Company's Coming!

Hello Friends!

I hope you had a blessed Easter, however you celebrate.  For some reason, it's taking me a while to get back into this week, and every day feels like Monday. 

I have a question for you.  Now, I never thought this would ever be something I would ask.  Next week, I host my first guests in over fourteen months.  The strict safety guidelines must still apply, just two guests {I can have up to six outside my Bubble} and we will be socially distanced, wrapped up warmly, outside in the garden.  No hugging, not indoors, not even sitting close, and they are even bringing their own chairs.  We are all vaccinated, but we must not let things slip now, these guidelines must continue until we kick Covid's butt.  So, here's my etiquette question.

Is it good or bad manners to place a pump of hand sanitiser on the refreshments table?  I feel, although an odd thing, it's good manners and lets your guests feel a little more secure, knowing you are doing your very best to take care of their safety.  What do you think?

So, instead of that old familiar situation of getting more cleaning done in the thirty minutes before your guests arrive, I'm mowing the garden and pulling weeds instead of vacuum cleaning and dusting malarkey!  I'm not ready to share garden photos just yet, still ashamed of the mess, and there's a long way to go. My "befores" are waiting, though, ready to go when I am ready.  It's not very nice out at the moment, cold and windy, and this is making me hold off, partly as I don't want to be out in the cold which plays havoc with my arthritis, and partly because I have nowhere that is protected enough to bring anything on by way of seeds and young plants.  It is warming up, though, next week ~ Company's Coming!

Speaking of arthritis, I feel compelled to share this with you. I have suffered with arthritis for some time, mainly in my legs and spine, but spreading.  Anyone who suffers with this knows how painful and unpredictable it can be, in my case particularly at night.  I follow a vegetarian diet, and love cheese, although I don't drink milk. I heard that milk and milk products can inflame arthritis, so although giving up cheese is my worst food nightmare, I have given it a go. Anything made with, or containing milk is out of my diet.  It didn't take long for my night time pain and discomfort to ease considerably, and I noticed I can now lead with my right leg when going up steps, something that has been painful and difficult for a long, long time now.  Then we had Easter.  I thought I could risk a little milk, milk products, just for one day.  So, I ate my milk chocolate eggs, spread unsalted butter lavishly on my Hot Cross Buns, made my richly creamy mushroom dish for Easter dinner, and treated myself to a small trifle with custard and cream.  After the following night, it turns out that may have been milk overload.  My legs burned all night, uncomfortably painful, sleep depriving pain keeping me awake.  So, that's it.  From now on, not even the smallest break from a milk free diet.  Much as I adore cheese, I dislike pain more.  I can still enjoy chocolate, just 70% dark or greater.

Having said that, there's a tad of butter to finish, and I cannot resist having a tiny amount on a slice of still warm, fresh~from~the~oven, Irish Soda bread.  If I suffer, I know what I am doing wrong.

I was recently given a couple of bags of snowdrops in the green, so have popped them into some holding pots until I know where they will go.  All of my previous snowdrops have disappeared.  Where? Why? I cannot answer.  Mice? Who knows?  I don't.  My neighbour has lost all hers too. 

Our weather, both sides of  The Pond, is bizarre.  Frankly, I'm a little fed up and more than a little disconcerted to see many on Social Media branding it as "quirky" and making jokes, when in reality it is very serious.  This is the reality of Climate Change.

Meanwhile, the garden is springing back to life.  Brambles continue to be chopped, an ongoing task, and I am frankly amazed at how much the lawn has shot up since I mowed it for the first time this year, not two weeks ago!  This year, it is actually green instead of the usual spring time yellow, and full of daisies and dandelions too.

While I watch the garden grow, from my living room, I have been painting.  I confess, I did not draw these images, but used stamps.  This first one I used some for Easter cards.

and this one is my favourite flower, a scene made using about eight or nine scene builder stamps.  I have shown it as I build it up.

