Was so busy weeding, cutting and pricking out, that I had no time to write!

Hi Wibe (and other mystery guests),

After much internal debate (continue writing this for my son and myself and the occassional incidental follower - or: give up!), I've decided to write on. If not for me...and gorgeous son...at least for posterity!
I can always print the darn thing and make a remembrance booklet out of it.

So: Garden Talk!
What have we done with ourselves these past couple of weeks? Well: everything grows so quickly in our greenhouse and garden, that every spare moment is spent weeding, nurturing, pricking out, planting out, sowing, pruning and chasing our mangy rabbit Honey.
Honey, you see, has found a way to escape his hutch. And when we blocked this, he found another way. And another one. In short: I keep chasing this big male rabbit. Gina, remember our Turkish streetwalker?, Gina helped by doing her special rabbit-catching move: she grabbed Honey by one of his huge hind legs and held on for dear life. Honey (not impressed), got stuck in the Anemones though, so I could dive in and apprehend. Conclusion: Gina was offended (she wasn't allowed to keep her prey), Honey was back in his pen (for a bit...), my lovely white double Japanese Anemones were flat and I had an ugly scratch on my leg.

Gardening!

I find it soothes. My back aches, my dodgy pelvis bones burn, my legs cramp. My hands tingle. But it definitely soothes the brain! Have a look: very Zen, very balanced, very soothed!
SO; I will change the headline to this blog. I'm not so fucked off (fucked up?) anymore.

Oh right: gardening!
My pals from the BBC Gardener's World gardening forum (yes, I do get around!) had the following comment:
"To my opinion, there is not enough gardening in your gardening blog!".
Oh my... And it gets worse!
"And there are not enough gardening pictures."
Well. perhaps you can view the above picture as...a very large pink Pelargonium?

But I'll try to get more relevant pictures in. And more garden talk.
Which is a shame, 'cause something hilarious happened to me last Tuesday, at Tai Chi class. There was this guy, never seen him before in all 4 times I had been there. Seriously overweight, seriously trying very hard to impress the new girl on the block (me) and seriously looking absolutely ridiculous doing it. I was really trying hard not to laugh out loud, and decided to take up a position in front of him (so I wouldn't see him), but the Tai Chi Master sent me back to my original position. Thankfully this time a lot of the exercises were executed with our eyes closed. But I heard him breathing ...my concentration was shot to pieces. Not very Zen...

Let-tuce Be!

Q: what happens when you plant all your lettuce at once?
A: you have one hell of a lot of salad greens to eat!

Woman (me) isn't allowed to eat raw food stuffs (according to my very Zen acupuncturist), so Man and the two gorgeous kids have to eat the lot...
Mind you, they do look absolutely stunning in their greenhouse plot. Fresh, shiny, full of goodness and - not a minor detail - no slugs!(The lettuce eh? Not Man and kids!)

And, to be honest, they DO taste better than the shop-bought thing. Raw food stuffs-ban or not, I tried a mouthful.

Still, this beginner's mistake will not be made again!
And so we come to the next urgent question: do we have to polinate our tomato flowers ourselves, or do they do the deed themselves? So far we've only grown tomatoes out of doors (with some good and some disastrous results), helped by our polinating friends the bees. So it's back to question time at the BBC...trying to find answers.

Why dogs don't eat salad greens, and rabbits do.

My lettuce is growing so fast that I will either have to eat lettuce every day all day, or have to teach my dog to eat it.
Our rabbit Honey loves it, obviously, but he gets wind...

Classic beginners mistake, isn't it, planting far too many salad greens!
Man and I went to the local nursery and went mad when we saw what they had to offer. Rucola, Oak Leaf, Endive, Iceberg, we've planted them all in our greenhouse and boy, doesn't it look lovely!

Gorgeous Daughter took her mangy rabbit Honey to take a look,and yes, our rubbish heap rabbit loved the look of our lettuces too. In fact, he took a leap from her lap, landed amongst our luscious lettuce and had a mouthful before you can say "Leave My Lettuce Alone!".
Undaunted by Daughther's screams, he then tried the next one in the row, and then the next. Before she could gather him up (kicking and trying to protest around his mouthful of oak leaf), he had destroyed at least a quarter of our carefully planted row.

Honey, needless to say, has now been banned from the greenhouse. Much to the delight of Gina, our Turkish Istanbul garbage truck dog. Gina thinks Honey is a bit of an idiot, frankly. Why eat your own droppings, I ask you! A well-mannered dog only eats shit when she's desperate (which Gina was, when we adopted her). Anyway, Gina gets proper dogfood now, and has a healthy disdain for foraging. Who wants greens, when ready to eat Canine DeLuxe is on offer?

Vulcano Blues

Have you looked at the sky, as I have, when you heard about that vulcano on Iceland?
First they take "our" savings, and now they've sent "us" tons of ash...my car is grey with it. But at least I hadn't planned a trip by plane, that must be so frustating!

