Taking time out for a little pampering and smelling the roses

Hello, you gorgeous Planetarians, all 450 of you! Now I've really been taking on board all your many and varied kind and thoughtful suggestions as to how to lift my mood and look after myself better. Slowing down, *just being*, *going gently* and completely stopping seem to be the consistent themes. I must admit the latter is complete anathema to me but I'll give it a go (once I have Miss India's 4th birthday party on Sunday out of the way). Well today, I let myself be pampered. I spent a blissful few hours at my hairdressers', Jagama, and let Jason work his wonders on me. I revelled in the foot and scalp massages and luxuriated in the Aveda treatments. Reading the latest Vogue magazine helped transport me far beyond Planet Baby. I arrived with a helmet of hair resembling a mop and left with a sleeker do, feeling alive, energised and relaxed!

I was so delighted at the result that I asked Mr PB to take some rare photos of me. Completely on my own! That's probably the first time in a year ☺. Feeling inspired, I asked that we take some snaps in our front cottage garden. Every day, it reveals new delights to us which really bring me joy. We have so much more to do there but we're enjoying seeing the garden slowly reveal itself in all its glory. So here are some snaps of me this afternoon out in our front garden!

Please leap in and identify any roses you recognise - I'm all ears!

Here are some of gorgeous Sarah's foxgloves, thriving beautifully. They are held up by my darling Dad's white-tip-painted surveyor stakes - they keep them out of Sam's way when he's walking along the path, keep them upright and remind me of Dad, all at the same time. 

Now, please tell me what these are - a different type of foxglove, maybe? I'm intrigued.

Now this shot of our first agapanthus is for you, Georgie - it's a far cry from your planting of 250 of them but I still may just pop this one under my own glass cloche to match yours - what do you think?!

Mr PB then repaired inside, it being witching hour and all. I lingered a little longer to photograph some of our garden, a rare treat without the pixies hanging off me. Here are some of the beauties we have planted - I dip my lid to Mr PB for his imagination as they are flowering beautifully.

Here's a view from the other side, facing towards our wreath-bedecked front door.

It's a cheery scene, don't you think? Mind you, there's plenty of the evil twitch lurking there to keep me occupied each day ☺.

Just to finish, here are some close-ups of the flowers which make my heart sing with their beauty and perfume. This is one of the roses I pruned back to its stump, so huge were its thorns and so great was my concern that Sam would stumble onto it and impale himself and/or lose an eye. This fellow had other ideas!

Here's a close-up of one of Sarah's fabulous foxgloves.

And as the sun was fading, I then ventured indoors to face witching hour, relieved at least that a bottle of Pike's riesling was chilling in the fridge! So there you have it, my friends, a little effort at calming down, enjoying myself and taking time to smell the roses. I only wish we had the internet equivalent of smellovision!

I'm eagerly awaiting your advice on what is growing in our garden - remember I'm only a novice green thumb so any suggestions will be gladly received!