Sunshine today, for the first time for weeks.
The weather has been absolutely rubbish for ages, cold and wet with a biting wind: but today we had sun, and blue skies, and wonderful, welcome warmth.
We were so determined to make the most of it that we had the first load of washing pegged on the line by eight o’ clock, and the second by eleven, which was splendid, because all our clothes are clean, and I got all traces of horrible smelly people and dog boiled off the sheets, and they are white and fresh and crisp again, and smell of the garden.
Mark went off back to the farm to carry on with his logging project, and I raced through the housework so that I could do some outside things before I had to go to work.
Last year Rob up the road, who is the Yorkshireman into whose lap interesting things just occasionally fall, donated some empty wire hanging baskets to us. It was too late in the season by the time we got them then to do anything with them, so they have been sitting there emptily and looking forlorn for ages, and the sun was shining so it was a perfect thing to be doing.
By a great stroke of enormous good fortune the dead tree that Mark has been hacking into bits and hauling home was covered in a thick moss, which he had kindly peeled off and saved for me, and it was absolutely the perfect thing for lining hanging baskets, a bit like piecing together a fluffy jigsaw.
I lined them with the moss, and packed them with the last of the compost, and then I planted all the last little seedlings that I had got left, which were starting to look a bit waterlogged and sad and were probably grateful for any kind of new home at all. Most of them were not at all suitable for hanging baskets, there were lupins and coriander and poppies and fennel and sweet peas and nasturtiums, and one of them even got a sunflower shoved in it, but I thought that it probably wouldn’t matter, as any hanging baskets in the garden would most likely be an improvement on none.
I didn’t have anywhere to hang them up, so I left them on the top of the log shed where Mark most likely would not fail to get the hint when he got home, and indeed he did but said he didn’t have the right tools at home so he would hang them after he had been to the farm tomorrow.
I cut the grass then, which is usually Mark’s job, because he is less likely to cut through the wire in a distracted moment or to be wearing flip flops and cut his toes, both of which have been misfortunes of mine in the past. I agonised for ages about whether to leave the patch of daisies and the clover patch which we used to save to feed the now-dead guinea pig occasionally, but I didn’t in the end, because it turned out to look messy, although I felt sad about the daisies, which were bright and pretty in the sunshine.
I had finished really by then, but still wanted an excuse to be outside where I could listen to the swallows calling, and so I swept the path and looked for some weeds to pull up, but actually there were so many self-seeded garden plants that most weeds didn’t stand a chance. It was such a relief to have warmth, and the damp earth smell of cut grass and mint and tansy was sharp and summery and perfect.
Mark came home then, and admired the tidy garden but then heartlessly informed me of his intention to completely trash it again by sawing up some lengths of timber in it that he had brought back uncut from the farm, so I took a photograph of it quickly to remind me of its brief perfection which is included above.
I made us some sandwiches then and went off to work, leaving Mark in charge of filling the log stack and then Sweeping The Path Very Thoroughly Indeed, which actually he usually does anyway, because the sawdust will keep the fire burning on a slow smoulder for ages, and the smoke smells so nice when you are coming up the road.
Not that we will need it if the weather stays like this.
LATER NOTE: He did sweep the path, and then hoovered the living room and cut the grass in the front garden as well, and restored everything to pristine loveliness, so that was all right after all. It is glorious here in the sunshine. After all the rain the smell of the woodland and the wild garlic is everywhere. Also I have added a picture that I took at work this evening because it was so beautiful I wanted to show you. The picture isn’t as lovely as the real view was, but you get the idea.
