Reflecting on my week #96

Last week was a week for deliveries, and a week where I missed all of the deliveries for our recent purchases. Our new doormats arrived and were taken in by our neighbour, the bin arrived - more on that in a moment - and that was taken in by another neighbour, after a call from the delivery driver. He was perplexed as I was out, at work, it was Thursday and so was my neighbour. Outrageous, hey? But the ground floor flat saved the day by opening the door. Afterwards my colleagues were amused that the delivery driver knows the neighbour’s name, but then again, he does seem him, more than me! Then Friday another delivery, some shoes this time, and my neighbour was in. I am very lucky, he often works from home, so I hope when he says he doesn’t mind, he really doesn’t mind.

The mats came from Garden Trading, and I’d been eyeing them up for a while. I wanted a mat, that was narrow but long, and have struggled to find something that works. In the end I opted for two of these small star mats, and my plan is to gaffer tape them together (on the rubber back, obviously) so that they don’t become a slippy, slidey nightmare.

I was keen to have a mat (or mats) that were the width of one of our bi-fold doors, so that when we’re in and out there’s more mat to aim for. And less detritus brought inside. But I found that mats that were wide, were also deeper than I wanted. I found that I could get custom made mats, but they were just plain, and as you can see my penchant appears to be for patterned coir mats. Actually the made to measure, plain version will be useful for our porch, which is actually our smallest room in size and currently is ‘carpeted’ in coir, which could do with a bit of a refresh. It’s not square of course, so we’ll need to cut it to size, but I’m sure it’s do-able…

The bin, a new kitchen bin, arrived via a short sojourn in the ground floor flat, and again it’s another one we’ve been thinking about for a while. We saw it at Grand Designs in May, and now it’s here. It’s out of the box, but doesn’t have the batteries in yet - it’s one of those that you wave at to open, rather than the manual foot operated type. But six AA batteries, that’s a lot, they’d better last.

Both MOH and I were a bit under the weather last week, with different symptoms. Not bad enough to not go to work, but just lethargic enough that heading straight to bed for a snooze after a busy day was called for. It’s unusual for one of us to do that, let alone both of us on the same night. We’ve both recovered from/are recovering from our symptoms, but it’s a good reminder that we need to listen to our bodies more. I just wish mine wouldn’t feel the urge quite so often to talk to me at around 3:13am (and yes, I know that’s a precise time. I’ll happily not see it for a while)

I had planned to stay on track with this year’s #AugustBreak2019 over on my Instagram stories, but what with everything I’ve missed days here and there, and then been uninspired for other days. One of the prompts I did participate in though was numbers, which had me stumped for a while. Then I looked, and really saw, and even in the kitchen I was surrounded by them. And the hob made for an interesting picture too. Mindfulness, it seems to be working.

The rest of the week has been pretty mundane; two new pairs of the comfortable walking sandals arrived, and so I’ve bought in bulk (I really have, one pair the same as the ones I’ve been living in this summer, and another in a fuchsia pink colour, which I didn’t even know was an option before) I’ve started, and almost finished a new book - Beneath the Surface by Fiona Neill - well I need to do something in those early mornings, and I have new hair. Most of Saturday morning was spent being bleached and dyed, then dyed again and now I have significantly less greys and my ‘natural’ pink and orange highlights are showing again. This time the rest of my hair went a deeper brown than before, possibly darker than I thought, but it looks good and I’m loving the gloss that my hair has right now, as well as the unusual colour choice, for segments a layer or two down.

And I’ve finally finished tying in and untangling the plants just along from the patio. I’d paused work here as I wasn’t convinced the honeysuckle was still alive, but I’m happy to have been proved wrong. I’ve a feeling next year in the garden is going to be just a little more fragrant!

Reflecting on my week #95

It’s been another of those weeks where the work days fly past pretty much unmarked and almost unnoticed apart from the amount of time spent away from home, and where it feels like we’re living for the weekend. And in a way, we are, as without the confines of the office we can cram as much in as we can. Or we can choose to stop and chill.

Or do a bit of both. The end of last week saw both of those. A relaxing, but get things done kind of day at home, where I finally ordered a new kitchen bin (the one we saw at Grand Designs in May) and some doormats which I’d been pondering for a little while longer.

There was also a trip to Norfolk, in the wind, and after a short delay at the Blackwall Tunnel we were on our way. Only to be paused again a few miles further down the road, with a small fallen tree. Recognising that it could turn into one of those journeys, a loo stop was built in. Nearly four hours later we arrived armed with a fish and chip supper.

It’s often windy in Hunstanton, but even for there it was windy this weekend with its 50mph winds. So of course, what better than to go along the cliff tops for a walk?

It was hard work at times. Even the plants were struggling.

