#936 theoldmortuary ponders.

I love a complicated image, first thing in the morning. Coffee and a complicated image, which is what this was, is even better.

On reflection, I fear I may have been a bit harsh with May. All my moaning on, about rain and dull days. I blame my genes. I was reading about the wettest and dryest cities in England yesterday. If you were to draw a triangle with each corner being a top 3 driest city. Cambridge, London, Chelmsford. All in the East of England. 75% of my gene pool comes from that geographical area, making me wet-intolerant. The other 25% comes from Wales and Norway. If I was a plant nobody would set my roots in the 3rd wettest city in England , Plymouth, and expect me to thrive. But that is exactly what I have done to myself. So if I am a little droopy in the long, wet, autumn/winter/spring months I have only myself to blame.

On a positive note the roses of Plymouth are just fabulous this year. Our local municipal park has an informal memorial rose garden and after a few days of proper good weather the fragrance and colours are vivid in the late afternoon. I am hoping for a similar transition myself.

I may even do a whole blog about roses, particularly those with their roots in cremated remains.

I am not usually a fan of formal rose gardens but the randomness and slightly scruffy haphazardness of this particular one intrigues me enough to go back.

Somewhere in a cupboard I have a cremated cat called Jasper,I wonder if he fancies going in a pot with rose roots , he might make a wonderful show.

P.s  My parents cremated remains are buried in a dry old spot in the East of England, their choice.

Not for them the gaudy,giddiness of a mish-mash of blowsy multicoloured roses. They have a quiet country churchyard and were dug up by moles. I think I prefer gaudy giddiness as a memorial.

#935 theoldmortuary ponders

A milky sunset to say farewell to May. Where did that month go. Normally my favourite month, this year May has felt shorter and less productive than usual. I think my dissatisfaction is just weather-related. First World problems!

The hard graft in our yard is done . Everything is back in place and just tomatoes and courgettes to be planted into their summer positions.

There is an element of both fantasy and fact with our back yard.

Very firmly rooted on the Devon coast, we have learned over three years that Mediterranean planting is the way to be successful in the yard.

The fantasy.

Open fencing/ trellis on the walls has given us the height for climbers. In the week since the work was finished stray climbing plants have found their way into our garden from friends and a new Wisteria has been bought. My finger hovers over a Bougainvillea on a nursery website. To be honest my finger hovers over a lot of things. A great big bucket of exterior white paint might actually be the most sensible starting point. Or I could take the fantasy to a whole new level and lose some of the walls.

Which would be a waste of good trellis. So for June, a bucket or two of white paint it is. Welcome June.