Friday 6th March, One Very Old Man's Birthday!

How cruel am I? 2 more years until Jim's 'official' retirement, although he's already retired, wound up and closed his company. I sent him a basket of growing plants, so they can come back to Ireland with him and be planted in the garden. I had a bit of trouble getting them delivered. Firstly, Jim said it was so lovely he was going to go for a walk along the sea front. Ok, so I rang the florists in Worthing and said could they delay delivery until 4pm. Fine. Jim then rang a bit later and said he'd decided not to go out but to do some sorting in the garage. The car, which was in for a service, should be ready about 4pm. Aaaah! Rang the florist again and asked if they could deliver asap in case he changed his mind again! Luckily they did and Jim rang me, saying it had brought a tear to his eye. Aaah, so it was all worth it. All his children sent text messages and 2 of mine wished him 'happy birthday' on Facebook, plus there are cards here waiting for him. Son Russell is taking him out for a drink tonight, so at least he'll have some sort of celebration.

Jim emailed me a photo of the basket. Isn't technology wonderful?

Tom Thumb daffodils (still in bud), primula, a gorgeous white cyclamen and 2 little euonymous. That's a bit of an in joke as I love them and put them everywhere! And I shall have the basket..








It's been very exciting on the extension front. The roof timbers have been going up today. Joe was back to help Martin. Now it's really looking like a building:




Joe posing for the camera








Joe is laughing as Martin is trying to stand tall enough to be seen. Can you spot him? If you click on the photo you can just see his head and glasses! (It's like 'Where's Wally'). They've even threatened to come back tomorrow. Saturday! Unheard of.













On goes the next roof timber.





I have been busy too, more weeding and some planting. Jim bought 6 little hebe plants and I weeded the bed with the 'Liquid Amber' tree in it and planted them there. I still have the rest of that bed to clear of grass. Maybe tomorrow's job.

I also had a purple Phormium tenax to plant and that went at the top of the fairy hill. It looks rather splendid. Then I started weeding there, trying to get rid of some of the dandelions and buttercups. As usual, I got a bit carried away and cleared a big patch. The fairy hill is in front of the Sleeping shed, pictured yesterday. Having chugged up to the compost heap with my motor barrow, I saw the big pile of bonfire material and decided it was a good evening to be a pyromaniac. The fire blazed merrily for about an hour and almost all the heap was burnt. Can you believe we had midges? I had to go back inside and put some anti bug stuff on. In March.

Gnats and Bitey Things
by Gina Deen

I hate those bitey things
With their tiny little wings
Biting common folk and kings
Leaving pale flesh full of stings

I've tried the deadly deet
Even put some on my feet
Bust under socks they creep
My tasty blood they seek.

I'd like to squish them flat
Put their innards outwards, splat!
Then feed them to the cat
No - I'll toss them to a bat.

I hate those bitey things
With their tiny little wings
I hope some day they'll cringe
As in Dante's place they singe!

They are, to me, the very worst thing about Ireland, or more particularly, where we live near a bog. I am obviously especially tasty as I get bitten all the time.

On a lighter note, I received an envelope today from Rachel, aka Leatherdykeuk. She had put some of her delightful water colour paintings for sale on Etsy and there was the illustration of me when I had burnt my fingers. Of course I just had to buy it and today it has arrived, beautifully mounted with the poem underneath:



I must find a suitable frame and it will go on my new playroom wall. If you haven't read the poem, if you click on the picture, you probably will be able to.













In the same package there was also a lovely Jasfoup Fridge Magnet. What fun!













Now Marianne, my new blogger friend who does Mandalas and ATCs was amused and somewhat curious by me saying I make 'odd shaped papier machee' things. So I am posting these photos of the 'thing' I made for Jim for Christmas. Forgive me if you've seen it before:





The odd paler colours aren't on the actual container. Must be from the flash




























It is almost 12" tall at the back, so it is quite big. We daren't leave it around in case Buster eats it, but it will eventually go in Jim's new office.

That's about all for today. A productive day as I've also just patched my favourite old pair of gardening trousers.