With the forecast proving to be correct, some indoor activity was needed. And that’s how we found ourselves in Setchey, close to Kings Lynn, wandering around a warehouse of antiques and collectibles. It was the sort of place that was displayed in a series of spaces, each with items belonging to a separate vendor.

The result was a visual assault on your senses, so much so that it was impossible to see everything on a single walk around the vast space. There were items along the way, like this Fab-licious sign, that seriously tempted me and challenged me to remember their exact locations, should temptation really bite and turn into a purchase.

There was a small decorative brass box, which I was so taken with somehow I didn’t even photograph, and now wish I had. But by then something else had caught my eye - a large basket of embroidery and crochet threads, which I immediately thought could work with the part-finished tablecloth, and project for the future, which I purchased in a similar kind of place in Suffolk a while back.

Looking back at that post I was pretty pleased with my colour matching memory. I was also pretty sure that I’d have fun just sorting through its contents, which turned out to be the case, I’m sharing more about what was in the basket in my next post, but no promises on exactly how I’ll use them!

My garden in July

Well, how wrong was I? In this post last month, I said I thought we’d had the hottest and wettest weather. Then, as the saying goes, July said hold my beer!

We melted one day, and squelched the next, and what’s more, the seeds I sowed last month started to germinate and grow. Some in the greenhouse, and some outside in pots, like the beans below. Although on one morning inspection - yes often I pop out and check on them before I head to work - I noticed the squirrels had decided to have a closer look. So the spare gabion basket was quickly deployed to prevent them digging up any more seeds, and the bean seeds that were on show were quickly prodded back under the soil with my index finger.

It seems to have worked though, as the beans have germinated. Although some of the dwarf beans have decided to reach higher, and are behaving more like climbing beans, and the runner beans failed to germinate. That pot is now home to a courgette which is taking its time to produce.

I’ve had more success with herbs though. I’d chopped the mint pot, and as I hoped it would, it’s sprung right back so clearly I need to drink more mojitos. This month was also the month that our agapanthus flowers started to break free from their pod.

It’s fascinating to watch, and when I mean watch, I mean observe as it’s a really slow moving drama.

The lettuce seeds germinated and were pricked out into the new oblong pots. To prevent any wildlife interest, the pots were quickly covered in chicken wire, which was most probably left over from the fox-proofing episode a few years back (which is still ready and waiting for use if it’s ever needed!)

Our patio and alongside the conservatory was filled with the scent of jasmine on the balmy evenings, at times it could be quite overpowering, but still quite lovely. This cascade of jasmine, which is alongside the conservatory was tamed and tied into the trellis, and I’m really pleased with how it’s progressing along the trellis, providing privacy.

The jasmine hasn’t made it to the agapanthus yet, but as you can see, as the month progressed so we inched closer to flowering agapanthus, but not quite yet.

We had a couple of days of in July and used some of that time to tackle the pear tree. It was, of course, festooned with pears, but as we’ve never managed to eat one of them in all our time here I felt less guilty about some severe pruning. We’ve not managed to eat them because, like the cherries, it’s a race to get to them before the wildlife, and those that are left are still rock hard. I’ve tried cooking them but with little success. In fact the most enjoyment I’ve had from the pears is when I find a decomposing one in the beds, that’s almost perfectly preserved, it’s fascinating (and clearly not edible)

We took a few of the large branches off, aiming to straighten out the profile of the tree, which had started to lean over for the light. At some point we’ll have to get the gardeners in to prune the laurel which is claiming all the space.

There were several trugs carried out to the green bins, and our gardening time was restricted to how much space we had in those. As you can see it’s a much smaller tree now, and the plan is (if the tree understands the plan) to remove the older branch once the tree has recovered and is growing more upright, but for now it’s there as a bit of an insurance policy.

I’m hopeful that it will do what’s required, and while this is quite a severe pruning, if it behaves like the forsythia we cut a month or so back, it’ll be ok. The forsythia has put on much fresh growth and now you’d not realise it’d barely been sticks after MOH had tackled it.

I’ve jasmine growing throughout the garden and the one in this pot was starting to look straggly and the canes a bit skew-whiff, so that had some attention too and is looking much more compact, and has since filled out a bit. Having a cone of flowering jasmine, sounds a perfect addition to the garden and I’m already looking forward to when it flowers.

Talking of flowers, the overwintered geraniums continue to bloom, and bring a welcome pop of colour to the garden.

Our strawberries are done - it was great to eat so many fresh from the garden. The redcurrant plant produced some berries, which of course disappeared the weekend we were in Liverpool and I’m waiting for the salad to grow enough so we can eat it. I also need to pot on (or probably out) the parsley, and the kale which is still in the greenhouse, but that’s venturing into a job for August.

How was July in your garden?