Tuesday
In the garden ...
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| another surprise plant - is this an aquilegia? |
I'm feeling rather down today following a long chat with my sister yesterday, during which she told me she'd heard that someone we went to school with died of a heart attack just before the first lockdown and another one has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer. I was never close friends with either of them but it hits hard when you hear this sort of news about your own age group.
There's only one task on the agenda today and that's to collect the garden hose I ordered last night. It's too much like hard work to try to do the watering with a watering can, which is what I have been doing, so I'm following my sister's suggestion and I ordered an expandable hose last night. I was reliably informed by my BiL that I'd need a hose capable of expanding to 100 feet to reach from the external tap on the front wall of the house to the farthest corner of the garden so I chose one, then thought I'd better check to be on the safe side as he'd estimated this from the other end of the phone. I needn't have bothered - 15 minutes later I'd confirmed that the correct measurement is 98 feet! I don't know how he does it! Anyway, I ordered it last night and have to collect today so that should make things a bit easier.
I'm collecting from Melksham (about 5 miles away) and will time it to collect and then meet up with J for lunch at the Milk Churn ... yesterday, she was 85% that she'd be able to make it so I am keeping my fingers crossed. If it doesn't work out I'll head home and spend the afternoon watching the 2021 Queen's Club tennis tournament.
Hope your friend can make lunch, I hope it will help you to feel better. Yes it is an aquilegia and a very pretty one at that. If your friend can't make lunch, may I suggest you buy yourself a bunch of flowers to enjoy instead!
ReplyDeleteShe's confirmed for lunch so I will be seeing J for a couple of hours today. I like your idea of flowers so I will probably do that too. Thanks for that!
DeleteI'm sorry you're feeling down but enjoy every day and treat yourself to something nice. Your garden is looking lovely and I'm glad the garden hose is the right size. It's what we use outside and keep filling a watering can would be extremely tedious and time confusing. Fingers crossed for a nice lunch out.
ReplyDeleteI was putting off buying such a long hose because there is a tap on the back wall but it's lost pressure so need investigating and all the plumbers are busy. Now I've made the decision to buy one I'm relieved that watering duties will be much easier ... I love all the pots but they need a lot of attention!
DeleteYou are lucky having such a brilliant BiL & I agree with the hose helping to make watering easier & probably quicker. I feel for you about hearing of the loss of school chums (even if not close). Last week my high school alumni F/B posted the notice for one of the teacher's passing, while this wasn't a teacher I had for any subjects, he was my high school teacher crush, so I had a wobble too. Sometimes those surprising feelings come clear out of the blue (at least for me) Hope lunch with a friend is just the ticket for lifting your spirits.
ReplyDeleteI can't estimate anything like that. Ced was the same as my BiL and would just say "you need ...." and he was, irritatingly, always right!
DeleteI think it's one thing on top of another and wondering what's next. Five friends now lost to Covid and these two ... all from 'my' generation. I'm sorry to hear about your teacher. xx
Hi Eileen,
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful are the flowers in your garden! I don't know their names!
The hose will make your work in the garden easier!
I wish you had a nice lunch with your friend.
Hugs and a good week.
Aiime
The top photo is an allium, the white flower in the second photo is a clematis and the lilac one is another variety of allium. Lynn confirmed that it's an aquilegia in the third photo.
DeleteI've just used the hose for the first time - definitely so much easier!
I had a lovely lunch with J, thanks.
I'm sure you had a lovely lunch with your friend and now you feel better despite the bad news your sister told you yesterday. Spending time with friends always makes me feel better.
ReplyDeleteYour flowers look wonderful!
We had a long lunch together and I do feel much brighter after spending time with her.
DeleteThanks, re the flowers.
Your garden is looking lovely! Yes, your surprise flower is an aquilegia. I like how you get surprise plants showing up in your garden! :)
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your former school mates; it's always difficult to hear when people of our generation start having serious health issues, isn't it? I'm glad you will be able to have lunch with your friend J, today (I guess you've already had lunch with her by now as it's just past noon my time!).
Getting a garden hose will make it a lot easier to water your plants! I have a 100' hose for the back and a shorter one for the front. They are not expandable, however.
Hope you have a lovely day and was able to treat yourself to some flowers!
The aquilegia is allowed to stay because I like it. I'd already planned to add semi-aquilegia Sugar Plum Fairy next year so this one adds to the aquilegia grouping!
DeleteIt's 8:45pm here as I write this and yes I had a lovely lunch with J. We're hoping to meet up again next week as well.
The hose has been used for the first time - it's yellow and I'm calling it Buttercup! It's made the watering so much easier and quicker, and the expandable hose means it's not heavy and doesn't kink anywhere ... sometimes my sister has good ideas but I'm not telling her that 😂
I didn't get any flowers but will buy some tomorrow when I'm out