WOYWW 629 - Doug does dirt

Warning picture heavy post inbound 


So its been a while, I have been mainly working and spending time with family, I have have also been preparing for my coming motorcycle theory test at the end of the month as well as doing some much needed repotting of house plants.

It is the repotting and the reasoning behind it which is the focus of this post, you see last year during all that heat we had, my office gets incredibly hot, it is an east facing large window.

So I present to you the window, along with a predicament, (this picture is from August last year btw and most of the plants are now just a wee bit larger), well that centre window needed to be openable.

I bought a portable Air con unit and the pipe (think tumble dryer hose) needs to go through that centre window, and loads of the cacti and succulents are in need of potting on so they are going to take up more window space.

 I give you exabit A, my poor pot-bound African spear plant, 

desperately in need of a new pot. 

So after spending a while in thick rubber gloves and repotting, I achieved my end goal, the windows got cleaned on the inside (not letting onto how long that has been) and the Velcro window seal is in place, the window as you can see is closed, and takes very little to open it again. 

The ducting goes out through a (Velcro'd on) material surround to stop the hot air coming back inside again, and it works very well, has a zip and attaches to the inside of the frame it has been bliss to work in here of late.

Seems like a lot of work for our summers, well yes and no, I have 2 servers in this room that kick out a fair amount of heat, this exacerbates the issue

And I kinda have to work in here for all day.

Some plants simply did not fit back into the window, I needed the space, so bottom left Rubetia Heliosa , one that I have had for years in my window and one that should not really survive this long for being grafted, I have had no choice but to move it into the kitchen window, it has had a soil change and is now back in flower again so fingers are crossed. 

The centre picture is ( I think a kind of a jade type tree is a Crassula, and is a succulent) this is now in the downstairs loo right above a radiator.

The (left plant) in the Right hand picture, this is now in the dining room, the Left hand plant is the one pictured above that had the repot and yes that is a cable tie around it keeping the leaves from snapping, it is close to 3 ft tall now. 
The ornaments were mothers day gifts to Shaz from her son and daughter in laws over the years.

The one in the centre of the same picture (the bunny eared one) is a stowaway we brought back from the Eden project, it is a prickly pear (according to google lens)

Into the garden next, some stunning climbers, if I remember I will update with the names of some of these.
On the left we have (I believe is a clematis Copernicus?) 
In the centre we have a clematis called Josephine, I believe it is the first year the rain hasn't beaten it to death while in flower.
On the right is indeed a Dave Austin, it is a climbing rose called (Rosa Spirit of freedom) and is in full bloom at the minute, it fills the trellis and is all over the kitchen window and roof line.

Well that is me for a bit, head over to our Julia's Stamping ground, and share your desk, also apologies for how long it is between posts, real life gets in the way sometimes x

As the summer solstice has just been and gone, this one is a rather fitting picture of us from 2014

And that just leaves the and finally...

WOYWW 626 - happy mail dance

 So it has been a couple of weeks again since my last post, work and life has taken over, stuff and things needed doing or sorting.

I have had some happy mail and gifts arrive over the last week, so I warn you this post while being shorter than normal will have no less pictures ha ha 

So celebrating the WOYWW celebrating 12 years of friendship swap we have an awesome card complete with splendid poem inside from Annie (Wipso) and Jo (Twiglet) 

Yesterday I had a visit from my younger brothers as we had arranged a bike ride out  (I dont have my bike licence so i was pillion on my brothers) , And just as we was ready to leave I had someone trying to post something through the door, Odd I thought, Its bank holiday monday wich means no mail.

So Imagine my surprise when I opened the door to find Debbie's, hubby Phil at the door bearing a package.




As I didn't have time to open it as we was off out, I set it aside for later, later came and went and I had forgotten all about it, I am sat in front of the TV when I glanced up and saw the carefully wrapped parcel on the record player (Yes I am old school and proud).

So carefully I begin to unwrap it, first a bubble wrap pouch, next some buble gift wrapping paper, then many layers of tissue (not going to lie, all I need was music for a game of pass the parcel), I am then left holding a piece of art that has an uncanny resemblance of not only the image I have had in my head since Sharon's passing, but also has the colours that depict how I felt too.

 

I sat holding it for what seemed like an age before I realised I couldn't see it anymore, my eyes had started leaking again.

I was so overwhelmed by what I was seeing, it was so uplifting and mournful at the same time. 


I sat and allowed myself to take in all the details, Deb is meticulous, no single addition is added without reason, I am sat studying it and I remember thinking am I seeing what I want to see? 


So I picked up my phone and I start to write a message to Debbie thanking her. I am fully aware that quite often the art is different for each and every one of us.

I give her a breakdown on my take of this piece she had created, explaining my reaction to it and my thoughts as to why there are two wolves in the image 

I saw myself as the lower left one, howling in grief, and that Shaz is the one watching over me.

You know what? 

That was exactly the why behind it,

It is fair to say that I love it, and that I need to find a special place for it xxx

 

You know how there is normally a gratuitous picture of Shaz, or us at the end of these post's? 

Well opposite we have many..

Here we have a gift from my Niece Karina, she had taken some pictures from our social media and had them printed onto a piece of white crushed velvet.

 So I have draped it over the back of the chair, where Shaz would normally sit and work, which incidentally is visible from my office directly opposite.

The thing which crushed velvet is you can't not stroke it x

Well that is my offering head over to our Julia's Stamping ground and share yours 

and finally ...