Week 50 Back in the garden

I didn't take many pictures this week until the weekend. I took this one on Monday of my new jumper:

It did cheer me up a bit. I ended up working late on Monday. I also got started early on Wednesday and Friday, and worked late on Thursday. 

I was trying really hard not to work late on Wednesday. I was only about half an hour late finishing, and it was quite stressful to manage that. I had felt like I was just racing against impossibility all day. We had tea but it all quickly descended into strops from the girls who both flounced off at something I can't remember. I was trying to keep the peace but all I could think was that I was so bloody annoyed that I hadn't got a flounce in first!

Mark and I played Jenga a while, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. We started talking about the garden. This is a subject Mark and I have been going over the last week or so. We have been watching a program on iPlayer "Your Garden Made Perfect" or something. Anyway, it got us talking about what was still working well in the garden and what could benefit from a re-think.

We got out a big bit of flipchart paper and started drawing. Soon we were joined again by both girls who seemed to have sensed the colouring crayons...

We all chatted and made notes about what we were thinking. Some general points:

• There isn't enough colour in the middle of the garden - it's all around the edges. I want more flowers
• The pergola and fruit in the middle of the garden is good. But Mark is keen to look at replacing some of the planting underneath the pergola.
• Bunnykins likes having the near lawn for camping on and it is good for having a socially distanced BBQ with the Dicksons
• The herb bed infront of the shed is pants.
• I suggested a flower bed that cuts across the end of the near lawn and around to the herb bed. There could be a couple of stepping stones through it for a cut through to the rest of the garden.
• The spot where we have the metal table and chairs is a great sun spot. It could also be used for putting out a fire pit in the evening. Mark would like to see a little arbour against the fence with some climbing plants
• We need a washing line and the grass underneath it is handy
• The treehouse is to stay, but should be cleared out to maybe make space for an outdoor bean bag - somewhere where Bunnykins can tuck away and read. 
• Opinion was split on the slide. Woo felt very sentimental about it. It was put in overnight before her 4th birthday. But the rest of us feel that it isn't used anymore. 
• Woo also wanted to keep the swing and the wild garden
• Bunnykins would like a living wall against the fence near the tree-house.
• We were wondering about  putting up a place for a hammock instead of the swing, but then maybe the swing can move to somewhere else around the tree.
• The bed behind the main veg bed needs replacing as it's sides are all bust.
• Eventually we may remove the greenhouse and put something in it's place - a garden building which might open onto the existing deck around the tree-house, so we should bear that in mind.
• Maybe some more pots might be nice so they can be seen from the bench by the greenhouse and the sunny sitting/firepit spot - but they would have to be pretty hardy/drought tolerant 
• The side triangle beds could also do with their edging replacing.
• The wildflowers on the raised bed need a different way of getting them going. Maybe wildflower turf or bulbs. 
• We were also wondering about having wildflowers in the back lawn or maybe making the flower beds there raised (the one infront of the deck in particular) and to include some wildflowers. 
• We would also like a water feature near the tree house (maybe in the small triangular bed next to the deck), we would like it to be good for wildlife and to have the sound of water.

So that turned out quite nice in the end even though it wasn't our traditional games night, we did salvage a bit of togetherness from it.

Thursday was a horrible day work wise. There is too much to do, but also a particularly intractable project where the client wants something that is probably not going to be very useful and as I start looking into it it will be an absolute pain to do. I have to arrange a kick-off soon, so I am working my butt off to try and come up with an alternative plan for the project that they will be happy with. 

Friday wasn't much better, but I did manage to keep on top of all the other things I am trying to do (nightmare project aside). I was just so glad to log off at the end of the day. I just had to draw a line under it and hope that I will get some time to solve this next week.

Meanwhile it is fair to mention that this has been the last proper week of homeschooling. It was without incident. The girls just get on with their stuff. So much so that Bunnykins, who had some DT projects this week had made herself a banjo all without me realising and was constructing an instrument of her own design with keys that made different sounds when pressed.

Bunnykins is really pleased to be getting back to school next week. Her plan for the weekend was to get her room tidy, prepare her school bag, practice spellings and just generally get herself in the zone.

Woo has a slightly different week next week. Secondary school children have to take the rapid flow tests. She goes back on Wednesday just to have the test, so Mark will take her in and wait for her to do that. Her whole year group have no classes that day. Monday and Tuesday are online learning. Then she is back in on Thursday and takes another test, but this time stays in and is in school as normal from then. I think she then has a test on ether Friday or Monday - I forget. But anyway, she will be having tests regularly...she wont like that!

I think we will also be able to get hold of tests for the family. 2 per person per week. Not sure what to make of that at the mo. I mean I don't really go anywhere anyway, but I guess it is the right thing to do to get testing. It is pretty horrible process, though I guess we'll get used to it at 2 per week!!!

