One Perfect Day

What makes a perfect day? (Yes Ruprecht, you’re great but that’s not the answer.) It starts when you wake up and realise the pulled muscle that has been giving you grief is finally feeling better. Four long weeks of hobbling around like Quasimodo, aching legs, sore bum, just because of one little muscle and suddenly it seems to be coming good. How did I pull that muscle? Being over enthusiastic in the garden at the first hint of Spring. A trailer load of rich compost needed to be moved from the trailer to the wheelbarrow, from the wheelbarrow to the garden and I forgot I wasn’t young anymore. Fortunately Spring disappeared for most of those four weeks so I didn’t miss much gardening.

So feeling human again and able to garden, that’s a good start. The day was a perfect Spring day - blue sky, garden awash with young leaves and new growth, joyous bird songs - getting better. I sat outside on the day bed soaking up the sun and heat and ate my breakfast outside, a first for this season - getting betterer.

Into the garden we go. Maru is the area of choice today and together Ruprecht and I moved fallen branches (Ruprecht’s passion) and weeded (my passion). The mound behind the pond is thick with plants - a fast spreading grevillea ground cover and a flowering red hot poker are the current highlights. The border garden that was once sparsely planted and full of weeds is now thick with healthy native plants - lovely. A bare patch on the mound needed a plant so I dug up 21 baby Ajugas that had spread into the lawn from the cottage garden. I planted 4 on the mound and the rest around the garden. Harvesting my own plants - satisfying. Not paying through the nose for plants - more satisfying. Improving on an already beautiful area of the garden - extremely satisfying!

Wandering around the garden is always peaceful and a feast for the eyes. I love this garden and all that it has to offer - the flowers, the trees, the quirky, the bird life, the pets. Every now and then something still manages to take me by surprise. Bush bashing through the now overgrown border to pick up fallen branches (it keeps Ruprecht happy) I noticed how big the Melaleuca had grown. Not only is it impressive, the paper bark on it is simply stunning. If only I knew a professional photographer to take photos and do it justice!

So how do you top off a perfect day? You drag the hammock out for the first time this season and lie under your baby wisteria (flowering for the first time ever) and drink some quality Tassie wine. From there you have a bird’s eye view of the pond, the thick, native border and Karva dropping and retrieving the ball from the water.

The weightlessness of lying in a hammock helped my still not healed muscles recover from a very successful day’s work in the garden. Even the return of some sore muscles couldn’t ruin this perfect day though.