Curtain Up

Last Winter, I started working on plastic curtains, making them from surveyor’s tapes, to prevent birds from flying into the glass doors and windows of my studio. In the movie above, you’ll hear the fountain that attracts the birds to drink and bathe. Scores come all the time, and if something scares them, they will fly into the glass, seeing a reflection of the forest.

Slowly, plastic I’ve glued or taped to the glass will come down and instead there’ll be more curtains that move beautifully in the wind.

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The best thing about yesterday was not having to be on a roof or ladder. I’m so glad that the cleaning of the roofs is behind me. But there were lots of chores awaiting me yesterday.

I got started early in the morning. I was out watering at 6:00 am. When that was done, I had a lovely spa in the refreshing coolness of the morning. I don’t care for the hot water when it’s as hot as it is now in the afternoons; I prefer my spas in the brisk morning air. Then I went on the dog walk with my friends.

When I got home, I transplanted the Ivy I wanted to get into a front bed and then I finally got to weeding my Fern Garden—a garden I am particularly fond of. It’s now looking glorious, as should a garden of indigenous foliage. After that, it was on to returning the giant ladders to Kevin and then cleaning my windows and putting up the plastic curtain on my studio. (I’m motivated now to finish making the curtains.)

It got seriously hot in the afternoon, so we headed for a shady trail for our afternoon walk together. Sheba is like me; she’s heat adverse. And when I got home, I washed my bed linen and hung it out to dry. It took twenty minutes to be bone dry and going to sleep with the smell of fresh air was a treat!

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Today’s another beauty, but it’s not going to be as hot (and I’m happy about that). We’ll walk together this morning, I’ll do some shopping and watering, and then I’ll get back to work after a long hiatus on the ribbon curtains for the second door and the windows.

Roofs Done!

I got a nice note on my blog a couple of weeks ago from a friend from high school whom I really liked. It was a lovely note, and I was thrilled to hear from him; he proposed getting together for lunch and catching up. I answered his post right away, saying how much I looked forward to seeing him again after all these years. But so far, I’ve heard nothing back.

His note didn’t provide contact information, so I wrote a letter to him at his home address (that I had courtesy our grad class list), and to his sister asking for his email address. I’ve heard not a word from either of them. It seems odd to have not heard back and I’m disappointed.

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Yesterday, after a dousing of the backyard gardens, Sheba and I went for a lovely long morning sojourn in the forest. It was the finest morning walk of the year. The air was deliciously warm and fragrant with Spring blossoms, and I had all the time in the world to take in all the beauty that caught my eye.

When I came home, I watered the front and edible gardens and got directly into cleaning the last of the roofs. I was still aching from my work on the main house on Monday, but I was energized by the knowledge that it was the end of the work. I was on the roof again, not working from a ladder, and the work went decently quickly. 

Doing anything is thoroughly enjoyable on as brilliant a Summer-like day as was yesterday (at 4:00 pm, it was 29°). But man-oh-man I felt good when the work was done! That’s one huge job finished! It was real work; now I can get back to the more recreational ‘work’ of gardening and puttering at little jobs. 

And today’s going to be just like yesterday. I have all my doors and windows open: they are screened so that the cats stay in, but the kitties have their cattery on the back deck to enjoy and they are in it all day. I’ll be taking it easy today, just puttering around the gardens, cleaning some windows and planting some of the Ivy I’ve rooted.

My French Boys

This is Mathias in 1976.

This is Mat's brother, Fabien, in 1976.

These are the boys now with Fabien's daughter, Léa.

I went to study, teach and live in France in 1975 where I met the Periers. Marie-Claude was my teacher, and she became a dear, dear friend—such a trusted and valued friend, that I came out to her. 

I moved into their home with them and became a part-time minder to their two boys, Mathias and Fabien. I took the photos above in 1976. Later in life, Fabien came to live with me and my dad for a while when I came home, and he went to the high school I’d attended to improve and perfect his English.

The other photo above is one I got yesterday from Marie-Claude. It’s the boys today (Mat on the left; Fabien in the middle), and the lovely young woman is Fabien’s daughter Léa.

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Yesterday became overcast almost immediately after the sun rose enough to inflame the treetops, so I was working on the roof without the sun burning me. I had my trusty rope for safety because I was scampering around on the house roof much of the day, as well as working from a ladder. It was scary when I was on the roof—it’s so easy and sudden to slip and lose one’s footing.

I was pretty tuckered out by 1:30 when I took my first break. I had lots to drink before getting back to it. And I persevered. I pushed myself to complete the entirety of the street side of the roof, so the house is done. Now only one side of the shed remains to be done and I’ll do that today so I can return the ladders and ropes to Kevin.

When I take a break, it’s mighty hard to get my butt back in gear and get up the ladder. The work is terribly tiring; by the end of the afternoon my arms were aching, and I was walking around at half-speed. And, because I’d also cleaned the top of the chimney, my clothes and face were black with soot. I looked a site. I washed myself and then I had to wash the bathroom to get all the black soot down the drain.

I’m mighty chuffed that I’ve been able to clean all my roofs. Even though I have one side of the shed roof to do, I feel finished already. The one remaining side is going to be very easy to clean. What an epic job! I earned my place on the couch last night.

It’s a beauty of a day. I have all my screened doors and windows open and so Fred and Ethel are particularly happy and doing their zoomies all around the house. I’ll spend the day doing the last half of the shed roof and I’ve a major watering task to do today. And tonight, I’ll enjoy a well-earned night on the couch.

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My charcuterie arrived yesterday and my God it’s delicious. I’ll be ordering from them constantly. And more books arrived. I have a huge collection of unread books now and it should last me a long, long time.