8 March: working weather, and reading The Cherry Tree

Wednesday, 8 March 2023

With surprising good weather turning a planned reading day into a work day, we made the first visit of the year to two gardening jobs.

Diane’s garden

Shortly after we started to weed, our good friend Holly came running…but passed us and ran next door across a big field to the Red Barn. Soon she returned to where I was weeding the septic vault to get the biscuit that I had ready in my pocket.

Diane then appeared; she had been at the barn and “wondered what Holly was so excited about!”

After finishing the vault tidying…

I tidied up the containers around the back porch and then joined Allan in the front garden, clipping and weeding..

Stipa gigantea

We will return after St Patrick’s Day to plant sweet peas along the picket fence.

The Red Barn

We clipped and tidied the garden…

..and saw our good friend Cosmo for the first time in three months…

..and our good old friend Bentley.

Quinn stole his biscuit! But he got another.

I made a new friend, a darling black Labrador, who sat on my foot.

Holly came back for seconds.

Someone left a message for Skooter.

Cosmo might have liked to come home with us.

at home

Back home again, I deserved a nice cuppa Builders.

the work board tonight

The Cherry Tree

But could there be a day without a Minack book? No, there could not. I had been longing all day for the next book.

Derek wrote about the cherry tree where a tiny black cat appeared (and of course, Jeannie fed it, and then he did, too). He mentions that the garden there included an Olearea solandri. Now I simply must have one; I hear perhaps Cistus Nursery has one (but not mail order-able).

As the books progressed, so did Derek’s compassion for the inequities of life.

…treasure their luck.

This passage about fog reminds me so much of life in the tiny house where I lived, west of the boatyard, mostly in the shade, from 1994-2010.

Derek then goes on to describe how they had slugs in the house! At least we were spared that, except for tiny ones that rode in on the cats’ fur.

I think many bloggers will have experienced the connection with others that Derek’s memoirs brought about. And I feel, oh how I feel, for the man who was made redundant. I could describe how he felt from my recent experience with work. (None of it having to do with the Long Beach job, which is fine.)

I was ever so pleased when Derek began to write at length in this book, and in later ones, about how both he and Jeannie were untidy. Further soul-mate-iness betwixt me and them.

...tidiness.

Sadly, Beverley Nichols had died and would no longer be visiting. They reminisce…

Another story of Beverly, when visiting their mutual friend, Marion Spring (who wrote a gardening book, out of print, which I have now ordered); he was shown a doll house belonging to Marion:

Derek, a former disliker of cats, who had grown to love a succession of feline companions over the past 20 plus years (Monty, Lama, Oliver, Ambrose, and now Cherry), had learned to understand feline ways.

By the way, if our cat Nickel does this to you, he truly does want a good long belly rub. If Skooter does, maybe you could risk trying, but if Faerie does, beware!

I had finished The Cherry Tree by bedtime…

…and tomorrow and the next day rain was promised. Four more books to go, and the next one is the last of Jeannie’s life on earth. I finally fell asleep with a feeling of sorrow.