A loud noise by our gate made me jump as I sat in the living room. For a moment I thought someone had jumped over it. I told hubby and he went out into the garden to check. He walked past the window spade in hand, ready to repel intruders. But I reran the image in my head, what I’d heard and seen, I think, was someone opening one of our wheelie bins in front of the gate, to throw rubbish in it.
I hate this nervy, hypervigilant me. I just want to be quiet and calm. I don’t need my blood pressure going sky high! And I don’t want hubby putting himself at risk!
A plethora of fungi in the garden today, not sure what they are, but we have an old tree stump and I think these are growing on its roots? I need to clear away all the empty flowerpots, give them a good wash so we can pot plants on in the spring. We spent a couple of hours planting pyracantha and roses next to the old hedge, hoping they grow up nice and spiky.
Leaves falling sets the camera off, cats walking past, our reflections in the window. But I don’t care. We can check if someone’s out there. I’m fed up of feeling like a security guard. If I had a camera when our sheds were broken into we might have put them off, or they might have been caught. Now I can check my phone when I get an alert. Just got to figure it out!
Seen on an allotment. This tree with strange leaves. They were changing colour and may be gone next week as we are having a cold, wet and windy spell, it may even be frosty in the morning. I think it might be a Gingko?
Yes it is! Gingko Bilboa. Apparently the tree that time forgot according to Mr Google. Now I know I might order one from t’internet as my Yorkshire friend says.
The gap is, there like a broken tooth. Whoever got in the garden broke down the old fence and broke down branches. I’m fed up because a builder cut our hedge severely last year so he could get a digger down our alleyway. Then the local shop said they were going to put a gate across the alley for security but it hasn’t happened yet. I’m trying to get a builder in to put in some fencing, but he hasn’t responded…. Oh well. We hope our efforts work. But we won’t be storing things in the garden again.
In what ways does hard work make you feel fulfilled?
Gardening makes me feel fulfilled, it’s not always easy for me to do work on the garden at the moment. But when I’m a little better I shall try and get out and do some pruning. The buddlea need cutting back once the flowers have finished. The other shrubs that are shutting out all the light need to be trimmed. If necessary to cut some of the lower branches of trees so that we can let lots more light in.
It’s heavy work, especially the lopping of branches, they are tangled and twisted in and out of the garden, overgrowing the fences. Our neighbours are a bit annoyed with us, but we can’t afford a full renovation and anyway the garden is natural, with frogs and squirrels and possibly hedgehogs.
I’m pleased we have such growth, it’s fun to think we have grown such a lot over the years.
At Biddulph Grange garden last year. I’m not sure what the stone signifies, but the frothy white blossom flowers of the bush contrast with the larger strong red colour of the flowers below it. I love the combination of colours together with the green of the grass and hedging. I love coming across views like this and my phone is crammed with images that I have taken over the years.
Hard to see, but the rain is falling in our yard after several days of scorching heat that despite watering have dried out our hanging baskets.
Thunder is constantly rumbling south of us. I’ve checked blitzortung.org and you can see a large concentration of lightening strikes happening now about two miles away. I tried taking a screenshot of the website but this phone is an awkward beast at times. I’m going to post a video online but not here, I haven’t got enough memory anyway there’s some hail mixed in so it must be cold up in the storm.
Enough space to live, to fit in, to get what you need. But not too much, so you crowd everyone else out.
I like the ideas in Japan where space is at a premium so it is designed to be suitable for peoples needs. Things like fold up beds, or rooms that convert from one use to another. Innovation and recycling of materials.
There is a TV programme called George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces, where every week someone is trying to get the most home space out of a tiny space. Some of the solutions are incredible.
Look at the Earth and our cities, we are too wasteful. We want too many things, we want the biggest car or house, without realising less is more. Each of us could accept slightly less and share out assets better!
So town planners need to consider the resources we have, the cost of living, how things can fit together to make things better (or worse). Just having a little garden space can be very fulfilling. Life doesn’t have to be awful in cities, but it does need to be less haphazard and more organised, otherwise things tend to the chaotic and entropy builds. Cities fall as well as rise. We need serious thought and planning.
Mallaband-Brown 