Wombled creatures

Oh dear, whatever will Paddy make of these?

I found the fish in the tumble-down shed next to the old herb garden in my mother's garden on Monday. Mummy hazelh was pleased to give it to me as a present.

I retrieved the squirrel and hedgehog this morning from a skip in the drive of a house just round the corner from our flat. Before anyone casts me as a criminal, I should say that I had permission to take them.

I spotted the skip when I returned from Northumberland on Tuesday afternoon. I was most interested in the rubble that it contained. This is because we are running out of hardcore to secure the slabs for the new raised beds in our garden. On Tuesday I rang the doorbell to ask about recycling some of the rubble. Nobody was in, so I pushed a note with my request and phone number through the letter box. This morning I received the call to say that I could help myself to whatever I wanted, so Mr hazelh and I trotted along the road to collect a couple of loads of rubble.

There were quite a few garden ornaments in the skip, including a huge gnome. I took the two 'best' (i.e. least naff ones - some were truly grotesque). I'm going to try and remove the paint from the hedgehog, and do something about the squirrel's eyes. Then I will place them in a wee corner of the garden in the hope that they will amuse our visitors (especially the small ones).

With the help of donors Katharine and Jack, I added some more plants to the garden this evening: acanthus, pheasant berry, Michaelmas daisies, and honeysuckle. They are currently in a 'holding bed' until we have finished all the structural work of the garden makeover.

Thank you to everyone for the kind wishes on my mystery one day illness yesterday. A good night's sleep has fixed me. I can only conclude that I had an allergic reaction to something combined with exhaustion after my trip south earlier in the week, a couple of nights of poor sleep, and working up until almost 8pm on Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

Exercise today: some yardening and gardening.