You can't walk away

I made the mistake a couple of weeks ago of looking at the garden and deciding that there was no choice except to clear it up myself (I tried asking Bernard but that just resulted in a few of the rampant agapanthus heads being hacked off and lots of slimy leaves left rotting on the paths waiting for someone to do a slip-on-the-banana-skin type fall).

I really wish someone would discover a commercial use for agapanthus. We would be set for life. But in the meantime, every year the seed heads must be hacked off before yet more agapanthus (agapanthi??) try to force their way through the already cracked concrete paths and brick walls and we end up like the house next door. Empty for 2 years, it now just needs a handsome prince to come hacking his way through the overgrowth in search of sleeping beauty. (I could tell him now, he'd be wasting his time, all he'd find to kiss is a rat).

So I set to, pulling up agapanthus and grass from the paths and weeds from the flower beds,  beheading the seeded agapanthus and sweeping piles of fallen leaves and cabbage tree fronds from the steps. And I kept at it until I could barely walk, staggered into the house past Bernard, grunted at him and fell onto the bed. Then I got up and took Daughter-Two bowling because I had promised to.

As a result I descended into two weeks of fibromyalgia hell. Teach me to get cocky just because I have been feeling fine for an unusually long time. All my pressure points are incredibly sore, I ache all over, want to fall asleep at midday and I wake every morning feeling like an arthritic 99 year old who has been hit by a train. Fortunately I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. I only hope it's not the train returning.

I fear I shall have to scour the local paper for "retired man seeks gardening work" ads.

One of the few things that help when I ache this bad, is a really hot bath. So I have been having lots of them. Daughter-Two called out to me the other day wanting to read me her latest story. "Oh good" she said (when she tracked me down in the bathroom). "You're in the bath. That means you can't walk away"

Ouch. Seems she has noticed that I too often ask her to read to me while I wander about tidying up or sweeping the floor. Not quite the captive audience she prefers.

 

 

Now, for days I have been fretting over the key situation and planned this weekend to get more keys cut. You see, Bernard lent his key to his mother when we were away on holiday and forgot to get it back. Then he borrowed my keys which I then could not find. So we have been relying on the spare key which lives in a secret spot. I KNEW that disaster was brewing and, sure enough, when we got back from the Assembly the spare key was gone. I could see it through the window on the kitchen table where Daughter-one had left it after letting herself in earlier that day.

Still, all clouds have a silver lining. Look at what happened while we waited for the locksmith to arrive since there was nothing else to do:

That's not something you see often.

And we got the locksmith to quote for fancy new deadlocks too.

The same day, my Shutterfly albums arrived. They are fantastic:

 

 

 

It is such a thrill to see such lovely, "real" books. Mind you, it's not a cheap thrill. The exchange rate is a killer (the New Zealand dollar has dropped from US80cents to US50cents). So getting two 86 page books printed was horrendously expensive. REALLY horrendously expensive.

I must start investigating whether there are any good Australian book printing services. (Suggestions eagerly received).

Surprisingly, there are a few new products going into the store at Designer Digitals this weekend:

 

 

 

 

 

And here are the layouts:

 

Comments

[Heather T.]

86-page books?? YIKES!

I love how the dog is helping Bernard mow the lawn. Heh. =)

[Sharon]

The exchange rate is a killer. I got a couple of Snapfish books done - they weren't bad - printed a little lighter than I thought (could be my monitor) and the process to put the book together isn't nearly as nice as Shutterfly. Local so you pay in NZ$ and there is a pickup option. They have specials every now and again too (one on at the moment for 12x12 leather books). Some people have tried Artscow too - Hong Kong based but very reasonable. They have been happy with the books.