Gardening as therapy

Clever Bird came to the conclusion that for the mental well-being of both Hormonal Hannah and Pepper Pooch himself, she needed to allow them both into the main part of the garden, as they need some kind of an outdoor/nature-fix. The lockdown was already causing them both to cope with their anxiety less well, before Pepper cut his leg open. It's hardly surprising: http://baggybodysback.blogspot.com/2019/06/anxiety-therapy.html

As you can see from Baggy's blog from ten months ago, anxiety is not easy to live with when the world is "normal", let alone in the current situation. And stopping Pepper from leaving the patio was making him stress even more than he was already!  Furry Mama feels for the boy; he's now on his seventh day of wearing the cone, and it will be at least another seven, before it comes off!

Hannah feels as though she's in a cone as well - one that covers her from just above the knee-caps to just below her eyes! She feels trapped, claustrophobic and panicked - constantly. But for number one furry's sake, she's trying incredibly hard to stay bright and chirpy, which is almost certainly making her worse. So, at the risk of the Pooch knocking his stapled leg, Clever Bird decided that Furry Mama could let Pepper and Hannah into the garden, as long as she kept an eye on them.

A couple of years ago Gloria Gardener came up with the rather ambitious plan of opening her garden up to the public during the village's Open Gardens weekend that takes place in June each year. When Baggy and Calum arrived at the house that Baggy inherited from her father (or more accurately, her stepmother), the garden was literally an overgrown jungle. Regular Baggees may remember the saga: the discovery that the main garden was not actually part of the house but was owned by two other parties; the years of trying to fight this fact while Baggys' stepmother was in a care home with Alzheimer's disease. So the immaculately kept garden was left to nature for over five years, until Baggy and Calum finally managed to buy it back.

It was so overgrown that you could barely see the house from the top of the garden, and the paths up there were completely invisible under the ivy and weeds.

It was much worse than it is in these photos, which were taken three years before Baggy and Calum moved in. 

The patio area is the only "garden" that legally belonged to the house, so when Baggy's stepmother was in her care home, the tenants who rented the house were not (legally) allowed to go onto (and maintain) the main garden. Naturally, Hormonal Hannah didn't take photos of the jungle when they moved in, (or if she did, she can't find them), but the following ones, are from February 2017, after they had already done a huge amount of clearing, with the professional help of their friend Kaj. 

Gloria didn't manage to open her garden last year, because Baggy let her down by getting so poorly with anaemia. Of course this year, it's highly unlikely that the Open Gardens will take place, and in any case there is the minor detail of the shed building that is currently still a large work-in-progress.  However, yesterday, as Furry Mama tried to keep an eye on the Pooch as he went for a wander, Creative Clara decided to do a "virtual tour" of progress so far.

Walk this way Baggees:

Creative Clara actually took videos of a walk all around the garden, but they're too long to put in the blog, and Clever Bird cannot work out how to edit them. These photos are of most (not all) of the garden, which gives some indication of just how much work it is! But Gloria Gardener's plan has always been to leave it pretty wild-and-woolly for two reasons. Firstly to help the wildlife, and secondly, because it makes it considerably easier to look after it! In another couple of weeks, it should be full of foxgloves! 

Hannah is so grateful to have it. Even today, when it's pretty chilly, she's been out there watering and pulling up excess grass. Maybe next year, she'll be able to open it to the public...

Baggy's current state!
Depression (Black = really bad/Grey = not great/Blue = okay/Yellow = sunny day): Grey.
Anxiety (From 1 = barely any to 10 = gibbering wreck standard): 8.
Tears: A few.
Overall days: Struggling.

Note to readers: For the avoidance of any doubt, every character in this blog is Baggy! No Baggy was harmed in its writing, although some of them get pretty confused!