After all good parties, there must be a day of rest and recuperation. Day 14 is just such a day – apart from the rest bit- I rather over did it in the garden (as will be explained). As a result the day 14 round up shows meagre progress.
- Mince pies consumed – none as yet but the evening is young….
- Christmas jumpers knitted – 4 inches so far (still on the one that’s going to need to go fair isle – still no concrete plans but have downloaded an audio book to assist (the new Richard Osman one – undemanding and quite relaxing so far)
- cards written – none
- Presents – yet to commence the hampers.
- bulbs planted – sixty (20 mum, 40 me)
- bags of bare root roses discovered to have been in porch for three days – one
- bare root roses planted – 4
- minutes spent in bath – C. 45
- pilates exercises completed – none
I awoke, post party, feeling distinctly OK; not fabulous, but definitely better than I should have. I decided to take no chances and began the day with a pint of water, a berocca tablet and tea instead of coffee, moving on to a large bacon and sausage roll. Thus fortified, I was making noises about an hour in the fresh air planting a bulb or two when Keith asked if I was aware that a bag of bare root roses had been languishing in the porch for three days. Reader I was not…(I thought the bag was a gift for Ishbel, but turns out that bag had been tidied away). I have to confess though, I had begun to wonder what had happened to my rose order and whether I had been duped by a cunning internet scam fronted by the elderly wifie who had called to prompt me to pay up for an order placed months ago because they were “digging up the field” last month. This rather concentrated the mind, so I spent the rest of the day digging big holes in the garden. Mum insisted on helping so I fobbed her off with the last of the white tulips.
I settled on the back of the hot garden banana bed (facing the top pond) for one of my roses, thinking I might put it in the space left by a bit of peony and shrub moving last month. However, the soil there was thick, heavy clay and I had to dig in a lot of compost just to leaven the lump a bit. By the time I had the first rose in, and a couple of clumps of tulips either side, the light was beginning to fade and I was beginning to panic. Thankfully I had sites picked at the edge of the orchard (either side of the clematis seat) for two and those were an absolute dream to dig, the soil light and friable in a way which is practically unknown in our garden! The remainder went in a spot in the hot garden where some daffodils had been divided last month, so the digging out was fairly easy there as well. I stumbled back in the gloaming and headed straight for the bath, clutching one of the calorie free doughnuts Keith sources from the butcher in Norham and an orange which had been denuded of zest and would be messy as anything to peel (I find the bath is the best place to consume such items – top tip there).
I did think about catching up with my pilates exercises after the bath. But having thought about it, decided that I’d rather eat an advent calendar chocolate, knit a bit of jumper and listen to something frivolous with a few assassinations whilst mum took on responsibility for dog tummy tickling. And Lo! So it came to pass.
As ever, quiz and answers down below the pics.
Question 14: Which UK AI entrepreneur recently shared a Nobel prize for Chemistry?
| 10. Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes was a novel about which mythical character | Medusa |
| 11. What is the world’s biggest freshwater fish? | The Beluga Sturgeon (Huso huso) is the biggest freshwater fish in the world. The largest Beluga ever caught weighed 1,571 kg and was 7.2 m long. The Beluga is extremely long lived and females do not reach maturity until at least 15 years of age. |
| 12. What is Ashley’s mother called in “Colin From Accounts” | Lynelle – if you haven’t watched this yet – do! |
| 13 In which newspaper was this bear to be found | Rupert Bear was to be found in the Daily Express |