what I don't do

Ooh, just look at those scrummy redcurrants, all waiting to ripen!

My mum's been visiting this weekend, and we've spent almost all of the weekend in the garden. It was starting to feel a little overwhelming, but a weekend's work has sorted that out, and it feels half manageable again now, although there's still plenty to do.

Stupidly, I didn't take many 'before' photos, and now it's gone all gloomy so my 'after' photos all look like 'before' photos anyway...

In fact, I debated whether to share these at all, they're so uninspiring! And I do like to be inspired when I look back over my little blog.

But then I got to thinking that the reason I started blogging in the first place was to share photos of my garden as it changed over the seasons, and if I was only going to share pretty photos, then I wasn't going to share many photos at all, because my garden mostly *isn't* pretty...

And then I got to thinking about something I've been thinking about a lot lately, about how I witter on here and elsewhere about what I've been up to, and post photos of cakes I've made, and things I've knitted, and that, along with how I'm pretty good at spouting off with life changing advice for other people, sometimes gives people the impression that I'm up to something exciting all the time.

It all came to a head when I read this the other day - goodness knows how I ended up over there, but I did, and I read lots of people's lists about things they *don't* do.

So, for the record, here's some of the things that I *don't* do (and this is by no means an exhaustive list):

* I don't iron.

* I don't change the bed every day. Or even every week.

* I don't have a very clean and tidy house. There's one room I can barely get through the door of.

* I don't always remember people's birthdays

* Sometimes, even when I do remember, I don't get round to doing anything about it for ages (oh dear, this is the worst one!)

* I don't watch much tv

* I don't clean the car, ever

* I don't replace things when they break

* I don't go abroad for holidays. Not a big decision, I just generally don't

* I don't keep on top of the garden as much as I should

I'd best stop there before I start making myself feel bad!

I'm writing this list, not to beat myself with, and not because I think I give the impression that I have such a fabulous life, but as a reminder that sometimes we have more choice about how we spend our time than we might think we do.

Looking at my list gives myself permission to remember that I have choices about how I spend some of my time. If I'm tempted to feel bad because my house isn't as tidy as someone else's, or my vegetables are still all crowded in little tiny pots on the windowsill when they should be in the garden, I can remember that I threw the duster to the wind, left the seedlings to fend for themselves, and went for a bike ride instead.

So, if someone brings up even the (completely laughable) possibility of me washing the car, I will always think 'what else could I do with this time?'

Invariably, I think of something else I'd rather be doing.

Which is why my car is rather grubby, and I bake quite a lot of cakes.

Hmm.

Anyway, as if you needed yet more evidence of how I'm not the perfect gardner, take a look (peeking through hands over your eyes if you like, which is what I'm doing) at this...

Bleurgh! Concrete and rubble, and a whole load more work left to do! Pah!

Still, one day soon I'll be sitting on top of all that, drinking tea and eating more of those cakes, and all this will be a distant memory.

Let's hope it's *very* soon...