Of Triffids, Sand and Rhododendrons

It is an indication of the long, light evenings that I never noticed this triffid growing since it has obviously been growing for some time! Actually it is jasmine and has been flowering since late November on the inside window ledge. Considering it sulked for about two years I do think I am getting the value from it now!

Triffid- aargh!

On Streedagh during the week the wind was so strong that the sand was in constant motion. It is difficult to see but all those white streaks are lines of moving sand. It doesn't always happen in the wind but when it does it feels like walking in a snowstorm, or how I imagine shifting snow might look, bit warmer though! We are still getting ground frosts at night here, and that is very rare.

Travelling Sand

The rhododendrons are coming into flower, along with the May and the end of the bluebells. Everything is so out of sync as the May and bluebells ought have been over weeks ago. Today we are enjoying gale force winds and pouring rain so no flowers would stay still for photo ops! The cuckoo has been here for the last fortnight, to me the sound is so old world rural, seasons have always turned at the sound of the cuckoo. It is quite rare to hear the cuckoo now, I believe, but perhaps people do not always have the time to listen.

 

I have said it before and I will say it again, I am so lucky to live where I do. It is a privilege to have the opportunity and the time to watch the seasons and scenery. Of course there are down sides, rural living is not all dreams and daisies, and some of the frustrations are more 1890s than 2015 but for me it is worth it...preferable to living over a pub in the centre of town, although at the time that too was ok in its way.

P.S. Have you ever realised how loud a snail's chewing sounds in the middle of the night? I'm telling you I thought I had a cow in the room and it was only a snail which had managed to find its way on to the spathyphillum on the bookcase.

Grrrrr....

Loo Botanic Gardens

As the nights draw in and temperatures drop, one turns to considering the needs of the non-frost hardy of one's beloved plants.

And, having considered, and decided how many pots need to be housed indoors, one then has to contemplate the placement of such needy individuals.

Therein lies the origin of this post's title.

Presently, my Loo has more similarities to the Palm House at Kew, than to any normal bathroom.

My plants are all delighted...the Hub...weeeeeeelllllllll.....

And in order to house all these winter guests, I've had to move things around a little, especially since it was such a lovely summer that the clivea greeww and had to be re-potted, now verging upon Triffid proportions.

Which is fine, in theory.

Until in an absent-minded moment(very rare...) , one removes one glasses and puts them down where the chair used to be...but is no longer...

...and one discovers to one's horror, that one has dropped one's single connection to the real world into the middle of the pot of TRIFFIDS!!

(one is regrettably most awfully short-sighted)

Well, it took a while, but eventually one managed to wrest them specs from that dratted tentacled Triffid-like clivea, and, furthermore, found the bathroom door and escaped.

Whew! Its only October! How'll I cope with living in a Palm House all winter?

PS: If you don't hear from one for any length of time you'll know there has been another spectac-ular mishap....

LSD:-

Labour Saving Device, of course...what did you think I meant?

I had a brainwave this morning, bit late for me, but I'm telling you so that you may practise it if you have the opportunity:

Name your child after a leading store brand of clothing and you will NEVER have to sew on another name tape! And if you intend having several children and you don't want their clothes getting mixed up then use several store names.

One's children may object to having names like Primark, Dunnes, Next, Atmosphere, Land's End, JC Penney, Monsoon, etc but only think of the time saved when it comes to packing for summer camps, ski trips, school trips and all that sort of thing.

I'll leave you to consider my brainwave, and if you think of any more LSDs I'd be grateful if you'd pass them along to me please?
And do you think I should patent this idea?

Gotta go, the sun is splitting the rocks and there is the matter of a few triffids needing annihilating in the garden...

Live life abundantly!

Exhibit A: one loaf of bread.
Exhibit B: one bread maker (square-ish white yoke behind champagne bottles from Sos' eighteenth birthday, and yes, that unfortunately is the state of the utility room at present).
I'm putting these first because the sermon yesterday was based upon John Ch 6 v33 and the symbolic attributes of 'bread'. Bread is essential to keep us physically fed, and there is enough food produced on our planet for no one to go physically hungry. But in the same way that the available food does not reach everyone, spiritual food does not reach everyone either i.e. the importance of loving, sharing, forgiving, accepting, there's plenty more to add. And very often it is the spiritual famine in our own communities which is the nearest to us and most straightforward for us to act on. The Minister was not calling for us to pack up our bags and head for Africa, nor was he suggesting we all begin vegetable gardening, he was just pointing out how easy it is to smile, be polite and helpful and friendly to folks we meet, people on the margins as well as our best friends, to be AWARE. Sounds so easy huh? Pardon the pun, but plenty of food for thought....!!! (sorry, couldn't resist...!)

One more throwaway remark he made at the end of the Service was this- 'To whom am I accountable?' That has me stumped, because as adults in theory we have free choice in almost everything. For me my faith keeps me accountable to God, and obviously I'm accountable to the Hub in behaviour and many choices (like the housekeeping money...aargh!), and socially we are accountable to the law or we'd all be merry little axe-murderers, or not, but think about it, where does the buck actually stop for each of us?

Later in the afternoon the Hub went and fetched Sos and a friend who is visiting from Dublin. They'd had a good few days, actually I don't think they'd actually slept for the previous two nights through all the hooleying. I made everyone pasta to keep them going until supper, and then keeled over about four o'clock; two days of Services and organ playing takes it out of one. Luckily there was bread made so they got themselves toasted cheese and snacks and watched several videos I think, judging by the mess I got up to this morning!

The Hub finished the roof on the shed and started cladding the walls, in between deluges. It's been so wet he can't cut the grass, which is happily invading the veg beds. A real pain. I tell you, if John Wyndam was ever wanting a sequel to 'The Triffids' he could visit my garden and receive all the inspiration he needed; perhaps I could be his 'Muse' and have a horror novel dedicated to me! Ha ha! would that be irony, freudian slip, or just desserts? (rhetorical question- DO NOT ANSWER).

Oh hang on, is he still alive even?