DECLUTTERING THE GARDEN

Mr. HCB told me earlier in the week that he would take me out to lunch today so I decided that as we would have the morning free it might be a good idea, as he and our next door neighbour Mike will be going to the tip tomorrow, to have a big clear up and declutter in the garden.

By his own admission, Mr. HCB is not very good at clearing up after he has finished working outside, unlike his dear departed mother, who used to say “It’s always good to have a nice little clear up, dear, brush the paths and have a nice bonfire” - but of course that was in the days before the Clean Air Act.

So I got up reasonably early and worked really hard moving things, telling Mr HCB to move things, and generally sweeping and clearing up. We disturbed several quite large spiders along the way but I was very careful to ensure they didn’t run over my feet!  What a lovely feeling now it’s all done!

I did take several photographs of the rather large spiders but then decided, when I thought I’d finished, that I would go and deadhead the roses; so off I went with my secateurs in search of roses that were past their prime. Once they were in this lovely little willow trug I thought they looked rather good and would make a better blip than a great big spider but I've put that in as an extra. In case you think the roses don't look dead, the green bin goes tomorrow and as it's quite windy those petals would soon be back all over our tidy garden!

This trug belonged to Mr. HCB‘s mother and as she has been dead for over 20 years it’s obviously much older than that. Please don’t laugh, but I felt quite "the lady" with my secateurs and willow trug just walking round the garden deadheading a few flowers - mind you, I did look quite scruffy too - well who puts on their best clothes to declutter the garden?

As we sat in the garden having our well-earned cup of coffee, I said to Mr. HCB that I now realise the best way to get him to do something like this is to suggest it and then do it with him - his cheeky response was, "Has it taken you fifty years to work that out?"  So being equally cheeky - as we often are to each other - this quote is for and about him - because of course, I never procrastinate!!

“Clutter is
     the physical manifestation 
          of unmade decisions 
               fueled by procrastination” 
Christina Scalise