Just NOTES // Five-minute write

I'm running out of time for today's post but that's okay because some notes are just for the taking of them. Herewith a list of thoughts that I will revisit tomorrow, or the next day.

This morning I went to pick up some post from my neighbour Laura who lives next door to what is now ‘my old house’. I observed front garden and back (above just before I left), felt pleased at the way it has matured into a cohesive planting of euphorbias, grasses, seasonal foliage and flowers. But then I saw my herbs, a froth of chervil and the annual return of the angelica, a self-seeded stalwart, and I feel a bit sad. I can resow all these things in another patch of course, but this was my home for 15 years. It is so strange that I can only look not touch. And then, I think, how important the touch of plants is.

My new ‘rescue border’, made up of a temporary arrangement of propagated plants and potted seedlings from my old garden is now coming into bloom and for that I am glad. Geranium ‘Rozanne’ and a pink one I know not the name of, foxgloves of purple and cream, borage and poppies, Mexican daisy and catmint. It is small but it is beautiful in its survival and it comes without the conflict that I spent so long living alongside too. Conflict can also be propagated, through families and through generations, and I hope that this is the last in a long line of it.

I hung my washing out in the garden and it is bobbing happily in the breeze against a backdrop of my ‘Mediterranean’ wall. The midday sun really hits it, bouncing the light back in through the kitchen window and partly into the ‘dining’ area (fast becoming my office and the place where I dump all that I need to keep track of).

It is sunny and I really need to get outside now and make the most of it. Some errands call and I am glad of the distraction because sometimes writing – especially the writing of a synopsis I am working on – requires thinking time. I think best on drives, walking or running, in secondhand shops and around books and plants, and there is ample possibility for these to be factored into the errand run.

Note to self: water the school garden this afternoon so all those lovely plants survive the half term. Also sow some courgette and borage seeds, plant out the tomatoes and take the canes into school with which to make an arch around the herb bed.

Okay, I’m going out!

PS That was a 5 minute write in case you ever feel that you haven’t got time to do your daily or regular practice…