So, after over a month of enforced absence from my on-line world I am back.

Unfortunately my computer was not reparable – when the Mac store opened it up they asked my son if I had been using my i-mac in the garden, they had never seen [...]]]>

Hello – I’m back!

So, after over a month of enforced absence from my on-line world I am back.

Unfortunately my computer was not reparable – when the Mac store opened it up they asked my son if I had been using my i-mac in the garden, they had never seen a computer with such mucky insides.

Well I hadn’t taken it down the garden – it was a desktop computer and I think it would have been a bit heavy, not to mention all the trailing wires.

I then had a few weeks of indecision – what to do? was I sticking with a Mac (expensive) or going down the PC route.

I should perhaps mention here that whenever I stand next to a computer that runs “windows” …. it crashes.

When my children lived at home I was always banned from the room when they were doing important installations or updates on the computer and even now Shedman sometimes wishes that I wouldn’t stand next to him when he is working on his PC.

So while a windows PC was the cheaper option – the thought of using windows filled me with despair. Then I had several days of mulling over which Mac to get.

I reckoned if I got a laptop I was likely to leave it in the greenhouse or garden, so in the end I plumped for a Mac mini and a Dell monitor.

Throughout the whole computer saga, No1 son has been an absolute hero – collecting my old computer and taking it to the Apple store, sorting out my new one,

And, best of all – going more than a couple of hours out of his way to deliver it to me last night.

Oh joy!

I have not yet, removed that hard drive from the old one and retrieved all my information, so I have no e-mail addresses, no diary and lots of other bits and pieces that get lost when a computer dies.

However, I am sure that you are not interested in my new computer – but how my garden grows.

It has been a fabulous month in the garden. Until today we have had no rain and as our garden is very damp the plants have responded to the lack of water by growing beautifully.

We have also had very little wind so the garden has remained vertical this year, such a treat.

While I have really missed my virtual world and all you guys, being without a computer has given me several more hours in the day.

During this month I didn’t take many photos, so I was really experiencing the garden in a visceral way, without camera and computer I was not distracted by “shall I photograph this?” and “shall I blog about that?”.

The biggest time saver was not googling for information (usually plant information) that I actually know. For some reason I have got into the habit of turning to google rather than my own brain, I am amazed how mentally lazy I have become.

My goal now is to try and maintain some kind of balance, I love my online life and my blogging and tweeting chums, but it took being without a computer to realize just how much time I spent in front of a computer screen.

“Balance” – not something that comes naturally to me!

So with all these extra hours is my garden looking immaculate?

No, not at all.  A visitor last week commented “How lovely all the wild plants are”

I hope that she was talking about the poppies which are as jolly as ever and not the weeds, which are as prolific as ever.

Fingers crossed by the weekend I shall have my computer sorted how I like it and have pictures to show you for a late end of the month view.

It’s good to be back.