Throwout Thursday

Minimalisation Monday didn't quite happen this week, but Throwout Thursday did, today. Two insulated cups, an iPad stand (I think it is), a blue star candle holder, which I like, but I'm not a fan of candles so I never use it, a candle in a little pot which someone gave me, but see above, and two little embroidered pictures in wool which I found out too late that Daughter 1 would have liked to have. I like them too, but they'd been in a drawer for years and I'm trying to be ruthless. Their mounts had got a bit discoloured and what are the chances that I would have replaced them? Sorry, Daughter 1. 

We didn't actually throw any of this out. We took it to a charity shop. Someone will love them, let's hope. 

 

Flowers and flowery china

I was very busy organising our choir's concert... and also being in Wales, socialising and so on... so the garden had got away from me somewhat. There's lots of colour, but there are also quite a few weeds, as well as things that require to be discouraged from taking over the whole garden. I love irises. 

And I love this thalictrum, but I have another one, much smaller, that sat there for 34 years behaving itself and then suddenly, a couple of years ago, decided to take over the world. I have been battling with it this evening. So far, I am not winning. It has matted roots, and sends out sideways bits of root which then shoot up some distance away. Grr. 

There are lots of bulb leaves which haven't yet yellowed, so have to be left for a while. They do look a bit messy. Is that yellow flower a ranunculus? I think so. I used to know...

These pansies have been flowering for months. 

I have been yanking out lots of forget-me-nots, which are getting past their best. 

Lovely bright heuchera, 

and alliums. See the paeonies behind them? I must stake them tomorrow, before they flower. This is a difficult task, because the bees on the alliums suspect me of wicked intentions. 

Mr L was away for the weekend, riding trains up north with some rail-enthusiast friends. We had hot weather. He did not. I missed him, but it was nice not cooking for a few days. I ate cheese sandwiches, peas and fruit. I'm not a foodie. 

It's been too hot for gardening, though I have nobly been doing it anyway. 25C, which is 77F. Too hot for a feeble Scot. This afternoon, though, I sat in the shade beside this lilac, which smells divine, and read my book. 

 And it's Minimalising Monday, so this coffee set is on its way to a charity shop. I got it from my aunt and uncle for my 21st birthday. I'm now nearly 76. It was a design I chose, and in due course we got lots of matching china for wedding presents. I still think it's pretty, but though we do occasionally use the rest of the china, we never use the small coffee cups because who wants a small cup of coffee these days? (They're much smaller than they look in the photo.) Unless it's espresso, I suppose, but we never have this. I decided to add some plates, a jug and a sugar bowl because I have three of these jugs, two sugar bowls and plenty of side plates. (Why did I get three jugs?)

Walking in the Borders

The day after we drove back from Wales, we led the walk that we did the recce for a week or two ago. 

I should rephrase this, really. Mr L drove back. Mr L led the walk (no one would want to depend on me for a sense of direction). And Mr L had done the recce; I had just wandered along with him examining the wild flowers and admiring the view. 

We've often noticed the phenomenon that a walk can seem quite long and tiring when it's just the two of us, but with the group of friends, catching up with the gossip, the miles just melt away. It also helped that on the proper walk we cut out a detour that we'd done on the recce, up a very steep path to a loch and back again. The group walk was six and a quarter miles, so the recce must have been nearer eight, which is another reason why it might have seemed more tiring...

There was a lot of upping, and the main downing was through this very steep field. As you can see, it was steep in two directions - down and sideways - which added to the pressure on the elderly knees. However, this was fairly near the end.

This week's decluttering haul: two (more) books; three wine glasses that don't match the ones we use; a big mixing bowl and flan dish, neither of which I really use (mainly because they were at the back of the cupboard and others were more easily reachable); a cheese grater (I have another); a Wedgwood ash tray (we've never smoked, and our smoking friends gave up years ago); a plastic cup; a set of mirrors for putting things on that I think we used once, at an offspring's wedding 20 years ago; a purse that's too bulky for my handbag and was barely used; and my mother-in-law's crystal dessert bowls. She died in 1992, and I kept them, thinking at that stage that one of our children might like them. But our children don't really have the sort of dinner parties where crystal bowls would feature. And I don't think I've ever used them. So I'm being hard-hearted. Someone will love them.

 

Decluttering again

This week's decluttering: about 400 books, which I hope a charity is going to come and collect today. They're mainly big hardbacks - I read lots of biographies, printed diaries and letters and other non-fiction books. Don't get me wrong - we still have another 400ish, which I will reread if I live long enough. 

