It never rains...

The corralling of the numerous rubbish bins seems to have paid off, in that I didn’t have to chase cans and bottles round the garden the day after the storm.  Of the fences, alas, the news is less good.  Both have elected to diverge from the vertical, so a chap is coming round on Sunday to assess whether they can be cobbled up again.  It seems like no time since we had them put up, but whatever the guarantees on the posts may say, at least one has rotted, and where one leads, others doubtless follow.  Not a cheap business, this home ownership thing.

The credit card is taking a hammering this month.  Mr Cunard required the balance for our May trip to points north, and the time for my eyesight check came round.  Yes: new prescriptions for both distance (better) and reading (worse).  I’ve had the half-moons reglazed, but since I didn’t like the frames on my old all-rounders, I’ve gone for a new frame.  The deal was cheaper than last time,  but still a couple of months’ state pension.  Today the car has been in for a couple of annoying little repairs, and come out with an estimate for two more, dammit.  They may have to wait a while.  

I’m starting to enjoy the garden again. The cornus bushes have given us some winter colour, but now that they’re starting into growth again, the ones at the front have had their annual haircuts.  The cornus and I sport the same hairstyle at this time of year, so the garden waste bin is pretty full again.  There’s another cornus at the back, but I’ll leave it until there’s a bit more to look at from the dining room windows.  One of the patio roses at the front door is still in flower, north-facing and altogether! It’s in a sheltered spot under the awning that runs across the front of the house.  Of the other shrubs at the front, the magnolia and azalea have healthy looking buds, and the camellia is just about to burst into flower.  The clematis is flowering shyly, and I think the viburnum will be quite good in a while.  

We have a fair bit of colour from containers near the dining room windows: sundry primulas are flowering brightly, and in the borders nearby the bulbs and primroses are starting to put on a decent show.  Further up the garden, behind the (overflowing) pond, the hellebores are flowering very well.  It’s a bit soon to tell, but I’m hoping the hydrangea will do better this year.  The summer before last it was cut down by the drought, and although it has grown back, it gave us no flowers last year.

A propos flowers, and given that I had the German conversation crowd here yesterday (just four of us this time), I’ve been looking up names of flowers.  Snowdrops are ‘little snow bells’, and daffodils ‘Easter bells’.  Fair enough.  But why hellebores translate as ‘sneeze root’ escapes me - so far.  And given that violets bloom freely in the Alps, why are cyclamen ‘alpine violets’?