Yesterday we went and bought more bags of needful soils for the raised bed. Came back and continued the inherent Hugelkultur layer building of farmyard manure mixed with compost, really decent nutritional enhanced top soil and, again, our own riddled soil. Deep and rich in humus. We also repotted the tall and beautiful Acer in an ericaceous compost. Fingers crossed it doesn’t wilt from this intervention.

The realisation hit me that, after my wife has worked in the garden too over the last week, I am now going to be back on my own again. Her 10 day holiday break from her shop is now over. Looking at what still needs to be accomplished in the garden? It requires a lot of self motivation. And that needs to be found.

Our bloggers’ Jetpack app has the ‘media’ tap on. Tapping on it earlier I realised that there are a plethora of photographic memories from uploaded blogs. Hundreds and hundreds. I thanked the heavens that photographs are so important for my blog inclusions. Because those visual thumbnails gave a huge lift. They told the story of accomplishments. Positive energy in actual realisation that, yes, retirement has made a difference and things actually have got done. On a pretty impressive scale too.

On retiring, the first thing to tackle was this jungle below. It took a fair few weeks to get it looking clearer.

Please tap on the individual photos to enlarge.

In amongst those blog media photographs were pictures taken of my wife’s new shop premises too. A few months of fierce, but fun, application to get it up and running. Being retired meant that I could spend weeks at a time in the new premises to paint, etc.

Over the years there has been worldwide motivation proffering from other people you have ‘word conversations’ met along the way. The internet exchange journeys were and are great experiences. Flickr, Pentax User, (both photography), Earlybay (VW camper van site), MySpace (musicians) and more besides had delightful exchanges of pleasantries and common interest. I’ve tried to keep that going on WordPress. Sometimes self analysis has dropped into the the subjects I have chosen to write. However, now that I have retired they feel too deep. The more I reflect on whether they belong within my blog themes, the more I throw them back into Draft files. They actually bring angst. As a nurse it was all deep analysis. Very deep stuff too at times. I feel I have left it all behind now. Do not want to return to anything that reminds me of challenges in that way.

Blogging, for myself, needs to be joyful. And when it finds simplicity in the everyday themes of hobbies and interests it rocks. What I did love about the sites as mentioned above is the camaraderie between only a few. You would get hundreds of ‘likes’ on a photograph, or an uploaded song, but on reflection, it was those few lines of thoughtful exchanges from a bunch of us exchanging views that were priceless. Also, Flickr especially brought me specific friendships that I still remember today and photography became more enriched and interesting because of those people. Here on WordPress fountain pens, inks and writing are suddenly strong well loved forces for finding joy. Also. Themes that are lighter in subject matter energise positivity too. Music, pens, books, gardening, decorating require only lightweight meanderings when writing a blog.

Love WordPress for what it has brought to my retirement over the last year and two thirds. The numbers of worldwide visits aren’t too shabby either. That simple fact does give credence to your subject choices and writing style. Even though it can be quirky.

Please tap on the individual photos to enlarge.

Ongoing? I’ll love my garden this year, all over again, too. Especially now that the sunnier days are showing up more. So more to write about without hunting for subject matter.

This morning? A trip to the local stores in Machynlleth and eight bags of enriched top soil (as bought for tomorrow). Recommended and endorsed by the Royal Horticultural Society. Today there is a reading need for planning out what to plant and how. And a new journal of intents started. Fun times.