Re-potting Blueberries and the Garden 29th August 2022

I need to start blogging again to keep my mind occupied with other things and to continue recording positives and this lovely place in which we live, and the progress in the garden. I am not really sure why I stopped blogging, I guess I needed a break, I really don't know.  The last couple of years have been strange, and a huge awakening in many ways, but I am not going to go on about that.  Rather, today's post is going to start with re-potting some blueberry plants I have.

These three blueberry plants, amazingly produced a good couple of handfuls of blueberries this year.

But as you can see they needed repotting

A closer shot of the lovely plant behind the new pots.

Re-potted and on the front deck.  I was going to plant them in the orchard, but we still haven't got a fruit cage up, and with the price of wood now it is unlikely in the near future, and as they seem to do quite well out the front here and produced a reasonable crop of blueberries for such small plants, in the meantime they can stay here.

We took down some wire and a scraggly climber that was on our deck.  We should have done this when we moved in, as we discovered when we moved the big heavy pot that the previous owners handed treated the wood under the pot and the deck had started to rot.  Hubby coated it with wood hardener and several coats of decking treatment and with the seating over it, it should be well protected now.  The seat still needs treating.  I gave it about four coats last year, but the sun is very bright and hot here, so any wood needs treating regularly.  I put up our Chihuahua sign that we got given a few years ago.

Some photos of the roses and flowers in the garden.  This one is out the front as is the one below.

Beautiful water lilies in our pond.

 

Percy's Rest Memorial Bench Seat

Our memorial to Percy. He loved his garden and wandering round it. The pain is still immense. It is always hard when a beloved pet passes, but even harder when it is due to such tragic circumstances and before their time. So many ‘if only’ thoughts that can’t be changed. It is so hard. When we sit on this bench we will think of our darling boy and the love he brought into our lives and the lessons of resilience and bravery he taught us. Or tried to teach us! I want him back so much! I miss our daily routine, his cuddles with me, and the way he ‘looked’ up at me even though he had absolutely no sight at all. I miss him following me to different rooms and snuggling in his various beds when I was working in those rooms. I miss his welcome home bark and excited greeting. I miss his enthusiasm for his meals and the way he opened his mouth for his Lions Mane and CBD oil drops. I just miss everything about him. I hope he knows how much we loved and still love him and how sorry we are. We miss you buddy so very very much.

The mornings are the hardest when I first wake and during the night when I wake.  It is like I have been kicked or thumped in the stomach.  The thoughts of why, how, if only, and everything else run through my mind, and the visions which are the worst.  I have never been one to be able to visualize things very well , but now, well my mind seems to be very good at such recall.  I am still having tears every day, the grief, is so terrible. 

The 17th June, should have been such a lovely day and a wonderful memory of us all enjoying some time out together  as a family as my son, daughter in law, grand daughter and mother in law were down here...we had enjoyed a lunch out together.  But the day ended in such a terrible tragic way that I just don't seem to be able to get out of my mind. The 'if only's' play havoc on one's mind. I just want that day back to replay with a different ending, the ending it should have had, joy and comfort of a lovely day spent together with Percy snuggled on our laps, like he did every evening, not one that ended in such a terrible terrible way and having to bury our beloved Percy, gone before his time.  The tears keep falling.

Percy

Sadly our beloved Percy died tragically on 17th June 2022 and we are totally overwhelmed with grief. He was such an amazing dog and we loved and treasured him so much. He had such strength of character and was the bravest dog I have ever known. He sadly went blind overnight in March 2018 just after his fifth birthday from something called SARDS (Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration Syndrome) but he never let this affect him, and he still ran round the garden chasing squirrels and jumped on and off the settee. He then had some seizures in the September/October of that same year which we successfully treated with CBD Oil. The following year in January 2019 he developed another autoimmune disease affecting his spine called meningeal myelitis and had to undergo an aggressive course of chemotherapy and steroids. He responded very well to this and by January 2020 he was still doing well and enjoying playing with his toys. Unfortunately due to all the C nonsense he then didn't receive as good treatment due to us not being allowed to talk the vet in person, and they prolonged it too long and by June 2020 we said no more as he had deteriorated. He picked up really well and improved once coming down to the island. Unfortunately in August 2021 he had to go back on steroids and this helped, but of course long term steroids has damaging affects and his teeth rotted (this didn't stop him eating though, but he could no longer play ball or chew bones) and he developed a heart murmur. However despite these issues he was still a very happy dog, just not so active anymore. He enjoyed his wanderings around our garden, having mastered the ramp down the steps on his own (finding his way through the use of mats). He learnt to open his mouth for his Lion's Mane drops in the morning and his CBD oil in the evening. He was the rhythm of my life, from the time I woke up, to the time he went out for his final wander around the garden before going to bed. He used to sit on my lap in the mornings while I read the bible and sleep with me in the afternoons when I needed a rest due to pain issues. He followed me throughout the house and had little beds in every room, and I would take him up to the sewing studio with me. He also enjoyed sleeping in his bed in my husband's office. He loved to climb onto the backs of our legs if we were building furniture! We feel totally and utterly bereft and inconsolable, and I am finding it so hard to cope with his loss and the manner of it.

The bravest and strongest dog with a heart full of love, he is missed so much. Our lives feel so empty without him. Percy 10th March 2013 - 17th June 2022 Philippians 4:8 describes Percy so well "...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things."

Unusual Sky Behaviour After an Aircraft Flew Overhead.

Living by the coast, I am used to the weather changing a lot, and the differing sky patterns, however what happened yesterday was extremely unusual.  We don't get a lot of planes fly overhead, usually just light aircraft and the odd spitfire.  

Yesterday morning was a beautiful morning with a completely blue sky.  I then heard what sounded like an aircraft overhead flying backwards and forwards, and this has happened before, but they have never left trails like this, EVER!

I wasn't the only person to notice this, as the delivery driver said the same later in the afternoon when he dropped off a packaged.

This was the result

The whole sky became completely covered with these 'trails'.

Notice the streaks coming down from these 'trails'

Now this is what you usually see when an aircraft flies overhead... no trails.  

This was yesterday as well.

The day gradually changed as these trails 'thickened' up.

Until it became this!

From my almost two years here of observing the weather and cloud patterns I have never seen something like this happen before.

Oh and I noticed the weather app completely changed from what it was reading in the morning for the next few days forecast...not that I usually believe that anyway, but a complete change in just a few hours???

RIP Murphy

 RIP Murphy

01/2017 - 5/11/2021

Butterflies Galore!

I don't think I have ever seen so many butterflies in one place ever before.  Yesterday, while standing at the new garden office building we have been having built we saw what would be probably at least 50 if not 100 butterflies flying and landing on our fig tree and also on the sunflowers.  It was incredible and they were there again this morning.  What an amazing spectacle and a real delight.  I managed to capture some of them on film.  Rather a few butterfly photos coming!

On the sunflowers.

Beautiful Red Admirals. 

Red Admiral and Large White

Sunning themselves on the shed

A Comma on the fig

Wings closed.

A few flowers...

Loving this rose.

Cyclamen under the plum tree.

We have a lot of these growing wild in the garden, mostly in the orchard, but also round the bottom of a few trees, and along our bank.