I had a busy morning yesterday, a sort of bum up/head down sort of morning, first of all cleaning and polishing lots of Victorian wooden curtain rings (to take to the Antiques Fair next month - I have no use for them here). I was bending a lot until it occurred to me to get a chair and sit down! Then I went up on the Bank for an hour or so, clearing around the soft fruit which had disappeared entirely in the long grass and Sorrel and Willowherb. It's hard to tell what are the planted raspberries from the many wild ones. The planted ones have name tags but have they spread down the bank or not? I suspect NOT - the wild raspberries are all over the place. Anyway, I have been getting all the grass roots out (or as much as I can find) and putting down cardboard and well rotted stable manure, and will go back to putting some membrane down - I was given a roll - and mulching the area. I haven't been able to get out there at all since spring really, because of caring for Keith, and if I don't get on top of it by the end of May, that's IT - everything grows and smothers the soft fruit. Hopefully next year I will be able to keep it tidy.
I began to feel dizzy after that, and a bit sick and thought it was probably from all the bending. I spent the afternoon on the sofa, mostly asleep, with the racing from York on in the background. I couldn't face a meal and tea was a cup of tinned Chicken soup and dry bread. I was in bed not long after 8.30 and slept till 3 a.m. when Alfie and then Little Whale decided that they wanted to Go Out Please. Of course, having slept a good while I was awakened properly by getting up to let them out.
My ear piercing got cancelled until next Wednesday, which was a PITA as I just want it done.
I finally measured and cut out the other two border pieces, and now have to do the batting and backing and mark them up ready to hand quilt. In hindsight I should have sewn them to the main quilt first and then quilted in situ, but hey ho, I will have to add them afterwards which will not be so easy.
My new craft book is in the post to me, so I shall be eagerly awaiting its arrival. My Dorset friend G has sent me several books recently, the main one of which is Barbara Erskine's The Story Spinner, which I was able to sit down and read yesterday evening when I was resting. I love her stories, especially when they are set fairly locally to here, as this one is.
Well, this won't do. I will go back to bed and hope to drop off again.
I'm up as well. I will have to head back to bed as it is an early day tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI had to have a nap this lunchtime and slept deeply for 3/4 of an hour, with Pippi-cat sat on me.
DeleteI’d be tempted to garden the bank as a wildflower area. Raspberries, even the cultivated ones, are notoriously difficult to contain. Sorrel and rosebay willow herb sounds a lovely combination to me. The sorrel in our wildflower meadow (which I finished mowing yesterday and it is now half an acre of gleaming gold much like the wavy line field in your photo) had the most beautiful crimson red stems that shone out amongst the bleached grasses, the wild carrot, the purple knapweed and the yellow birdsfoot trefoil. It makes me sad to mow it all down but the seasons turn and the morning dew is rising and it is a great relief to have it done for another year. This year I had about three hours solid help from son T which made a big difference and S helped this year with disposing of some of the arisings. Last year I did the whole job on my own in three days and it left me utterly exhausted. This year I spread it out and gave my body time recover between sessions. In total I did seven hours, which doesn’t sound much but it is intensely hard physical work with a chunky 56v push mower. After finishing the mowing yesterday I had a long soak in the bath with Epsom salts and lavender oil - bliss. Then I had to attend a planning meeting for a church fundraising event to be held in November. More physical work to come: cooking, setting up and putting away tables and chairs, decorating the hall, I know the drill well as before that it will be the harvest supper (not a church fundraiser as the money raised at this event goes to the homeless charity Stonepillow and the local food bank) at the beginning of October where six of us make shepherd’s pies in our own kitchens to feed 80 people. Our work helps to keep the church open and our church does a lot to glue our village of 900 souls together. Today I am going to Petersfield museum with a friend. There’s an exhibition about Peggy Guggenheim and her life in a nearby cottage during the 1930s but the Edward Thomas study centre which houses his manuscripts, letters and all sorts of other treasures will be open too. Very excited about that. Depending on how we are doing for time we may go to Gilbert White’s house for tea in the garden and a wander around their meadows and I am hoping there may also be time to stop at the tiny church at Chithurst which sits high above a bend in the river Rother with a sylvan backdrop overlooking the Manor House of Chithurst owned and still lived in by Sarah Miles and now given over as a Buddhist retreat centre. I know, it’s all happening in the wilds of West Sussex! Actually Sarah Miles is very funny and was a regular customer at the secondhand bookshop where I used to work. My friend is driving and I will be navigating with my Ordnance survey maps - we both love a road trip and she is an excellent driver and I love map reading. I was wobbling about my fair isle colour choices but then I saw your top photo the other day and thought yes, I have the sea-blue/green and the lime green of a Welsh hillside and the palest grey of an overcast day and pops of colour from yellow gorse flower and the rust of the turning bracken and I fell back in love with it again. Where would we be without our gardens and our making and our books. A final note about my current read: The Rising Down - Lives in a Sussex Landscape by Alexandra Harris, which Is all about my patch and the people who lived here, from the anchorite in their cell at Hardham church in the 12th century to Ford Madox Ford (The Good Soldier) who lived and worked a 10 acre smallholding in my village just after WWI while living out of wedlock and fathering a child with Stella Bowen. Hope you managed more sleep. I was awake early too, but I listen to radio 3 and read so my body is still resting. Take care BB, Sarah x
ReplyDeleteWell, in that case I need to move the soft fruit (currants, gooseberries and intentional plantings of raspberries. It's the grass that totally overwhelms everything up there. I can understand why your meadow mowing is so tiring - I used to get exhausted with an ordinary lawn and ordinary lawnmower and a much smaller area. I have a chap who comes along to cut it for me now, but have had to leave it more than 2 weeks between cuts as I'm trying to keep on top of my finances and go longer between mows. I'll give him a ring tomorrow as I've now got a letter telling me what my revised pension will be. In fact, I will still end up worse off as it doesn't totally cover the Council Tax of course.
