Sweet spring...
Sweet spring. Roses - the first roses! Yeay! Shouts for gardening joy. THE FIRST ROSES! In amongst the late cherry blossom, the Clematis montana, the little blue forget-me-nots and the October rhododendrons. Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses (thanks, George Herbert, Welsh poet).
Rose Canary Bird
Dogs. Four dogs! Yeay! Four dogs is lots, so I have been picking and poking at the garden a bit, throwing balls and sticks with my spare hand, and carefully supervising. Rosie and Bear's mother has assured me that they won't go off on their own. And by the end of their country holiday with me I'll know she was right. But I am still cautious, I guess.
Dog Mothers!
Dog-mothers are rather funny, actually. Bear and Rosie's mother left me with all the information needed for her dogs' routines. 'Oh no - Bear won't ever get on the furniture.' Yeah, right? He looooves lying on the dog couch. 'Just tell them to go to bed after dinner.' Bed? What bed? Never heard of it.
Wet Rhododendron
And allergies. Well, something in my garden has made me itchy and skin-prickly, that's my self-diagnosis. This is a first, but the Viburnum rhodophyll could well be the culprit. All sorted, thanks to an antihistamine pill. Must be getting more sensitive in my older age, hee hee.
The Four Piece Dog Pack Routine...
Our routine is pretty much the same each day. First thing after breakfast we have frisbee and ball throwing on the Frisbee Lawn. Then we walk right around the orchard for a pee and a poo. Rain or shine, we then all pile into my tiddly car and go to the dog park, where we have moon ball throwing and socialising. We love the dog park. Then we come home and snooze a bit while I try and do something worthwhile in my garden.
But I'm a bit distracted. My (human) friends and I are doing something silly. It's called MEFTA, Mind Expansion For The Ages. We have each chosen a topic to research, and we have to present our findings to each other in a couple of weeks time. My topic is Amunsden and Scott and the South Pole. I am having great fun writing a little play and a poem. Sooooo silly! The other two ladies' topics are : The Scottish Poet William McGonagall, and Norse Mythology. See - it works like a book group, but with research topics rather than books to discuss. Some people have too much time on their hands, maybe?
After I poke around reading more about the polar explorers (would love to fly over the Axel Heiberg Glacier), the four-piece dog pack goes for another orchard walk. Some days I put the watering hoses on, and do a tiny bit of weeding. One day it's furiously windy, the next there's not the slightest squawk of wind. Then one day it rains, lovely rain, so good for the garden. The bell-birds adore this - they chirp and chime and whistle to each other. It's magical spring, the best of the best, each day something wonderful and new to admire.