thanks, dad

(& mum, too!)

thanks to having great parents, i now have a corner of garden that is actually a garden! having vaguely said 'i could do with a few plants, sort of shrubby maybe and truly no-maintenance, whatever you've got spare that was cheap or free really' they trooped up today with a carbootful of greenness and helped me rip out some of the crappy sedge that was taking over the whole border and put in some nice plants (i'm very fond of the hosta called 'wolverine' :-) ). i'll blip the plants when they're looking a bit less travelled-90-miles-and-just-replanted, til then here's my dad getting stuck in - in his smartdayout clothes, too! bad me for not doing more of the work. (he apparently has been itching to come up for weeks - since i said i'd pruned some of the bushes and other stuff in the rest of the garden, probly just been dying to find out if i actually can be trusted with a pair of secateurs!)

before all the excitement of planting, we wandered along to meadowbank as there as an antiques fair on - we used to go to these, and flea markets and carboot sales a lot, but have got out the habit in the last couple of years. also, having such a tiny flat now means i don't really have many (any) places to put stuff. tho that doesn't stop me when a bargain is to be had! got a couple of nice pieces of glass, a chinese dog statue so tackily 1970s he's actually cool - and a blue glass hen (like this, only in pale blue), which was a gift from my parents - after they beat the chap down from £30 to £22 :-) a good haul.

it is maybe a little strange, but it's also i think an only child thing - i like my parents enough to choose to spend time with them. heck, i went on holiday with them in june and am planning another week away with them at the end of this month! we don't do anything very exciting, just quiet days looking at gardens, castles and so on; maybe a bag of chips watching fishing boats in the harbour on this trip as mother wants to see the trawlers at peterhead. but it's nice. and right now in my life there is very little that's just nice, with no payoff, so i'm enjoying these days when i can.