Midday in the garden area. Not much love happening here
Last Friday, I had a spurt of energy, thanks to glorious sunshine, to get the garden into shape. The new apartment has these garden rows in the complex and we were told by the real estate agent that two were free (really? only two? they all look unloved!), so, of course, never one to do things slowly, I’ve dived right in to set up both of them. Continue reading
The Kärcher is being replaced by the computer tomorrow.
Finally, the concrete around the main farmhouse AND our Stöckli is now clean. Another four and a half hours with that powerful jet spray machine has knackered my wrists again. But the end result, and knowing I won’t have to do it again for another two years, is nice.
Clean as a whistle!
The cement in front of the house didn’t scrub up as well as the terrace
My little garden, just because …
It feels like I’m having a ceremonial ‘swapping of the tools’ – the yellow Kärcher beast is all packed away, and now I’ve taken out the travel case for my computer. It’ll be coming on the bus with me tomorrow for my ‘first day’ on the job. I wonder how many hours a week it will involve? All will be sorted out soon enough, I imagine.
Fell off the no sugar bandwagon this afternoon and ate … *gasp* a cherry tomato!! They just looked tooooooo good to not try one.
We’ve started watching House of Cards on Netflix which I’m really enjoying. Kevin Spacey is brilliant. Just brilliant! It’s definitely adding to my mental fitness.
My plant for the day is another herb. Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is my favourite because it goes with lamb. Mmmm lamb. (I love how the thyme was vulgaris and this is officinalis. How official!)
Time for bed. I actually have a very good reason to get up early tomorrow! Yahoo!
Wishing you a wonderful day.
The part that was mowed! Our little house – those fir trees on the right will have the tops lopped off tomorrow
It was a pretty quiet morning again, but thankfully I had the lawn to mow this afternoon. It was almost finished, when I broke the mower.
I didn’t realise the front left tyre was going flat until I turned sharply right and it went all skewiff. Had to get the jack underneath the front and take the tyre off and try to fill it with air, but it was too late. Kaputt!
Rene ordered two new front tyres/wheels from England (why replace one when you can replace both?! Rene never does things by half. They should be here Monday), because, as he kindly kept saying, the lawn mower is 20 years old and it’s bound to have problems. I couldn’t help but feel that this problem could have been averted if I’d been on the ball a bit more. Strange that I didn’t notice any issues with the steering until it was too late. Bugger!
About 5.30pm, Rene, Liliane and I sat outside enjoying the beautiful balmy evening and planning our day tomorrow. It’s going to be chockers. We’re going grocery shopping in the morning, taking stuff to the dump/tip/rubbish collection, which luckily is in the building next to us, and we’re going to trim some overgrown trees/shrubs at our house – one is growing into the gutter, so it’s about time. Electric trimmer, get ready to be well used!
Sitting outside, playing with Boy, the dog, and talking lots of German with the neighbours
I’m too knackered to find three new plants to name today, as part of the 30-Day Challenge. I’ve left it too late to write, and there’s nothing left in my batteries. I ate quite well, as part of the I Quit Sugar Program, but maybe I didn’t drink enough water. Or maybe my body is saying, “Where is the sugar, woman?! You know I can’t function without the sweet stuff!”
We’ll see, sugar demons, we’ll see.
Wishing you a wonderful day.
I can’t take any credit for it, but the pool is clean and slowly filling up.
Leo was up early to tackle the task and did a great job. It’s tempting to jump into it now, half full! While he did the pool, I finally, FINALLY!, finished the lawn. No more holes to fill!
“I’ve come to clean ze poooool”
From this …
… to this! Yay!
Liliane dipping a tentative toe … hopefully in a week it will be warm enough to dive in
We also moved a fridge into the little annex area under the balcony where the two pink geranium pots sit. We cleaned it, set it running and filled it with our drinks! We lost the bar fridge in the kitchen to make way for the dishwasher, so now we have another that will be just as handy throughout summer.
It’s another stinking hot day here today. We’re off to the Muse concert in an hour or so. Can’t wait!
Update: I forgot my 30-Day Challenge, of learning three to four new plant names each day!
The texture of these lamb’s ear plants make them one of my favourites. I knew their name before but now know the Latin name, Stachys byzantina. Unfortunately, there’s none in my garden but they are abundant in the Rosengarten in town. Sometimes, one leaf accidentally falls off the plant when I visit, and I rub my fingers over it constantly for the rest of the day. 🙂
The aeonium haworthii x urbicum grows willy nilly on the terrace, after I took them from the large pot and spread them around the rock garden under the bushes. They’ve multiplied like crazy, provide great colour, with their green centre and pink edges, and have beautiful long-stemmed pink flowers towards the end of summer. We also have smaller reddy brown aeonium spread in the same place.
