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It struck me reading back through the blog that my monthly posts are a bit samey. This is not surprising as I am not that adventurous. Since I retired this is how I spend my time roughly in order of priority/preference.
Reading
Gardening
Writing
Walking dogs
Occasional exercise - a’dance’ class and yoga.
I spend more time than I intend on ‘screens’, and am always shocked when my weekly screen time appears. Some of that includes reading online articles and reviews and gardening advice on YouTube which is ok I suppose. I check the news and weather and email far too often and need to break the habit. Most emails are from companies trying to sell me something anyway. And I waste time doing games - Wordle, Crosswordle and, my current favourite, When Taken, where you have to identify where and to when a photograph was taken.
There are things I used to do that I now do less of. Housework for a start. Pointless activity. Yesterday, for example, I thought I ought to Vax the lounge carpet which was filthy - the water in the tank was black when I emptied it. Then this morning I was planting some things in the garden and the puppy was assisting by digging alongside me. And stupidly I’d left the doors open so next thing I knew there were muddy paw marks over my clean carpet. Generally I keep the kitchen clean and only do dusting and vacuuming if someone visits. I don’t cook much either - leave that to Paul who is much better than me and enjoys it.
This month has been quiet - so lots of the things on the list above. Mostly gardening - I am very pleased with my sweet pea this year. We used to have a great display of sweet pea back in Ballyronan - probably because cool damp weather suits them. The scent reminds me of my mother. She’d pick them and put them in a vase in our hall. So I’ve put some in the little Tyrone Crystal vase which belonged to her and it is sitting on the shelf just above the sink so I can smell them when I wash up.
Both Paul and I have July birthdays. His present was a fancy new camera - I made a contribution. Some of the garden photographs above were taken with it, others with my not very high spec phone. You can probably guess which are his. I was very happy with my presents: a new Roberts’ radio from Kate and Paul - he also bought me an alpine trough and a copy of Colm Toibin’s new novel Long Island. No big celebrations - just a nice meal at home cooked by Paul. Then Kate and I went on an outing to RHS Tatton Park flower show the weekend after my birthday. I loved that and have lots of new garden ideas.
That’s it for now, I had originally planned to write a book post. That’ll wait til next time.