DeleteThe Harvest Supper sounds like it will be all hands to the pump and I can only imagine the quantity of Shepherds' Pies necessary to feed 80 hungry souls!
I envy you your trip to Petersfield (I used to be a working pupil at a riding stables at Rake, back in the day). As you know, I love Edward Thomas and how I would love to visit the Study Centre there. If you get there, please go into great detail for me!! Peggy Guggenheim is an not someone I've ever read much about. I know her name, but that's about all. I imagine the exhibition will be an interesting and stimulating one.
Glad that the photo gave you reassurance about your colour choices for the Fairisle Jumper. There are very few colours in nature which jar, although seeing something in a totally-out-of-context setting can be a little shock to the system - like the obviously-from-Off woman I saw walking with a friend, along the lane near Tretower the other day, with a huge floppy vivid Fuschia pink bow on her hair. Hmmm.
Your local people sound so interesting. I must do more research on the ones round here. Of course, we have Prince Llewellyn ap Gruffydd - Llewellyn the Last (d. 1282 just across the valley at Cilmeri), Lloyd of Towy has a stone effigy in the porch of St Mary's church down in the town. Other worthies are a lot more recent.
Hmm...ease up on the throttle a bit?
ReplyDeleteWell, with the gardening perhaps. Other jobs come under the heading of "pottering". The polishing didn't take much energy, but I was at totally the wrong angle to do it. SIT UP GAL . . . Totally resting today anyway.
DeleteGood!!
DeleteI really am worried about you, with your dizzy spells and nausea! It sounds as if you did order that book, so for goodness sake, sit down, put your feet up, relax and have a good read. It's hardly the weather for anything else over the coming days so take advantage of it. I don't know how blustery or wet you have it, but you'd be mad to go out here if you didn't have to.
ReplyDeleteIt didn't last. It was definitely the bending wot did it as I had earache the next day, showing that it was a balance thing. Covid did that - my left ear felt like it was under water. Yup - we certainly had the rain and that gale - a named storm, they're never good.
DeleteAt least you are being sensible and resting when you need to, that's the main thing. The top photo is amazing, what a beautiful view.
ReplyDeleteWell, I have a stack of sewing and books to read. Yes, the tree felling has opened up the beautiful landscape again.
DeleteFeeling for you, remember to cut yourself lots of slack x
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos x
Alison in Wales x
Thanks Alison. I do listen to my body and rest up when it complains!
DeleteYou did achieve a lot, but when you felt sick and dizzy maybe you were dehydrated. OH gets terrible cramp when he doesn't drink enough water. I was so pleased we managed to mow the lawns yesterday as it has absolutely chucked it down today, Sheva cat was not impressed with the wet stuff. We have had to replace electric light cord in the en suite and shower rail in main bathroom before we move (no date YET), but couldn't in all honesty leave them broken. Hugs Gill Xx
ReplyDeleteThat's a possibility - I don't drink enough water, I know.
DeleteWhat a PITA you had to replace the electric light cord. Your buyers are fortunate you are so considerate. Sorry you still don't have a moving date. It must be very frustrating. Time to Jump Up and Down and Yell!!
My goodness you managed to get a great deal done. I know I get dizzy and feel yucky after being in the sun too much without a hat.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I don't work in the sun - I follow the shade around the garden, which seems to work quite well for me. The weeds grow everywhere!
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