Locked In A Shed

Photos Copyright: Maggie May

No two days seem the same, weather wise.

I spent some time in Sam's garden, discussing the plans he was making to revamp it. Naturally, Rome wasn't built in a day and there are many things that he might choose to do first.

While we were talking, the sky really blackened and threatened us with a storm. However, there was a gusty wind blowing north and the storm clouds were carried away almost as fast as they had appeared.

Last week, I spent a morning at Sam's house in lovely sunshine and we were able to sit out on garden chairs while we sipped tea and planned what we'd do to make the garden more presentable.

After relaxing this way for a while, I remarked that between the two of us, we might be able to put up the second hand garden shed that he'd recently had delivered in a flat pack state.

It looked a fair sized shed when we'd first seen it, so it would be heavy and Sam knew that I couldn't do any lifting.

I said that I thought I could hold the sides while Sam screwed the panels together. So we got out of the chairs and I was given an end piece to hold so that Sam could screw this onto the longer side piece. The minute that we started to do this fairly simple task, the sun went in as gusts of wind blew quite strongly and in sudden bursts.

This was totally unexpected, but being the stubborn people that we are, I stood my ground hanging onto two panels while Sam quickly used his power drill to join them together. All the time the end piece kept slipping off the base which made things difficult and slowed us down while it was put back into position.

Once the second side piece had been secured, then it was much easier and it stayed in place but the wind was blowing the sides out of shape at this stage. The second end piece was screwed onto the ends of the side pieces and that stood really rigid.

We went to open the door but found we were locked inside the shell of the shed. It was too high for either of us to leap over the side, so the end piece with the door had to be unscrewed and taken off to let me out before being reassembled from the inside. I had the key!

There was no way that either of us could lift the heavy roof in place and that had to wait until strong friends could help.

That very afternoon two friends did arrive to help with it and the shed now stands lost and not looking quite so big in the vast garden, but it is quite roomy inside.

Now look at the garden that has been neglected for years. We really need a goat or two to clear the course grass and weeds.

I wish I was twenty years younger so that I could help with the digging.

We think that the garden would look good if it was made into *little compartments* to break up the monotony of the length, with trellis and little archways.

It would look good with some grass and some vegetable and flower beds with windy paths.

Any ideas, anyone?

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?"

A Little Grass

Photo Copyright: Maggie May

I have started growing garden grass on the window sills. I really do mean ordinary grass from seed. The kind you sow a garden lawn with. I had thought that having a garden free of a lawn would save me a lot of hard work........ mowing seemed like a real chore and for years I have thought my patios, pebbles and gravel have suited me so well as my garden is very small and easy to maintain apart from occasional pruning. I wish I could say that the above picture was taken in my garden.... but it wasn't. I took the picture when I went out into the country recently. As I now have a rabbit to feed and I know that he loves grass. I never thought I would see the day when I was positively encouraging grass to grow in pots and borders as well as dandelion leaves and flowers.

Ash adores dandelion flowers and I cannot provide enough. He soon polishes off the newly grown grass shoots. My rabbit book tells me that I shouldn't pick any from hedgerows or road sides, so I will have to find something else for him to eat. According to the book he shouldn't eat lettuce either. That was a bit of a surprise really.

I never did get that Spring Cleaning done that I intended to do in my last post. I had said that I was going to start immediately after I had written it, but it wasn't meant to be because a friend called unexpectedly and that was so much better than the cleaning and by the time she left, the urge had gone. I have started cleaning little corners though and moving little piles around the house. It does look a trifle better but still needs an in depth clean eventually.

Tomorrow is another day.

I am also pleased to say that my facial hair has not grown back after drastically shaving it off. The stubble has gone. That was strange, wasn't it?

Encounter with a Large Frog

Photos copyright:Maggie May

Just before I started my last treatment, I did a small amount of gardening. Mostly weeding around the patio. I usually collect all the weeds and other garden refuse in a large green container which I keep in the back garden. I went to pick this up in order to carry the garden waste to the special bin that the council empties that is kept in the front garden. As we are in a terrace we have to take it through the house.

Look what I found in the green container. At first I thought it was a toad but on further examination, I realised that it was a large, British common frog. It was obviously a female as it had left frog spawn in every container of every size that had been left about with water in.

Fortunately, I had my camera handy and the frog didn't seem to be in any hurry to move, so I had to tip it out near the little pond ( which is actually an industrial builder's bucket sunk into the earth.) This does attract quite a bit of wild life even though it is a tiny pond.

Mrs Frog didn't seem to be in any hurry to go any place and stayed looking at the water for ages. I think she really liked the green container best and seemed unfazed by the large statue.

This afternoon, I had my brother Eddie and sister in law, Maria round for lunch. It made a lovely change for them to go somewhere different and I have never known a day go so quickly. Eddie is doing so well following his hip replacement.