We have a pot with fuchsia hanging by the front door. The flowers are a mix of pink and purple sections – pink undercarriage and purple centre. They hang nicely and I hope the flowers keep coming thick and fast!
Wishing you a wonderful day.
I think I’ve worked out why I’ve been going like a bull at a gate on the weeds for the past two days (no, I’m not smoking anything green, just removing them from the lawn).
Not only are they Rene’s enemy, so therefore mine, I think I’m taking out my frustrations on not getting either of the jobs I’d recently applied for. I found out on Friday about the job in Zurich and yesterday about the job in Lausanne. In the wonderful words of Kevin Kline’s character, Otto, in A Fish Called Wanda, “DisapPOINted!”
So, I reckon I am currently in training to be a gardener and, to be honest, I wouldn’t mind that at all!
While working out with Brad today, I listened to the end of the Serial podcast. Manual labour and a mental workout all at the same time. Highly recommended! I won’t say anything about the series in case you haven’t heard it (but I really want to write lots of stuff and have a big discussion!!).
I was overly optimistic thinking I’d get the rest of the lawn done in four hours. It ended up taking just over six, and that was just pulling the weeds out. I’ll fill the holes with soil tomorrow. I enjoyed the work today more than yesterday for some reason – Brad behaved well, all my aches and pains were gone, and I have the Birkenstock tanlines on my feet to remind me of my labours.
Today was also a very big day in the kitchen. Last week, Rene and Liliane decided it was time for us to have a dishwasher, and today it was installed (replacing the small bar fridge). Leo’s eyes went wide when he found out about it, as he has lived here for 12 years without one. We don’t really need it, but it’s a lovely gesture and will be great when we entertain. Now we just need to buy more than the four plates and bowls we currently own! Ahahahahaha. No, that won’t be happening. (Honestly, we’ll probably only use it once a month!)
We finished the television series Derek tonight. Another series bites the dust! We’re on a Netflix roll! I love binge-watching a series and not having to wait a week for the next installment. I really enjoyed Derek, but have never cried quite so much in a supposed comedy series. (It’s set in an old people’s home … join the dots.) Ricky Gervais is a very clever man (although the character of Kev I could have lived without) and I wish I was cleverer and could write something more inspiring about him than him what is clever (said in my best attempted Derek voice).
It got completely dark around 10.15pm tonight. I took this poor quality photo of the full moon just before 10pm. Not long til the longest day, which always makes me sad, because it feels like every year it comes too soon.
Still light enough outside for my old phone to take a photo!
Speaking of phones (caption above), my iPhone 5 was too far gone to be fixed, so Leo very kindly bought me a second-hand one off the internet which should be here by the end of the week! Yahoo! I can use Instagram again #fitfor15in15 @fitfor15in15
Disappointed Roger Federer lost today at the French Open. I’ll have to cheer for Stan now. Or Rafa. Are you watching any tennis? Are you Wimbledon fans too?
Wishing you a wonderful day.
It was a short affair, with so much potential.
I’ve been itching to get my hands on this bad boy for a few weeks now, and today there was no holding me back.
He’s long and lean and good at his job. Let’s call him Brad. Putting Brad to the test sounds like fun, right? It shouldn’t be so bad, right?
Well, like most affairs, the idea was more exciting than the end result. He promised so many good things – at the least, a sense of happiness and satisfaction – and came up short. To be honest, I really wouldn’t mind if I never saw him again, but alas we have another date tomorrow.
Brad?
The weed puller
Oh, Brad, you’ve ruined me! You’ve given me pain all over. My hands are bruised, despite the gloves, my left wrist aches, my back is twisted, my stomach’s sore … and there’s still so much lawn to be done. Waaaaaaaaa! We still have to be together tomorrow! Noooooooooo!
Exhibit A – holes
I didn’t take before and after photos of the lawn, because, hey, even I found it hard to see the difference. If it wasn’t for all the holes Brad left behind, you wouldn’t even known we’d been through a third of the lawn. I’m finding it hard to believe 10 large buckets of weeds and earth have been removed from that area! Because the weeds grow so low to the ground, with a random bloom sprouting up a few days after it’s been mowed, the change is hardly noticeable.
