Trees and Treats!

Good morning everyone and happy Sunday. Again, apologies for no proper blog last week but, as I explained, new shifts make it almost impossible to continue blogging weekly so I will be chatting to you every two weeks instead.

What has happened over the last fortnight? To be honest, not a great deal. Work has jogged along, and the only thing of note is that the other part-timer has handed in her notice. I’m not too sure why as I don’t work with her very often, but I know she has become increasingly unhappy with always having to work bank holidays – especially Boxing Day – and at the weekend, plus the high targets we are now expected to achieve, so maybe it was that. Anyway, I have a suspicion I will be asked to work a lot of overtime until they find someone new.

I have very mixed feelings about overtime. On the one hand, it’s extra money at a time when I really need it, but, on the other hand, I find it hard working the extra hours. I get very tired and fed up with always working and not having the time at home to do all the other stuff I need to do.

Still, it’s not like I have a lot of choices, so, I’ll just think of the money and grin and bear it.

The diet is going well and since we last spoke I’ve lost another two pounds, although I think I may have lost more than I originally thought. I assumed that each little marker between the big marker for the stones was a single pound. But, when I counted them there were only seven markers, not the fourteen there should be, so each marker stands for two pounds. That means I’ve lost over ten pounds in the first four weeks of the diet, which is not bad.

I’m still faithfully sticking to it, and I’ll keep you posted as to my progress.

As I said in the last proper blog, I was going to make a meal planner for the month and try to do one big shop at the start of each month, then just pick up fresh stuff weekly from my local shop. I did this – boy I eat a lot of soup each month on this diet – and the Tesco assistant did give me a strange look when she wheeled out my shopping and one whole crate comprised of tins of soup! So far, the meal planner is working well. I have it pinned up on the board and know at a glance exactly what I’m having for dinner that night and what needs to be taken out of the freezer. Hopefully, it will help save a few pennies by cutting down on my grocery bill. If I’m only buying exactly what I need for meals for the month then I’m not wasting money on buying unnecessary stuff.

What else has happened? Well, my Dad came round this week to trim my trees. I have a silver birch and a morello cherry tree in the garden which need to be kept in check, otherwise, they will grow out of control and not be safe in such a small garden, plus block out my own and the neighbour’s light. Normally, they are trimmed every year in February but due to Covid and lockdown, the last two years were missed. Consequently, the trees are way too tall, and a drastic haircut was vital.

Dad arrived cheerfully of the opinion it would take a couple of hours max to do both. I thought he was being a bit optimistic. I remembered how long it had taken when they were last done in 2019 – and there was three years growth to trim instead of the usual one, so it was bound to take longer. The trimming of the trees is not the part that takes the time, no, it’s the clearing up of all the fallen branches that is the time-consuming bit. All the branches must be trimmed down to manageable size and bagged up. Usually, we take the trimmings to the local recycling centre, but this time Dad said he had the use of three empty compost dustbins so would take them home and put them out for the compost recycling truck.

They arrived at 10:30am and we set to work straight away. By 3pm we’d had enough, and we’d only done the silver birch. The poor thing has had such a severe haircut it looks ready to join the marines and I hope we haven’t cut it back too hard. But we’ve scalped it equally as hard in previous years and it’s thrived, so it should be fine. This year more than ever I will rely on the cover the tree provides. It will shield us from being spied on by the men working on the crane on the building site at the bottom of the garden. Without the tree canopy, they can peer right down into our garden. Not that I’m ever doing anything unsociable out there, but it’s still not a nice thought.

Dad is returning next Tuesday to tackle the cherry tree. That will probably take just as long as the silver birch did. I want to get out in the garden this week and have a seriously good tidy out there. Plants need moving or even be taken out completely. Reluctantly, I have decided the ancient peony needs to go. Yes, it is beautiful, and it was in the garden when I moved in, but my garden is too tiny to give houseroom to a plant that hogs almost a whole bed and only blooms for three days of the year. So, it’s going to a new home. A friend of mine has a wonderful big garden and has offered to adopt it. I think it will be much happier there and I know she’ll look after it.

The poor wisteria needs moving as it’s desperately unhappy where it is. Wisteria needs sunshine and where it is right now is deep shade, so it’s gone all spindly and lanky as it desperately tries to scramble to the top of the pergola in search of sun. It’s never flowered. If left where it is, I suspect it never will. So, it’s being moved to the large bed at the bottom of the garden when it will at least get some sun. The feral rambling rose currently there will take the place the wisteria is vacating. That rose is such a survivor that I honestly think when the end of the world happens, cockroaches and that rose will be the only things left alive. It’s a vigorous climber so will be able to scramble all over the pergola and do whatever it pleases up there.

