My Mum is having a couple of weeks of respite care and I’d arranged to visit this morning with the boys so she could hear about one grandson’s Indian adventure and say goodbye to the other before he headed back to uni this evening. I picked a handful of flowers to take for her room and snapped a few quick photos before we left so I could join in with Cathy’s Monday gathering.
The cherry tree in our back garden is heavy with massive pom-poms of pink blossom, so I cut a couple of low-hanging sprigs. Joining the cherry blossom are Cerinthe major, forget-me-nots, tulip Queen of Night, rosemary (I can’t remember which variety this is – the flowers are much pinker than the bog-standard R. officinalis which we have elsewhere in the garden, plus it smells divine), and a few sprigs of Erigeron karvinskianus.
I was a little apprehensive about visiting her but it was lovely to see Mum looking so happy and relaxed and she loved the flowers. We sat in the sunshine in the beautifully planted garden of the home where she’s staying and exchanged news. The time flew and it was soon her lunchtime so we walked with her to the dining room where she introduced us to her friendly fellow diners and we said our goodbyes. Driving away, we all felt relieved that she’s being so well cared for, that she’s having lots of visitors and she seems very happy. It’s all new territory for our family and if I think about it too much it makes my head and my heart hurt. Thank goodness for flowers, hey?
It’s been a funny old Easter here. The day I wrote my previous post – thank goodness I had that glorious calm start to the day – my daughter developed a fever, spent the next 24 hours or so vomiting, then had a swollen and very sore throat for a few days. She’s been properly poorly, poor love, but is thankfully on the mend and will hopefully be ok to go back to school tomorrow. As a result, we had a very low-key weekend with just the five of us but that was fine. In between nursing duties, I exchanged my marigolds for my gardening gloves and spent as much time as I could outside.
My mother-in-law visited us last weekend and waved her magic wand of motivation and, hey presto, we have finally renovated our dilapidated garage. It’s at the bottom of the garden, we can’t see it from the house and it has been a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’. Suffice to say, we had been putting this big job off for a long time.
This photo was taken after the lintel over the door was repaired by professionals (!) and we’d sanded down the wooden doors (ie it used to look a lot worse). You can see where ivy had grown all over the left-hand side and it had even grown into the render on the right and lifted it away. We had to chip off where it had blown:
And this photo was taken yesterday. Once all the rendering has been sorted out and repainted and and some of the glazing in the doors replaced, it’ll look even better but it’s getting there and our neighbours in the flats below may now start talking to us again!
As well as sorting out the garage, we’ve also done masses of gardening – mostly clearing and weeding but it has been wonderful to be outside getting acquainted with everything again. My wrist has been fully exercised and my arm is definitely getting stronger although, bizarrely, my elbow is really feeling it. It is so good to be (almost) fully functioning again.
Right, there’s a pile of shirts to iron for school tomorrow. It feels a little brutal to be back to normal life so suddenly after the long Easter weekend – we waved David and elder son off earlier, back to work and uni respectively, and the house feels weirdly empty with just the three of us again. I need to move the cat off my lap, remind the two remaining children we’ll need to be out of the house at 7.35am tomorrow (ouch) and set up the ironing board.
Wishing you a good week.
acoastalplot 
I just wanted to say thank you for sharing such gorgeous photos and updates. The flowers are stunning – I’m glad your mother loved them as well!
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Lovely vase for your Mum. 🙂 I love that rosemary. Mine is finally blooming (the usual blue) but I use so much in cooking so all the rosemary shrubs I have ever had rarely manage to produce more than a few flowers!
Hope the working/school week gets off to a good start.
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Say hi to your Mum for me and hope she is relaxing. The garage looks great and it sounds like you have been busy in the garden and getting some fresh sea air. Hope to catch up soon xx
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I’m glad your mum is settling into the respite care – it sounds as though you’ve found a nice place. It’s been such glorious weather and a wonderful long weekend. Have set tomorrow’s alarm for six but am really quite resentful at having to do so..! Hope your week goes nicely X
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I love the mix of the pastel pink flowers and the deep colored tulips and Cerinthe. It must be a relief to know that your mum is happy and receiving excellent care. The garage face-lift looks great too.
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Beautiful flowers. Have never grown Cerinthe but it is very attractive. All the best to you mother.
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I am so pleased that your Mum is in a good place for her respite fortnight and that you can see that she is happy there – it must be so reassuring for you, What lovely soft shades the posy is that you picked to take for your visit. The ‘pink’ rosemary is especially pretty – I noticed my little prostrate rosemary seems to have dried up and don’t suppose there is anty chance of it recovering 😦 Thank you for the glimpse of your kitchen cupboards – I like their style
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It’s certainly been a wonderful Easter for getting out into the garden – what perfect timing for your mother-in-law to wave her motivating wand. Your bunch of flowers looks so pretty. I love the colour combination and informality. My rosemary is flowering profusely but it looks as though the frost last week nipped the ends of a few branches.
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Glad you found your mum in good spirits and being well cared for. Beautiful flowers, the rosemary looks lovely. Nice job on the garage, I hope your daughter is back to full strength now. It’s always a bit of a shock re-entering normal life after the holidays isn’t it. I am taking one last day here with the youngest, albeit with a little work in the evening. Tomorrow it will be back to a quiet house and an early start. CJ xx
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So good that your mum feels happy in the respite care. That must be a great relief. As you say, it takes a bit of getting used to nonetheless.
How amazingly floriferous your garden is already! I am just considering planting out the cerinthe seedlings I sowed a few weeks ago, but it’s been bitterly cold up here with constant strong winds. Think I’ll leave them in the greenhouse a bit longer. Your blog brings it home to me that we really do have a shorter growing season up in the north of Scotland. Sorry about your daughter’s virus. Three out of the four of us were ill over the last fortnight, between Edinburgh and Moray.
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Being poorly is no fun. Hope you’re all better now. Yes, there’s quite a big difference between North Scotland and SE England. I’m not sure I could cope with longer winters!
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What a cheerful vase of spring flowers and given with love to you Mum.
Love what you have done with your garage. It looks stunning and I bet you are glad it is finished.
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I love your bouquet. It must have brought joy to your mum. I hope your daughter is better!
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A lovely post, Sam, giving us a glimpse of your busy spring, with all of its flower and family life. It’s finally getting warm enough to get out in the gardens here and satisfy the itch to get fingers in soil!
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Hope you’re out there now, Brenda 🙂
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Great job on the garage! I know how holiday plans can be turned upside down by sudden illness (in our family, we’ve had flu and broken arms). Still, it’s time together. Glad to hear that your mother seems to be better.
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Thank you, Jason.
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