Which led me to another scene, this time using stamps from two different scene builder sets, done twice on  different paper using Inktense paint pans

Easter did not go overlooked by my little helper, who was delighted with his chocolate egg

Meanwhile, back in the garden, I have discovered these, several plants that I believe are white comfrey plants.  The bees love them, so they're keepers indeed.

Before I go, I shall leave you with this quote

‘We have come as far as we have because we are the cleverest creatures to have ever lived on Earth. But if we are to continue to exist, we will require more than intelligence. We will require wisdom.’

Sir David Attenborough

Until next time

Stay safe, stay well.

A Retrospective of Summer Flowers

Hello Friends!

As I wrote nothing during the last month, I thought I'd take a retrospective look back at some of the photos of flowers I took while I was away. That's away as in not blogging, not away as in on holiday. Chance would be a fine thing.  I had actually planned my first holiday in over fourteen years this Summer. So much for that!  After this look at the Summer garden, it will be time to move into Autumnal focused writing.

We have had a few days that gave a promise, a gentle whisper, that Summer was here, but then she backed away allowing the all too familiar cold wind and rain, more reminiscent of Winter, to rampage across much of the United Kingdom.  April and May were dry, but oh, have we made up for the lack of rain?  Wind and rain, that familiar marriage of garden destruction followed in abundance, yet, nature never fails to amaze with resilience, and the most wonderful way of bouncing back, so in a few days all was on the mend as new growth burgeoned forth.

For the last fortnight, almost all of the United Kingdom has baked, roasted, and melted in scorching, record breaking heat, while in my corner of the world we have shivered, sitting under a blanket of heavy sea fog that kept us cold and wondering what's happened to Summer.  

As I type this, we are coming to the end of three days of an early Autumn storm, Storm Ellen, which lashed us, unexpectedly, with brutal winds and torrential rain.  Little is left in bloom now, and these are all photos I took before the storm.

What little food crops I had left are strangely flattened, even my strawberries succumbed, and there has been a basketful of windfall apples which have already been turned into applesauce.

I am thankful that I brought in the last of the Betty's Smile and popped them in a sweet little vintage, decorative, porcelain vase.

When I look at the corner where the Crocosmia are growing, it is a gentle reminder of the Summer that should have been.  All is not lost, for September and October can be fine months.

Lucifer stood bigger, bolder and brighter than anything else for weeks.  Sometimes, I look at the flowers and see fire breathing dragons with long, flowing tails where seed heads will soon appear.

In the same corner is my white lavender.  It is in need of much tlc, so I think once this flowering season is done I must take cuttings, for although small, it has good merit, is delightfully fragrant and a perfect addition to a tussie mussie.

Another Crocosmia, more orange than fiery red, and much smaller, but no less stunning sits in another corner, bringing flavours of Summer to the border.

Here's a particular favourite photo of mine of Lucifer

Nearby, the buddleia's purple flowers pop brightly, contrasting against the red hot orange, with a flourish of lime green from a nearby shrub. 

As the season slowly turns, so the turn of the Japanese Wind Anemones arrives in the border. Their long, elegant stems sway gracefully, even in the fiercest of gusts; the pristine, white flowers with their bright yellow centres looking like fried eggs atop the bamboo canes of a plate spinning act. I love this flower in my late Summer border.

Turning a corner, there are a few rich, buttery lemon yellow Evening Primrose in and around too, having chosen their own spots to flourish.  Seeds to be harvested soon, I hope.

The clematis finally put in an appearance, but I am sad to say that something has helped itself to bites of both leaf and petal.  Here are a couple of the better ones.

Well, I want to delete that last photo, but cannot find where to click! Piffle. {answers in the comments, please, if you know how!}

The mints are in full flower too, and I really wish I could share the heady, minty fragrance that scents the air in this corner, where Morning Glories also flourish.

A very pretty combination. I love purple, green and white together.  Simple and clean looking, and very pleasing to my eye.