And really, who wants to see a weed? Holes aren’t much better, let’s be honest! Here’s what the clean section looks like …
Exhibit B – doesn’t look all that different really
Rivetting huh? And the saddest part is that area took six hours to do – shoving Brad into the ground, twisting him clockwise, pulling him out, then pushing his lever (using my stomach mostly; that’s why it’s sore) to release the dreaded weed.
You know what’s even sadder? I still have two-thirds of the lawn to do! Luckily this third was the worst; I should be able to finish the rest in about four hours. Then I’ll fill the wheelbarrow with soil and fill in all the holes, so the lawnmower wheels don’t fall in them. Some of them are quite wide.
I forgot to say Rene came home from hospital yesterday, in good spirits. He felt fit enough to go into his cellar to retrieve a gift for Leo and I, much to Leo’s disgust! In an effort to tighten the purse strings, I accepted our neighbours’ kind offer of their old door hanger, to keep the flies out and let the breeze in. Now it really feels like summer! Waiter! Where’s my pina colada?!
If you can’t go to the Caribbean, bring it home!
I can’t wait for my summer fling with Brad to end. He’s nowhere near as exciting, or satisfying, as I thought he’d be. But I’m sure Rene’s happy we’ve spent this time together.
Wishing you a wonderful day.
Another beautiful sunny day meant more outdoor work, and outdoor work without breakfast or lunch meant one hungry beast come dinner time.
Rene went to hospital this afternoon for a scheduled visit – he’s having an operation on his neck tomorrow afternoon. This is his sixth hospital visit/operation since I’ve lived here (three and a half years). The first four were for his hip – what a debacle that was. This operation will hopefully alleviate some headache problems he’s been having.
So before he left, there were things to do. (Hopefully he’ll be back by the middle of next week, touch wood). I spent four hours with the jet hose cleaning the stone tiles around the pool. Four hours – on one ‘small’ job! But it was needed to get rid of three years worth of grime. I’ll do our terrace and the back of the big farmhouse on Saturday.
You can see where I’ve cleaned – the two and a half rows on the right
And this is what it looks like now. Cream stones rather than green
I was soaked and covered in black grot by the end. I had little stones up my nose and in my ears and my glasses were smeared grey. My arms are also slightly sunburnt. Slightly …
That’s not the only thing hurting my arms. Have you ever used a Kärcher jet spray machine? Those things pump out some serious water and the nozzle weighs quite a bit when in action. My arms were still sore from scooping and snipping yesterday so they are going to weigh a tonne tomorrow! How will I get over that? By cleaning Liliane’s house, of course!
And now to caving for a craving … I called Leo at about 5pm and asked if we could drive straight to McDonald’s when he got home from work. He was shocked – that’s not part of the fitfor15in15 plan! This is the first time I’ve had McDonald’s this year. It could possibly be the first time I’ve had fast hamburger food for an entire year. But he didn’t put up a fight and boy did we enjoy those babies! I was so hungry, I could have eaten my arm (if it wasn’t so burnt! 🙂 )
Hello Alps! You’ve been hiding behind the clouds for too long! Taken by Leo at 6.30pm
Leo cracked me up when he took the photo, above, for me. My substitute iPhone4 is very, very, very slow and we’re still waiting to hear what’s happening with my iPhone5, which was sent for repairs last week following the black screen of death. Leo asked why I wanted him to take photos with his phone, and I explained the quality would be better. He then said, “You’re suffering from a bad case of missyourphoneia!” I told him that joke, in a language that is still sometimes foreign to him, deserved a hug (I suffer from misophonia). Very clever boy!
Wishing you a wonderful day.
Missyourphoneia! Burgers! Yeah baby!
Today was a busy, do-it kind of day, as opposed to yesterday’s nothing kind of day.
First off yahoo, the sun came out!!!! so it was time to scoop the leaves out of the pool to prepare for summer fun. In the next few weeks, it will be cleaned with a power hose, old water out, clean water and chlorine in and then final ingredient – just add people.
Rene kindly ‘made’ me a pair of gumboots from an old pair of fishing waterproofs, which came up to his thigh. They’re really old and he never uses them anymore, so he cut them off just below the knee. Because they were about five sizes too big, I wore a thick pair of socks and a pair of slipper kind of things as well. But I was dry and clean, and in this mess, that’s all that mattered …
Gumboots at the ready …
… let’s clean this thing!
