More paint and flowers, and sadness

Decorating Caitlin's room is proving to be less than fun. I don't have anything personal against the people who previously owned our house, but I feel distinctly unfriendly towards their decorating and home improvement philosophies. Underneath the wallpaper was a thin layer of polystyrene. Whatever adhesive thing was used is not a surface I would recommend painting over, as the one wall I tried it the paint keeps cracking. So between scrubbing that off, filling and sanding I am getting pretty fed up. I'm trying to do a couple of hours on it each day but it's tough when you don't see any improvement. Really it needs replastering, but so does the whole house. And that is way down the list, and in particular after the things which should be done before replastering (rewiring, new windows, oh and rebuilding the back of the house......and all the other things we can't afford) You might be wondering why I don't just put wallpaper up. Unfortunately we have seen that the wallpaper adheres to the walls about as well as the paint does, which is not a lot. And on a budget, and with the walls in such a poor general state, it is difficult to justify an expensive primer. So even when it's finished, the walls will still look pretty crappy, but hopefully the overall effect will be OK. She is getting a new bed, toy storage and curtains, and I hope that eventually it will all be worth it!

The explosion of flowers in the garden should be any day soon! There are a few already and lots of buds just waiting to fill my garden with colour. I bought a lovely red cordyline on Friday and some asiatic lilies. I put the lilies next to an azalea I bought and that flowerbed is turning in to a bit of a tribute to Mum. Those two plants were among her favourites. My first attempt at planting seeds is going well. The night scented stock seeds which got dug up by a cat having a poo didn't seem to care and are all sprouting well. I collected a lot of seeds from my lovely delphinium I bought last summer (good job as it has not reappeared despite allegedly being a perennial). I planted them in a seed tray and they didn't do anything for ages, then just one or two started to appear. Now the whole tray is filled with little seedlings! The next challenge is extracting them from the seed try into individual pots...all the guidance I can find is "when they are large enough". What help is that? I also scattered some candytuft, larkspur and cornflowers. I am undecided as to whether they are sprouting or whether the little seedlings in that vicinity are actually weeds.

I just wanted to share the verse on the little garden plaque that Andy got me at Christmas time. There is an author but as I wouldn't be able to see in the dark I will have to credit them later.

"The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God's heart in a garden,
Than anywhere else on earth"

Mum's first anniversary is this coming Sunday. This is a difficult time.