We all over ate and one of us fell asleep after lunch..... though I won't say who it was, Eddie!

While they were here, the toilet handle snapped off on the inside of the cistern. Isn't that always the way? We need a plumber on a Bank Holiday and these things always seem to happen when we have company.

Tomorrow being Good Friday, Harry and I will go to Church. Outside the church, there is a large wooden cross and inside the building there is a display of dozens of tiny crosses that people had made themselves the week before. One of them was made of stained glass and made by a friend (who said she had hand made it specially for me.) So when the display is over, I can take it home.

Although I haven't seen it yet, I know it will be beautiful because she is really good at this craft. I am well pleased.

In the afternoon, we will go for a walk and eat hot cross buns for tea.

What will everyone else be doing?

Teacher's Gift

Photo copyrigh: Maggie May

These are the lovely flowers that were brought round to me when tightly in bud, in a stone pot by a very kind teacher who took the time to come and visit me a few weeks back. I guess they are at their best right now.

I have other hyacinth and tulip bulbs that are going to open up soon.

I had chemo 5 yesterday. It went without incident. I met some interesting, chatty people who helped to while away the time. If any one wants pictures of what it is like to undergo chemotherapy then they can go to my last session here.

So how am I feeling this time?

Well you can see that I don't have chemo brain, as I am managing to put in links etc.

I am itching like fury. I am on strong antihistamines that don't seem to be doing anything other than make me feel very sleepy. I look bright red. It would scare people if I went out like this.

This is the first morning that I couldn't face getting dressed. I need to be able to get at the places and scratch. It is all over my body and is due to the chemotherapy. Its nearly unbearable trying not to itch and I am damaging my skin.

I get into the shower and feel like laughing with delight of it and crying at the pain of it.

I was told it is no use putting anything on the skin as it wouldn't make any difference and might aggregate the condition.

By Sunday it will be going....... but it is a long time till Sunday.

Some of the people on the ward having chemotherapy yesterday were quite ill. There was a lady who looked so thin and old and she was extremely ill with a chest infection. She went in with a man in his late thirties and a very young boy.

I thought that the father of the little boy was the son of the much older lady.

Doctors buzzed around this lady and eventually I heard them say that there was a bed for her in the ward above and that she had to be admitted.

Then the *son* kissed her goodbye and the little boy aged about three years old said, "Goodbye Mummy."

That is what this blasted disease does to people and I had to choke down the tears.

The Quick Brown Fox Jumped...

Photos copyright: Maggie May

The picture above was taken by me while I was out walking with the grandchildren on a lovely Autumn day. Just one of several lovely paintings on boards near some allotments.

This happened before cancer seemed to take over my life and the post has been in my draft folder for some while. So it is time to give it an airing.

Regular readers will remember that I have had a fox coming to my garden at night bringing in eggs and digging up borders and turning over pots.

Most of the time I have discovered these things during the daytime after the fox has left. Only once did I catch his attention one evening when I looked out of the window while he was drinking from the mini pond and we looked each other in the eye for a good while before he turned to run down the garden and over wall into next door.

However, the other morning I was looking through window at the garden again and I saw the fox lazing in the sun as bold as brass. He looked rather like a pet corgi lying there on the patio.

I ran to get my camera but knew that if I opened the back door he would run away. Hence the foggy photo through my not so clean window!

Eventually the fox got up and jumped the wall next door again, swiftly followed by me and my camera. No not over the wall........ to the point where it jumped over.

The sight of me freaked the animal out and it decided to jump the fence again and disappeared into another neighbour's garden further along the terrace, well out of sight.

A few days later after I had finished my dinner time job, I saw him on our road just sitting there and not running away from me. It was then that I noticed that he didn't look very well. His eyes were half closed and his brush was thin and tatty.

He was seen yet again in my back garden when I was talking to a friend the other day and he came right up to the window and was biting his mange pitifully. He is worse off than me. There is no treatment for him.

My Garden In Autumn

Photos copyright: Maggie May

This is my little garden in Autumn. Nothing much in flower except Sedum Spectabilis, Autumn Joy. And what a joy it is too, cheering up an otherwise drab scene. This has been a treasure and I'm so glad that I got it. The last of the butterflies and bees have come to visit. The Japanese Anemonies are nearly over. Nothing much else will flower now but but I have a few confused plants wondering what happened to the sudden lengthened summer that we had earlier. A carnation is still producing flowers and also lavender and ceanothus.

Now the weather is still sunny but quite cold, going from one extreme to another.

I think my little Japanese maple has expired but I will give it the benefit of the doubt until next Spring. It might have succumbed to all the building work earlier on or it might not have liked the unexpected month of sunshine that we have just had, when all it really wanted to do was to drop it's leaves and sleep.

