WIDE WEDNESDAY - BUT NOT THE THEME!

For years, when Mr. HCB and I worked full-time, we used to come home, have our meal and then go out and work in the garden - in the summer this was often until it was almost dark - but we loved doing it and it was something we could do together.

Since my knee issues, I haven’t been able to do quite as much as I would like, but I am still happy to go out and do what I can, although Mr. HCB now does the bulk of the work out there and I give him moral support - like getting him cups of coffee and cold drinks! 

The flower border is looking good and we often sit and have our morning coffee in our “blue corner” and enjoy the vista looking along the border, then on to the raised vegetable beds and finally to the wild flower beds.  Our neighbour, Lynn, knocked the door earlier, with a bag in her hand and asked if she could have some lettuce - so Mr. HCB invited to her come into the garden - physically distanced, of course - and pick her own.  They don’t grow vegetables, so she was delighted to see Mr. HCB’s handiwork out there and went away with a bagful of lettuce to use in her lunchtime salad.

Ours is not a pristine garden with a wonderful lawn and no weeds, but insects are welcome and now that the grass isn’t cut so often, we have many that come in for the nectar.  We enjoy walking round the garden together, either early in the morning (although I wasn’t up that early today) or in the evening and enjoying the sights and smells and of course, remembering where we bought certain plants or which friends gave them to us, not forgetting Mr. HCB’s dear Mum’s bright red poppies.

Today as we sat in the blue corner enjoying a mug of coffee and reading our books, I thought a shot of our mugs would be a good one for the WidWed Challenge (not the actual theme of mono, but I'm rebelling again!) - so here they are - but we thought we would spare you a shot of our actual “mugs”!  A good reminder that retirement isn’t something to be feared but something to be worked at and enjoyed - so if any of you are considering retirement and think you may be bored - think again!  We are never bored but now instead of feeling “cream crackered” after spending time in the garden, we can sit and enjoy the roses and all the other flowers. 

Whilst we sat in the garden, Mr. HCB noticed a female leaf-cutter bee doing what they do best - cutting a neat circular hole, used to create nest walls, from the leaf of the Paul’s Scarlet rose - they have obviously been there before, because we saw lots of the same shapes cut out on several leaves - see my extra shot.  It was just a shame I didn’t get a shot of the bee, but we will be watching for it and are so pleased that we get such a variety of bees and insects in our garden.

“If you’ve never experienced 
     the joy of accomplishing more
          than you can imagine,
plant a garden.”
Robert Brault

P.S.  Many of us were so saddened to hear of the sudden death of Admirer - do have a look here so that we can all contribute to a "Silly Saturday" blip this coming Saturday, 27 June, to honour her and to show her family how much she was loved by the Blip family.