Clarinets...
I have never taken much notice of clarinets. But this morning, early, listening to Mozart's clarinet quintet, eating fresh fruit salad and yoghurt with a delicate little spoon - an extraordinary feeling of well-being and balance flowed over me. The inner tensions which are always (for me anyway) present in a string quartet were gone, defused by that burbling clarinet. Subversive thought - perhaps Mozart is naturally mind-numbing, like the House Merlot when not watered down?
Pebbles
New sun angles
There was something else to beam about, too - the new 'sun angles' on the outside house lawns and borders. Am amazing difference. Four more huge trees from the original shelter belt were felled yesterday. My house and garden are much, much lighter.
Dog discipline books...
Yesterday serendipity struck at the Charity Shop, where I found not one, but two, one-dollar books on dog behaviour - by Jan Fennell and Cesar. Cesar says that dogs need just three things : exercise, affection, and discipline. Aha! The secret of a good life for people, too, I reckon!
Today's exercise (which Cesar reckons must come before disciple and affection) will involve the dogs and the garden, naturally. We have already been outside to look at The Hump, marvel at the girth of the newly felled trees, take a selfie, and think about where my new path should go. Then it started raining. Oh well.
NGP with the Dogs
So the plan is to - ahem - make a start when the rain stops. Thought : I've got a lot of little Lemonwoods (Pittosporums) in pots. And spare Agapanthus, the species ones. Too early in the process to start planting? Probably yes?
Two hours later...
Yes! Far too early! I've just spent two hours moving firewood logs. There's sooooooo much new space. And light. And it's all very exciting, even if my plans are somewhat fuzzy. Nothing wrong with fuzzy! I refuse to draw anything on paper, anyway. And now I have to go to a music rehearsal.
Monday 27th Monday
OK. Positively, emphatically, enthusiastically, I can do this. Of course I can. I CAN do this. I can DO this. THIS. Buster the black cat, lolling on my lap, agrees with me. So that's that! Never challenge the wisdom of a cat!
Me on the Logs
'THIS' refers to making a sensible start on the new garden in The Hump. It does NOT involve buying cute little Dogwoods to plant therein. 'THIS' requires patience, as I will be cleaning up years of indiscriminate dumping (plus the shedding of Gum tree bark and leaves). Stacks of old branches need to be carried out to the trailer, one by one, for burning. Rotten wood stays put.
At the end of the day...
By mid-afternoon I'd got myself in a design pickle. The beginning of the new path was not working. So I did what a gardener should do - I stopped and had a cup of tea. Then I filled my wheelbarrow with horse manure, approached The Hump, screwed up my eyes a bit, and sort of bumbled in. Aha! A more gentle curve of the path immediately made perfect sense.
Hybrid Cordyline :- There are lots of cute coloured hybrid Cordylines. It's not uncommon for the older species ones in my garden to die.
And then followed a delightful bit of recycling. A little path used to wiggle past the Cordyline (which was chainsawed down two days ago). I pulled out its edging stones, and hey presto! The new path now has stone edges, it starts off sensibly, and I am so happy. I also have filled the trailer with rubbish and wheeled two more barrow loads to the bonfire.
So much patience is required when there's a big new garden area to develop. My instincts are the wrong way around. I keep on thinking of planting things. Not what one should do!
Yeay for Mozart!
By the way, I think it was Mozart, and not the clarinet. Have just been listening (unimpressed) to a Bernstein clarinet piece. Sounds like a worried duck.