Casual Labour

This is what my bed looks like almost every late afternoon.

Fred, looking evil and Ethel looking divine.

I could barely talk with my dog-walking friends as we began our walk on Friday, and that’s not normal. And as Regina recounted her story of a neighbour’s dog, I started weeping. Something’s not right, and it still isn’t. But I’m functional and I didn’t nap all day—whereas on Thursday I spent the entire day sleeping.

I took it easy all day on Friday and lit a nice warm fire. One lovely thing was Jay dropping by with some plants—starters from his garden (Calla Lilies, Boston Ivy and Lavender). 

It’s been cloudy today and only 18° but it’s a nice temperature for working. Today I’m addressing the many, many things I’ve ignored whilst concentrating on the landscaping project. I’ve already been shopping, to the recycling centre and transplanted all my Raspberries.

But best of all, was planting the Lavender. Jay gave me three plants and I had one of my own. The ones at his house are huge billowing clouds of blue, so I planted mine in between the fruit trees where they’ll get lots of sunlight. I could not be happier; I think my backyard is going to be gorgeous. 

By mid-afternoon, I was beat. It was time to have a soak in the spa and chill for the evening with die kinder. (I watched a rather wonderful film called “I Love Berlin” last evening; it’s more a collection of short films really; it’s not one long narrative and I quite loved it.)

Rain & Pain

Wednesday I was back at yard work, knowing that Thursday would be a day of rain and rest. I worked relentlessly, all the while looking forward to my spa at the end of the day. 

Since beginning with section one, I’ve been throwing rocks into one place. Yesterday I placed the largest of them around the edge of un-edged gardens and put the rest in the forest. I dumped maybe eight wheelbarrows full today. 

When I finished I felt pretty satisfied—proud of the day’s work and happy to see much more of section three looking ready for seeding. Good weather settles back in on Friday so I’ll be back to it again then.  

My spa was lovely thanks to the sweet, sweet fragrance of the blazing bloom of Ocean Spray. And then Sheba and I had a lovely warm and bright summer drive to Jays for dinner with him and Fançois and Eoin—and their Whippets and Sheba.

It was a truly heavenly evening. It was a warm summer night and I was eating a delicious dinner with three excellent friends and residents of Gabriola.

•

The the sound of (welcome) rain pounding on the roof woke me up and as soon as I was rational, I realized I felt awful and would want to spend the entire day in bed. Then I heard the sound of Fred puking his guts up in the kitchen. 

I got up, cleaned up Fred’s mess whilst my head pounded walked Her Highness nearby and spent the rest of the day lying down shielding the light from my eyes and waiting for bedtime. At 7:30, I was fast asleep for the night.

•

Today I feel better but I’m not certain I’m up for yard work. It may be a slow day. It’s sunny, but this early morning, it’s only fourteen chilly degrees outside! This morning’s small community dog walk my revive me.

Progress is Slow.

I got back to work on the yard in earnest on Monday. I started early and the weather was ideal—sunshine with clouds and not too hot.

Section three is huge and in the middle of it there’s a circular brick “patio “that the previous owner used to host a fire pit. The bricks were laid on gravel and the people who built it spread the excess gravel in the yard. The worst part of the day was discovering five wheelbarrows full of gravel under the surface of the weeds and Fir needles where I want grass to grow.

I dug all the gravel out and schlepped it to the driveway; the loads were so heavy I could hardly push the wheelbarrow. But when I was done, the section I worked on had a lovely smooth rolling surface that really pleased me—as with other sections I’ve done. 

Monday night ended early as my days always do after many hours of physical labour..

This plant is a stunner. I have two of them.
Look at those leaves!

Tuesday also dawned beautifully. I took Her Highness for a short walk and then got back to work on the yard before heading into the village to have my teeth cleaned and shop. When I got home, it was time to water all the gardens and my reward was discovering that my Peas are blooming and that my (few) Cherries will soon be ready to eat.

Today’s another lovely day so I’ll get lots more yard work done.

It’s going to take me for f’ing ever to finish section three. I figure I’ve done maybe 20% of it after four days of work. But when I look at the yard and see all I’ve done—sections one and two finished and a great start on section three—I realize I took on a huge project. At my current pace, it could take me three more weeks to finish this final section.

Today will start with a community dog walk and it’ll end with dinner at Jay’s with François and Eoin and all our dogs.

•

I heard Hozier’s song, Almost (Sweet Music),  so many times on the CBC, it’s grown on me. Now I watch it on YouTube every day. The dancing in it, referencing the early days of Jazz, is spellbinding (especially the unmatchable young couple dancing in their apartment!). I’ve become a massive fan of the Irish troubadour.  See the video here.