weekend

Well, its the end of the weekend, and I have been gradually been re-acquainting myself with the poor neglected little garden. It all looks quite pathetic, partly it is the end of summer when everything looks a little raggedy, but also due to the thing-which-must-not-be-mentioned, I have ignored my poor little plants so they all look very unloved. It is interesting to see just what is flourishing and what is looking distinctly sad.

The funny thing about a digital camera (oh yes, new toy!!!), is that anything (I mean anything) can look good - see the dianthus above, it languishes in a pot by the front door looking manky and dusty, but with the macro-thingy on the camera, it is a thing of relative beauty, and the colour looks like a delicious berry pudding.

Then there is this viburnum, it is having a fight with a weigelia and it sticks its branches out and slaps your face if you wander along the path with too many bags of shopping, so that often I think "I must prune that flipping thing", when what it is trying to say is "Look at me, I'm trying to show you my best little flowers to cheer you up, you dumb old biddy".

The cranesbill is fighting underneath a spirea that is full of spiders and looks baked by the summer, you could brush past it, and never notice it at your ankles, what a wonderful colour.

The autumn crocus is in the "I don't know what to do with that corner of the garden" it is full of odds and sods that don't quite belong anywhere else, and the black currants with their heady cats-pee scent means people don't usually linger in that corner to look at anything. The achillea looks rusty and dry amongst the herbs which are in a terrible tangle and need some serious sorting out.

Finally the hydreangea - it is large and shaggy and out of proportion to the other things in that border, but the flowers when you look at them are so pretty - the dleicate shades of lilac in there are exquisite, but for the last couple of months I have been too busy to notice and soon it will be too dark by the time I get home to go out looking.

I have spent the weekend bumbling about, not really managing to acheive much - maybe I am in some sort of recovery phase or maybe it is the sore ear/throat bug that is affecting just the right side. I would quite like some sort of stiff wire brush I could shove right down and scratch the irritation away, thought currently I am settling for irritating the husband by constantly reminding him of the sore ear/throat thing - which makes me feel 10 times better. After all a problem shared is a problem halved and he is used to me.

I am knitting the almost seamless baby cardigan from Elizabeth Zimmermann's "Knitter's Almanac" which has a four row gull pattern repeat. I knitted this for my babies yonks ago, but have now found the prettiest pale tweedy blue to knit it for my friend who is expecting. However, despite the fact that I don't remember any problems knitting it up all those years ago, this time I am slowly going demented - I may end up with a negative cardigan for the poor little mite as I am sure I am frogging more than knitting, this could be like the emperors new cardigan, and only visible to the ultra-discerning. I am desperate to start another project, but I have made a mental promise to myself to get this over and done before I do anything else. Boy, do I make dumb promises...

Tomorrow is a bank holiday in Scotland (yippee), but I am going into work (even more yippee) I need to prepare for the medical students coming for a tour around the hospital the day after so the husband is going to be stuck at home with the three little treasures and no car (oooooooooooh the revenge), I shall be taking the long route home, and he shall be climbing the walls. Hah!!!