Weather-obsessed...
Another week of weather-obsessed ramblings in this journal, I'm afraid. Each paragraph is full of rain, wind, or cold. The writing is not particularly descriptive or atmospheric, either - and it's rather light on gardening details and achievements. Oops.
Heavy Duty Machinery
But on the very last afternoon in July it stopped raining. Yeay! The sun started shining! I went outside, wearing my gardening boots, to do some trimming. Wow! Was very excited, initially. Now have a huge bonfire load of mess ready to burn - lots of Phormium leaves, even some rose prunings.
Sir Edmund Hillary Rose
Oops...
One tiny oops. I dug out Sir Edmund Hillary and threw him on the burning heap. He, oddly, for me has been a climbing rose going nowhere. Could buy a new version of him if I feel too guilty.
Monday 1st August
A good reason for not doing any gardening today - it was too cold until mid-day, and I had to prepare myself mentally for a trip to the dentist. Aargh! When I got home I did my piano practice with the sun streaming in my lounge windows. So nice walking the dogs in the sun, and not having to wear gumboots.
My weather is crazy mad. So this morning at 8am the temperature is ten degrees Celsius and rising, and the hot norwest winds are forecast to blow madly. It could be a grand day for gardening, but the wind will be aggressive and noisy. So guess what? I am going to do a bit of piano practice (Bach, to unfrazzle my sleepy brain), then am off for a swim. And then we'll see.
Mid-Afternoon...
Whoosh whoosh goes the swirling wind. I've been kneeling in the dirt weeding around the Herb Spiral for two hours. No point in filling the wheelbarrow with trimmings because they would just all blow away.
Takanini Camellias
And now am inside for a wee rest. Have a no-alcohol beer chilling in the freezer, and am about to collapse into a chair with a book. Gosh I love books.
Wednesday 3rd August
Wow! So the windiest of nights saw me scuttling across the lawn about 2am to the relative safety of the house. And the delight of Black Fred the cat, who accompanied me into my house bedroom and spent the next half hour building cat-nests against first my legs, then my back, then my feet. Black Fred has bite wounds again on the side of his face - healing nicely, this time. Silly cat!
Wet Mahonia Foliage
Already today I've been for a swim, gone to chamber music, and finished my book. Now I've spent two hours trimming ferns and annoying mint from the Laundry garden steps, but because the wind is still swirling around there's been no point in collecting the mess up.
Take the green with the brown...
There are lots and lots of ferns around, all delightfully brown and needing trimming. I accept this - well, I have to, right? And I love them when they're green. Such is garden life. One takes the green with the brown, right?
Secateurs
Thursday 4th August
This morning I am off to my ballet class and then I'll have another trimming day - again it's too windy to bother barrowing out the mess. Quite nice, actually - one feels a bit lazy, a bit naughty, and then decides that one is being none of the above, merely terribly sensible!
Later...
Nope. The wind has completely died down, all the clouds are static up in the sky, and I've got just two hours of daylight left. So I am going to light the bonfire. Aargh! Have found a Hypericum which needs pruning, and the Camellia Weeping Maiden is a sorry sight (it's fallen over twice in the big winds). And a rogue Cotoneaster is flopping over the Daphne. OK, the berries are nice in autumn, but it's nearly spring, so the Daphne gets my vote.
Unknown Climbing rose
Dusk...
All done. Gone. Not too much smoke, lots of flames. Good work, me.
Next day...
A big windy wind day today, and very noisy. But I really enjoyed myself outside. I trimmed more ferns and pruned (rather aggressively) the large climbing rose covering the archway by the side of the house. I think she might be Madame Alfred Carriere. Left all my mess blocking the paths. Ooops.
Saturday 6th August
And now - pouff! The big winds have gone, replaced by solid, steady rain. Apologies that the weather has dominated this journal page. Is it still raining? Will the wind blow tomorrow? Aha! A southerly front is coming up from Antarctica, arriving in the next days, promising 'snow to low levels'. Snow! I don't do snow. Something new to moan about? Humph.