Titanarum

Spring is not here. Why do we have to endure this waiting game? This ‘one minute it’s mild and sunny the next ice has made all surfaces silvery’ game? Nature is playing with our emotions and I don’t like it. We need to find a way of staying in control. Think about it. Every year millions of buds perish as a result of these games. No sooner has the sun made the sap rise than the frost rears its sometimes pretty head and snaps off the new growth. I’m sick of it. In this climate you can’t depend on anything. I hear people say how much they enjoy the changing seasons. Pah! All they enjoy is when the rain and cold stop and one can venture outside without a raincoat or thermal underwear. They may say they enjoy getting their faces wet or their cheeks bitten by an icy wind but they are deluded. And if they aren’t then something’s wrong with them. I am yearning for a time when we can create the climates we want. I want to be in a bubble full of cherry trees and strawberries and Charantais melons. And in my bubble there’ll be no slugs or aphids or fruit eating birds. Only summer’s finest weather. 

A good friend M needs her lawn trimmed. I’ve been helping her out on and off for the past five years. As she loves her garden but has too many health problems to keep it tending her small patch is a pleasure for me. Apart from the lawn I will be checking out the passionflower. It took ill last year and having tried various remedies I expect we will have to start afresh. They self seed easily and we have at least 10 contenders at knee height. I will also be helping her decide on a fitting tribute to her cat Shelley, who passed away last autumn. The last time I saw her she had just come back from the vet and was still not feeding very well. But she ventured into the garden, found  a sunny spot, and with her eyes closed and her whiskers whirring, she picked up scents and movements in the air. She was a gentle, loving cat, timid with people she didn’t know very well, including me. Her ginger fur hung loosely from her body as she had lost a lot of weight but she was at peace and looked contented and happy. M will be choosing a shrub or a plant in her memory and I will be planting and tending it. I look forward to that.