A life in the day ...

Today, totally unplanned when I woke in the morning, turned out to encompass several aspects of what constitutes my life these days, with the result that I have severe doubts as to my ability to complete this blip coherently...

First, the photo. I took this in the sanctuary of our church when I'd just finished recording the hymns for Sunday's zoom service. I wasn't recording from here, but testing different sweet spots for singing. Not that I'd be standing here, in the normal run of things, though it is far and away the very best spot acoustically, with the bare plaster walls reflecting the voice out under the chancel arch. The church building felt a bit sad this morning, probably because of the level of humidity on this damp day as well as the red and white stripy tape shutting off alternate pews in anticipation of services resuming soon. Maybe, of course, it was merely myself that was sad, and I'm guilty of the transferred epithet, or worse. 

The afternoon, however, was far from sad. It began with a text: "delivery in porch", it said. It came from a friend. The delivery turned out to be a lovely golden tea rose plant in a big box with a gold ribbon - another delightful Golden Wedding present. We spent the rest of the afternoon choosing a spot and planting it - though that makes it sound simple. The hole had to be 16" deep; our topsoil is barely that. We dug down far enough for the fork to be battering the solid rock - except that our rock is flaky, schist-like stuff and flakes off. The rose and its root ball were carefully positioned. We then spent ages sorting the soil ( yes - really), removing stones and old bits of root but carefully retaining the odd worm, before returning it to the hole, along with some fertiliser and compost.

It was then that I decided I wanted to tidy up the rest of the border to match the bit we'd cleared ...

Enough already. Think grass tufts and tugging; thorns and small piercings. The border now looks great; the rose looks happy and smells lovely; my legs are absolutely killing me. I have an appointment to see a dentist in the morning. Bed calls...