Life on a small island
A little bit of this and that...
I am a tiny bit obsessed with my nascent garden. The morning after I returned from ten days in Spain, our gardener—who has been helping us redesign and re-imagine our space—arrived to work for the morning. I always try to work with him, so he can show me his tricks and we co-design and make decisions together. This morning was no exception, except that in my excitement to be back in my garden, I forgot I actually have a miserable cold, and after three hours pulling, digging, stooping, filling up dozens of watering cans and emptying them on the parched new growth, and generally walking around and around, I was shattered.
But I am oh-so-pleased! There is finally more green foliage than the brown winter bark chippings on the ground. The blossoms are budding out ready to burst any day now. The clematis actually bloomed like crazy whilst I was away for the first year in the three I’ve been patiently waiting. It will hopefully show off for quite awhile now.
As part of our garden design, we swapped the locations of a sundial that came with the garden, and our bird bath. The bird bath is a little more protected now under some trees, but still in a place where we can watch from inside the house. The next day one of our resident wood pigeon pair came swooping down into the garden near the site of the former bath—now sundial—hopping up on it’s rim ready for its morning bath. Whoops!
It wandered around the rim a few times, looking at the dial, turning its head and neck to the left and right. Since they are not the brightest birds in the land, we wondered how long/if it would find the new birdbath location. It eventually hopped down and wandered through the garden, politely using the path, pecking at possible snacks and eventually found its way to the relocated bath. It jumped up, and after a few test slurps, jumped full-body into the bath. Sorted.
Also for the first time, a blackbird has been arriving daily during our lunchtime to splish-splash bathe in the new bird bath location. Clearly this is a much better place for birds. If only we can keep all the neighbouring cats who hunt in our garden from finding it.
Last Sunday we walked down to the seafront as part of our daily walking loop and in the warm afternoon sun we declared it the “Busiest ice cream day” of the year so far. We judge the popularity by how many families, dogs and individuals are sitting side-by-side along the seawall, cones dripping faster than their tongues can lick. We assess the number of ice cream cones versus trays of chips (‘fries’ in American). We also measure the length of queues at the ice cream stand across the street. The beach had plenty of towels with pink bodies laying out, and nearby children digging furiously. A few hearty souls were bobbing in the icy northern-current waters.
Since it was also U.S. Mother’s Day on Sunday, I enjoyed time on long video chats with each of my kids and then all together with their partners. Between the beach walk and lovely long chats, I sat in the SUN in the garden, enjoying the results of hours of labour that got the garden this far. I may have a cold, but the sun and comfy chairs go a long way to easing any discomfort.
The middle of the week turned abruptly with a morning call from Pete’s mum saying we needed to call emergency services as she was feeling quite ill. We did so and then raced across the Island to arrive the same time as the ambulance. Thankfully, she was not in any danger, and the paramedics spent over an hour with her checking all the possibilities. One of the benefits of living on a small island is that time takes on a slightly stretchier quality then in the bigger cities.
The paramedics were quite thorough and in no rush to spirit her off to the hospital so they could move on to the next case. They even asked her if she would like to go to the hospital to get more thoroughly checked out; to no one’s surprise, she responded she wouldn’t like to be a bother. They spent time chatting with us to get more background information, as well as moving the ambulance at one point to accommodate a neighbour’s need to leave the cul de sac. Later that afternoon a nurse from the local surgery (her doctor’s office) came around to the house to further check on her and order some medication to be delivered at home the next day (it was).
We do all moan about the wait times and the inability to see a Doctor in person with the British National Health Service. But this episode reminds me that having access to the NHS is a wonderful gift, a privilege. Once you are ‘in the system’, the care is excellent, and we don’t panic when needing care wondering if it is a choice we can afford. Health care is available to all for no additional cost.
And so time continues to enclose us in its arms, settling us by slowing down when our emotions run high, teasing us by racing by as we add more and more items to the to-do list. We take moments to appreciate the beauty in our small spaces, and the kindness of people in their everyday actions. The world spins, the flowers unfold their colours, the birds splish, the ice cream melts: the Island lives for one more day. As do we, as do we.
Thank you for reading my scattered thoughts this week! My head is still full of cold so getting words out in any form was a bit of a challenge. Wishing you the weather you prefer and the time you crave to enjoy it!
xoxo Sabrina
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I love the simplicity of an average day - a bit of gardening, a mercy dash, people-watching.
It's the little facets of life that make a prism of colour in our lives.
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Your garden is lovely! I remember you writing about your rock-walled spaces. If possible, please photograph a long view.