25th May

We are beginning to get to grips with our new normal whatever that means!  Actually we think for us it will mean spending much more time in and around the house and garden and having time to plan jobs and time to see them through so today I was concentrating on an area which I have been wanting to reorganise for some time.

The area in front of the kitchen window has very poor soil.  I think that when the property was built it was used as a dumping ground for building waste and then I seem to remember they dug up around the skimmer before we moved in and a lot of crap was put there then.  It has been an area where it has been difficult to get things to grow save for the wild poppies which are beautiful for a few days and then look untidy.  John does not do untidy!!!

So today it was going to be 'goodbye' to the poppies and the love-in-the-mist and 'hello' to our new Zen Garden which was to showcase the lovely buddha that Hazel had given me for my birthday.  I had also begged John to let me have some fish - courtesy of the mosquito fish in the pool next door which seem to flourish in pretty poor conditions.

After a lot of work this is what we ended up with.  I love the colourful annual flowers but it was time for them to go and they may well have self seeded so they will no doubt come back.  I even got my little pond and John nabbed some fish from next door which I reckon must have been pregnant by the shape of them and by the fact that a couple of hours later there were some tiny new ones swimming around.  We shall have to see whether or not the cats are interested in them but so far they don't seem to have noticed that they are there.

John was having a baking morning - he was determined to try to make some red velvet cakes in the microwave and also a fresh banana loaf.  He did the red velvet in both the oven and the microwave and to be honest there wasn't much between them - they both tasted great and he said were easy to knock up and took about a minute which is great for a last minute pudding!!!

I was so pleased with the way the 'Zen' Garden turned out that I carried on weeding and snipping and clipping so we now have a clear path to the outside shower which looks so much neater and makes it easier to get in and around and I have to admit it is good to see a bit of shingle - Bobby would be proud of me because I spent ages on my hands and knees picking up rubbish and raking it over so it looked clean.

I sensibly wore a hat today as it was hot outside and I was really looking forward to a nice hot shower when we had finished but sadly we had no water this evening.

Worried that some bugger might turn up at the gate when I had worse than bed-head I resolutely wore my titfer during the whole course of the evening!!!

I was knackered by the end of the day but happy that we have done so much today to make the garden look even better than it did before.

We plan to do a bit more at the back tomorrow and then I need to tackle the herbs in the front garden and then it is done for a while - apart from making sure that the pots are kept watered and that was something I couldn't manage tonight.

I knew I wouldn't take a lot of rocking tonight when we went to bed this evening but it is a great tiredness when you know you have achieved so much during the course of the day!!