The Visitor

Photos copyright : Maggie May.

Something made me go to the window.

He looked up. Our eyes met. Something passed between us. We had definitely made a connection. I must have looked surprised to see him, but he seemed a little wary and uncertain of how I would receive him.

The scrawny fox turned his back on me, lapped some water from the mini pond, turned over some earth in a pot of newly planted young salad leaves with his paw and his nose. Then, slinking down the garden quietly and carefully, picking his way carefully through the obstacles that confronted him, he leapt over the wall into my neighbour's garden before my eyes could focus on him, using a metal chair to reach the height of it.

Its not as though we live in the country. This is a city garden with high walls and trellis on the top for added security. This was an urban fox who probably lives on allotments, but could just as easily live under a shed in someone else's property.

Was this the fox who brought hens' eggs into my garden on three occasions? Hens' eggs that had the little lion stamped on the side? He had put his first one in gravel and I had broken that one in my efforts to get it out. The second one had been left in a pot of chives and the latest one had been half buried in a small pot of earth. Maybe there were bulbs in that pot. I really can't recall, but the egg is still there waiting for him to collect it. Is he saving it for a time of famine? Or maybe he has forgotten about it altogether. Popping eggs into the the ground like a squirrel does with nuts.

Is this the ferocious animal that kills all the chickens for the sake of it, when he really only needs to eat one? Is it the same creature who takes childrens' pet rabbits and guinea pigs when he can?

My fox looked dainty and walked carefully round my garden pots. He would need to have a delicate mouth to carry the eggs while jumping walls and digging in pots. That same animal with a reputation for slyness and killing?

I felt it was a privilege to have him come into my garden and use my belongings and to have witnessed him doing this.

So come back, my scrawny, dainty fox. Share some more moments with me. I want to see you again but please do not leave your shells everywhere and dig up my plants!

Visiting Jill's Garden

Hosted by Cecily and Chris

All photos are copyright of Maggie May.

Practically everyone in Britain will remember Jill Dando, the journalist and TV presenter who was famous for programmes like Crimewatch and Holiday, Breakfast News and Six O'clock News. She was gunned down and murdered outside her home in April 1999.

This caused a wave of shock throughout the country as she was a very popular person.

There was a team of make over gardeners on BBC TV around that time, called Ground Force, led by Alan Titchmarsh. Some time after her death, they televised one such programme changing an old rose garden in Weston Super Mare to a beautiful garden in memory of Jill, for she was from that town and had spent her childhood there with her family.

This is a general view of one side of the garden. The blue pagoda type trellises and obelisks provide support for plants and give colour when there isn't much in flower. There are fish in the pond and some lovely water lilies.

And this is the other side of the garden. Luckily there were no other visitors at the time I chose to take photos, as it can get rather crowded.

This was a specially made plaque depicting Forget-me-nots, for obvious reasons. There were shadows of leaves falling across the plaque that obscured the picture a bit, but I liked the effect of this so did not change it for a clearer one.

There were Alliums peeping out from behind a pagoda and it was so difficult choosing just a few pictures for this post. I took many more than I needed.

I think the garden is very special and often go there and sit and reflect. A place of tranquillity and beauty, though it has many visitors and Weston is very proud of it, as they were proud of Jill. Rightly so.

Photostory Friday is hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek. Well worth a visit.

New Pet?

I am used to things happening in my garden. Foxes have left eggs in pots and in gravel. I have had scaffolding covering up most of it for weeks and plants have struggled with being under deep shade.

There has been builder's rubble left all over the place and scaffolders have been very insensitive towards any living thing, throwing heavy equipment on precious shrubs and flowers. So it was with heavy heart this morning when I looked for something in flower, something that hadn't been damaged and I realized there doesn't seem to be anything. The birds have been scared away.

The only thing that is left intact and that hasn't been affected in any way is the cat in the pot!

Are You Squeamish?

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

My garden has been taken over by scaffolding. Most of you know that we have had renovations here on our kitchen roof.

This is the point that I put a warning on this post. If you are squeamish do not go any further.

This is the roof that has held a terrible secret for six years. The roof that has caused me so much misery, often to the point of making me despair. The cause of all the noises, the smells and the frustration of not being able to get to the source of the problem because a pitched roof was built over a flat one, making it impossible to investigate let alone do anything. The cause of rows between Harry and me. The roof that has been the reason for my feeling trapped and not even having the option of moving away from the problem. The roof that has made me feel like running away. The roof that I have blamed for ruining my life over and over again.

And this is the start of the discovery of just what it was that was making my life such a misery. This is the hole that was revealed once the fascia board was taken off the side of the roof, on my neighbour's side. There was no sign of the hole until that moment. This is only one of the holes that was found.

This is my last warning for the squeamish not to look any further.

