When we visited the stately home craft fair on Mothering Sunday, Heather got chatting to one of the stall holders who was representing a company that made toilet paper from bamboo. It was all very eco-friendly and non-profit making, and the sample I was given withstood several nose blows without being reduced to a ragged and soggy mess, which was good. Anyway, Heather parted with her email address in order to be entered into a prize draw competition and was given a free loo roll as a ‘thank you’ which she took home as a gift for Oli, who was thrilled. I think he was probably even more thrilled with the chocolate brownies Heather also took back to him, but he is a polite chap and receives all gifts with equal gratitude.
Anyway, a couple of days ago Heather discovered she had won second prize in the prize draw and will soon be the proud recipient of a box of twenty four - yes, twenty four - bamboo loo rolls! How exciting is THAT!??!
In the greenhouse, there are now thirteen tomato plants. I have been so focused on the tomato seedlings, willing them on with cheerleading and pompom shaking, that I didn’t notice the broccoli babies suddenly popping up - all fifty eight of them! This is probably too many in the grand scheme of my garden which is not a farm, but I think the last time I tried growing broccoli it was a bit of a hit and miss hoo-ha so this year I threw caution to the compost sowed the whole packet. The broccoli faeries must have been watching and I like broccoli so I’ll find homes for as many of the seedlings as possible. Broccoli is an over-Winter vegetable so will occupy the beds vacated by the summer veg. Also joining the popping up seedling brigade are the French beans, basil and sweet peas. No sign of the courgettes or cucumbers. The cosmos I sowed direct into the ground are also popping up. I have added nasturtiums and marigolds to the collection.
There are now eight strawberry plants ready to go into the bed vacated the lavenders. The lavender cuttings appear to be surviving in that they are still looking perky and green and haven’t gone all wilty and brown. According to them-in-the-know, the cuttings should root within four to six weeks so I won’t be poking them around just yet. I was hoping the promised rain would arrive and give the new bed a good soaking so I could give it a bit of a dig over and add some compost to ruffle up the clay soil, but so far all we’ve had are a couple of light showers. Ah well, if all else fails there’s always the hosepipe.
Yesterday morning, when walking along the canal with Nellibobs, a lady stopped us and asked if she could make a fuss of Nell. And then she went, literally in the space of TWO minutes, from saying what a lovely dog Nell was, to talking about her own cockapoo which had died a few months previously, to telling me in fine detail about her recent two stones weight-gain because of her emotional eating issues.
‘You’ll think this is disguising,’ she said at one point, ‘but I used to go to Greggs for a bacon roll for my breakfast and then an hour later I’d be in The Hideout (a local cafe) for coffee and cake.’
When I said I didn’t think it was disgusting at all, she then went on to tell me, in great depth (given we’d met for the first time barely five minutes previously) all about her favourite foods that caused her weight to spiral and how her husband didn’t want another Cockapoo so they got a cocker spaniel puppy instead which she had house-trained within three weeks, thank goodness. And that she’d lost one of the two stones she had gained and was still working on the other and perhaps she needed one of those weight loss jabs except it might interfere with her other medications.
Well, she was a nice enough lady and if my listening helped her get things off her mind then all well and good. We parted company and I wondered if I was exuding some sort of good listener vibe as a side effect of the spiritual companioning diploma I am doing. It was a very weird encounter.
Our next door neighbours are having their bathroom refitted. A large blue porta-loo has been installed in their front garden for their convenience whilst this is going on. When I returned home from shopping yesterday, I thought the Tardis had landed.
And finally, Andy took this photo of Nell a week or so ago, when they were walking in the woods. She was so speedy, she appeared in the picture twice!
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KJ