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| Wednesday. |
Spring may be all red poppies, bouncy lambs, budding trees and ever lightening mornings for the majority of folk and I enjoy the luscious green of the awakening countryside as much as the next person, but for me Spring is hard work. A large terrace and courtyard covered in pebbles is a great place to entertain and lounge around, it can even host a wedding for 60 guests, but those invited rarely give a thought to the thousands of weeds and baby trees that spring up amongst the stones every March and have to be pulled out one by one: a back-breaking task that takes a work force of one, with much encouragement from a doggy spectator, nearly a week to accomplish.
An arrival in Summer will bask in the warm waters of the pool, maybe sit on the steps with a well iced G&T, having no idea that a couple of months before their seat was the playground for baby frogs, toads and snakes - who have to be evicted before the chlorinated water takes over.
A clear blue pool is the past and the future but the present is green and murky.
Inside is no better. Spring heralds the falling off of any plaster that has allowed damp to creep beneath it and in one of my bathrooms - that means most of it is on the floor. If you visit me in early May you will be met by a be-masked figure, covered in white dust, in a mood to kill and that is before I try to remember which paint I used the year before and if the small roller worked better than the large one.
My labour is often accompanied by a scorpion or two. Thinking the house abandoned, because it only takes a couple of months of absence to appear so, wildlife returns and colonises what was once theirs. Spring is for birds and bees, blossom and bulbs. I wish it also came with blokes with bulging biceps or a bottomless bank account to hire one or two. Every year the prospect of getting the summer house back into shape looks daunting but once started progress is satisfyingly noticeable and sitting under the acid green grape vine, cold beer in hand, Spring is forgiven for another year.
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| Monday |
I sympathise about the plaster - we have the same problem in our hall. Any sign of Susan the squirrel hiding her acorns? I know it's a lot of hard work but the ambience you create is second to none - a beautiful place to be treasured.
ReplyDeleteNo indoor squirrels this year.
DeleteI see just what you mean - here everything is looking lovely, but it is inevitable that the weeds will soon make their presence known and arrive in abundance too.
ReplyDeleteThey take over
Deletewhat we both need, Annie, is a flame gun for the weeds. I've tried hard to find one here in Turkey after our first Spring up here at the cabin and I realised that we must have been insane to ever have 'idyllic' dreams. If you ever find a flame gun let me know - meanwhile, back to the hoeing!
ReplyDeleteI saw them in Lidl this week. I thought of both of us and wished I could have smuggled two in
DeleteIt'll be worth it in end. Shame the bank balance doesn't allow for a couple of big lads with a wheelbarrow! :-D
ReplyDeleteIsn't it a shame
DeleteAnnie i remember it well, but it will all be worthwhile and you will have it looking stunning. We love your house - some very happy memories over many years. Keep pulling the weeds - at least you probably have less time till everything get started too hot to bother growing than us in France where it's about mid June/July. X ps Malcolm asks if you've still got the hammock?
ReplyDeleteI must get another hammock
DeleteSounds like hard work. Kolay gelsin! We are uselss at gardening but, fortunately, live on a site and only have our own little section to look after. As for the damp, we feel your pain! :) This mild wet winter has played havoc this year. We're getting a painter in in a couple of weeks to do the WHOLE house. A couple more weeks to let the black damp dry out fully, first. We'll attack it with vinegar and then the painter can come along and make the house look like the damp was never there...until next winter.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the vinegar tip
DeleteAnnie, Too bad Jake's job description doesn't include weeding. Kolay gelsin and enjoy that beer and the rest of the summer, too. xoxo
ReplyDeleteHe wees on a few weeds but it doesn't have much affect
DeleteI've had to get some biceps in for the house in Spain...I was there too early to do the necessary this year. Luckily the chap who looks after the garde has all the gear for deweeding the gravel and tiles...
ReplyDeleteI need the gear too
DeleteDear Annie, a lot of hard back-breaking work for you. That's in my past now as I've moved to a home that takes little effort throughout the year. But I have discovered with regard to anything i have to do that it seems so daunting when I think of doing it, that i put things off for days and sometimes weeks. Then when I final HAVE TO do these things, they aren't bad at all! I hope the same is true for you, but I do think your jobs are much more demanding than mine. Peace.
ReplyDeleteYes i am exactly the same Dee.
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