I fought the rose, and the rose won

I took Friday off to work in the garden. When I say I took the day off, I of course mean that I dealt with all the work email before setting foot outside. As it turned out, being able to duck inside and check email was a brilliant excuse for having a rest!

My garden had gotten a little overgrown. Shrubs were seriously out of hand. It was time to be brutal! I lopped, I pruned, I dug out shrubs. I even had to climb amongst the branches of my corkscrew hazel in order to lever out a stubborn plant. I had branches sticking in all sorts of places. I couldn't stand up. I seriously began to think that I might not be able to make it out of the clutches of the tree and would be stuck there until Stephen got home from Finland!! I hadn't realised that I had contortionist skills until I was trying to get out... I was twisting round on one leg trying not to stand on any delicate plants, and trying to keep from being smacked in the face by one branch whilst another was deciding it would look better in my jeans than I do!

It was a pretty intensive yoga workout! I started in the Five Pointed Star, went through Eagle, Chair, Goddess Squat, Half Bound Lotus Forward Fold, Warrior, Reverse Warrior and Crescent Moon before finally making it out of the shrubbery. This was an excellent point at which to catch my breath, check emails and pick the bits of leaf, twig and insect out of my hair!

I also picked a fight with a standard rose which had fallen over. This was a fight to the death. It was me or it.... I attacked it with loppers and it attacked me with many, many thorns... I had taken off the branches, just leaving the trunk and began to dig it out. OMG! This thing had rooted to Australia!! I could barely budge it. I had the spade and fork underneath it, but could only move it a couple on inches, no matter how hard I levered or with how much vigour I chopped through the roots. I could practically feel blood vessels bursting with the effort!! I was bleeding from the many scratches on my arms, I was sweating and I had managed to achieve 2 inches of movement. I fought the rose...and the rose fought back! I think I won in the end though...but it took our neighbour to help. Brute force won out in the end!