A large fern and a Solomon’s Seal plant were somehow planted right on top of one another so need to be dug up and separated. Then they are being moved further up the garden. Both woodland plants happy in shade, their current place in partial sunlight will be taken by a fuchsia plant that will appreciate the sunshine more than they did. I have several fuchsia plants, so need to google how and when it’s best to prune them as they are looking very leggy.

I want to cram all my flower beds with perennials that will look after themselves, come back every year, and bloom pretty much the whole summer. I want colour in my garden and mixed heights, and some scent would be nice. Not that I can smell anything other than cigarette smoke and mouldy mushrooms right now – thanks Covid – you really are the gift that keeps on giving.

The hood on the outdoor wicker sofa needs to be taken off and disposed of. The sofa is under the cherry tree so doesn’t need shading and because the hood cover can’t be removed to be washed, several years of exposure to the elements has left it in a disgusting state. It’s green and covered with bird poop and cherry juice from falling fruit. It’s also full of spiders and other unpleasant bugs which you don’t want on your head when you sit on the sofa. So, it’s coming off and going to the dump.

Lots of plans hopefully to finally get the garden to the beautiful haven I imagined it could be all those years ago. I will take pictures and share them with you.

What else have I been up to? Working on book thirteen of course. I always forget how long this part of producing a book takes. All the various stages of beta reading, formatting, and preparation that must be gone through. It’s currently with its final beta reader who is about halfway through reading it. The cover is now being made and the video. I’ve prepared the page for the book to go onto my website and spoken to the Adorable Andrew about when he needs to receive it to ensure the website is good to go before publication day.

I’ve booked a special promotion with The Fussy Librarian to promote a 99p/99 cents sale I will be running on the eBook version of Becoming Lili on the 23^rd, 24^th, and 25^th of February. Book two of the trilogy, Chaining Daisy, will also be reduced from £4.99 for the eBook down to £2.99 (or local currency equivalent), and book three of the trilogy will be up for pre-order by then also with a buck off the normal retail price. It will be a wonderful chance to grab all three books at a low price, so, if you don’t already have the books keep an eye out for that.

One of my Christmas presents from Miss F was a voucher for the local Theatre Royal, so once the new schedule for the year was released online, I looked to see what I fancied going to. My friend whom I normally go to the theatre with had mentioned a play coming up in March that looked quite good, so I booked us seats for that. With the remainder of the voucher booked for us to go and see the comedian Reginald P. Hunter who is coming to Bury St Edmunds for one night only in April. There were hardly any seats left at all for him! Not surprising as he’s a well-known and popular comedian who often appears on TV. There were only odd seats dotted about in the stalls, so we had to get tickets for the back row of the gallery right at the very top of the theatre. We won’t be able to see much but so long as we can hear him, that’s all that matters. The theatre is tiny, so wherever you sit you’re not far from the stage. Two theatre trips to look forward to!

Miss F isn’t coming home for the February half term but is going to visit her girlfriend’s home in Wales instead. She is coming home for Easter though for a nice long visit, which will be lovely. Miss F is catching the train down on her own on the last day of March and staying until the 19^th of April. Twenty days in all. The train fare is not bad, what with her student railcard and booking so far in advance, it only cost her £64 return. Which, when you consider how much it cost me in petrol and tolls is an absolute bargain!

Her girlfriend, Miss C, will be travelling from Wales to Bury on the 12^th to stay until the 19^th and then both will travel back to university together. I’m not sure how long a journey it will be from Wales to Bury – pretty long, I expect!

It will be lovely to see them both, apart from video chats I won’t have seen them since Christmas, and we have booked a table for a big family meal on Good Friday in a local pub which does wonderful food. It will be the first time the family has gone out for dinner together in years. What with Covid and lockdowns and social distancing, there was never the time or opportunity to gather so it’s something to look forward to. There will be nine of us, all being well, and Covid allowing. My parents, me, Miss F and Miss C, then my brother and his girlfriend, my niece, and her boyfriend.

There is a lot planned for that week, I think Miss F wants to show Miss C the town and all the local sights, as well as meet as many friends and family as possible. Hopefully, the weather will be nice by then. But this is Britain, so it might be snowing.

Anyway, it’s now Saturday lunchtime and I need to make my salad for lunch, then get out in the garden for an hour or two.

Hope you all have a great couple of weeks and look forward to chatting with you next time.

Julia Blake