Muddywellies is Back!

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A Big ‘HI’ to Everyone,
Its been a long while since I posted back in August 2010 when I wrote my last blog “Fuchsia and tender perennial winter care” and there’s much to catch-up on including my private messages from you all which runs into 3 figures!! Meantime here’s a quick explanation and update…

My world was turned upside down when I received an email from the ‘woman of my dreams’. We had dated each other when I was in Israel working in the University of Beersheva campus at Sde Boker building an adobe mud house. Unfortunately we were seperated by her conscription and my subsequent return to the UK to study for a career. During those times there was no internet and no mobile phones. I remember asking her questions in lettters and not remembering the question when her answer eventually came back six weeks or more later! Remember those days anyone???@!!

Any way, at some point during our wait I suffered a house fire and lost her contact details, and her details of me were ‘lost’ because her family did not want a non-jewish son-in-law… By the time we found each other again she thought I was no longer interested and had said ‘yes’ to someone else. It hurt, but it was her choice, and I never questioned her, believing her mind was made up already. BIG MISTAKE!

For 30 years we went our seperate ways. Then within a month of each other we joined Facebook, neither knew it at the time. We were still looking for each other, I had even posted old photos in the hope she would recognise me since I did not know her married name.

My Israeli ‘girl’ found 300 instances of my name but she only sent one email. When it arrived requesting proof of my knowing her I was delighted to oblige…

Since that wonderfull moment we have dealt with bureaucracy, shipping, customs, estate agents, and still more bureaucracy until we have brought ourselves together and we are now living together in Nes Ziona, Israel (it’s SE of Tel Aviv).

Yes, I have sold the walled gardens, but I still have my hard-won gardening experience and I still have the website www.winsfordwalledgarden.com. I have also changed its format into a gardening blog to make it much easier for visitors to the site to comment upon my articles.

So it feels good to be back and I shall be happy to update you all and will surely welcome your comments and reply MUCH FASTER this time!!! The nights are chilly here around 11C but during the day I can walk out in the garden in the sunshine and pick my own mandarin oranges. Last week I delighted everyone with my home-made lemon curd with our own lemons! The fruit were so large – like small cabbages that I had to add extra eggs and triple the cornflour to compensate for all the juice. But home-grown mangoes take the crown everyone believe me! The juice just pours out of your mouth…

My new home is on a street corner with the gardens roughly equal in size, although one is much higher than the other. The first photo shows the garden this afternoon (4pm), the second is Hanny, youngest son Lotem and his girlfriend Emily picking mandarin oranges and the third photo shows the lower garden with small mango tree behind the lamps!

P.S. I really miss custard powder!
OK. I will update with garden photos in next 24 hrs

• 19 Dec, 2011
• 11 likes

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