The leaves and algae/gunk on the bottom were quite think and the smell was pretty foul too. Leo came home quickly on his way to a meeting, so he snapped some pictures to prove I stood in that cesspool.
Had to block my nose!
Dumping the leaves and getting a little sunburnt
I forgot to take an after photo, but all the leaves are gone and plenty of the gunk/gunge is still floating on the bottom but at least it will flush out easily with the jet hose.
Then Rene mowed the lawn and I whipper-snippered a large section behind the garage, where the forest is creeping closer and closer.
It’s amazing how fast the time goes when you’re working outdoors. I definitely gave my arms a good workout, scooping and snipping. And there’s a bit of colour on the back of my neck and arms. Oops!
Speaking of colour, here are my little garden photos at long last.
Pinks and purples and one red one
Lots of colour in the pots
In the corner near the herb garden
Geraniums and snapdragons on the kitchen window …
… and geraniums on the unused, north-facing balcony
Wishing you a wonderful day.
Rene, our neighbour and owner of the whole property, called us this morning and asked if we could help him clean the ride-on lawnmower today. No problem!
From midday, we prepared the mower to be in tip-top working condition. We both got a bit sunburnt! Oops. Here’s Leo cleaning out all the caked-on grass.
Scraping off the hard grass
I cleaned another part and Rene sharpened the blades and then we put it all back together again. After nearly two hours it was ready to go, and Rene was ready for bed!
Rene decided to have a little pause here
The grass was still a bit too wet to mow after yesterday’s all-day rainfest, so Leo and I put up the umbrella at our house and rebuilt the hammock holder. We also made a quick trip to the local shop for some new plants and soil.
The terrace looking all summery with the soon to be planted flowers on the table
When we came home, I jumped straight on the mower and did just the back of the house and half of the front. Rene wants to see if the grass in the furthest part of the front lawn can thicken up a bit if we cut it less. So the grass looks a bit half and half. We had lots of problems with the wet grass clogging up the mower again. Afterwards, I decided to weed around the little house Liliane calls the pergola, where they have dinner parties and so on. It’s like a small shack with two tables and an indoor fireplace. Lovely in winter and great for barbecues in summer. Didn’t take a photo of that, I’m afraid.
Looking good
Can you see the line where I stopped mowing?
Leo made dinner then we sat outside with Liliane and Rene admiring our handiwork and watching all the birds. We finished the night with the James Bond movie Thunderball. I’m feeling exhausted! Right butt cheek muscle is feeling better today, so that’s another win!
Looking forward to planting all the new flowers tomorrow.
Wishing you a wonderful day.
My little garden will get a spruce up tomorrow
Call off the search dogs! I’m alive!
I mentioned I’d write again after walking from the city, but that idea went out the exhaustion window. It took two hours to walk home (which was a nice surprise as I thought it would be longer) and when I arrived, Rene was finishing repairs on the ride-on lawnmower in preparation to do the garden. So yep, you guessed it, I dumped my backpack on the bench outside our house, and walked straight over to him to help. Thank goodness for leaf blowers and ride-on mowers! Three hours later, I flopped on the couch (after a shower of course!) and after another three hours, I was asleep on the couch. I stumbled up the ladder into bed.
Part of the plan to walk home was so I could stop at a new animal shelter to ask about volunteering. I’d seen a picture of it in a free local magazine so was keen to see if I could be put to good use. Searching in the forest where I thought it would be, I asked a woman with a very funky short grey crop hairdo, who was walking her dog, if she knew where it was. “It hasn’t been built yet,” she said. “Maybe next year.”
Serves me right for not being fluent in German! I’d completely misread the article and thought the place had opened already. What makes the story even more bizarre (aside from my silliness) is the woman who I spoke to, well, her husband is involved with trying to get the shelter built. How about that for a fluke? Of all the people to ask, Heidi was the best person possible. She was very knowledgeable about the whole procedure and said some residents across the river are against it being built, because they’re worried about the noise travelling. If all goes to plan, the shelter could be finished by the end of summer next year.
Anyway, here are the photos from yesterday’s walk:
And here’s the finished garden. My arms were shaking from using the leaf blower to clear all the leaves (the leaves! the leaves!) out of the garden beds and off the concrete areas. (Rene is a stickler for dead-leaf decimation. I follow his orders.) Then I jumped on the mower to finish with this:
Look at that freshly mown grass!
Look at that leaf-free garden!
Look at that ball-crazy dog called Boy!
Look at those flags in the wind (and look at the lovely grass too)!
Wishing you a wonderful day.
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