Ten Minutes Sitting In My Garden

Photo Copyright: Maggie May

I am sitting at the bottom of my garden on the first day of the school holidays taking notes on a pad.

The African Lilies (Agapanthus) are doing well this year. 10 heads of flowers. They like to be pot bound and this year they are well and truly wedged into an earthen ware pot that looks too small for them.

I usually protect them with fleece during the Winter but last year I didn't as I was feeling the effects of chemo and didn't even know if I would be alive in the Summer. It really didn't seem important. However, in spite of us having one of the harshest winters in living memory, the plant has thrived like never before. I will never bother to wrap it again.

These South African lilies must be hardier than they look.

As I said before...... I am sitting in the garden and listening to the sounds around me.

I can hear a clock chime the hour from a building nearby. I can hear traffic noises from the road close by. Something behind me is being unloaded from a van and there are thumps and crashes.

My shed is creaking in the warmth of the sun. There are crows in the tree behind me, calling out to each other. One of next door's cats is creeping about in the honeysuckle hedge waiting for me to go, so that he can sneak into my garden.

A piano is being played by a child and more children are playing and calling out in a garden nearby to my left.

Seagulls fly overhead squawking and shrieking as they go.

Now and then an aircraft roars overhead making quite a noise. We seem to be under a regular flight path here, though the planes are high up.

Another consignment of things are delivered to a business near by and doors slam and boxes thump. Men exchange greetings and instructions.

There seems to be a wailing/howling sound coming from somewhere on my right. It comes and goes sporadically.

Indian music comes from a radio in the far distance, as some workmen do repairs.

Bees buzz about my head, visiting what is left of the Ceanothus flowers near where I sit. Although the flowers seem to be dead, the bees and hover flies are still attracted to something or other. I know not what.

Swifts fly overhead, calling as they go. I love that sound of Summer.

I live in a city house with a small city garden. I like living here. I get used to the sounds. Anyone living here would know that it wasn't like living in the country. If it was peace and quiet that was wanted then you wouldn't choose to live here.

Next door's cat has now braved coming over and is drinking from my watering can.

Ah......... I forgot to mention my wind chimes......

There is a gentle breeze and the sounds come and go, but they are in tune!

Nothing has been said since the last onslaught over a week ago, but I might be premature in thinking this.

This morning an official looking man with a clip board knocked on my door and said he was from the Council.

"Oh," I said, "It must be about the wind chimes."

He looked at me as though I had gone stark raving mad. "No," He said, "Its about loft insulation. Didn't you get the letter?"

Bear With A Wish

Photo Copyright: Maggie May

This is the bear that Amber saved up for months to buy. It was bought in The Bear Factory and has a little heart inside with her wish in it.

If only all our wishes could be met by buying a bear. It would make things so much easier. I would wish for a peaceful environment to live in.

One of the good things that has happened over the last two weeks, is that I am now going back to the After School Club twice a week.

I have been off sick for about six months and one little six year old, a real character, said to me, *Where the heck have you been?*

I felt as though I'd been on the tiles or misbehaving in some way, however, it did provide me with a chuckle.

The children were quite interested in my hair and when I explained that I had to take strong medicine to help make me better but that it made me lose my hair, one 7 year old said, *Oh, I know what that illness is called. It is called cancer and my uncle died of it.*

Children tell things how it often is.

I don't feel I have the energy to work longer hours, at present and come home very tired but it is a challenge to me.

I am used to children having tantrums, though my own grandchildren and the children at school do not have them very often these days (if at all.) However, one thing that I learned was not to reward them by giving in to their demands while they are having a tantrum. It is best to ignore this kind of behaviour and reward children when they do something that you can praise them for.

What I am not qualified to do though, is handle a grown up having a tantrum and demanding things that they want.

All my instincts and child training tells me that I should handle this by using the same principle.

Once you give in to bullying from a grown up....... there is no end to the demands they will make.

As usual, I am always pleased to read your comments and realise that you may well disagree with me.

Chimes

Photos Copyright: Maggie May

I have always loved wind chimes......... Well with a Japanese influence in the family it is no surprise that I have been introduced to them over the years. Now they seem to be popular in England too.

I already had several small ones that I accumulated over the years, as well as a large wooden one that I rescued from a neglected garden that I was once tending.

I quite love the sound of them gently chiming out in the breeze. I find it very soothing.

There was only ever one neighbour who referred to them as noise pollution in a half hearted kind of way but she has moved out of the area now.... not because of my wind chimes, I might add.

Anyway, last Sunday after Church, I was very surprised to be presented with the large chimes in the first photo, from a lovely friend who has just come back from a Cornish holiday.

They have a really lovely mellow sound. She said she thought I would like them!

I have been, and still am very busy looking after Amber and Millie while Sam is in Southampton. It has been an action packed week but my energy levels are quite high and I am only tired by the end of the day, which I think of as normal tiredness.

We have had some lovely conversations, the girls and I....... done spelling revision and looked up things on the net for homework projects and I have taken them in the late afternoons to their after school activities, fed and bathed them and wished they'd go to bed earlier.

They have helped me feed and clean out Ash the rabbit and kept him entertained.

They have spoken to their Daddy on the phone every morning and Skyped every evening, so I think they have had as much of an action packed week as Granddad and I have done.

Sam comes home late on Friday afternoon. He has passed the tests so far this week, though his important exams will be when he goes again to Southampton for the third session, as yet at an unknown date.

I surprised my self by signing up to do two evenings a week in the after school club, starting from next week. If it is too much for me, then I can reduce the hours but I can also go back to my four nights if I feel up to it later on. I will not be going back to lunch times yet as I have to adjust to things very slowly after being at home for so long.