I ventured out into the garden this morning and lasted about ten minutes! It was so damp and so cold, even wearing three layers plus my silk and wool vest, I could not face any more. You might ask what I was doing out there this time of the year anyway? Since the latest lockdown decision, I must admit to feeling a bit rudderless and not a little fed up. As always, my deliverance comes in the form of a list. Now this is a special sort of list – I sit at the kitchen table with a clean sheet of paper, a sharp pencil and a glass of cold white wine. Then I can write…
At the top of the list I write headings such as ‘Thus-Sat’. This is an escape clause, should I not finish the list on Thursday – it is therefore not failure…
I will not bore you rigid by copying down my last list but it did include rather domestic things such as renewing landing light bulbs, sticking a trailing cable where it should go, turning out my knicker and bra drawer, planting my terrarium, cooking up a storm, writing a Jotting or two for you, hemming Bill’s trousers, finishing drawing a sampler, posting a parcel to Andrea at The Cross Stitch Guild, and tidying my office. If I do anything not on the list, it will be added so that I can still have the satisfaction of crossing it off.
Of all the tasks, I felt drawn to the terrarium. Bill and I had an enormous green glass bottle as a wedding gift over 40 years ago and I cannot remember what happened to it. It bothered me but I consoled myself with this rather smaller version. Besides which, it was half price in the Parlane sale, so home it came.
Today it was so cold even in my greenhouse that I moved everything to the scullery at the back of the house so I could furtle around in some comfort. (What is it about compost that makes go simply everywhere in spite of care being taken?) I settled my tiny plants into the compost and gravel in no time, then added the charcoal that keeps the soil healthy. It was lovely planting my bottle and it now sits in splendour on the kitchen windowsill and I am really pleased with it.
Anyway, it is now early evening and I am pleased to report that I am at the end of my list and will have to write another one. Of course, I will need to pour myself a glass of wine otherwise the ritual simply doesn’t work!
