Thoughtful times...
Pebbles in the Hump Garden
Thoughtful times processing the nasty events in my city, puzzling over what happened, worrying about why, then feeling sad. I'm very thankful to my garden for keeping me company - and my daft dogs, cats, and kittens. And Non-Gardening Partner for doing some chain-sawing and (oops) weed killing (just the driveway) for me.
Saturday 16th March
Today I spent four hours in The Hump with a heavy heart, for a very subdued session of weeding. My hands became really sore from grabbing and pulling, but I just wanted to keep on going for as long as possible. I wanted to hide away in my garden with the kittens and my dogs, fill my head with my favourite music, and not think about anything too real.
Positive gardening...
But I did some positive gardening as well as the weeding. A second large clump of Miscanthus zebrinus has been shifted out of the shady Wattle Woods, and is now planted in a sunny place in The Hump. I also replanted six roses.
Nicotiana Sylvestris
Off to Scotland on a train...
Now I'm going to clean myself up, pour a glass of House Merlot, and enjoy another Youtube train journey. Non-Gardening Partner has promised to watch with me - we are going from Crianlarich to Fort William and then on to Mallaig - a Scotland train, cabview. It's nice to know there are people out there who put cameras on the front of trains, knowing that other people (like me) will looooooove to watch the journey. No commentary, real time tunnels (Scotland doesn't have very long ones). Hee hee...
Sunday 17th March
It's been another thoughtful day. I've cut myself off again from what's been going on in my city. I've done a huge clean-up of the gardens between the house and driveway. The trailer has been filled with mess - loads of gum tree leaves, prunings from shrubs, branches of trees, and so on. The area just south of the house is the dogs' toilet, so kneeling etc. has been - ahem - interesting.
Further around I dead-headed a large Westerland rose, divided up the Calamagrostis grass and replanted two large chunks of it out in the sun. I also planted foxglove seedlings rescued from yesterday's weeding session in The Hump.
Wait for Meeeeee!
Kitten company...
The kittens have been keeping me company - they are such fun. Troubled thoughts certainly fade when a kitten zooms up a thin vertical Cordyline trunk, loses confidence and stops quite still - definitely a kitten 'oops' moment. Too high? Eek! Stopppppp! Down ever so slowly comes Red Fred. Both kittens have been climbing up the nearby big gum tree, alarmingly high in my earth-bound view. But then I don't have four legs, a tail, and claws...
Next morning...
I have now introduced my dearest friend to the joys of 'cabview' train travel after the evening meal, on the TV couch, glass of House Merlot in hand. Oops. Last night, while NGP and I were clattering through the amazing scenery of White Pass (Yukon, Canada and USA), she and her NGP were enjoying the Royal Gorge trip in Colorado. Aha! A trend!
Today I am going to be really nice to my dogs (lots of walks, looking for sticks, throwing tennis balls, etc.). Have already had several smoochy computer visits from the purring Fred kittens. Catlets, more like. In a couple of weeks they go to the vet to be neutered. How generously the house animals fill my days with love - the kittens with extreme passion, when they're in the mood. Dog love is a little more calculated. My dogs spend their whole day either doing things (with me), waiting to do things (with me), or indicating rather rudely that they want to be doing things (with me). But dogs, too, are an uncomplicated blessing when one is feeling a little down. Throw the ball! Throw the ball! OK, OK, I'll throw the ball. I can do this.
Later...
Hmm... Have tried three times to sneak out with the dogs for a serious orchard walk. Each time, we've just been creeping behind the Stables when, lightning fast, a tabby catlet catches us up, followed immediately by the other. Wait for usssss! So we all do a shorter walk, closer to the house. Safer, the theory goes, not to encourage the kittens to wander too far away.
But do I really feel like exerting myself? I now justify myself as a gardener. Putting on the hoses and bucketing water on all the new roses in The Hump - one bucket for each, with a personal smile and a gentle blessing - this is real gardening, right? Thought so...
Some rather dodgy observations - holes in plant leaves. On a seedling Prunus I found horrible shiny black slug-like caterpillars. Some Honesty leaves were covered underneath with white-fly. Then on another plant I saw some green caterpillars, tiny wriggly things. Aha! Mister Google tells me that the black things are 'Pear and Cherry slugs'- except they are not slugs, they are the larvae of a sawfly. A sawfly? Never met one. But I've just gone back and sprayed everything.