snowmash's cybergarden - spring edition

[madmouse]

hello

[ThisIsANiceCage]

Thank you, madmouse!

Spring's well and truly here! Cherry blossom, buzzing bees and green shoots everywhere. And tweeting nestlings can be heard through the French windows.

Still pretty chilly at nights tho, so we'll still be needing the snuggly rugs for late night chats and stargazing. And the stove, for huddling round and making tea/hot chocolate/coffee.

Talking of which, here's to help us settle in to our new thread.

And so we don't get lost here's snowmash' cybergarden - the thaw.

[shodatin]

Thank you madmouse for organising lovely new thread.
Thanks to TIANC for organising and as usual. So glad you can hear the nestlings from your house too - it really is spring, even here.
Must have 5min with electric saw this p.m. to complete spring gardening, but will be back soon in case we have a visit from snowmash on our new thread.

[cityhobgoblin]

Evening all - not deliberately missing popping in a few times a day, just not keeping up with basics properly in between snoozing eg was about to post this morning before catching bus and beloved cat came to ask for a big fuss - wail.
Will be home & quiet next week & catching up on a fraction of the tasks you lot are achieving.

I think of you now & then in the day , snowmash, as we all do , & wish / hope for some pleasant distractions for you. ( & do say if we can help with that ).

Been upset since yesterday that I haven't responded properly to the links TIANC. Have heard of ubuntu but it was in my very long "to look up " list ...very happy to have the excuse to look at it now , & have been looking at the links & associated stuff as I feel very excited about it ! The music is joyous & I'm so happy you can start to listen again - brilliant news.

Your our day to day sounds very far from dull , shodatin- rather , filled with patience & thoughtfulness / enjoyment of nature / & very interesting friends & relatives.
I forgot to thank you for the fab news about rum flavouring - I can't wait You are very kind . Haven't tracked down poached egg plant seeds anywhere - will surely find a gardener / shop with some soon - I want some too.

Hope pixie had time today for some relaxation & that madmouse & family are OK in the midst of the stress of mousling's exercises.
Hope kizzie & ds s' had a good break.

Our anti - cuts group had a little march organised today " in defence of the nhs" ie against current plans , & it went well - phew. Even had a small brass band !

Cybergarden is gorgeous tonight , beautiful ideas for it .

[shodatin]

Hello hob, hope you enjoyed the day, complete with brass band - what a wonderful idea of getting attention for the cause! Very quiet here of course, as people either go to the beach for the sun or stay at home to avoid their traffic.
Haven't heard from snowmash today, so hope it went well with plenty of rest and relaxation and enough people around for socialising if required. When DB was in hospital recently, he learned to make greetings cards and practice yoga, so I hope there are a few amusements available on your ward.

[ThisIsANiceCage]

Oh hob, I'm so sorry to have upset you. Links were there in case they tickled your fancy, not as compulsory homework. Glad your march went so well - and that your cat came in to demand give some RL attention and feline hugs.

Hope everyone has had a good day, and snowmash is not too uncomfortable when she wakes.

Really lovely day here - finally got to go out for dinner with wonderful DP, so feeling luckiest girl in the world tonight.

Night night all, sleep well.

[shodatin]

Morning all - another beautiful, sunny day, and checking local weather fore-cast, seems it will be with us for another week! Amazing!
So pleased you got your evening out TIANC; been a long wait for you both so hope it was perfect . Snowmash, I know it seems a long way off, but you'll be having meals out again one day, life won't always be so limited and you're still moving in the right direction, however it feels just now.

[cityhobgoblin]

Hi all , fabulous sun indeed shodatin & hope all get to bask in it for a while , especially snowmash.
Fab news about good day & evening out with DP TIANC . You absolutely did not upset me , , no way - very much voluntary homework !!! my very favourite type of subject . Also listened more of the tracks , & see why Ms Fassie is so well -loved .

Hope madmouse , kizzie and all pixies enjoy today.
I did think you were expecting , pixie , but didn't like to ask , then saw you on another thread ( sorry ) describe your childrens' age range as including " plus bump" so I hope you're feeling well.

Really hope there are some activities available like those shodatin's DB took part in, snowmash , & that you'll start to feel up to them.

[shodatin]

How amazing Pixie - and only last week I was congratulating you on everything you were managing to do with the twins around, now I see you're expecting again Superwoman! Hope you have plenty of help and can manage
to rest when necessary, but hey, you're the expert here and don't need tips. Hope you all had a good lunch out yesterday.
Back to potter in garden before next bit of socialising; snowmash, I do hope you're managing to get outside in this lovely weather.

