Wednesday 25 April 2012

Getting into the groove

I have spent the last few weeks running around like a headless chicken, in order to just stand still. I had expected this retirement game to be easy, but already I am wondering when I found the time to go to work. I know that I spent too much time in the garden a few weeks ago when the weather here was warm, but with our climate you have to make the most of it when the weather is good and I do just love to be out in the garden. So since then, I have been trying to catch up with list of undone jobs in the cottage. Then there are the jobs that did not get done when husband was at home and  jobs that did not get done during the last eighteen months that I was working. The list seems to be endless. Blogging is somewhere on the list. I realise that in reality as one job gets crossed off the top of the list another jobs gets added to the bottom of the list. It has crossed my mind that if I leave something for long enough the need to do it may go away. Maybe or maybe not. Luckily the list is in my head. If I wrote it down I would frighten myself to death. Each Sunday night a blank canvass of five days lies before me, to do what I wish, as long as I do some housework and the food shop. But each week something gets in the way. Last week it was a trip into Chester to buy a birthday present for SIL and a visit to the hairdresser. This week it was a visit to the dentist. At the moment next week is looking clear.

For the first time in about five years I have managed to weed the whole of the 'woodland bed', which I mentioned in my previous post. Weeding that bed is extremely hard work. It is on a slope and contained millions of very small weeds. It has taken me two months of one to two hour stints to completely weed it and now I need to start again in the area where I began. It is like painting the Forth Bridge. My aim is to get more perennial plants and/or shrubs into it, to prevent the weeds from growing. I have now turned my attention to the rockery, which is another difficult bed to weed as it is also on a slope. When I am not working on the rockery I am in the greenhouse, which is bulging with plants - mainly seedlings and plants that need to be protected from frost. So that is where I am when the weather is fine and for when it is not good enough to be outside we have started to work on the one remaining room that we have not decorated. It is actually back to renovating as this bedroom requires more than decorating and will have a post of its' own. I know that it will be a slow job, but we shall be occupied whatever the weather does. I am never idle. I just wish that there were more hours in the day and more days in the week.

10 comments:

Jane and Lance Hattatt said...

Hello:
Warm and wet weather always makes everything, including the weeds, grow at alarming rates it is as much as one can do to keep one's head above it all!!

Nevertheless, we hope that you are seeing the results of your labours and, as you say, it is amazing how the days fly by.

the fly in the web said...

I sympathise with the weeding problem!
As soon as the rains started here every weed in creation raised its head!
Though there are compensations....finding seedlings of plants I want among the dross, although this means potting them up on the balcony where they take the place of last year's potted up seedlings which in turn go out into the garden...

Rob-bear said...

Much sympathy with the weeding, particularly the rockery. My parents had one of those at the front of our old house. Fortunately, they filled it with juniper — which didn't take too much care. The back rockery and garden were full of annuals and some perennials, which meant for ceaseless attention.

Planing for the week, and making a list — such joy. However, my brain is more forgettery than memory, so I need a list — a "Too Due" list. The writing of which usually (almost) frightens me to death.

Peace and joy in Cheshire.

Diane said...

You do not have to tell me. retirement leaves not one spare second to do all the things that you planned on doing. Having a man around the house 24/7 is quite another thing as well.

Our weather is foul, I want to get out in the garden but it is wet, cold and windy. The garden is waterlogged and the passage in the house is full of all my seedlings ready to go out - if it ever warms up again!!! Diane

Leon Sims said...

I dream of retirement.

Valerie said...

I'm glad the list is in your head, you can conveniently forget the odd item. I gave up worrying long ago. Created a wildlife patch which meant no gardening in that area (it is out of sight). I began to think it was dormant until the rains came. You were right, retirement is busier. Make sure you enjoy it.

Akelamalu said...

Hubby's ex colleagues keep asking him if he's got to the bottom of the 'to do' list he made when he retired 7 years ago - the answer is no because there's always something to add to it. LOL

Maggie May said...

I've been retired for not quite a year and I haven't done much at all. Life just seems to flitter by. I can blame the illnesses for the bad delay in all my plans but now I should get cracking!
Good for you to really go at it.
Maggie X

Nuts in May

Hilary said...

I'm exhausted just reading about all that you're doing. It's totally understandable that blogging takes a back seat. Real life trumps all.

CG said...

Oh for more hours in the day!