Hands, eyes, flowers and grime.....

You know how hands which spend a great deal of time in soil get to the point when it is impossible to get rid of said soil from the skin??? Yes. Those hands. They are mine. Rough and permanently (it seems) grimed. We will not mention the nails either. History, I tell you. Of course I have gloves, but there is something great about feeling the soil with fingers, isn't there??

However, 99% of the garden is now planted. The fact that I still have a full greenhouse is beside the point. I am quite sure there will be gaps somewhere which will need to be filled. Failing that, I can always get more pots. Lots more. The hanging baskets are full and thriving, and every receptacle I can find is overflowing with small green things. You see, I always look at the seedling and think, ok, I will need 8 for that pot. Ignoring the fact that one would be enough once fully grown. I go for the over the top look, I think. Anyway, at least somethings will bloom. My first 2 roses are open and so beautiful, and oh, the scent!! Because it is going to rain - or so they say - I cut the big open ones and they are on my coffee table. Lovely. And the lettuce and spinach is ready to be eaten already. I can't remember ever having so much at this stage at this time of the year. The weather has been so unusually warm. Long may it last!

This morning, Jean and I went to retrieve the last 2 lots from the auctioneer after I withdrew them from the auction, and that was an excuse to wander round the little market town north of here, and have lunch out too, at a really nice place we have discovered. Well, Jean knew all about it before, but I have just discovered it! We have also been on a futile quest to find 5 pink artificial gerbera for the wedding arrangements. With silvery stems. And dark centres. I found a couple which had green stems and yellow centres, and they look All Wrong. I am verrrrry fussy at times, believe me, and this is one of those times.

I still have tomorrow to look. Did I mention that I went to have my eyes tested yesterday? I had 3 letters from different places offering me a free eye test in the post on the same day, so thought that maybe there was a reason and that I had better do something about it, so off I went. The optician informed me that the deterioration in my eyes is commensurate with my age. (He did not use that word, though. He was about 30. ) So I need stronger glasses. For reading and computer and TV - the vital essentials. He also told me that Kindles are excellent for older people. He is lucky I was in a magnanimous mood. Until I found out that I would need a mortgage to buy new glasses, because can you believe this, it is MORE expensive to have new lenses put into 6 month old perfectly good frames than buying new ones. New ones - new lenses, new frames - are cheaper than using old frames. Why?? No-one could actually answer that. And when I just managed to find one frame I liked and that was not in the budget range but in the designer one, I decided that I would make do with these for now. I can still see.

I am now considering using one of the other vouchers to have my eyes tested at another place to see if the prescription is the same. Now that would be interesting. When one gets a little older, it is amazing how much fun one can have arranging serial eye tests.

And that just about wraps up my day. The woodwork is nearly finished - my valiant friend is plowing on with the job, and it looks wonderful. Why did I every think white was boring? I love it .

Tomorrow I will go and hack down some greenery from other people's gardens for the arrangements, and then Friday is the day it all gets put together, and taken to the hall. Hopefully it will be sorted and look lovely. There will be photos.

Enjoy your evening!

PS....David's finals start tomorrow, so a few prayers would be greatly appreciated! Thank you all!