Catching up.......

Rain. Hail. Sun. Hail. Rain. Cold. Hail. Sun. Oh yes. It is April, so why I am surprised? Washing in. Out. In Out. In. Turn it all about.......

I am a little weary. However, my stunning buy at the garden centre on Friday seems to be working because so far, the pots in the garden are intact. Ah... I have not told you about that one yet. Well, I was going to go to yet another aqua class, but then I realised that I may be overdoing things just a little, so I went to the garden centre instead. And after long conversations with the nurserymen about bacopa and sage and suchlike - I was the only one there at the crack of dawn and they loved imparting wisdom - they took me to the vast array of garden defences. Aka Keep All Pests Out. In my case, the squirrels. That morning I had already discovered another 4 pots dug up - seedlings all over the patio and I was beyond mad. War was declared.

 They had the answer, SQUIRREL REPELLENT, and it is natural. Just very hot capsicum chilli spray and birds and other assorted things are fine with it, but squirrels HATE it. Jolly good. I barrelled home and sprayed every fence panel and pole around the garden, and the top of the shed, the paving slabs, you name it. It got sprayed. And I have only seen one squirrel since then and he nearly fell off the fence. He must have got a whiff of the chilli. Pesky critters. They can move on somewhere else. My bottle is still full and I will be reinforcing the defences tomorrow. And 48 hours later.

As we say in South Africa, Friday was a "pap" day. No energy and a feeling of general down-ness, for no discernible reason. Just a "bleh" kind of day. So Jean called and suggested we go out to investigate a couple of homeware/DIY stores. So we did, and I came home with more plants than I have space for. Cheap!! The greenhouse and cloche are stretched to capacity and beyond at the moment, and as soon as we get away from the 1degree C nights, I will start planting because I have no room for anything. That was fun. Plants make me very happy.

Sitting out in the garden also makes me very happy. There has been quite a bit of that between showers this weekend.

Yesterday morning was our Traidcraft coffee morning, and after coffee and chatter in the church hall, Jean and I went down to the allotment. She dug out the compost heap, we reconstructed it, or rather made a totally new one on the other side of the old big compost heap (I like compost - it takes all sorts, people, so bear with me here...) because her neighbour is coming to fix the shed roof down there this week. He needed to be able to actually get near to the shed to put up the ladder, of course, hence the removal of the compost. That was warm work. The bean trench is now composted too. Margaret was down there too,  planting broad beans and peas. And by the time I had taken Jean home, washed my hands, changed boots, and dropped off the sage at Margaret, I was ready for a nap, but no, I went and had a cheese lunch at Jean's house. She is off to Nepal this week. SO exciting for her!

And home again to have a meeting re accommodation for the American Choir which will be here in a few weeks time. Then I REALLY needed a nap. But I can't actually remember what I did.....oh yes, laundry. And cutting.

And here we are today, Sunday. A lot achy and still weary, but I have been to shared lunch and have found and acquired a new plastic cover for my greenhouse. And made a dessert which I took to the shared lunch without forgetting any ingredients. I checked twice.

 I forgot to watch the Grand National yesterday. 600million people around the world watched it. Apparently. I finished the russet prayer shawl I had been knitting since last August. It was glaring at me from the pile. The bunting is well under way and the crockpot is cooking away in the corner of the kitchen in the sun as I write. Yes, the sun is out again. It lasts 2 mins tops. Then it rains. Or hails.

I mentioned the laundry and the tumble drier a few days ago. Here is my new hinge. It looks really good, doesn't it????

IT WORKS. And that is perfect. One does not have to be stunning or all shiny and neat to be beautiful, you know.

Oh, I have to leave you with this news. Apparently there are some people on Twitter this earth who did not know that the Titanic was a real ship. They thought it was just a movie. I know. I was speechless. Google has many places you can go to read about it including the one my friend Kathryn shared on Facebook. Here is the link she used. Interestingly, because I had to check to see if this was real, some have suggested that within 100 years, people may not believe things like 9/11 really happened. There is already speculation re the Holocaust. It makes you wonder, doesn't it? The border between fact and fiction is becoming blurred. Now that is NOT a good thing. Write your journals, people. They are primary sources of evidence which our great-grandchildren will know we witnessed, experienced, lived through etc etc. If they are at all interested, of course!