Chain-sawing...
Successfully negotiated : Non-Gardening Partner is going to chainsaw 'things' for me. He promises not to moan or ask the question 'Why'? It will take him all of ten minutes, with me pointing at this and that. For example, one particularly large Pittosporum is blocking sunlight from the rhododendrons in the circular Driveway Garden. It really has got too big. I hope he understands...
Much later...
Lots done, before the battery went flat. Tomorrow's plan is to get out the shredder for the smaller tree branches. There are soooooooo many of them. And now I have to practice the Chorales from St. John Passion - am singing it in a concert tonight. Tra la la.
Working Hard
I have stumbled on the perfect justification for this chain-sawing. My new gardening design strategy is to be able to see right through one border, so a lovely feature (tree, shrub, whatever) in the next is clearly visible and thus can be appreciated. Yes! Sounds terribly serious. For example, yesterday's downing of a chunky Pittosporum in the Driveway Garden means that I can see the beautiful Cercis tree over in the Hump Garden when I walk down the drive. Have explained this to NGP. Now I'm off to put the smaller tree branches in piles for the shredder. Much better than them going on the bonfire (nasty stinky thing)
Down Please!
Later...
In line with my design strategy (hee hee) I also asked NGP to chainsaw down the nearby self-seeded Locust tree - four years old, four meters high. Ridiculous, with horrible spikes on its trunk and branches. A huge volume of felled mess is now lying all over the Driveway Lawn and I can see right into the middle of the Hump Garden, where there are several stately green Phormiums. Yes!
Monday 18th April
I don't understand my knees. So yesterday afternoon I trundled around with wheelbarrow collecting loads of logs, and dragged tree branches here and there. And by the end of the day my (always slightly dodgy) knees were very unhappy. Don't understand. Got a bit sad later that night in bed and took a pill. Nothing to be sad about. The moon was so beautifully bright, the shredding was done, Minimus was snug on the bed, and Speckles was camped peacefully on the cottage doormat. Really, life was being pretty good to me.
So today we have enjoyed a reasonably strenuous day walk in the mountains. Up a spur, meeting our friends (who had camped up there overnight) for lunch, then back down again, no rush, not too steep, probably about four hours walking. I was expecting my knees to kick up a ruckus. Not a jot. I'm home now, and they are silent and working perfectly. I am soooo happy.
Thank you, knees...
So tomorrow I am going swimming, to give my knees a bit of a treat and say thank you. Phew! I can still do day walks in the mountains without grinding to a total halt afterwards.