Month: May 2023

Pic of the week

Half-term has arrived and, somewhat surprisingly, the sun is shinning, and promises to do so all week.

I’ve made little use of the day today, other than to run, rest and snooze – I have a bit of a summer cold (sore throat came on in the night on Friday) and now I have a bit of a cough and feel a little lethargic. I ran this morning, but was a little slow, and had looong snooze this afternoon – other than read and snooze, I’ve done little, but I probably needed today to recharge my batteries.

Plan to get busy in the garden for much of the week, some bushes need pruning back, geraniums need planting out and my latest batch of sunflower seeds – and six pumpkins – will need planting out before the week is done. Anyway, its nice to know I have some time ahead of me to potter and prune in the garden, snooze and read, and maybe also get in a little exercise.

Pic of the week 21/5/23

So this week we have been blessed with sun and blue skies – and what a difference it makes.  I spent yesterday afternoon running around in the sun, refereeing at the Ashcott charity football tournament (did two lines and two middles for a total of 120 mins.  Legs were aching last night, went for swim this morning – first few lengths were tough but then my body loosened up, I glided through 40 lengths and have felt much better for it all day.) and today I have spent quite a bit of time outside – this morning, circa 11am, enjoy the peace and tranquillity of the garden along with the sunshine, and this afternoon reading and then snoozing, Good weather makes such a difference.

On Wednesday I planted out the sunflower seeds I had sown a few weeks ago, putting them in the front trough. They seem to have taken well and are growing nicely. Today I planted some more seeds in trays in the porch, along with some pumpkin seeds – this time of year is busy, busy, busy in the garden, literally sowing the seeds to reap the rewards later in the summer.

Pic of the week 14/5/23

Well, we’ve had some quite biblical rain this week (flooding in Bruton, Queen Camel and other places) but yesterday afternoon the sun shone and the garden is looking lovely – the alliums in particular.

Today, I lifted the bulbs from the front “trough” and planted them in a corner of the lawn (top right in the pic above) and hopefully they will burst through to give added colour next year.

It was bloomin’ hard work digging the lawn up and I fear I may not have planted them to the optimum depth but, worst case scenario, we just end up with a patch of mossy lawn again.

I must confess, I ache now. I ran this morning, and then spent a couple of hours of heavy toil in the garden but hopefully, come next March, it will have been worth it (I’m clearly playing the long game here!)

Pic of the week 7/5/23

Having planted them last Sunday, I am pleased that nearly all my sunflower seeds have burst forth. Dead-headed the tulips in the front bed yesterday – it can only be a week or two before I need to dig them up and start planting out my sunflowers.  The back garden is looking vibrant – the alliums are just beginning to flower, purple exclamation marks offsetting the swathe of blue forget-me-nots, the apple tree blossom is magnificent – probably in for a bumper crop this year – and everything that should be green is,  a vibrant range of greens.

I could do my deadheading yesterday as we had the day of for the King’s coronation.  Not really my thing, I don’t like the overt wealth and inequality and having someone “reign over us” really does go against the very core of what I believe (that we are all equal) but some people like the pomp and ceremony so, if that’s their thing, so be it. As Becky & Sophie (Sophie has come home the Bank Holiday weekend) sat down to watch it, I represented the oppressed masses and went and did the ironing.

And then I went for a swim. I have been a busy boy on the exercise front this week: ran last Sunday, went spinning at school on Monday, Tuesday I refereed an U14 game, Wednesday not too much – stood around chatting at volleyball, Thursday: nada, Friday ran the line at Street FC for a testimonial game, Saturday swum, ran another 7K today and will spin tomorrow, although that will then be “it” until next weekend.  Legs are aching a little today, but, more importantly, my foot has withstood all of that.