THE BIG DIG

There are some garden jobs which are a bit daunting and therefore get put to the end of my to do list.

One such job was a rather large Euphorbia.  I have had them in my garden for years.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphorbia_mellifera

They keep seeding and I pot them up and donate to charity plant sales.

One of these seedings grew in my sunny part of the garden and as it grew it blocked out light from other plants. Being away in Turkey for so many years I noticed a huge difference in it when we moved back to Ireland.

With the improvement in the weather and warm April days I decided to cut it back.  This I did and was left with a huge stump.  I dug away the soil as much as I could but there was no budge in the roots.

Two days later and more digging and still no budge. 

My sister Ber said she would come armed with a crowbar and we would stay at it until it came out.

She arrived next day prepared for work dressed in her gardening clothes and we set to work.  She reminded me to take breaks stretching our backs and doing spinal exercises as we went.

The crowbar was good. It got in under the roots where the spade would not go.  

 

 

A TASTE OF FREEDOM AND A GARDEN VISITOR

The long awaited day has come at last.  12th April,  we can travel beyond the confines of our local towns beyond the 5km limit and all around our own county.  All children are back to school today and residential construction has been given permission to open. We can meet people from one other household in their gardens while keeping our 2m distance.   This means I can visit  my sister and my friends at last!  We will do this gradually because everyone is planning meet ups this week and we don't want to overlap.

  

The vaccine roll out has been ramped up in Ireland and across Europe.  We are looking forward to getting vaccinated but this is not without stress due to The National Immunisation Advisory Committee (Niac)  recommending limiting the use of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine to the over-60s, following reports of some rare blood clotting events among younger people. A month ago they stopped giving it to the over 70's but then changed this recommendation again.

We don't know if we will have a choice of vaccination but will have to wait and see.

Mr. D. was looking out the kitchen window yesterday when he spotted an unusual visitor!  He called out to me 'Quick! there is a ginger cat in the garden, 'quick before he goes away!' 

I was still in my slippers but made my way quickly to the garden.   Mr. D. knows how much I love cats and have been missing having them in our lives. We took care of 2 kittens at the end of last year but haven't had any since due to the strict lockdown.

There in the garden was this most beautiful cat.  I recognised him immediately.  He belongs to one of the neighbours somewhere on the road behind ours.

He first came to our garden around two years ago when he was still a kitten.  I've never fed him but he just loves humans. Then last summer he came by on two separate occasions.  He would quickly make himself at home in our garden.  He would sit on my lap purring.   

So yesterday after not having seen him for almost a year,  I was delighted to see this beautiful happy cat again.  He is obviously well loved and cared for by his owners.  His coat is smooth and shiny and I can see he is well fed.  I lifted him up into my arms and said hello.  He sat on my lap on the patio for ages. When he got down eventually, I did some gardening chores while he checked in and out between pots and plants.  He sat in the sunshine and watched me while I worked.  Then he left.  Well it was lunchtime.  I hope he visits again soon.  He made my day!