intertext

Now that I've been spending so much time in the garden, I'm ready to show it off a little. Here's what it looks like today, in a shot taken from my back deck. If you look very carefully, you'll see Clio-the-cat sitting on the path at the center left of the photo.

You are looking at alchemilla mollis (the green frothy stuff), perennial geraniums (the light pink and purpley blue clumps), japanese iris, a pink peony, Tiffany rose, centranthus (red valerian and a white one - the white frothy stuff). Obviously, I'm fond of frothy stuff. The orange rose in the background at the top right is "Royal Sunset" climbing variety, and if I could have just one rose that would be it. In the bed at the very top, the white mound is parahebe caractacus; at the very back are more geraniums, more alchemilla mollis (self sown), and you might just be able to make out an astrantia, pale pinky white in the top left. That bed is partial shade, whereas the main perennial bed is mostly full sun.

Here's what I've done today.

I cleared out the tallboy in my study, discovering in the process that the drawers had been put in the wrong slots (does that make sense?) and that was why they weren't closing properly. There are pencilled letters from A through F on the back, and each drawer has a matching letter in a secret spot, and I'd put them all in the wrong place (let's use the active voice: they hadn't "been put" I put them in the wrong slots)

I ruthlessly threw out half the contents of the drawers, too, which was wonderful. This is just the beginning.

And it is discovered that cats are not the only animals to sit obstructively on piles of things that you are trying to sort, tidy, or generally do something with other than have under an animal. Robinson insisted on coming and lying down on any pile of stuff put out for recycling. Either that, or he determinedly lay down Right In The Way whenever he could. And a full grown beardie is a hell of a lot bigger and more obstructive than a cat.

I moved several pots filled with grass and dead things off the deck, emptied their contents into my composter and piled the pots neatly in a corner.

I began the process of sorting through the "under the deck," "dog-yard" and "driveway" area of my house and garden which, if they were on a map, would be labelled "here be dragons" or at least "beware." This is my Big Summer Project - to tidy, rehabilitate and clear these areas and my basement, so I have to make a start somewhere.

I weeded the back of one flower bed, and around "Souvenir of Malmaison," thinking the while of Malmaison itself, and sniffing the rose and generally enjoying the riot of blooms in my garden, which is looking, if not entirely like Giverny, at least not too bad if you ignore the buttercups. I picked a nice bunch of assorted blooms for my living room.

I did not check my work email.

Interview questions: if you would like five questions, leave me a comment, and I shall oblige.
Here are mine from oursin:

1. If you were a dog, what kind of dog would you be?
I was surprised by how difficult this question was to answer, perhaps because I take dogs very seriously. It also depends on whether I answer what kind of dog I would like to be, or what kind of dog I would probably turn into if I became a dog overnight - ie what kind of dog is closest to me in personality. To answer the first question, ideally, I'd like to be like Ash, the elegant graceful dog you'll see in my Deerskin icon. Robin McKinley never actually identifies her as a breed except as a kind of sighthound, but the cover artist clearly sees her as a kind of Borzoi. Ash is also somewhat of an Ur dog - intelligent, loyal, devoted, perfect in every way. Sometimes I also fancy myself as a kind of jolly, cheerful scruffy mutt type of dog - independent, happy-go-lucky, devil-may-care. In some ways, that's the personality I wish I had. In truth... perhaps I'm not unlike my beardies. I have their herding instinct (maybe that's why I'm a teacher and was a good caregiver!), their basic cheeriness, but with workaholic tendencies, having intense loyalty, but with a slight bent to over-sensitivity, easily hurt. I'm not as decorative as they are, but few creatures are, only cats.

2. What is your ideal garden like?
Like a cross between the Secret Garden and Larkwhistle (Canadian reference) - I tried to find a good photo of Larkwhistle on the net but couldn't. It's a gorgeous 1 acre perennial garden mostly in pastels, a riot of fairly unchecked frothy flowers like roses and peonies and delphiniums and foxgloves. I guess really the classic "English cottage garden." I'd like something enclosed with high walls, with a door into it - that medieval "Roman de la Rose" mystical garden idea. My own garden is quite overlooked and there's not much I can do about it because my house and neighbours at both sides are at the top of a hill and the garden slopes downwards. My really tiresome neighbour is at the bottom, and she looks up the garden to see me doing things up the slope. Aesthetically, it's getting there, but I never have enough time to put into it. Perhaps for about one week in the year, it looks a bit the way I want it if I squint and the light is right.

3. Is there a musical instrument that you don't play, but would like to?
I always rather fancied playing the flute. And I took piano lessons as a child and would like to again. Also, I love guitar music and would like to be able to play just a little.

4. What would you be doing if not teaching?
Without hesitation, I'd be a feature actor in the RSC. And there's my one sincere regret in life and my big "road not taken," too. When I was at school, I was going to be an actor when I grew up, but I lost my nerve. Mostly it was about not being pretty enough. And I realize now that would have been enormously less of a factor in Britain than over here, and if I'd stuck to my guns and tried for RADA, which is what I wanted to do, I might have succeeded. But I had over-protective parents who were not keen for their young daughter to strike out for London on her own, and encouraged me to go to Uni instead, and I didn't think there was much point doing theatre at Uni, so I did Classics... and the rest is history, sort of. But teaching is wonderful; I don't regret that one bit, and it feeds the idealist in me in ways that acting wouldn't have done.

5. Where would you like to visit that you haven't been already?
Well, I'm going to Paris in May, so that partly answers your question, but it would almost be easier to say where I don't want to go! Caregiving has kept me Victoria-bound for so long that I have a lot of travelling to make up for, so I have a lot of trips planned in the future. High on my list, after Paris, are Venice, New Zealand, Japan, Patagonia, New York. I'd also like to see Eastern Canada, as I've never been further than Montreal.

I was worried that my garden might die while I was away from it; far from it. It's flourishing, and looking rather splendid at the moment (this, of course, is its peak time of flowery glory). I spent a happy few hours pottering and taking some photos.
Here's a taste: