Spring Cleaning

A new week begins and for some reason I keep thinking it is Saturday which is going to balls me up big style.  We had planned a day at home doing 'stuff'.  It was sunny but bitterly cold so I was togged up with my hand-knitted bobble hat firmly plonked on my head (thank you Lilian).

John had planned to tackle the big tree and I was fiddling around indoors and wanted to plant up the blue planters to go in the blue chairs out the front.

In tidying up I came across the old hot water bottle we had which we decided should be consigned to the bin because when we used its pair, some time ago, for Mum it leaked all over her nearly scalding her.

When we had used them I had knitted some covers but they were looking a bit ragged and covered in cat hairs so they were going in the bin too.  This is a rare thing for John and I as we both suffer with an inability to throw things away but actually it is quite cathartic!

So that I could keep an ear out for John shouting (hopefully because he needed something passed to him over the wall rather than because he had had an accident) I wanted to spend time in the garden.  There was bright sunshine but a biting wind so don't be fooled by the photographs!!!!  My first job was to pot up the blue pots which I did with the geraniums bought from the garden centre yesterday.  They are huge for €2.50 each and provide a jolly and welcome splash of colour as you come in the gate.

I am working through the garden slow time but it is beginning to get into shape.  The area outside the kitchen door is looking better - there are a number of plants yet to put in an appearance but the vinca is in flower and the ferns have coped pretty well with the awful weather.  The garden seats have finally dried out and as John was just the other side it was a good place to do some tidying and weeding and be within earshot.

John wanted to deal with the tree now before the leaves started to appear and birds wanted to nest but it was going to be a long job and he wanted to do it sympathetically because he wants the tree to survive but be smaller and a better shape.

Having consulted the tinty-web it was clear that the most important thing for the tree was to open up the middle and get rid of all the criss cross of branches so that is where John started.   Periodically I had to nip up onto the roof terrace to check on progress and on the shape.

Bless him he made sure that all the cuttings were stacked away neat and tidy so that no-one could complain about him leaving a mess and, just in case anyone questioned what he was doing he had the conversation with the owner on his phone.  No-one did ask and hopefully once he had completely finished people will admit that he did a pretty good job and the tree is all the better for it.

Needless to say all this physical exercise rendered us completely fit for nothing come the evening and we knew that we would be fit for nothing tomorrow and I was foolish enough to organise to go walking with Nicky and Rachel.

Fortunately I had the foresight to put our supper in the slow cooker - after six months we were having chilli and neither of us could wait!!!

I had some mince in the freezer from Naz and we decided we fancied it with pasta rather than rice so I was up early and got that in the slow cooker before we started our chores which was a godsend late afternoon when we were knackered and hungry.

It was amazing - it is one meal I have missed so much during my time of having to be careful with what I eat and although I have to be careful with spicy foods because of the hernia I was prepared to endure some discomfort just to stuff my face with my favourite comfort food and it was worth it!!!

We were forecast another cold night again and the forecast wasn't wrong.  We are so ready for some warmer weather and hope that once the clocks change at the weekend it will come - if not for us for George and Pam and Lakis and Argy.

We were going to start a new series this evening but couldn't agree and were actually too tired to concentrate so just had some crap TV to see us through the 3 hours I have to wait after eating before going to bed.