This weekend, though, felt like a roller coaster with highs and lows jostling for attention.
Yesterday was Tom's 19th birthday. You may think this is a low, but I manage these occasions now with a gently sadness rather than a real physical pain. Time does that. The high came with these flowers that I took to his grave. A small select few from M & S with the addition of a little of this and that from my own garden.
I made a cake. The sweet and salty chocolate cake from Cake Days. Oh my. The most time-consuming cake I have ever made. The low was not only the actual time it took, but also that I burnt one lot of caramel and had to start over. I was so out of kilter yesterday, it felt like the end of the world.
The high was the calorific intake that just a small slice provided. I chopped some fudge to sprinkle on the top just to give it a final push in the sickliness department!
Flowers, again, came to my rescue and having been inspired by what I took for Tom, I picked a small jarful from the garden and placed them next to my knitting chair in the conservatory. I get an extraordinary amount of pleasure from such simple things. I've never thought to pick my clematis before and am wondering why as it looks so pretty amongst the other flowers.
Looking back, there were more highs than lows: I booked a summer holiday and am off to Mallorca with my sister and her family for a week in July, I mastered the art of the invisible zip (more of which soon) and there was sunshine and plenty of it.
Today, though, has delivered another mind-numbing low. My fancy new chicken run has not deterred the hungry fox and I made the gruesome discovery of an empty chicken coop again this morning. To say I am upset is an understatement. It was some time before I could stomach the cake for breakfast as prescribed by my Tweeple.
So, do I get more hens or do I let the extortionate amount of hen-keeping kit that is now languishing in my back garden go to waste? Answers on a postcard, please.
The flowers are so beautiful. And if you can now make caramel and insert a zipper you're way ahead of me! But so so sorry about your girls. I wish I had the answer. K x
ReplyDeleteAww Tracy ... how many hens has that nasty Mr Fox had? Have you got the Egloo kit? Apparently it's fox proof ... ?
ReplyDeleteBlimey, that cake looks seriously delicious. I think I've put on weight just gazing at the picture but I won't say no to a large slice!
ReplyDeleteYou must officially have the most vicious urban foxes anywhere - such a grim start to the day :o(
ReplyDeleteI would get more though, provided you can figure out how the fox got in and fix it. Hopefully Omlet will have some ideas.
Both bunches of flowers and the cake though - oooh, so good! xx
Lots and lots of hugs, Tracy - that sounds like a heck of a weekend.
ReplyDeletePoor you, poor hens. Hope things get better and you find out a way to foil that fox if you go down the hen route again. But your flowers are lovely and you have inspired me to finally put a clematis in an ugly corner of our garden to grow over a bulky laurel.
ReplyDeletebig hugs xxx
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear what a tough week it's been. Not sure what to advise on the hens though.
ReplyDeleteOh, Tracy! Thank heaven that in the midst of suffering there are flowers and cake. Wish I knew what to tell you about the chickens. Sending my hugs, too. xoxo
ReplyDeleteOh Tracy I'm so sorry about your lovely hens. Bloody foxes! I hope that you can find a solution to the problem - maybe a concrete base if he's digging underneath? It does sound like you've had a real rollercoaster of a weekend - that can be quite exhausting so I hope you're able to have a quiet and peaceful week. Sending you a hug and hope to see you soon - will email you x
ReplyDeleteRoller coasters are hard. I think you should persist with the chickens if you want to persist with the chickens, but if you can't face any more at the moment, don't worry about the money spent already. That's the past.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful flowers too. xx