Eight or above, please...
Might have been a little too warm in my recent welcoming words to winter. I'm sorry, but a top temperature of four degrees Celsius on a clear winter's day is just too cold for my digital dexterity - a requirement of good gardening. Eight or above, please. Nothing less.
Mahonia in Flower
Yesterday it was definitely too cold to do any gardening. So I took advantage of being indoors, digitally speaking, and played the piano all day. In between pieces (Albeniz's Iberia Suite has reared its Medusa-like head again, soooooo tricky) I wrapped up and took my dogs for brisk walks.
Pebbles Barks in my Face
Barking issues...
Alas, this was not very relaxing - Pebbles (my young dog) kept barking in my face. This is one of her more annoying habits. My strategy is to stop immediately, show her my bottom (so to speak), and stand still for a minute. Brr... Standing still in four degrees - too cold! I ended up losing patience and roaring my disapproval. Then I felt unhappy. It doesn't make sense to bark at a dog to stop the dog barking, if you know what I mean.
There was an overnight frost, but today is forecast to be warmer. Oh alright. I'll get my bonfire going - lots of hedge trimmings still to dispose of (a trailer-load in fact, parked there waiting). But first - the dogs. Deep breath. I'll wear my gloves, and continue with the dog-ignoring treatment. If necessary I'll stamp my feet.
Much, much later...
Pebbles saw an awful lot of my bottom, as I stopped the wheelbarrow and did the double teapot. And what did she learn today? Absolutely nothing. And what have I learnt? Humph. I've learnt that I lack patience, dogwise. But not bonfirewise - it took nearly four hours to get the fire smokin' hot, so that the hedge trimmings were burning properly. I had to collect gum leaves and bark from the Hen House Gardens to help with combustion. And I raked more leaves up. But it was a productive afternoon.
I also found some snatches of glorious colour - some flowers still blooming on, a strange winter flowering Mahonia, and various green things. Oh, leaves, that's what they are! Variegated Coprosmas, wonderful New Zealand ornamental shrubs for the garden - though they can be a little frost tender in exposed locations.
A winter feeling...
Blast. Now I have to go out to take my choir and I really wish I could stay home. Ah well. That's a winter evening feeling, for sure.