The cat that got the cream

For this episode of the lockdown diaries, I am taking you back to Friday last week.

It was Good Friday, not that you'd notice. There weren't even any Hot Cross buns for breakfast, just our usual weekday fruit and yoghurt.

Still, I'm looking for all the world like the cat that got the cream!

It was a sunny day for starters, but we've recently had a whole string of those, so that couldn't be the reason.  Nor was it the fact that I didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn and go to the office. 

It might have been because I'd just rediscovered this gorgeous poppy dress in my wardrobe, but it wasn't. And no, neither my green belt, bird brooch, necklace and bracelet, nor my floral wooden bangle, were the source of all this giddiness!

I'm sure that by now you are all on the edge of your seats, so I'm not going to taunt you any longer and keep you in suspense.

Ta-da! 

Yes, I was finally able to lay my hands on some garden plants!

Although garden centres were not allowed to open(*) we'd found out that a chain of shops catering for the agricultural market, which were allowed since they were selling pet food and baking products, had received permission to open their plant department.

(*) As per yesterday's regulations update, garden centres will now be allowed to open starting the weekend, if they can comply with the usual safety measures.

So, we took our car and drove down to the nearest shop, which is in a neighbouring village and, while Jos waited in the car, I queued to get in.

Only twenty people were allowed in at the same time, but I only had to wait for about 10 minutes before it was my turn to get hold of a cart, which was sanitized after the previous customer handed it in.

I did go a bit wild and completely filled my cart with Spring and early Summer flowers, thyme, lavender and a pot of rhubarb.

There was no need to hurry, really, as we had the whole of the Easter weekend to allocate each of our purchases their rightful place in the garden.

Still, my hands were itching to get started, so I got stuck in immediately, only pausing to have soup and bread for lunch.

For starters, the tête-à-tête daffs and African daisies got the company of a pot of pinks and some more bulbs, which I planted in an old wicker basket I found hidden away in the potting shed. 

I left the pinks in their cheerfully coordinating pink plastic pot, which I put on top of our rusty garden scales, and added a couple of odds and ends which I found lying around to the display.

A terracotta pot of delicate, ruffled and pink edged Ranunculus joined the houseleeks and rusty weights on our windowsill, where they are kept company by Baby Gargoyle, whom we bought at Past Times when on holiday in the UK over twenty years ago. 

And look, I seem to have made a shelfie selfie :-)

The framed chickens used to be in our kitchen in its previous incarnation, when we had a bit of a chicken theme going on. It was another forgotten potting shed find. 

After lunch, I gave the "garden bathroom" a good clean as it was looking decidedly grotty.  

We've lost the jug, which was part of the vintage wash set, after we forgot to take it inside during a frosty period, and it inevitably cracked and fell into pieces.  Phoebe sometimes uses the basin as a drinking bowl, although we try to discourage her as the water trapped inside can get rather slimy.

At the end of the passage, which runs alongside our kitchen, is our dining room window, where I planted the window box with some pansies and primulas.

There's still quite a bit of work to be done here!

My final task of the day - before watering the plants, obviously - was cleaning the miniature greenhouse which was pining away in a border, and putting two lavender plants in it.

The same border also housed a redundant round metal garden table, which I asked Jos to move to the other end of the garden, next to our bench. 

Here, the lavender is enjoying the company of pink and yellow Argyranthemums, again in terracotta pots. We have quite a few of these in our potting shed, although not nearly as many as the few hundred Vix brought back from her parental home.

With that day's flurry of activity going on in her beloved garden, Her Majesty was definitely not amused!

Still work to be done in front of the bench as well, as we need to clean those tiles, which we rather grandly call the Roman Path.

In total contrast to Friday, I was feeling tired and lethargic on Saturday. 

I briefly ventured outside for a socially distant visit to the chocolate shop in our village to buy some Easter eggs, and spent the rest of the day reading and doing some gentle pottering.

I was wearing a mostly pink and green Spring outfit, built around a pink floral vintage frock from Think Twice and a charity shopped nautical style short-sleeved jumper.

The belt, necklace, shoes and bangles were charity shopped as well, while the vintage brooch was a flea market find bought from the original Brooch Lady.  Well, I suppose that by now I am a bit of a Brooch Lady too!

Time to enjoy the results of my labour and yes ... still looking like the cat that got the cream!

Will be back soon. In the meantime, please do stay safe and sane, my dears!

Oh, and I almost forgot. I have added a follow by email gadget to my blog. It's on the top of the sidebar, for those who are interested. Thank you Nancy and Sheila for reminding me!