Garden update

When we came home one of the first things that struck me was how the garden had burgeoned in our absence.

As I looked over the garden wall when the taxi dropped us the first thing I saw was the brilliant red of the rhododendron in the front garden. Magnificent even though it was already past its best.

Out the back all the beds had filled out. For the first time since we re-landscaped the garden in 2014, the beds seems filled. The need to get extra plants to fill out the gaps seems superfluous. Indeed if the plants continue to grow as they are the next problem will be cutting some back to give others a chance to grow.

Deep red peonies peer over lanes of glorious lavender. On the other side of the garden tall white delphiniums tower. The roses are out. Thyme with red & white flowers or the more yellowy leaf of lemon thyme carpet one bed. In the far distance, under the silver birches, scarlet poppies & white ox-eyed daisies stand out amidst the meadow grasses. The apples are definitely fruit & already tending to make the branches bow they’re so heavy laden. The jasmine is turning one post of the nearest pergola into a column of sweetly scented green & white. Purple geraniums dance in the breeze. Now the mock orange is a bush of sweetly smelling whiteness beside the smaller pergola. The roses are out almost lost in the lush greenery around.

I’m also pleased to notice today the sparrows have discovered the prostrate rosemary is full of tasty insects, making an investigation fruitful.

With the Fox being so ill, I’ve not really had too much opportunity to venture around the garden. I’ve needed my energy to look after him & do the basics of feeding & watering us. I’m looking forward to a good explore now he’s so much better.

The only disappointing aspect are the pots that break up the rather boring concrete garage wall. They seem decidedly sad. Maybe now the Fox is doing better, I can spare some energy doing something about them, maybe buying some new plants to put in them. We’ll see.

More himself

It is with great relief that I say the Fox is beginning to be a bit more like his old self. The last couple of days he’s managed to do & eat more. We did manage the big shop. We even went out for a drink before relaxing over dinner, unlike the previous week when we did a small shop & he’d had to collapse into a couple of hours’ worth of lie-down.

As for eating he’s managed a similar size portion to what I’ve had. Admittedly we’ve had lighter meals i.e. salads, the last couple of days as it has turned hot. Yesterday he even suggested having a dessert of some ice cream. The real test will be today when I am intending to cook a chicken & asparagus pasta dish, a hot meal for a change, but I am quite hopeful.

The only mishap happened last night when his legs just went from under him. He landed with an almighty crash, sending a lamp flying – fortunately the glass shade did not shatter – & tea everywhere. Quite what happened we’re not sure. He had some difficulty getting up afterwards even after I’d moved mugs of tea & the lamp to one side. It certainly knocked his self-confidence. Hopefully it was a one off but he is anxious it may happen again.

A big shop?

Life is beginning to settle down. After some thought we’ve decided to attempt a big shop this week, to get back to more normal cooking. That’s not to say we’re not having some quick cook, minimum washing up, meals but these will be ingredients for meals I planned before we went off to Norway.

Whether we succeed in doing a big shop is another question. We’ll start with some fresh veg. All we’ve got in the house at the moment is some rather manky old potatoes, left from before we went away, & some new potatoes bought last week along with some chilli peppers & green peppers - they were mixed but we’ve eaten the red one. I’m not used to seeing such an empty veg box for such a long period. I’m reckoning even if the Fox flags early, & we abandon the shop, concentrating on just the essentials, we will have a wider range of food options then.

Either way I suspect the Fox will need a lie-down when we get home & I will be cooking & washing up again. So it is that once again we’re having Spicy Prawns & Chorizo – quick to cook, minimum washing up – for dinner tonight.