birthday Rose Garden, where the peony roses are now knee high, with buds. Ooh - exciting! And I went and collected another trailer load of used bricks.
Blue Pansies
Keep the Faith
So today, to keep the faith, I should weed the middle of this garden, avoiding the self-sown cornflowers and Lychnis. These annuals create the prettiest, fluffiest sight when flowering. At the moment just blue-purple pansies and pale blue forget-me-nots fill the gaps. As well as the weeds.
Well, with a list as succinct as the above, I expect my gardening day will be pretty uncomplicated! Now let me see - what to do first? Seeds? Or weeds? Seeds? No - I know! I'll do bricks. Bricks! Yeay!
Much Later...
First of all, I am exceedingly happy with my gardening day. It's been beautifully warm and sunny, and all the green leaves have been shining. So what have I been up to? Aha! I have been so well behaved. As well as shovelling damp ash off my bonfire and spreading it in the Hen House Garden I've kept to my list.
Rose Canary Bird
Seeds, Bricks,and Weeds
Seeds: I watered everything, took the Omphalodes and Laylas outside to harden off, pricked out another lot of blue Salvia Horminum, and peeped at my tiny fancy Verbascums - so tiny, yet they'll grow into such robust strong perennials (if I don't drown them by slopping in too much water). I also planted two patio pots with lettuces.
Bricks: A couple of dozen more have been cleaned, and my hiking friend is coming tomorrow to help with the laying. Two old silver-grey heads are better than one, hee hee...
Weeds: I've done some spot weeding, rather than concentrate properly on one area. And so the Birthday Rose Garden's middle is undone, as yet. But at least I've quasi-weeded.
Now I'm apres-gardening, clean-shirted and pink-faced, with freshly washed hair, and the sun is still shining. Love that daylight saving - I can dry my hair in the sun. I've got the hoses on in the Shrubbery, where my second Canary Bird rose is flowering. The Mexican orange blossom shrubs (I do grow quite a few of these) are just ready to flower too, and the pink flowering cherries and Crab-apples are just gorgeous.
Afternoon Sunshine in Middle Garden
Pink! I love pink. The pink rhododendron in Middle Garden is the biggest it's ever been - it's a beautiful sight, and hums with appreciative bees.
Monday 8th October
Bricklaying in the rain? I don't think so. I'm going swimming, during which I can think fondly about the garden (which needs this rain so much).