[cityhobgoblin]

Hope everyone has had some relaxation this afternoon - socialising & pottering sound lovely , shodatin.
Have any forget - me - nots sprouted in our cybergarden ? and bluebells , at the foot of trees ? Blue flowers look beautiful as night starts to fall .

[shodatin]

Am sure we have forget-me-nots miraculously appearing in the cyber-garden hob, as they seem to do everywhere else, including my own patch this year.Thanks for the reminder about bluebells too, so very English under the trees, and so much nicer than the white variety I keep digging up here. My Thai friend was convinced they were garlic, and asked for a few to take home, such a shame they were not as I can't get rid of them. Am equally sure we don't have this type of invasive and poisonous plant in the cybergarden.

[kizzie]

Hi everyone - just dropping by to say had a nice 'blip free' (!! :-) weekend away. Gives me some confidence - which had been a bit in short supply.

Hope you are ok snowmash xx

[madmouse]

yay for blip-free Kizzie - glad it's gone so well xx

[ThisIsANiceCage]

Hey there, just popping after this beautiful, gorgeous day.

Definitely a relaxing one, hob, and my RL bluebells are out as well as the cybergarden ones. I'm afraid mine seem to be a spread of native, Spanish and hybrid, shodatin. Delighted to have just the scented, English bluebell in the cybergarden. Forget-me-nots sound lovely too.

By the way, meant to share this site: Carry On Gardening. You may have sussed most of this stuff, but I found it quite useful. Among other things, they review tools to solve eg bending probs.

Super news that you've had a good weekend, kizzie. Hope you have more and more like it!

Meant to thank Pixie for her eagle-eyed Thread Nearly Full warning yesterday.

showmash thinking of you today.

hob so glad I've lured you into the thrall of Brenda!

[shodatin]

Morning all - such good weather again, it's hardly worth mentioning it now, we're all getting used to it. Thanks for that website TIANC, I will certainly have a look. I gave up gardening entirely a few years ago, the cancer year, after buying small, easy-to-manage property without the usual lawn, and only watered containers now and then. I have several long, boring tales about gardeners and simply gave up on them, relying on friends and DB to do most of the weeding, until my Thai friend arrived and urged me to get going again by doing all the donkey-work, sharing plants and gadgets etc and generally renewing my interest, so it's probably a good time to look into disabled gardening.

Funny thing about forget-me-nots - have always had them and yet never planted them, they turn up by themselves every time!
Hope you're doing OK snowmash and able to get outside, and everyone else, by the way.

[cityhobgoblin]

Afternoon all & apologies yet again- button on monitior ocasionally refuses to stay down so making it harder to type! So glad sun is reaching most of us again -but we're all worried that you're not having much access to the outdoors , snowmash . Adam Ant has been in the media a fair bit recently & has used it to point out the bad conditions for some inpatients - particularly almost no outdoor time & few rights adhered to re:basic health & safety Hope conditions not so bleak for you.

Sorry for grumpy contrast to such lovely , cheering posts -
How fab that your break went so well ,kizzie , very good sign as trips away bring out anxiety in most people . Please don't be hard on yourself when blips do occur , will you < frets >

What a brilliant site, TIANC - had never seen it & will pass it on to lots of friends too . Will get some cheapy weed - barrier membrane before I sow the rest of the brocolli seeds outdoors , & look forward to getting a push - pull weeder. Must try basic irrigation , too. btw if your cherry tree grows at the rate of our bird -sown one , it'll have shot up , erm, about 7 foot in 4 years ' time - is yours a container one ? You can prune it .

Thank you & shodatin for forget-me-not & bluebell chat , have lots of both atm & notice cats seem to love lying among them!

Very good to hear you've been able to restart some gardening shodatin . Seems the way forward , for friends to divvy up tasks like that - your Thai friend must be learning lots from you as well as enjoying the chat.

Thinking of you & mousling , madmouse, adapting to using arm differently . Hope you have a chance to go to rehearsals / lessons at some point.
Hope pixie clan having some school holiday fun together.
Sorry for length again

[cityhobgoblin]

Hoping everyone's had chances to have a bit of peace in their evening & also manages to have a look at the moon on their way to bed / if up in the night .. I love seeing it high in the sky at about 2AM .

Hope the ward isn't horribly hot , snowmash . Sending thoughts & prayers for strength & spiritual refreshment.

[madmouse]

thank you hob - am struggling at the moment with nightmares and new memories and that all too familiar tension in my head that says more to come. Have had some text support from lovely friend who says devil is on my case as I have coped so well with ds's op and I'm going to confirmed in a few weeks so it's time for some shit stirring. He is probably right. Still hard work at the moment. But been to band practice tonight, helped the band rehearse easter songs as band leader off until Sunday so only one female voice there tonight. Singing always helps and Easter songs are good.

