My body has no idea what time it is. It's completely confused. I slept all night last night -- in fact I went to bed at about 10 p.m. and was unconscious until 8 a.m. this morning, so it was a long, thorough sleep. Hopefully that will help get me back on track.
I spent yesterday putting the house in order in minor ways. This place was like a meat locker when we walked in, because of course we'd turned off the heat during our absence. It took a full day of running the boiler to get the flat up to a livable temperature. Now we've put the heater back on its regular timer and things are more comfortable.
Out in the garden there's clumpy frost stuck to everything. I brought in the geraniums last night and I'll get the mandarin orange tree in today, as well as covering the avocado. I swear that avocado is taller than it was when we left. Is it continuing to grow in December's wintry chill?
The hellebores are fine with the cold...
...as are the daffodils, already sending up buds.
The snowdrops (foreground) are just starting to appear, and the snowflakes (Leucojum) have already come up tall and green, even though they bloom after the snowdrops.
As for the indoor plants, I watered everything yesterday and it looks like they all survived our absence just fine -- even the recovering maidenhair fern.
I can't believe we have to go back to work on Monday. It's surreal to think about.
Welcome home.
ReplyDeleteIt's certainly a lot chillier than Florida!
When we go away during winter we leave the heating on a very low setting to prevent the house getting too cold, and avoid frozen pipes. It is more welcoming than coming home to a house that feels like a fridge!
Is that a frozen fox turd in the second picture? Not what I wish to see when eating my breakfast porridge.
ReplyDeleteGlad you’re home and you had a good night’s sleep. Hope jet lag doesn’t do too much of a number on you in the coming days. Sorry about work. But, just think, this is the last January you’ll have to go back to that particular library.
ReplyDeleteCodex: Curious why you turn it off rather than leave it low. Always found jetlag worse going east.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised you turned the heat off entirely. I'd fear frozen pipes, but you evidently escaped that. Spring flowers coming up already? Wow, London is a mild climate, or maybe cities tend to retain heat. If either of my snowdrops comes up it will be weeks yet!
ReplyDeleteWelcome home, you walked straight back into the cold snap we've been promised for a while. I'm glad you managed to sort your plants out before the frost really hit. You have no idea what time it is, we have no idea what day it is, so welcome back to the holiday mystery time club too. :-)
ReplyDeleteReturning to a freezing flat does not sound very welcoming. When I‘m away in winter, even just for the weekend or, like now, for four or five days, I leave the heating running on low but never turn it off entirely; it costs so much more energy to get a place back to acceptable (let alone comfortable) temperatures after it has cooled out completely.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it is good to know all your plants have survived. Going back to work on Monday does indeed feel strange, but it is also quite welcome (to me); much as I love and need the break over Christmas and New Year, I also like my regular daily life, and it will be good to return to it.
I'm shocked to see daffodils. I hope they make it as you get that cold snap. Glad you got the others in. I am so confused -- It seems like Saturday and I thought I'd missed a Friday phone call. Whew. I need a routine and these holidays threw it completely off! Welcome home!
ReplyDeleteWelcome home. I can't believe you have daffodils sending up buds already. Yours always bloom before mine but not in January. I believe I'd have set the thermostat for 60 instead of turning the heat off altogether.
ReplyDeleteOur bodies are simply not meant to hurtle through space and time the way we expect them to. Poor things. Our brains aren't either, come to think of it. Be patient with yourself.
ReplyDeleteI still haven't unwrapped my plants yet. Today. I will do that today! And I don't even think it froze enough here to hurt anything. The potatoes growing in the compost look fine.
You're right about going back to work. It always seemed like a long time ago
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