Hairy incubators...

Backblipped 18.08.21

Great start to the morning when local artist Gail popped in for coffee (she painted a picture of our house a few years ago and has become a friend)  Every so often she raffles some of her signed prints.  This week it was a cracker of Eileen Donan Castle and I was the lucky winner!  Woo hoo!  Another to add to my collection of her wonderful work.  I'll blip it another day :-))

This was the first time we'd managed to get together since before lockdown and I was delighted (but not surprised) to hear she's been ultra busy during lockdown with loads of private commissions.  Art seems to be something people are spending their saved holiday money on.  

After Gail left D and I had lunch then spent the afternoon in the garden.  Lots of deadheading done and general tidy up.  My herbs are growing like wild fire! Gave the mint a massive haircut and harvested some rosemary, oregano, thyme and marjoram for the freezer.

A friend asked me in 2019 to save her some lupin seeds when the time was right.  Of course I said yes and then forgot.  Last year was a non starter but this year I remembered!  :-)  David chopped the stems and I took the best of them and harvested the seeds (see extra)  There is something tremendously satisfying about popping those little pods open and finding that little row of seeds.  Such amazing things.  To think such beautiful flowers grow from such tiny little black dots. 

It also brought back memories of helping my grandpa collect seeds from his nasturtium patch.  He kept them in a net bag in his shed over the winter then we would plant them together again in the spring.  

As I continued harvesting the lupin seeds, my mind wandered further and memories of helping him prune his roses (he would hold the pruning shears and would put his hand over mine and guide it to the place on the stem to be snipped) as well has helping him plant his veggie patch, followed by the joy of pulling up carrots, lettuce, spring onions, potatoes...to this day one of my secret culinary pleasures is some freshly washed, crisp lettuce leaves with a light sprinkling of malt vinegar rolled up and stuffed straight in my mouth.  I've never been able to find lettuce that tastes as delicious as his did.  Perhaps I need to grow my own :-)

I have always maintained I don't have green fingers (mainly due to my abject failure with house plants) but as the memories came flooding back so did some of the knowledge I had in those tender years, and my new found enthusiasm for the garden (as in actual gardening, I've always been enthusiastic about just sitting in it! :-) went up a notch.  

Just after dinner the second man came round to look at our garage and discuss its conversion to an art and photography space.  This is the guy David had labelled as a bit scatty due to his conversations with him and him forgetting to contact us on Sunday.  Well he turned out to be lovely and obviously knows his stuff too, and he had more suggestions and ideas.  It's really interesting how people bring their own ideas and experiences to a project.   He's taken all the measurements and some photos and will get back to us in a few days with a quote.  

Once he left I had great plans to get my shopping list prepared, do some crochet and settle down to another episode of Outlander.  David had plans too.  Unfortunately we dozed off like pair of toddlers after a busy day at nursery, and woke up just before midnight!  

P.S. The outbuilding has now been fully cleared out (see extra) and the skip is full!  It's about to get a bit of a mini refurbish with a new rubber roof and some internal tidying and maintenance.  We will then be able to store the garage items we need to keep and the garden furniture in there.  I can't tell you the sense of achievement that photograph gives me!  Been waiting for this moment for all of the nine years we've lived here!  :-)))  Just the baths to get rid of now!