Wearing my patched shirt; stitched patches onto a second hand shirt I got from a charity shop. Finished! Warm! Layered!
Doing the job that I intended. Acting as insulation to keep me warm throughout the cold.
I layer up with t-shirts and jumpers/cardis, and keep toasty warm. Intending it to be an 'overall' I could wear in multitude situations, today I wore it outside while doing some garden clearing.
Last autumn I had an ash tree taken down that was too big, and overtaking my garden. During this, the tree-feller managed to smash a glass screen that was acting as a coldframe on my raised bed. Result; lots of fragments of safety glass in my soil, and raised bed......sigh.
Each job, creates another.
Disheartened at the amount of work I would need to do on clearing this glass I've put off the job. Today, I started picking out the glass. It was archaeology; me on hands and knees with small hand-spade, picking out glistening pieces from the soil. At least I've begun. For the actual raised bed, I'm going to just get a spade and dig out the lovely compost I put in (which is where the glass is!) then chuck it in the bin. It'll be hard work; but quicker than going over it like an archaeological site!
It made me wonder about my methods of doing things with small tools; the hand-spade; the small brush I used when I decorated recently, rather than a roller.
I'm like that with my paintings; small brushstrokes, rather than sweeping ones. Making small seed stitches, when working on textiles. It may simply be a physical thing; I have quite small hands, so grasping hold of large pieces of equipment can be uncomfortable for me. Still; preferences can change. Methodologies can alter.
Ivy growing up the ash tree in my garden. The flowers are an important food source for bees in the autumn.
The ash tree where said ivy grew. The ash tree that is gone. It had got way too tall, and I'm hopeless with heights, so couldn't get up a ladder to saw it back. So, very sadly, I had to get someone to come and take it down. I really hate chopping down trees! I've spent so many years planting trees; growing saplings from seeds. It breaks my heart to lose one. Especially when ash trees are now under threat from ash die-back. But; it was too big; and blocking out the light coming into my garden; so I had to take steps.
The bonus is for those of my friends who have stoves or open fires! They've been given a 'windfall' of ash logs. As ash wood burns green, and doesn't need drying before putting on the fire, I've been a very popular person! We've been raising glasses and toasting the ash tree; and they've been toasting themselves!
Sadly not home-grown produce; but gifts given from people at the textile group I go to. Buy pumpkin tomorrow for Hallowe'en. Seasonal produce; celebrating the season.
And we have gales forecast tonight and tomorrow. The wind's been blowing the leaves from the trees creating golden confetti. Me and Pauline took puppy Minnie out to Nostell Priory yesterday, and blew our cobwebs away.
I'm indoors now sweeping cobwebs away on ceilings and walls, as I decorate. The nearest I've got to using a paintbrush for months! I'm getting ready to hibernate; hunkering down in response to the diminishing light, and entering the darkness. Samhain on Thursday. Celtic new year; I'll be glad to see the back of this year; it's been a tough one. First, there's this darkness to travel through. One foot in front of another is my mantra.