Also some items from the cutlery drawer. Why did we need 4 bottle openers (I've kept one)? And two nutcrackers? - I think we cracked nuts the last time when the children were small, at Hallowe'en. These are the family heirloom ones, argh, but we support a charity that collects metal to recycle, so... off they go. Also two melon ballers? Have I ever balled melon? 

This is the truncheon owned by William Menzies (pronounced, in Scotland, Ming-ess), who was married to Mr L's great-aunt Agnes. He was a village postmaster and presumably had it to discourage marauders in the tiny, beautiful, peaceful village by Loch Tay. Son and family were here for the weekend and Son has taken it away, not - I assume - to chase difficult patients from his surgery.

Yesterday we did a recce for a walk we're leading a week on Saturday. It was in the Borders, otherwise known as the Southern Uplands, and there's a reason for that. 

It was about 6 and a half miles, lots of it - most of it - going up hill and down again. 

It was beautiful and we had perfect spring weather. 

But it was quite tiring. 
 

Fresh air and exercise

I've decided to stop calling our decluttering "death cleaning" - a bit depressing. It's now Minimalising Monday; though if Mondays are too busy it can actually happen on another day. This Monday we took my mother's crystal bowl to a charity shop. It's been in our house since my lovely mum died in 2012, and I've never used it. I have several crystal bowls that I do use, and this one, because it's shallow, takes up a lot of space. 

And we took Mr L's old bike to a bike place where they refurbish them for good causes - youth groups and so on. 

We've also arranged for a charity to come and collect the books we're getting rid of. They're coming on May 5, so we need to tackle the books in the other rooms before then. I love a deadline. And Mr L is decluttering his old cameras. 

On Saturday we went on a lovely walk with the gang round Gosford House in East Lothian. 

The weather was perfect. 

This was our lunch spot. 

Reflections. 

Six miles, including walking along to the golf clubhouse for coffee overlooking the sea. 

And then home on the bus.

My little cercis chinensis is looking good, with its tulip entourage. 

Yesterday I was up town and admired the view from the bus stop.

And look at these frilly tulips in the garden! So pink. Lovely spring. 

 

More flowers. And death cleaning.

This is the time of year when my amaryllises (is that the plural?) flower all at once and I don't really know what to do with them, because they're huge. I have three pots of them and they sit in a spare room looking boringly leafy for 11 months, and then have their fortnight of glory downstairs. In fact, they badly need to be repotted and split into at least 8 pots, but do I want 8 leafy pots sitting around all year? I do not. The year before last, I did some splitting, and got rid of 3 pots to friends. Next year I must do more of this! The trouble is that I can't bear to throw them away. And you can't really persuade people to accept them apart from when they're in bud and look promising. I've had the original bulb for... oh, it must be twenty or more years. 

Talking of getting rid of things, I've made a resolution that every Monday morning I'm going to throw something away or take it to a charity shop. Thus if I live to, oh, 96, my children won't have much to do with my stuff when I die. So far we've kept this up for two weeks but I'm determined to continue. Books don't count. We do take books to charity shops anyway. But we have a lot of books. 

A member of the choir of which I'm chair died suddenly on Saturday. She felt unwell all week, then felt better, then felt worse and died on the way to hospital. She was at choir the previous week, apparently fine. Keep decluttering, Pam. I mean, she was 78, but I'm 75. 

It's spring in the garden. 

Lovely lovely. 

I've done quite a bit of tidying, but there's still more to do. However, weeding this hyacinth bed was a pleasure. The scent!

This is my little shady reading corner for hot weather. But it's not hot yet. 

Pink and yellow don't really go together, but I think they're fine here. Every year I buy quite a few hyacinths at the supermarket to have in the house over a couple of months, and then I plant them in the garden afterwards. We've been in the house for 36 years, so it's quite a hyacinthy garden. I  hope the people who come after us in the house don't concrete the whole thing over. 

In London, Littlest Granddaughter looks at a new book on the stairs. 

In Dundee Botanic Gardens yesterday, Small Grandson runs on stepping stones. We were up to see the family, which was very nice, though Dundee Botanics aren't a patch on the Edinburgh ones, and they charge you £5 entry fee, while the Edinburgh ones are free. I think the Edinburgh ones should charge, really; but I'm very glad they don't.