Saturday I woke up about 8ish. Mark was already downstairs and got us all up and fed with pancakes.

It looked like a lovely morning, so we were all enthused to go for a walk. Woo and Mark wanted to explore this new bit down by Vassel's Park. I wasn't sure, as it did sound a bit like Bunnykins and I wouldn't be keen, but I still fancied the walk down there.

It was a pretty walk, blossom starting to peek out all over.

For much of it I walked with Bunnykins. She either likes to walk in silence, which I am OK with. Or sometimes she has a thought in her head and will either talk 90 to the dozen about it or ask questions quite intently. The questions do seem to be repetitive, either that she is reviewing the information or isn't happy with how you answered just 2 minutes ago. Anyway, she certainly seemed happy with my company and we discussed favourite breakfast foods and favourite breakfast surroundings and favourite breakfast companions at length. 

We reached a spot by a bridge along the river. We all sat on a log and had some snacks and a drink. Across the river was a precarious looking path and some high cliffs. Mark explained that the route was along the other side of the river. This is what he and Woo had been heading for. 

We had already walked a good hour or so. Bunnykins and I didn't like the look of it at all. We decided to head back.

But first we waited to see them come up the other side....tbh I don't think that was a good idea as seeing them up there made me feel woozy and light headed. I yelled up to them to be careful while Bunnykins gave them a cheery wave. Then we left them to it and headed back across the park. 

This photo that Mark took from up on that spot - makes me feel ill to look at it. Why have I included it in the blog? I am not entirely sure.

I think I do appreciate that it is a nice picture and that she is actually safe at this point and she continued to be safe and came home to me. But that night as I went off to sleep, my head tormented me with visions of high places and crashing off them. This is something I can do fairly often. Sometimes as I'm drifting of to sleep,  my brain can devise a little absent minded torture... I'm up somewhere high. Maybe I'm clinging to the edge of a tower ledge,  or balanced on a rocky,  crumbling pinnacle. My palms sweat, I'm frozen, I know that in my fear I'm not strong enough to pull myself up or climb out of danger. My head keeps me there like a tick,  it's obsessive.  

But if it is just me up there, I figured out the trick....I let myself fall. I let go. And nothing happens. I float harmlessly,  or if I plummet - I never hit the ground.  Maybe I find myself back where I started... so I let go again.  I remember it's just in my head and there is nothing to fear here. But it doesn't work if it involves the girls, and tbh I don't even want to go any further into it than that. 

Anyway, the two of them had a lot of fun exploring. 

Meanwhile, Bunnykins and I enjoyed our walk back. She told me all about a book she had read recently - Tinsel: the girls who invented Christmas. Then I talked a bit about the Wizard of Earthsea series. We stopped and admired some lovely blossom, then came back home where I got on with making the lunch. 

After lunch I went out to pressure wash the old plastic chairs. I have been planning to repaint them and was keen to get on. It was really only when I had finished that I realised that the weather is a bit too cold to paint as it needs to be above 10degC. 

I ordered take-away for tea. Mark had an optician appointment. We had an exchange where he sent me what appeared to be a set of "spot the difference" photos....

I gave my expert opinion and then sat by the front window to read until either he or the take-away arrived.

In the evening I joined another of Ben's birthday quizzes. This time there was also Liz from Ukulele group and one of Ben's other very close friends: Jenny. 

It was nice. Though I had to complain about some of the questions which were repeats from several of Ben's previous quizzes... I suppose it did give me an advantage.

Sunday morning Mark woke me up too early when his alarm went off at 5am. They went off for a little 20km run.

He was back home about 9:30am I guess. He made us breakfast and then he and I went out into the garden as it was another glorious clear day. 

We want to plant some tomatoes in the greenhouse this year, so we needed to clear it out a bit more. We ended up also cutting back lots of climbers that have grown over the back of the greenhouse and then being able to get back there to clear out the piles of rubbish: mainly old plastic plant pots. We had no room in either the green bin or black bin, but it was good to get it all raked out. 

After lunch I went out to sit in the sun and read my book for a while. 

I noticed the Forsythia already starting to bloom, I am sure it wasn't last week. 

I tried to also take some selfies without looking to the neighbours like I was taking selfies 😂...didn't turn out so well! 😂😁

Anyway, it was lovely being out there. I read for a good hour, but I also spent time looking around the garden and thinking more about our plans. 

I had a bit more of a think about the two raised beds near the greenhouse. I think the old ragged one, needs to be replaced with a sturdier raised bed - or big planter (maybe on castors) that is slimmer or nearer the veg bed and can then be filled with flowers so that you can sit on this bench and see the flowers. I also wondered if by making just a bit more space here, then the fire pit could be here infront of the greenhouse.

I also thought that I could see a branch to move the swing to. And was thinking about how we could put a planter on the platform for the slide (if we took the slide away). It could have herbs in for Bunnykins to munch on as she sits reading up in the treehouse.