This seems to be a week of cleaning up for me.

First, I tackled this cupboard. It’s a marvelous space, but I had just been careless about keeping it in order. There was also a lot of wasted space because the shelves are so tall, and I wanted to make better use of the space. The left side is for all my painting supplies (and other unrelated things that seem to have crept in there unobserved!) and the right is what I euphemistically call the stationery cupboard — although it’s more of a catch-all.

Anyway, one day last week I got fed up with it, and I went online and ordered a boatload of plastic baskets and containers and set about making changes. The right side is done (and looking fabulous), but the paint side is not finished, only because I ran out  of containers. So this morning I went out and bought some more, and I expect to finish it tonight. I will send an “after” photo.

Then there’s the balcony. Ah yes, the balcony. When I moved in a year past in March, there were six big planters filled with lovely red geraniums, as well as some beautiful clivia and other bulbs that surprised me when they appeared last fall. The geraniums bloomed all through last winter, but this year — nothing.

Unlike my brother, who inherited the gardening gene from my mother, I’m not a natural gardener. The cleaning lady used to water the plants on Monday and I did them on Thursday. Well, she hasn’t been here for over four months, and during that time I barely managed to keep up my own weekly chore. No wonder the poor things got discouraged.

Anyway, I was looking out there last week and I felt ashamed, so I decided to do something about them. My friend Venetia, who is one of those people who loves to get her hands in the dirt, came over yesterday to help me, bringing three lovely little flowering plants with her. I had bought a small lemon cypress tree, some pots and soil. Oh yes, and some plant food — you guessed it, I had never thought of giving them any food!

I have to empty a couple of the big pots because they became infested with an invasive plant. My brother, who has had experience with invasive species, strongly advised me to empty them and start over with fresh soil. Also, some of the bulbs had a mysterious blight of some kind (OMG, I’m starting to talk like a gardener!) There’s a lot of soil in the pots and it’s kind of heavy work, so I’m just doing it a bit at a time. As the photo shows, it’s a work in progress, and I’ll post another one when it’s ready for display.

And when that’s done, there are many plants on the bedroom window ledge (outside) and more along the passage outside the kitchen! Stay tuned.