27 May 1958. Planting and even more planting, Gorey castle

27 May 1958

My dear Len and Margaret

This is Tuesday eve. I must get on with this letter as far as possible, it must be finished by tomorrow eve so as to be able to mail it on Thursday. It seems to me that if we mail on Friday you may not have it until Monday. I am hoping we get a letter from you tomorrow so as to help me with this letter, because I haven’t got news for you.

Dad has gone to the Temple[1] This will be his last time until September, they close for the summer months. Doreen is doing a little washing, Nick is standing by her side, he had lunch with us today, the twins were spending the day at Wynnes, they are in their school holidays. Doreen asked if he could have lunch with us instead of going home alone.

We went to Les Augerez this afternoon. Uncle[2] was sitting on the garden seat in the yard enjoying the sunshine. He looks better, I think he does a little more walking in the yard, but you know he is not very steady on his legs, but sitting in the sun these days he has more colour. We phoned twice yesterday and twice today to ask Auntie B[3] is it was alright for us to go today but either times we got no answer, the last time Dad phoned, that was when he came back from town at lunchtime. I told him to ask them at the exchange if the line was out of order as we could get no reply. They saw to it and said yes, their line at the Augerez was out of order. Anyway as we had to go to La Croire du Lion[4], St Peters to the nurseries we said we would go as far. They were very pleased to see us. At the nurseries we bought some petunia plants and some lobelia, also 4 pansies and 2 rock plants. Dad will put in the petunias tomorrow, I doubt whether he will be in his glory butting them in, but still he could have worse work to do. I may put in the lobelia myself at the edge of the borders. I think I will be alright if I kneel on the yard, I won’t stoop much in that way.

Auntie B gave me a pink geranium in a pot. No Len, don’t imagine I hinted to have it but this geranium was in the greenhouse and in bud. I told Auntie it was going to be a nice one. Auntie said would you like to have it, oh I don’t want to take it from you I said. Well she said if you don’t take it today, you won’t have it again. Alright I said I will be delighted to have it. So Len, Mother has got the nice pink geranium, of course I’m pleased. I also brought back a clump of Lilies of the Valley, I could have had more but we didn’t know if this was the time to move them. Auntie said I could have some more in the Autumn. I don’t really think we have a suitable place for these plants, they don’t do well everywhere.[5]

Our fencing around the garden is a wreck, it’s partly coming down, it’s really perished, we will have to get something else in the Autumn but we will need quite a lot of fencing which will come quite expensive. We can’t have it done now because my rose climbers are tied on it and are now getting in bloom. Our Whitsun weather was not too bad, the rain kept away, it was not warm, it was a mixture, cloudy and sunshine.

Here I am again, this is Wednesday eve. I meant to get on with this letter this A.M. I didn’t get to it, I’ve been busy all the afternoon. I helped Dad to put in the plants. While he was getting ready to start his gardening, I put in half a dozen petunias. When he saw me he got onto me saying that I am not to stoop. Dad then took it on, but I had to be there, to make sure the plants would be put in the right way and show him where each row had to go and tell him how far each plant had to be. Well I wanted to put in the lobelia myself at the edge of the border. I took a plank and a sack to kneel on. I put them all in, that was 50 plants. I did not have enough, I needed about a dozen more. I probably will get some in the market, after that I raked up the soil to get it quite tidy. When that was done I cleaned half the yard, Dad cleaned the other half. I had to hurry up because there seemed to be a storm coming up, but then it cleared up.

Granny at the back door probably watching Papa planting everything wrong

We thought we would get a letter from you this A.M. but no luck, that doesn’t give me any help for my letter so I will have to end it so that it gets mailed tomorrow.

All being well tomorrow Margaret and Charles will take Roselle for a meal at Gorey so as to see the castle floodlit. Dad and I will be having a meal at L’Etacq, if the weather is fine enough. Doreen, Nick and the twins will go to some seaside place, and take their tea with them.

Trusting you are properly settled now.

Love from all

Mother xxxx

Thursday AM

This is just to thank you for the trunk call last evening but I had made sure of a letter this morning, now I have to wait until tomorrow, that is to say if the letter has been mailed, because knowing Len we have to expect anything. Len told Roselle for me to scrap the letter I had written and write another one when I get one from him. Well that’s a very good idea from Len, but of course that’s impossible for Ma to do that.

This is not a very nice morning, raining at times and not too warm. I guess we will to L’etacq just the same. I doubt Roselle will go to Gorey this evening. I think it would be better for them to wait and go on a fine and warm evening. I am delighted to have the rain on my freshly planted plants, this will help them to take quicker.

France is now in a mess isn’t she? I don’t know if General de Gaulle will get there to form a government, as you know the French are not easy people to tackle.

Lots of love

Mother xxxx

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[1] Masons

[2] Her brother John

[3] Her sister Blanche, brother and sister never married, lived together in St Peter all their lives

[4] Difficult to read, might not be correct spelling

[5] Sixty years later they are still in the garden choking other plants, I can’t get rid of the damn things!