All the dark corners

It became a habit that I'd take the boys over to see Granny on a Sunday morning. 

When they were babies, it was a huge solace for me. She'd sit cradling them and talking to them and the baby who'd been noisy all night was calmed.

As they grew up, we'd spend our time outside in the garden in which I'd grown up. About 3/4 of an acre of meadow which she had worked tirelessly and stubbornly to tame. 

There were trees that had been planted when I was a small girl, now 30 feet high, and my own conker tree which had grown into an enormous beauty bearing conkers of her own. 

As the boys grew and did their own campfires (who could forget the paraffin-flavoured drop scones? or the stew into which had accidentally fallen a large clump of grass, only discovered upon serving?), I began get on with jobs elsewhere in the garden.

Whilst the boys became more self-sufficient, Granny became more elderly and I took over the garden. Increasingly, I'd head over on my own on a Sunday morning and work while she pottered, only interrupting me for tea break. 

Then I took over tea break and a whole new chapter of our lives began as she started to need the care that she'd once given to me and my children.

One of the outcomes was that our own garden became neglected. I just about kept on top of it, blitzing' flower beds once every few months, but plants quickly make their own decisions when left to their own devices and almost everything became overgrown.

I've just started to tackle a dark corner which is completely riddled with ivy. This is my relaxation, the cure for a day's frustration sitting at a screen.

Ivy fights a tough, brutal battle, up and into plants, racing across flat ground. Happy to take on anything in its path.

I haul and dig and swear an awful lot and try to remember that its ok to stop when you've had enough and start again tomorrow.

I've scavenged the broken old bench and dug out the slabs from where I'd laid a long-overgrown path about 20 years ago. 

It's a small corner and also our pet cemetery. I'm attempting to swear my way through the ivy to make a little peaceful place.