Still, I heard it on the TV news, rushed outside, and yes, I saw great streaks of reddish-brown in the sky, making the setting sun spectacular. So I rushed inside again, brought out my camera and tried to preserve what I saw for posterity.
It didn't quite work...my camera isn't good enough... but I do have the photos to prove I saw that ash.
The next morning it had disappeared, but so far the planes still can't fly.

Right...back to the garden; sowed my Nasturtiums today. I adore them, they make me happy, they are so cheerful. And edible!
Apart from that I only sat in the greenhouse, watching the birds, hoping to see the swallows return. I've heard them in the sky, but so far haven't seen them yet.

How Do I Get My Pansies On The Web?

Hi there,

Nice day, wasn't it? As I cycled back from work, I watched the hares doing their dance in the meadow next to the cyclepath, and I thought: wouldn't it be lovely to share all this beauty with all of you (whoever you are and whereever you are), and wouldn't it be great if people were able to find this darn blog?

So far I haven't been able to launch it properly. Have tried everything, from changing the URL several times, from linking it to Facebook and Hyves, and so far...zilch - nada - nothing.

So....I'm sending out my question into the Great World Wibe Web and Beyond: IS ANYONE OUT THERE?

Oh my, what a day!

Have had to search for my centre of strength spot (according to my Tai Chi teacher this is located slightly below my navel)today...for that true authentic Zen feeling.
I'm afraid I couldn't find it.

After a really tough day at work, and a meeting afterwards, I thought I'd walk my dog, to get back my good mood (mislaid it today), only to be bawled out by my almost-next-door neighbour whose cat was chased by my dog.
Didn't I know that dogs should be on a leash in this park? No...frankly I did not. And I've lived here for the last 17 years. Mind you, I have noticed that both the signs saying dogs are allowed to walk free here, have disappeared.
So I talked to my neighbour and calmed him down somewhat, mentioning that both his cats walk (and shit) freely in my garden. And I allow this. I like his cats, you see. My dog doesn't, but that's another story.

Anyway. Nothing Zen about my day. So now I'll go and put mangy rabbit into his hutch.
(And uploading that photo hasn't worked either! Damn!)

Here Comes The Sun!

Finally! The sun is out today. So gorgeous Son has taken himself to our Victorian greenhouse (brand new) and is engaged in Writing Serious Stuff.
I've rushed through the ordinary housework things and have put my one and only green finger to good use by digging up the rampant Alchemilla mollis from the border, and replanting it at the front of the house, where it can't do any harm.
Furthermore, I've cut back the Erica which has bloomed all through the long, cold and snowy winter. (Breaking off the wall flower in the process...Gosh I'm such a clumsy clod!)
The other Erica is in bloom right now. I've even taken a photograph especially for you, so you can see it in all its glory. The only problem is that I've never uploaded a photo to this blog, so that will be fun...(not!).
I may have one green finger, you see, but when it comes to my computer skills I'm all thumbs...
Anyway; this must be a shorty, as I will have to see my offspring off to their tennis lessons in a minute, and they haven't had their dinner yet.
One more try to upload that photo, okay?

What's Love Got To Do With It?

Everything!
Love sneaked up on me from behind, wriggled her ugly bottom, stretched her sharp claws, bit her blood-red lower lip and pounced.
And here we are. Twenty years on. One house in a not-so-nice suburb, one neglected park-cum-rubbish heap with a large fish pond out back, one rather small (we're in The Netherlands, dear)garden.
"We" is: middle-aged Male, middle-aged Woman (me), 17 yrd. old son, 13 yr. old daughter (both absolutely stunning, what can I say?), rescued Istanbul rubbish dump dog Gina and dumped mangy rabbit Honey.
A family of misfits, when you think about it.
We used to have approximately twenty doves as well, but I've finally put my foot down, and we've caught them and deported them to the local bird wrangler, as they shat all over my windows. (And all over our neighbour's windows, which was much worse!)

But then there's our garden. And a very lovely garden it is. To my one green finger, my husband has eight. But he's a very practical gardener, where I am the creative mind and bring the enthousiasm into the equasion.
My idea of a perfect gardening day is this: start early, breakfast time, wonder into the garden with a cup of tea, admire the plants. Watch the birdlife. Drink tea. Do some weeding (usually about ten minutes does it). Then take out the easy chair, pick up the newspaper, make another cup of tea. Around lunch time, eat your lunch. Around dinner time, bring out the bottle of wine. Sit until dark. Bliss.

Funnily enough Man has a totally different idea. Today for instance, he waved me into the garden, gave me the seccateurs and told me to prune the climbing hydrangea.
So I wobbled on a ladder, fearing for my life, cut back all old growth, did a bloody good job even if I say so, only to see him cut it back even more later on...

So what's love got to do with it? You tell me!