*This is another un-published post discovered while tidying things on my computer up a little...*
Disclaimer: "...If this
sounds like I'm just having a moan, you're welcome to think that if
that's what you choose to think but you might want to refer back to the
third paragraph of my last post which qualifies the reason for my complaint. Sometimes
I'm so short of energy that if I do shopping I have to choose between
bringing anything but perishables in from the car or making dinner,
other times I can bring everything in but not put it away and make
dinner and on really good days I can do the shopping, bring it in, put
it away and cook dinner. That's just the way it is and from day to day I
don't know how well I'll be.
This brings me back to
what is both a chore and a pleasure; the garden. It's big. If we were to
move the house to a different part of the site we would probably fit at
least two more houses in assuming that they didn't want big gardens!
There are five lawned areas, several beds, a long enough drive and quite
a lot of paths and before we bought it some twenty odd years ago it had
been derelict for a number of years with the result that it was badly
in need of a tonne of TLC. It got it and the beds looked somewhat nice,
but it's a constant struggle to keep on top of it and then I started to
suffer with my health which caused things to regress. Sadly the trees
that surround the garden didn't, they grew during that time and are now
in need of rigorous tree surgery and pruning but that's only one part of
the story.
If the weather is nice the weeds grow, the
grass grows, the plants grow and sometimes need to be watered. In fact
everything grows which means it needs to be attended to. I could do with
a gardener but I can't afford one as our bank balance has also been
affected by my forced retirement but if I do a little bit every day I've
found that it makes a huge difference and it's more manageable. The
lawns need mowing every week and thanks to my Mum I now have a lawn
mower that I can start myself without the need for assistance and this
has made an enormous difference to both the health of the lawn and to
how much I can do for myself. I now collect the cuttings every second
week which entails tending to the compost heap while I'm at it.
The
flower beds need weeding & dead-heading/cutting back on a
daily/weekly/monthly basis & the hedging needs clipping a couple
of times a year. Seedlings need transplanting & plants need
watering in. Wild raspberries, brambles, nettles and other more vigorous
wild things encroach a little more every year if I let them. Damsoms,
blackberries, apples and flowers need picking and processing. The list
is endless and exausting but I enjoy it. Thank God. And all of this
needs to be done on relatively good days as I can't even think of doing
anything other than the lightest of work if I'm having a bad day or
worse again it's raining. At this time of the year & living in
Ireland the lawn has got to be mown before it rains as it mightn't be
possible for another six months...
In a small garden
non of this would be an all consuming task but unfortunately there's a
lot to be done and nobody else able or willing to do it. Luckily I love
it - most of the time, though I find turning the compost heap is
sometimes too much for me. So, if I'm outside doing all of the above
could someone please tell me when and how I'm supposed to attend to the
more mundane chores that I really don't enjoy at the best of times? I
try and fit it all into the week, not necessarily the day.
This
includes rest as if I don't rest I can't do any of the things I'm
supposed to be doing, not even putting the bloody buns away so the cats
and flies don't get them. As it stands at the moment I've to go and make
dinner (I'm cheating slightly as I made some of it last week) and empty
the dishwasher, reload it & tidy up the kitchen a little bit
& feed the animals. First of all I think I might energize myself
with a cup of tea outside in the garden while I can still enjoy the
relatively mild temperature and lack of rain! I might try and take a
couple of photos just to illustrate the size of my complaint while I'm
at it.
Tomorrow it'll be up early to drop my son into
his course and then off to the bottle bank to do some recycling, pay my
car insurance, do some administrative work for the scouts, do a load of
washing and hopefully line-dry it. Clear off the paths which are covered
in weeds and vegetation from plants which I cut back yesterday,
relocate and hopefully uncover a flower bed & the edges of the
drive that have long been over-grown by the lawn and then collect my son
from his course. None of this will necessarily be in that order
depending on the weather and how I feel! After which it'll be make
dinner & tidy up the kitchen again..."
No comments:
Post a Comment