A drawer of lettuce and other thoughts

Good morning!

 

Today it is grey and drizzly here. It is still a pleasant 22C and I am definitely not complaining. The (mostly) lovely weather here is something I am going to miss once we return to Blighty. But sometimes (only sometimes) I do have a hankering for a scarf or a tweedy cordy booty moment. I am indulging such a moment today by wearing jeans (I can hear the sharp intakes of breath at such shocking news). And actually I have to confess to being slightly warm!

 



Upcycled drawer from the tip,
now home to lettuce seedlings.

When we got back from our hols in the UK in November we were greeted by very sad pots on the veranda containing mostly sticks. Almost immediately I hurt my back and couldn't sort them out.

Mange tout

Just after Christmas I finally cracked. I was so fed up of looking at those poor dead things that I wasn't using the veranda at all. Now, we are lucky enough to have a lovely big living space here but with three noisy Smalls it can all get a bit loud, and having an alternative space to retreat to is lovely. I found I was shutting myself in my bedroom. Enough was enough.

Nasturtiums grow everywhere like weeds here.
I love them!

I enlisted help with the lifting in the form of J and the Smalls, and pulled out all those sticks and replanted the few things that were worth keeping. I topped up the pots with fresh compost and liberally sprinkled seeds about the place. Some swift work with a broom and a tidy of the chairs and table and a great improvement had been made in really very little time.

A few weeks later it is far from perfect, but I have a pleasant place to retreat to when it all gets too much.

It is amazing how a few pots of colour can alter my frame of mind.

Aquilegia grow every on my garden at
home and these are a lovely reminder.

Speaking of frames of mind, a friend of mine who also happens to be one of the doctors on the island took me in hand the other day, and prescribed me some antibiotics. He decided that I had been battling some sort of infection in my sinuses, without much improvement, for far too long. Four days in and I am starting to feel better. My sanity and ability to deal with little hiccoughs in life are returning. In short, I hadn't completely realised how rotten I felt.

Buds on my tomato plants.

Now, can you keep a secret? I have started a very special project for a very special person. It will be a thank you for someone here when we leave in a few months. I wanted to have plenty of time to work on it so I thought I better start now. I am really very excited about it, but I am not sure whether I should show you...

Maybe a little sneaky peak next time.

xx