SURPRISE! SURPRISE!

After 10 weeks of staying at home, I'm having to stir up my brain cells just to work out what day it might be.  Staring blankly at the calendar doesn't help, I found. Thank goodness for phones and laptops that tell you the date as well as time.  It's like Groundhog Day, isn't it? 

However, I have had two lovely surprises which made the days memorable: a mystery package was left in my front porch by our local delivery driver; I couldn't recall ordering anything.  But LOOK what I found - 

A beautiful crocheted blanket!

About 4 years ago, I bought the wool, intending to make a 'Moorland' blanket/bed throw, the colours being representative of Bodmin Moor, the area where I live in Cornwall, south-west England.

But after going wrong and having to undo it several times, I lost patience and the wool was relegated to the bottom of a wardrobe.

Recently, during a de-clutter, I came across it and decided to send it to a friend, Debbie, who loves to crochet and knit during any time off her busy work as a surgery receptionist. 

I made it clear that I didn't want anything in return; she was doing me a favour by putting it to good use.

So imagine my surprise when she made this beautiful blanket for ME! 

I have now sent her a surprise of her own - some flowers and assorted Gin miniatures.  She loves a Gin and tonic, I happen to know!

The 2nd surprise for me was another delivery; it was brought to my door by a lady who said, "This is sent with love from your daughter-in-law." as she presented me with a white cardboard cake box.

Inside was a Cornish Cream Tea - 2 freshly baked scones, a small jar of Strawberry Jam, 2 pots of Cornish Clotted Cream and 2 teabags of Cornish Tea.

I can tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed my lovely Cornish Cream Tea out in my garden, in the sunshine. Many thanks to my daughter-in-law Nicola, son Peter and grandchildren Leo and Eleanor.

Update on the Garden

Well, deliveries really are slow; in fact I have no colourful plants from my order so far, just a couple of seed packets and 3 separate deliveries of plug plants, which sat on my kitchen windowsill for a couple of weeks, being watered and watched until I potted them up in readiness for going in the greenhouse. There have been some failures - only 1 Fuchsia survived out of the 4 that were sent; from the herb collection the chives and parsley plugs gave up the ghost, but the other 4 herbs all look healthy and are growing on well.  5 Dianthus are also looking good and will soon be strong enough to go out into containers, hopefully in a week or two's time. 

The GrowBags that I ordered -  Jumbo ones that are longer and deeper than the usual ones - were initially 'Lost in Transit' but an email from me brought replacement ones.  However, that presented a problem - each one was doubled over and crammed into a large cardboard box for transit, then they were placed in my front porch.  Oh how I wished for a big strong man who would effortlessly lift and carry those heavy bags round to the back garden and place them in the greenhouse! It took me ages, with the help of my grandson's skateboard (abandoned in my garage) and lots of shoving, heaving, pulling and manoeuvring - and possibly cursing - before they were at last in position.  Not surprisingly, my back and shoulders suffered for several days afterwards.  Now I have received 2 of the tomato plants so after a week in the kitchen window, they can be planted in one of those GrowBags.  Yay!

In the meantime, any colour in the garden is provided by the established shrubs and plants; here's Benji admiring them! Not really; he's watching out for anyone walking past with a dog, so he can bark furiously at them and let them know this is HIS territory.

A beautiful orange Azalea

Rhododendron

Solomon's Seal

Bleeding Heart (Dicentra)

Fuchsia - when fully opened, this one has a deep purple 'skirt'. Stunning!

Aquilegia - grown from seed 'borrowed' from my neighbour's flowers which poked through the hedge

The newest addition - a replacement fence for the one that was destroyed by stormy winds. It will look much better when it has been painted with a dark brown preservative.

The sapling on the left is self-sown and I think it might be a flowering Cherry.  If so, I shall stake it and feed it and enjoy the blossom for years  to come, I hope. 

The metal gate is the entrance to the village football pitch - we have an excellent local team, but of course they are not able to play in the present circumstances,

The building behind is the Primary School, also not in use at present. 

Benji has just discovered that he can no longer see any passing dogs!  His barking has almost ceased!