It’s surprisingly…

It's surprisingly difficult to read gardening magazines, because every article makes me want to stop and do tasks. I got halfway through a sidebar on Houghton Hall's current maintenance list (The English Garden magazine), and had to go out to the garage and tie up my Blaze climbing roses to the trellis.

I've been meaning to do it for weeks, but every time I came in and out of the garage, I was usually herding children or carrying groceries. So it's all for the best, really. And a neighbor walking by, one I haven't spoken to before, said in passing, gesturing at the roses, "I really like those." And then he paused, and repeated, "Yeah, I really like 'em."

This pleases me. :-)

The other nice thing about reading magazines like this is that it diminishes my desire to own a Downton Abbey-style estate. Because just trimming all those yew hedges would make me collapse in an exhausted, quivering heap, never mind all the kazillion other tasks!