Cartwheeling

 Back in the days when we lived in England and enjoyed wall-to-wall Radio 4, we were fans of “I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue”. One of my favourite rounds was Alternative Definitions. For example; Abscond: to make off with someone’s cream tea. I enjoy the way in which words can be given new meanings and uses, and we have done a little of this ourselves this week. On Monday we moved bench number four from its north-east corner spot in the back garden, to the flat area to the west of the shed:

Once moved, Nicky and I decided we had to test it for awhile and see what the view was like. During the initial tests Nicky asked if I would distribute some of the remaining mega mulch bark onto the areas in the bed by the retaining wall that she had weeded. In doing so, she was trying to form a sentence which included me wheelbarrowing the mulch from the storage bag (which was right next to us) to the flower bed. However, due to the lack of a fresh cup of tea (her brain chemistry being reliant on Brownian motion) she suggested that I should cartwheel the mulch. I explained that I had given up gymnastics years ago and that it would result in more mulch being flung over the garden than going into the flower bed. As a result, cartwheeling has become the verb used to encompass the process of extracting mulch from the storage area to distributing in the correct place in the garden. This week I have done much cartwheeling. On Tuesday I used up the last of our stocks of mulch, so ordered three more scoops from our local supplier. This was delivered on Thursday afternoon. Much of it went straight to work in the aforementioned flower bed, and the remainder is in one of our two storage bags:

On Wednesday afternoon, Trevor and his wife Elisabeth called in for a cuppa and a chat. Trevor is a volunteer deckhand on the paddle steamer and I always enjoy having a yarn with him on the boat, when we get the chance. Nicky made some lovely date and orange scones, and I did some “individual cheesecakes” (wee walnut crackers with Philly cheese and lemon curd on them). We had a good afternoon together. Nicky and I had a quick tea of scrambled egg on toast after they left. We then hastily zipped into town for the quiz, where we came 4th with 97 points.

The majority of our week has been routine, and our activities determined by the weather. At times it has been damp, and others warm and sunny. Laundry and gardening have been done when possible, and reading when not. Nicky is reading The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman, and I am almost at the end of The Raging Storm by Ann Cleeves. Both are good.

While I was doing my only sailing of the week yesterday (we still don’t have a new skipper) Nicky attended a Small Group Leaders Training course at church. I had quite a long snooze after she collected me from the wharf. In the evening we joined most of our quiz team members at Danny and Mel’s home for an evening of games (and drinks and nibbles). We had a very good time playing Articulate, Pictionary and Code Cracker, and grazing on the nibbles.

The rain that started yesterday afternoon has continued as showers today. While Nicky was at church this morning I continued reading, after doing the trenching and cleaning the cook top. She returned to church this afternoon for a hospitality team meeting, and then produced avocado and poached eggs on toast for tea - yum.

Take care, Rick and Nicky