He's excelled himself

 Husband has worked so hard on the garden and getting rid of that awful hedge, I'm so proud of him.  

He's got so many things against him - his age (70), heart failure for which he takes a cocktail of meds, arthritis in his hands, his severe dyslexia which means he's the most disorganised and untidy man I know (it doesn't just mean he has difficulty reading and writing, it affects a whole lot more things than that).  He's clumsy and accident prone, can trip over nothing, drops things every single day, his hands aren't connected to his brain which means that when he puts something down, he instantly forgets where he's put it.  Living with him can be very....challenging, shall we say.  

But he's one of the kindest and most helpful men I know, he will do anything for anyone, he helps out several of our neighbours at home with gardening and DIY jobs, despite some of them being quite a bit younger (and fitter) than him.  In fact, sometimes I have to put my foot down and tell him (or neighbours) that he cannot do something, because it's beyond his capabilities or he's simply not qualified, he can't do it safely or it'll be too much for him.  Eg, he was asked recently to cut down a huge fir tree in a neighbour's garden, the tree is taller than her 2-storey house....he was actually considering it, until I pointed out that he's not a tree surgeon and it simply wouldn't be safe for him to be up a very long ladder with a huge chainsaw, given how accident prone he is!!

He will do anything I ask of him - when we first came to look at this caravan, he was aghast, he actually said to me "Are you sure about this?".  I said I was, it was basically sound beneath the awful old fashioned, dirty and broken state of everything, and that between us we could make it lovely.  "Ok, if you're really sure....".  And we have.  He's worked incredibly hard, both inside the caravan and out, and it's now a wonderful holiday home that we love to spend more time in than in our actual house.  I've made sure that he's had plenty of breaks during days when he's been working hard, kept him fed and watered, and arranged for us to have half or full days off, when we go out for a jaunt or just stay here and have a day relaxing in the garden in the sunshine, chatting to our lovely neighbours.

His work isn't perfect - but then I've never asked for nor expected perfection, I've only ever asked that he do his best.  And that's exactly what he has done, he's done all these many, many jobs on the caravan and garden to the best of his ability and within his limitations.  I've told him over and over how pleased I am with everything, and how proud I am of him for tackling everything.  And now we're enjoying the fruits of our labours (yes, I have done a bit of work too! 😇😂) and I couldn't be happier.

Husband's now watching the Edinburgh Tattoo (I hate bagpipes but he loves them), I'll be settling down in a minute with some crochet - a lap blanket for chilly evenings here.  Betty is stretched out between us on the sofa, and it's been a very satisfying day.