The men had decided to cleanse the roof from the outside in and took off the tiles and felt and also the flat roof, leaving the kitchen ceiling directly under the scene above. This is what met our eyes..... rat runs. You can see the way that they have chewed up the insulation and they had also started on the wiring and had stripped several wires of their plastic outer casing. Fortunately, the wires were not touching. I hate to think what might have happened if they had been.

This was number one body that was found amongst the chewed up insulation that had obviously been used as bedding. There were five of the pesky rodent bodies hidden away at various points in the roof. No need to show them all, as after you have seen one, they all look the same!

Photostory Friday is hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek where you will find some great entries.

No Smoke Without Fire

Orange Blossom from a neighbour's garden. It has a lovely perfume.

This is the time of the year when we really need to make the most of our gardens. The winter seemed long and now the days are opening up it is pleasant to be able to sit out there with a cup of tea and to hang the washing out. There's nothing more lovely than the smell of freshly laundered washing that has been dried outside.

Just before I set off for work the other day, I put out a whole rotary full of washing, thinking that it would be dry when I got back!

I looked out of the window and to my horror, saw thick acrid smoke belching everywhere. The smell was even seeping into the house.

I ran upstairs and looked through the back bedroom window, just after I had taken all my washing in.

What a cheek! The workmen from two doors away had lit a huge bonfire. My pet hate!

Just before Christmas our elderly neighbour died and his house has just been sold to a builder, who is gutting it and the garden.

Now I can get feisty when I need to, so off I rushed to the offending builder up the road.

"Excuse me," I said. "Do you know this is a smokeless zone? The people round here will not be pleased with that bonfire and several of us have just put clean washing on the line and some people like to sit out in their own gardens for a bit of lunch and you have spoilt that option now."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know it was a smokeless zone. What a silly idea that is."

I was by then quite verbal, so I explained that I thought it was a very good idea to have a smokeless zone in a city where the gardens are so small and the environment is not always as fresh as it could be and I went on to say, "and what's more there are birds nesting!"

That's when he lost his nerve with me, thinking I was either a raving lunatic or too overbearing to cope with.

He said he would ask his boss to put it out.

Later that day, I noticed that the men had a small lorry in the back lane and they were putting the rubbish in it, probably having to pay at the City tip when they could have burnt it for free.

I was saying to Sam, my son that I was going to blog about it.

"How can I illustrate that post?" I asked him and he suggested that I set fire to some rubbish in a plant pot and take photos.

At first that sounded like a good idea and then I realized that it meant making my own mini bonfire! Did I really want to be seen to be making one, however small just so I could illustrate my post?

Bonfires are my pet hate, don't forget!

So I started experimenting with smoke from incense sticks!

A bit pathetic and not very effective, is it?! Still, I did save the environment from another bonfire!

The Working Holiday

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Harry and I knew that the visit to our daughter's on the east coast would be a working holiday, before we even got there.

You see, the brick wall on the side of the front garden had been hit down for the second time by traffic turning in the service lane nearby.

Harry, who is a *retired* builder, put as many tools as he could carry into a hold all because, as usual, we were travelling by express coach.

It took all of us, including the boys, to knock the fallen wall into moveable chunks so that we could dump the bricks into the skip.

As the wall had been shoulder high the bricks covered a great part of the lawn and because the insurance refused to pay the second claim, we had to think of a cheaper way of fencing the garden off, so it was decided to put in wooden posts and link fencing. This was well over two days non stop work for Harry and it didn't look very nice when it was finished. Deb came up with the idea of putting a reed/bamboo screen in front of the chain link fencing for privacy.

This was a favourite flowering shrub that had been shaped into a little rounded tree. Unfortunately it was felled by the wall so had to be sacrificed.

The screening did look much more pleasing to the eye and I hope by the next time we visit, all will be as we left it.

We visited several local garden centres and were pointed in the direction of Photinia shrubs to make a hedge. We were assured that they would grow as high as we wanted up to eight feet, and would thicken into a hedge fairly quickly. The ends of the branches are a lovely red colour at this time of the year. Obviously named Red Robin for a reason. I had never really paid much attention to this plant before but noticed it in many gardens in that part of the country, so it obviously thrives there.

There is quite a pretty outlook in the front of the house but it is more built up at the back. There are birds nesting nearby and lots of wild life all around. Makes my city garden birds seem more precious though, as we don't get as many visiting, nor a fraction as many of the different species that I spied in this garden. The bird song seemed very loud and lovely.

Harry and I were extremely tired by the end of the holiday and our arthritic limbs were screaming out. However, we had a great sense of achievement after shifting such a large quantity of bricks and mess which was an eyesore and leaving Deb with a more pleasing fence to look out on.

We are now home from holiday for a long earned rest!

Photostory Friday is hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek.