Well, there are certainly lots of things we can smile about, now that we are well into Springtime. Lovely to see the lambs in the fields, the flourish on the trees, and the flowers in the garden and the beauitiful countryside, not to mention the singing and tweeting of the birds as they busily build their nests.
Some recently taken photos in the sunshine.
I often smile to myself too in the greenhouse, as I plant seeds and seedlings, wondering how they manage to survive and produce for us such amazing fruit, vegetables and flowers. This year I’m trying something new, following the instructions of a professional gardener on You Tube. I’m trying to grow carrots in a bucket. To give the seeds a flying start I have sown them (as instructed) on a piece of kitchen roll in a sealed dish, before planting them in the bucket. Sounds crazy, but take a look and I’ll let you know whether it works, or not.
Seeds picked up by wet matchstick and placed on kitchen roll 
The sealed dish 
New bucket with drainage holes! 
ready for planting? 
Man, don’t these look frail!
Planting Carrots!
I think my wife thought I’d lost the plot on this project, especially when she caught me drilling drainage holes in the new bucket! 🙂
Talking about waking up laughing, yes I did the other morning this week. But when I was wakened it didn’t seem really a laughing matter! As gardeners know the weather is so important at this time of year when you have the greenhouse full of plants. Yesterday’s weather was an example. In the morning the temperature in the greenhouse was 83 deg. In the afternoon we decided to go a walk and just got home before the hail and snow storm. Last night in Glasgow the temperature was 3 deg below freezing.
How quickly the weather changes!
So earlier this week I was in the greenhouse at 10pm checking the heater etc. it took a bit of time, so when I came in my wife asked, ‘what were you doing?’ To which I replied ‘I was puting up draught screens to protect the plants not in propagators. ‘Draught screens‘ she says? ‘It’s a long time since I’ve heard of that!‘
So during the night, guess what I dreamed? You got it, – draught screens! When I was a child living in the early 40’s, we lived in a new 3 bedroom flat in Glasgow. The only means of heating was a coal fire in the ‘living room’ so at night in the winter when the fire had gone out, the temperature would at times plummet below zero, so it was not unusual to wake up with a sheet of ice on the inside of the windows. No double glazing in these days, so there was always a cold draught through the window fittings. To protect us as children from the cold, my dad would come into our bedroom and put up ‘draught screens’ (usually extra sheets or blankets) strung on various contraptions around our bed. 😦 This was not something we welcomed!
So in my dream there were the draught screens, and reminders of having your chest rubbed with ‘Vick’ and a hot salt sock strung around your neck if you had a cold or a sore throat! Ha!Ha!Ha! (these were the days before the NHS) I awoke with my body shaking laughing! Then I thought, hold on, I hope these draught screens in the greenhouse worked!
Everything thankfully seems ok at present.
Everything under control?
Reflections: As I look back now I am so grateful for good, loving and caring parents who did everything to look after us as kids, especially during the war years. Mum was up at 6am to prepare dad’s ‘piece’ (sandwiches) as he left for work at 6.30 am. She would then light the fire, and come through to get us up for school, and if it was a frosty morning, she would carry us to the fire saying ‘Jack Frost’s been out’. Then in our short trousers and ‘tackity boots’ we would head out with coat and jacket, scarves and gloves. Then in the 50’s when TB infections were running at around 50,000 cases per year in the UK, my teenage sister contracted the disease at a badly ventilated comptometer operator’s office. At that time there was no known cure except fresh air and good food so most young people were sent to sanitoriums in the country. My sister looked set for a move there, but Dad said ‘we can provide fresh air and good food here’, so one room was allocated to my sister, whose bed was propped up to allow her to see out of the window. No draught screens now! Every window in the house was opened summer and winter, and within a year my sister had made a full recovery. We were all so thankful to so many friends in the Church who prayed, and to those who brought eggs and dairy produce from their own rations to help suplement her diet and recovery, and to the gracious hand of God.
But most of all Mum and Dad introduced us to our heavenly Father, and His Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. That I think, is the best gift any parent can pass on. Now I look back with grateful thanks to God my Father who has kept and sustained us for more than 80 years through all life’s joys and sorrows, trials and triumphs.
Jesus speaks of God seeing the sparrow when it falls, and that ‘the hairs of our head are numbered’, so He sees you and me too. That can be a comforting or scary thought depending on, if we know Him as Saviour and friend, or are just known by Him. Not sure? let me know if I can help.
Do you think He sees these wee carrot seedlings too?
God bless
Matthew
Matthew McKinnon's Blog 