Partner and I did a bit of gardening today, as it was not overly cold and miserable. We had a viburnum overgrowing its intended space so we dug it up. It had layered itself into a few new little shrublets so two of them got transplanted and the parent bush got consigned to the compost bin. I prefer big shrubs to be at the back of the border, and this one was big, yet badly placed at the front by a previous owner many years ago. I usually gave it a generous haircut every spring, but it just kept getting bigger and bushier. Compare the following photos: the first from spring 2007, and the second from this afternoon. I will use the new free space for flowers next year; it's a premium spot getting full sun in the summer.







One of the babies was transplanted to a different part of the garden and the other got stuck in a pot next to the house for safekeeping. If it gets stronger and bushier I may find a spot for it next spring. It's a nice bush, which flowers in the dead of winter when everything else is asleep. So I didn't want to just get rid of it. The black pot holds the baby viburnum; other pots have what's left of the carrots and beets. I've also optimistically planted spring cabbage, sweet peas, and broad beans this week, for next year's crop. I've never grown cabbage or broad beans (or even eaten that kind of bean), but they are both meant to be harvested in May, so if they're successful, we'll be eating produce about two months earlier than usual.

And the photo of the Very Large Mushroom, with my shoe as a size reference to prove my dainty feet are so small I could wear a mushroom as a shoe.

While driving home from Ikea the other week I took a picture of a rainbow over the road. It looks like we were about to drive right under it, but the road curved off one way and the rainbow curved off the other way. I've always wondered if it's possible to pass under a rainbow and view it at the same time. I've never done it.

Partner and I both have a week off work and I'm using the time to A) study for my courses, and B) recover from excessive work hours. For nearly two months I've worked extreme hours because all of my coworkers have had time off one right after another and I have been the only one to work the entire time, covering my own as well as other people's shifts. It has been very very hard. But after this week off I will be working four days a week instead of five and I know for a fact that they cannot squeeze 48 hours out of me in just four days. On Monday I started work at 11AM and signed out at 10.30PM. I have been working like that since August.

I may even finish my sewing projects this week. I thought I'd have to put them away until summer break in June, but I think I could finish them if I applied myself. I would love to have my jacket ready and wearable for this winter. I told Partner I'd make him a nice pair of wool trousers, but he'd have to wait till summer break. He told me he'd expect them in summer break in four years time. Which is also when I'm allowed to buy any new video games or indeed start anything new. In four years I'll have a brand new degree and only one full-time occupation.