gains and losses

the warm spring weather has meant that the garden has been looking very colourful for quite a while now. The poppies were in bloom on the 1st of May which is more than three weeks earlier than last year (25th May) and the aquilegia are in full flower pretty early too.

I've planted most of my seed potatoes in the tatty sacks and put some bedding in as I was clearing weeds (french marigolds, lobelia and petunia so far).

I'm delighted with the allium flowers too. This is the first time I've grown them and I love the crazy ball of tiny flowers. I didn't buy giant alliums as I was worried that they wouldn't stand up to the stiff breezes that we get round here, but now I think that they might and I'll try some bigger ones next year.

Sadly the harsh winter has killed off some of the shrubs: I've lost a hebe, a buddleia, a lavender and all three New Zealand flax plants. The flax plants were some of the first plants that I bought for this garden 5 years ago and I liked their spiky strangeness so it's a shame that I'm going to have to clear them out.

I've been a bit distracted by volunteering for the Day Centre in our village so I've not had as much time to knit/crochet as I would like. The Day Centre hosts a weekly lunch club for older people, it's great fun and I enjoy having a good blether with the (mostly) pensioners. I started off just helping in the kitchen, serving lunch and clearing up, graduated onto occasionally prepping and cooking the soup and taking a turn on the laundry rota and now I'm on the committee as Secretary. Last week the conversations centred around the election and the latest fashions. It's heartening that people don't really change as they get older: if they were interested in politics in their younger days they tend to keep that interest, and if they were avid followers of fashion then they still like to keep up with the latest styles and colours. Amazingly enough, despite their many and varied health problems they're a pretty cheerful bunch. I think they're brilliant.

I made some progress on putting together Seraphina at the weekend while listening to the football. The penultimate matches of the season saw Man Utd win the league and West Ham get relegated. It was pretty exciting stuff and I did have to rip back a bit on the collar on Seraphina as the drama increased. West Ham needed to win, and were winning 2-0, but then threw that lead away and were beaten 3-2 by Wigan. It was riveting radio commentary, but not very good for keeping my mind on the knitting. The last round of games is next Sunday- I'll have to try to have Seraphina finished by then!