I'm happy to say at the moment, although there are a few blips every so often, and there's a lot of stuff to work out and discover, I am getting on with this new Blogger platform better than I expected, especially given some of the things I have read.  I'll get there eventually, and will not be moving over to WordPress {which I find particularly tricky to use} but hope Blogger leaves things be for a good, long while now.

Until next time

Be responsible, and stay safe and well.

Deborah xoxo

Just Sitting

Hello Friends!

How are you doing?  I mean this, I am not asking to be polite. How are you really doing?  I know the cold and hard reality of what this pandemic is going to mean in the long term, for many of us, is only now beginning to hit home. 

Come with me, and let's stroll, arm in arm, and take a peek at some of the beauties flowering in my cottage garden this afternoon, just as the sun begins to show itself.

After many days of playing Hide and Seek with the rain in a mostly grey, cloud strewn sky, the sun came out to play.  How could I not go and just sit for a few snatched moments and revel in this all too rare British summertime phenomenon?  The sky was so blue, not a cloud in the sky, and as I sat and snapped a quick photo of the wild, blue yonder, a Herring Gull lazily drifted into frame.

Photobombed!

The rambler rose, Frances E Lester, is now nearly spent for another year, and just a handful of blooms now remain on this once magnificent, giant pom pom of pink and white delicious fragrance.  It does so well, gives of it's all, but this year was so badly let down by the weather.  She's still very pretty, and bury your nose in a bloom, the sweet perfume still lingers.

A rambler of a very different ilk, and by many considered a weed, but I confess I am possessed of a certain fondness for it, is Bindweed or Convolvulus.  I know it is prolific, and gets a hold that can choke out other plants, but oh! the pristine white flower, so starkly contrasting against the dark green leaves and I am smitten.  I will always let some of this in my garden, for it also fills in some of those empty spots as other flowers fade.  My Great Grandfather, a time served gardener, called the roots the Devil's Guts, but I think his daughter, my Nanna, shared my fondness for it's beauty, as she called it Morning Glories.

Sometimes simple flowers are the best.  The sweet, daisy like yellow centred white Feverfew forms a perfect backdrop for a flowering head of purple Verbena Bonariensis.  A perfect match, delightful blend of colour.

Four years ago, instead of a bouquet of flowers on Mothering Sunday, I gave my darling Mum a potted rose.  After it's purpose was served, I potted it into a larger pot, and now it is full of the loveliest red blooms.  I feel Mum is smiling down on them as red roses were amongst her favourite flowers. I plan to put them in the borders this autumn.  Originally, there were five plants crammed in and forced, as they do, for gifting purposes, and two of the original plants have survived.

Let a sleeping dragon lie, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup

My buddleia is way behind everyone else's, but is suddenly starting to put out some of those fat and floofy, long and elegant spike so loved by butterflies.

Over 20 years ago I bought some oregano plants.  They went forth and multiplied, and rapidly spread throughout my garden {and quite possibly some of the neighbouring gardens too} and I have happily allowed them to do this, for not only do they provide a delicious herb for my favourite Mediterranean dishes, they look so pretty, make a useful cut addition to small posies, and bees love them.  Here's one that flourishes in a crack in the wall.

Doesn't it seem so sunny and Mediterranean looking?  A holiday escape on a Welsh summer's day.

And, when the sun finally does come out after the rain, what do we get?  Raindrops on Alchemilla Mollis, another favourite plant {is there actually any plant that isn't my favourite?}

Finally, for today, "Betty's Smile" is opening again.  My heart sings and this is my rose of the moment, as it brings with it happy memories of my darling Mum, who in this time of pandemic I seem to be missing more than ever. How has eighteen months flown since she left me?  These blooms bring me more joy than I can begin to put into words.  There is a delicate fragrance to this creamy pink delight.

I hope you have enjoyed our little wander around my cottage garden borders today.  I sure have enjoyed having you here!  Next time, we'll take a look at the Crocosmia again, and fragrant white lavender.

Until next time
Stay Safe, Stay Strong, Stay Well
Deborah xoxo