It’s dead good in my shed. Good for my head. Sometimes, I feel like I’m playing house or making a den. Me and a book, or a time for daydreaming. I love it when it rains, pitter, patter on the roof. Cosy. A place to keep little things that are not needed, not useful, but loved, not for the great tip where unwanted things go to die, to lie on waste ground. Wasted.
I held a garden shed inside my head, a place for me, a place to be – to be alone and potter, to ponder upon life and its adventures. For a long time, I had no Garden or a space in which I could put a Shed, take it out of my head. I found a space on Deptford High Street, up on the roof. I could see, Chimney Pots and St. Nicolas Church, a clock upon its Spire, and beyond, the masts of Cutty Sark and the dome of the Royal Observatory Greenwich, the Prime Meridian: Greenwich Mean Time. I could see Deptford Station and the trains from London Bridge on the way to Greenwich and on to Kent. My time on earth. Here is a story about my Sheds.
Today in my Shed. The Yellow Daffodils are coming. February 12th 2020
I am a lucky old Gal. I have two sheds. One for tools and garden stuff and the other for day dreaming.
Below. Chalcot Square Shed London N1. Not my Garden, but there was a shed.
Below. Deptford Shed London SE8
Moving into 110L Deptford High Street. Up on the roof.
Looking down on The Market & the Chimneys.
View from my home on Deptford High Street.
Gatherings on the roof.
Marl & Howard on the roof.
Below. Folkestone Sheds 1 2010
Folkestone Shed 2 early days 2011
Ta Dah! It’s beginning, my garden with sheds.
Early days between the sheds. 2011
A gathering a few summers ago.
Thank you to one and all… for making the afternoon so special.
Thank you to those who may have danced the dance for the SUN?
In secret or otherwise?
A song for all with love.
Sung to the tune of …
‘My Little Red Top.’ Ben Kynard / Lionel Hampton)
I first heard it by the sublime King Pleasure & Betty Carter (1952)
My little red top into Annie’s red trombone.
Various Gatherings between the Sheds. Humans & Animals.
Head.
A day in Folkestone Town with…
Ginger & Garlic.
Annie’s Little Red Trom-bone,
it really gets you swinging.
Going around and round.
Don’t you ever stop.
You’ve got me so that if I don’t swing around.
Sure gonna drop, gonna drop, gonna drop.
People in my Shed
Mark & Sam.
Mark & Pip.
Helen & Sharon
Gatherings between the Sheds.
A flock of Pigeons used to gather before the cats arrived. I used to call them ‘You Lot.’
We had baby oranges last summer 2019
Mark & Howard
Jennifer on the Keys,
A’ laying down the groo-oove.
Playing those Ivories,
Don’t you ever stop.
They make wanna sing till I spin.
Not gonna drop, gonna drop.
One summer day in the garden.
Folk in Folky diggin’ the sky.
Mark in the trees peepin’ through,
Yvonne in the Toma-toes.
Beat sittin’ in the sun.
Wine flowing, Juicy juice, food going…. down.
Sacha & Steven
Sooty & me.
Kasia
Jane picking supper
Above & below. Sacha & Kasia
Jane
Jane’s golden carrots went down a treat,
Chicken delicious and salads of green.
Cheese, biscuits and pickles are loverly.
Beetroot salad, lots’a beans,
Yvonne’s Eton Mess, where’s my spoon?
Indian Mango’s and plums, Fresh figs on a dish… Karen….
Garden gatherings.
Jennifer & me.
Carol Pip Annie & me.
Michael Kemp.
Anne Jenny & me.
Harvey.
Below Me & Sarah Bean & Lucy
Above. Me and my beloveds.
Mark and Carol – in Howard’s shed… with Howard.
Picking up Sun-Rays.
Pip, Didi and Karen, Andrew and Debs.
Sooty and Michael ..
Kasia and Sam. Mark and Tremaine. Liz, Tim, Anne and Sarah.
Lets party ‘till twilight.
We had three Marks, Hewins, Jennet,
Matharu — he took the Photos.
Oh my God. Is that me?
Remind me oh please, my hair’s a disaster.
The sky was blue, blue, I danced it for you.
So Old Mother Nature, take your bow.
Cats various
Below Ella the Cat
Above. Beloved Tiffy, so sad she has passed.
No, that wine is mine.
Below. Theo the marmalade Cat
Louis the Cat
Some Wildflowers
There are so many more words,
You would run out of breath.
Chocolates and Cakes…..
Too many to mention.
Dear Carol I say,
Kasia and I – looked through your wonderful Book ….
last night in my bed wearing Pyjamas.
Didi... a bag from Japan.. a beautiful Fan....
I will sit in my garden,
wave away wasps, and think of you
when, at night
I will light little candles.
in those beautiful pots,
place olives in Mark Jennets
red yellow green bowl
and think of you both there by the River.
And Sooty your sky, I love,
and will find, a special place in my home
where I will hang it.
Scoop, dip, daddly doo
Shwee, be da dee doo
Whoa dee whoo, whoo.
Good bye see you soon.
When ever our roads interwine...
And I love you.
Reflections and things I love to look at.
Above & below.
Ray Charles in the Shed & Mingus in the Shed.
Above. Ray Charles in my Shed. With Jasmine.
Girl with pearl earring in the Shed.
Inside my shed.
ABOVE. Roses and Honeysuckle clambering over shed and an arch.
A Garden Gathering Grant & Jenny & family & Mark
From my bedroom looking at Shed 2
Sheds in The Winter.
In the Rain.
Below. Between the Sheds.
You make marvellous complex beautiful spaces Carol Grimes. This is more than a song, a poem or a story, it’s a saga very well told and never ending
Ah that is so kind of you thank you 🙏
Oh My God!!! This is what called incredible…Seriously stunning and amazing. The thoughts behind creating it are amazing, I am in love with these sheds and the gardens, the flowers, and the furniture everything is magical.
Thank you so much. I love sheds carol In uk