Sunday, May 19

Today was very hot again, and so we started doing things in the garden. Auo came back from Niilia’s at about 14:15.

Irma decided that the climbing plants by the front fence should be removed and I started digging. I soon realised that they were not really several plants but one gigantic underground network. What’s more, some of the underground roots were the thickness of small tree trunks.

It took me almost all afternoon and involved removing almost all the soil in the neighbourhood. Eventually we got it done, and laid stones where the climbing vines used to be. It was worth it in the end.

Now I am wandering around the garden looking at the flowers that have sprung up in the last ten days. In a few moments I will wheel the last wheelbarrow full of roots into the woods where I will discover that there is still a sizeable pile of snow under the trees.