Good morning, February...
Good morning to February, and to my singing dogs, throats stretched up to the ceiling. Oh joy! Woke up feeling dissatisfied (no reason for this), with a bit of a headache. A dog walk in the fresh air around the orchard has cleared my head. We met the Fred cats at the hay barn, with much tummy-showing and face-licking. How lucky am I! I love my dogs (even when they're being noisy for no real reason), and my cats, and my newly restored piano. I love Albeniz and Bach. I even love my left hand - think that it's fingering is improving.
Dog Kiss
I'm remembering to take my blood pressure pill every morning, and my glucosamine. I reckon my fat (i.e. arthritis-swollen) finger is slimming down. It's more bendy, that's for sure. Yeay! Am blessed with lots of little good things, and a lovely cup of tea - even the headache has slipped away. Right. That's enough about me for the moment. Off to play (the piano) before I take myself out for my Tuesday cafe lunch treat.
Gladiolus Flower and Pittosporum
Oops. One thing that's not so good - my website is down at the moment. Oh well. The fragility of internet life...
Later...
Just one load of trimmings collected today. I've got the drippers on in the orchard. The trees in Memorial Row (particularly the Cornus Eddie's White Wonder) look a bit sad, and the archway roses are not in the best of shape. Guess who didn't prune them last year? Me. They don't get enough summer sun, in my opinion, let alone care and attention. At least I'm giving them a good water soaking.
Glads!
I almost forgot. Over the last few years friends of mine have given me gladioli bulbs (I've always thought of them as old-lady flowers, hee hee). I'm loving them - they flower now, while a lot of my other flowering plants are either resting or spent.
Wednesday 3rd February
Yeay! My website is back, up and running. I've played my piano, put on the hoses and shifted them twice, walked the dogs around the orchard three times. I do rather a lot of walking with those dogs - they love it.
Bird rescue...
Have just rescued a fantail from the jaws of a Fred cat. Clever puss I cooed, stroking his back to fool him, then pushing his mouth open. Poor birdie was in such a violent tremble, I thought he was dying - popped him onto the patio table, pointing towards the garden, and waited. Then he gave a wee chirp and flew up into the Wisteria, where he fluffed himself up and shook out his wings and tail. Welcome back, birdie. So lucky!
Now back into the Hump I go to do some more trimming. The Hump Garden is a lush garden, crammed full of plants growing madly (like Corylus). Tomatoes sprawling into the roses, pumpkins charging over and through everything in their path. It's a busy garden - I've been trying to dead-head the dahlias without annoying the bumble bees or monarch butterflies.
Corylus Rose Hips
Later...
Yes! I've removed another self-sown thorny prunus tree - such nasty stuff to handle. I've dead-headed more dahlias and roses, and scooped more weeds from the path. Glad that tree is gone, before it got any bigger. Just the stump to be chain-sawed this weekend. Feels good to make a decision sometimes!