Free Time

How lovely it is to have some free time. My friend's wedding went without a hitch, although the day before when I went to help with the flower arranging wasn't quite as much fun as the day itself. I spent a total of five hours sitting on the M25 that day, instead of calmly arranging the beautiful flowers the bride had chosen to decorate the church and wedding venue. Garden Girl helped me put green sticky tape around the little tubes providing water for the roses which adorned the end of the church pews, while Garden Boy played with some small church bells and did some colouring in. The other helpers however had done an amazing job, building an archway for the end of the aisle and some beautiful window and table decorations. No-one there that day had any experience in flower arranging and yet they did a wonderful job. All the flowers came from the Convent Garden Flower Market where my friend went with her mum in the early hours of the morning. It sounded absolutely amazing and I hope to have the opportunity to go myself one day.

On the day itself Garden Girl did an amazing job carrying the offertary to the front of the church. I must admit I was terrified the whole time that she would drop the glass jug, spilling wine everywhere but she took every step with such concentration and so carefully I shouldn't have worried.

Since the wedding Garden Girl has turned three. She was a little bit disappointed when she found she still needed her booster seat to reach the table at breakfast time. So many people had told her what a big girl she would be when she was three that she was expecting to be big when she woke up on her birthday. But the disappointment was alleviated when she banged her head on the fridge door which she has never done before, so happy that she was now at least a little bit taller, she enjoyed the rest of her birthday.

So while we have been preparing for and celebrating these events the garden has been saying goodbye to summer and autumn has definately arrived. The trees overlooking the garden at the back now have as many yellow and orange leaves as green ones. The tomatoes and cucumbers have been dying off and have stopped producing fruit but the pumpkin and some other squash have been getting bigger. There is an unsurprising air of neglect out there as well, following my recent lack of activity, so this week I am harvesting vegetables for storage, removing the dead plants and clearing the ground.

With the recent frenzy of activity over and me feeling a little bit closer to healthy I should be back into my usual rythmn of enjoying the garden and blogging. Garden Girl and Garden Boy are certainly enjoying the return to the garden and I am enjoying the luxury of free time.