Mothering Sunday

Photo copyright: Maggie May

Since I wrote my last post, the weather has turned much warmer and this coincided with an energy surge in me. Over the last two days, I was able to get out in the garden and prune things back, tidy the debris from the winter winds and do some jobs in the house that I normally would have done before, if I had felt able to.

In England we have Mother's Day completely out of sync with the rest of the world. It is really Mothering Sunday and was to do with the Church originally and it still is, though most people call it Mother's Day.

After we went to church in the morning, my son and granddaughters called round with cards and a present. My daughter had already sent hers in the post.

The day was lovely and sunny and pleasant.

I am so relieved not to be shivering and to be feeling stronger again on this special day.

The tub of narcissi and hyacinths that I received from the teacher last week is responding to the sunshine and the bulbs are opening up.

I have seen two wrens eying up the little pouches underneath the kitchen roof over hang. I hope they decide to nest there. I believe that they build three different nests and the female selects just one. I bet my husband is glad he isn't a wren. Having to provide one home was difficult enough.

The fox who visits our garden has very bad mange. It is pitiful to see the scabs completely covering his back. He looks so ill. One day when I was itching all over and tearing at my skin to the point of injuring myself due to chemo 4, the fox flopped under a shrub in the garden and tried to sleep in the watery sun. However, he was tearing at himself the whole time and had no peace from the irritation. I thought that we had something very much in common, except I don't have mange.

Lets hope that this change in the weather is here to stay.

The Unexpected Gift

Photo copyright: Maggie May

I was so surprised when one of the teachers from the school where I work came quite unexpectedly to visit me last week. She had planted this lovely stone tub with narcissi and hyacinths herself and she stayed to chat for a good while.

It was her own present to me and nothing at all to do with the school. I was so delighted with it and the tub is on the patio outside and I will be able to really enjoy it from the back room where I sit.

Wasn't that kind?

It is good to see the sun although it is very cold here. I have all sorts of jobs lined up for when I get stronger.

The sunshine seems to give out strength.

Hope many of you ae enjoying sunshine too.

Springing into Action

The weather has been lovely for the last few days and after being stuck in the house because of the wrens (see last post), I finally decided to have a little look round my garden armed with a camera and snap what is in flower.

My garden is far from perfect and I should have swept round the pots before I took photos. Never mind, this is what it really looks like. The primulas have got a bit of wind damage or water damage, or sun damage....... not sure which, but never the less, it is heart warming to see them flowering after the long winter days. The violets have appeared from self seeding and I like the way they just take over other pots.

I had these hyacinths for Mother's Day and they were in tight bud when they arrived and now they are opening up with the sun. I do love hyacinths and their lovely perfume.

I also love primulas when they are flowering but find they can look a mess during the summer, with withering leaves. However, I cannot find it in my heart to throw them away after flowering and usually repot them and find after adding a bit of fresh compost, they do look lovely again the following Spring.

These were also Mother's Day presents and they were also in perfect condition when I received them. They have been out on the patio on some rainy days, when I couldn't get out because of the wrens. I was amazed to see wrens going back to the nest yesterday but I decided I couldn't stay in all through the holidays, so I hope I haven't frightened them away again. Maybe there is one sitting on eggs. Time will tell.

Speaking of eggs...... A very strange thing happened the other day and I really have no idea how it came to be. I was amazed to spy an egg in the gravel that has been put down over the damaged ground caused by the underpinning. We are waiting for the ground to settle before we can concrete over it. I thought the children had planted a rubber toy egg and I started to carefully scrape back the gravel which was wet and sort of sucked the egg deeper down and I had to tug it to get it out. The egg was a brown hen's egg and as I pulled it, the shell broke! Now how did an egg get into the gravel in the first place, that's what I want to know?

I took the picture below because I am very fond of bamboo and have mine growing in containers so that it won't take over my garden. Two or three containers together look good, I think. There is an old mirror behind the bamboo. I wonder if I got my reflection in it? I think it is too dense..... phew!

I had my daughter and grandsons over for the weekend as they had arranged to meet up with a friend who happened to be visiting here from Scotland and they do not normally get see each other from one end of the year to the next. Deb's friend has children too, so while they played in a park, daughter and friend caught up with all the news from a bench nearby. The weather kept fine for them. Some how or other, ten year old Dean ended up in a pond...... but that's another story. His clothes had to dry out in the sun! Just as well he is a tough little guy!

I am soaking up that delicious feeling of the beginning of a school holiday that is stretching out before me.........

We have decided that we are going to visit our daughter from Thursday 9th - Tuesday 14th April, so forgive me if I don't get to visit your blogs as I know my daughter's broadband is in the middle of a change over, so will have to manage without the internet till I get back. However am I going to manage!