Mousling had a stubborn day today including not having dinner just because he can and pushing his highchair into the middle of the dining room also just because he can, and saying no a lot. sigh. Love him really

[ThisIsANiceCage]

Oh yes, isn't it a fabulous moon at the moment, hob? And orange!

Sorry things are rough at the moment, madmouse. Hope the red, horned gentleman doesn't linger - so glad singing helps keep him away. How exciting about your confirmation, tho!

shodatin, that's so tedious, having your efforts thwarted by hopeless gardeners. (Same here with builders.) But wonderful that you're now back in the swing. With all your careful plant planning on here, I can't imagine you not in a garden...

Potted cherry on a dwarfing root-stock, btw. I am wise to their enthusiastic ways! Also tentatively learning to prune, as it's a fan against a wall.

Hope everyone has had good days.

snowmash, you're here with us in the garden in our thoughts, every day.

Can't keep awake here. Peaceful nights to you all, with lunar lighting for the late-nighters.

[shodatin]

Thanks hob for news of tonight's moon - I just looked and it's glowing golden here and very lovely.
Hope you soon feel better madmouse. I've been handing out lemon balm to make a good-tasting tea which actually has a tranquillising effect, and can recommend this for the stressful times (as well as singing, of course)
Seems we have another warm and sunny day due for tomorrow. A friend will be visiting and am undecided whether to go out to eat or have something simple in the garden - usually unimportant as usually raining...
Hope you had a positive day snowmash. Night all.

[cityhobgoblin]

Afternoon all , on a glorious sunny day when , as TIANC says , we're thinking of you snowmash at different points every dayxx

Sorry for awful memories and nightmares (((madmouse))) & strongly doubt the dark forces( other than human ones from your past ) are testing you here as IME , the subconscious tends to pile difficult "work" on you right after other scary challenges - maybe psychological processes involved in your recent efforts , plus dealing with DH's new parish & your difficult job , plus mousling's new challenges , have prompted your psyche to rush through new work before you're up to it.
The only thing I could suggest would be trying to get peace & quiet , but how can you get that with a little chap doing so much "just because he can " ! Any chance at all of a little extra childcare for him before the summer holiday is upon you ? Mn may have some inventive suggestion to help you find some headspace (ahem).
No experience re: confirmation but many congratulations 7 hope it brings refreshment. So glad you've been to rehearsal & the Easter songs sound great.

Wheeeeeeeeeeee about training cherry tree against wall , TIANC - my dream . Very cool too that you're making steady progress with the painting . Hope warm weather not totally draining.

Hope all having a positive day & that shodatin & friend enjoy their meetup. Too right , that's not a dilemma you'd expect in April Thank you all for sharing the moon - didn't see orange , wow .

[cityhobgoblin]

"& " , not 7 ! May we have a pinch of your lemon balm please , shodatin , for our refreshing and or veggie sticks & hoummous (sp) & oatcakes

[shodatin]

Plenty of lemon balm available, leaves (about nettle-sized) or self-sown seedlings available, never seen it dried/in pinches but happy to post some in damp paper if required?
Had a lovely meet-up thanks,presents exchanged both sides. A (fter deciding on tea in local cafe about 3p.m., found one place closed, one closed down and third just closing but happy to sell us drinks & snacks, which were amazingly good (and will get there earlier next time.)
Hope snowmash got outside today.

[shodatin]

Just checking in case snowmash dropped by....Night all, sleep well.

[cityhobgoblin]

Oops , you can tell I've never seen lemon balm, shodatin ! Blimey , you're actually growing it at the moment ? You are so lovely but I don't want to deplete your precious stocks if I can find some locally - I think you recommended it to madmouse with her many stressors atm, so perhaps she'd like a few leaves ?
btw am sure I'll find Limanthes (sp?) eventually - haven't forgotten. . Neighbour just offered me the use of a bit of her allotment plot ( she's worried she's not doing eniugh with it to be allowed to keep it ) so I might have room to try a couple of new things.

Your afternoon sounds lovely & glad you snatched tasty snacks from the jaws of early closing.

Hope TIANC has had a relaxing but not (overly) frustrating day , & that pixie & kizzie have been enjoying the school holiday routine .

What a nice phrase TIANC ," lunar lighting " ...soothing , peaceful sleep to you , snowmash, & hope the warm weather isn't making the side effects feel worse . Hope in a few days' time your system will have adjusted to the dose & things will feel vastly better

[cityhobgoblin]

Goodnight shodatin , you too