I’ve spent the past couple of weeks watering someone else’s garden. (This isn’t some ~deep~ metaphor, I’ve literally been watering someone else’s garden.)
My daughter agreed to water her boyfriend’s parent’s garden while they’ve been away on holiday, and as they live two villages over and she doesn’t drive, it inevitably fell on to me to facilitate. Because of the ridiculous back to back heatwaves we’ve been having in the UK, we’ve been popping over every other day and what started as begrudging transport duties rapidly became one of my favourite parts of that day.
You have to understand: I would love a greenhouse but my garden is really too small for it to be feasible, and these folks have a greenhouse. And while I was mostly there to water the tomatoes and beans, I couldn’t help but spot the sad looking spider plants on the back shelf, a recently trimmed Christmas cactus, what I think is a Wooly Torch growing up through the shelf above it, two varieties of pepper (spicy, not sweet) and a tiny Jade with a possible mealy bug infestation.
I left the poorly Jade and the cacti alone (they’re probably loving the sun) but successfully managed to bring one of the spider plants back to life which has brought me some ridiculous level of joy. I’m not entirely sure why; it’s obviously not my plant, and they’re not exactly difficult to keep happy. The peppers, tomatoes and beans have done okay and touch wood – as of last night – nothing was dead. I’m hoping everything will pass muster once the parents get home tomorrow.
The funny thing though? I’ve been so busy watering someone else’s garden I’ve been forgetting to water my own (now that feels like a metaphor).
I spotted Online Goddess’ blog post, Re: An Infuriating Goodbye to Photoshop, which itself is a reply to Gavin Anderegg’s An infuriating goodbye to Photoshop on Bubbles and had to add my tuppence worth. Like Gavin and OG, I’ve been using Photoshop a long time. I switched to Photoshop 5 after Corel bought Paint Shop… read full entry »
I spotted Bubbles in my basic referrers this morning, and my heart lit up. A little directory, surfacing blog posts from actual bloggers, what in the old web is going on?! This isn’t the first time I’ve spotted a resurgence in indie / ‘old’ web stuff lately. Personal sites are making a comeback, bloggers are… read full entry »
I had a quick flick through the 50+ drafts dating back to 2013 sat in the back-end this morning and spotted one near the top entitled ‘West Midlands Autumn Cup Powerlifting Competition’. That comp happened nearly three years ago (September 2023) which really cements how bad I’ve been at blogging over the last few years…. read full entry »
I completed another of my 40 before forty list last week and fulfilled a childhood dream in the process: I went up in a hot air balloon. Shane bought the balloon vouchers for me for Christmas last year, and after redeeming the vouchers with Wickers World we had repeatedly tried to book evening flights, but… read full entry »
I’ve started writing a post to sum up hitting 40 and a recap on my progress on all the things I wanted to achieve before I hit 40 about 6 times since the start of January and each time I get about one paragraph in and the inspiration just fizzles out. I think it’s partly… read full entry »
Well, not mine, per se. Anyone’s would do. I’ve been ill, on and off, since about August. A cold that started to mend then covid hit that started to mend then a sinus infection that started to mend and then a cold again… you get the gist. At my weakest, most pathetic moment – when… read full entry »
In news that surprises absolutely nobody, I’ve gone another year where I’ve barely blogged. I realised earlier this year that it’s not for lack of things to talk about – christ, this year has had some moments – but rather this feeling that every post must be polished, have an accompanying featured image, have the… read full entry »
If you read my last post, you’ll know that I’ve been thinking about doing the “75HARD” social media challenge for a while, but have been put off by the creator’s sketchy opinions and general persona (that’s basically the gist of the previous post, no need to read it now) I went on to Instagram earlier… read full entry »
I’ve been thinking about doing the 75HARD challenge. If you’re not familiar with 75HARD, it’s a fitness challenge that first did the rounds years ago and has had a bit of a resurgence this year. The rules stipulate that every day, you must: This isn’t a new thing, I’ve considered it several times, and even… read full entry »
