Blessings from Jess and Todd

 

I can header wait to see this film!

Friday was wonderfully wet. I was overjoyed to have the day off from watering, and to be able to light a small fire to warm up the house and dehydrate all the fabric in the house. I lazed through the morning knowing I had no demands on me for the day. 

Di was late joining us for our walk. Often, someone is late. I can’t imagine sleeping so late that it’s hard to make a 9:30 walking date. Getting up at 4:30 means I have five hours in which to do things before meeting up for the walk. 

We walked with our friends and were lucky that the rain held off while we were on the trails. Then we came home and I just puttered around the house before lunch time. After lunch, I had a nap, and then I did my SPACE homework as the sky brightened and all hope of more rain died.

When my SPACE work was done, I attended to the raspberry canes. I had lots of berries this year, but many of them were very small. I think I disturbed them when I decided to haul out all the feral potatoes that were overtaking the bed. I cut down all the old canes and did some other pruning until it was time for our afternoon walk. We went to the Elder Cedar grove to walk. As Sheba is increasingly uninterested in walking, I like to go to trails she finds irresistible.

When we got home, my new duvet and duvet cover had arrived. They were awaiting me outside the front door, so this morning I am washing my bed linen and putting the new duvet on the bed. I washed my huge throw last week, so it will protect my new duvet from paw abuse.

Last evening was the usual, but I had one surprise. Tod and Jess called me on Facetime. I have to say that my eyes were wet as we talked. I’ve known Jess since she was two. I didn’t care for her when she was a child, but when puberty hit, she changed and became my favourite person in the world. 

She and Todd live in Victoria, but she had to come to Vancouver often for work. She works for the BC government. Whenever she came to the city, she stayed with me and our mutual love grew. One day, when she came to stay, she threw herself onto me with a big hug when I opened the door. That may be the greatest moment of my life. I had never experienced such enthusiasm from anyone, not even Steve.

As I wrote about on this blog often, her parents, fast friends for fifty-two years, dumped me after a scathing attack. It was Frani, not Chris, who berated me for believing in my diagnoses from Dr. Shoja. Frani had her own idea about my breakdown, and she defended my parents whom she had never met.

I hadn’t spoken with Todd and Jess for almost eight months. I found it hard to be with them because it made me think about Frani and how mean she was to me, and I sensed that they knew that and that we were both letting go of our friendship. Their call last night made it very clear that our friendship will go on. and I am immensely happy about that. I was very teary when we said good-bye.

This morning. The thick clouds are back. There could be more rain this morning, but it is predicted to clear around noon and be sunny and hot all week. I have another day to play today. I need not water anywhere, here or at Ali and Pete’s. 

Wood Re-Stacking

I’m a good boy! Okay, I’m a good old man. I was out at 5:30 to water all the garden beds. I finished at 7:30. I’d finished my most important work for the day before most of my neighbours were awake. I feel good feeding my floral friends. When I was done, it was time to do the dishes and then to enjoy a lovely morning soak before taking Her Highness for our morning walk. Then we went to Sarah’s place for a grooming. She’s going to look lovely for Steve’s visit.

I dropped her off, stopped at the village to pick up a prescription, and then I came home to get started on toting wood. I wanted to clear the main part of the floor of the shed, so that when Eoin comes, we can get close to the part of the woodpile that is being held up by my kindling wood. 

I’m afraid to remove the kindling wood because the big wall of large pieces behind it will fall onto me. That’s why I want Eoin to help me strategize how to get it all to collapse without getting hurt. Once it’s down, I can re-stack it all. I don’t want Eoin to stack wood, just to help me collapse the dangerous part.

I got started at around 9:15. Thankfully, it had clouded over with thin white clouds, so I was not dripping with sweat when I came in for a break after stacking for half an hour. By then, I had almost all the wood off the floor and re-stacked in the shed. 

I had a short break, during which, I put my massive throw into the washing machine and then got back to work on the wood. I wanted to get all the wood stacked so that all Eoin and I had to do was somehow remove the kindling and let the wood behind fall—unless we could push it back into position somehow. Anyway, I’m just glad to have someone to help me strategize how to deal with the leaning tower of wood.

During my second break, I hung up the throw to dry on the line, and I put my electric blanket into the sink to soak. It was filthy, thanks to Sheba. And I called Eoin to cancel his visit. I’m confident that I can restore order on my own. I went back to work for a bit, re-stacking more wood, and then I headed back to Sarah’s to pick up Sheba. Before I left, I put the electric blanket into the washing machine on the gentle cycle, and then, when it was done (it took only ten minutes) I laid it out to dry on the dining room table.

I picked up Her Highness and came home to feed everyone, and then I took the hammock in so that it wouldn’t get wet if it rained, and I cleaned up inside the house a little. After that, I got onto the chaise to do some reading. I felt fabulous because the wood problem was solved, all the beds at Pinecone Park and at Pete and Ali’s were watered and with the overcast skies, the water would not evaporate quickly. I could chill for the afternoon. What joy!

Late in the afternoon, we went for our afternoon walk. She wouldn’t walk at Ricki Ave. Trail, so we went to Rollo Park where she is always willing to walk, perhaps because it’s a short walk there. Refusing to walk is becoming something she does more often. It could be her feet are sore; it could be the heat. I’ll just have to see how things go.

As we drove home, it started to rain. It was real rain, too, but it only lasted for five minutes. Still, it was rain, and as I went to bed, I hoped that there would be more in the night.

When we got home, it was the usual: dinner and a movie. Except there was one BIG difference: thunder. Lots of rain and lots of loud, rumbling thunder.

Today I go hose-free. There was more than enough rain to soak the garden beds and it’s still spitting this morning. Plus, it was cloudy all day yesterday, and it’s going to be cloudy and wet today. And that’s perfect because I have (paid) SPACE homework to do. Today is a perfect day for indoor work.

The coming week is going to be mighty hot. I am going to be on watering duty every day. Sigh.

All I Do Is Water

A while back, I bought myself new sheets and pillowcases. I was extremely happy I did it and I wondered why I had waited so long to replace bedsheets and cases I’d had for far too long. Yesterday, I ordered a new duvet and duvet cover so now my bed/sleeping makeover is complete and I am giddy.

I also ordered another bird bath. It’s scheduled to arrive today. During these hot summers, birds flood onto my fountain. I have a bird bath in my edible garden that’s made of cheap plastic. It works but it’s ugly. The incoming bath is much nicer, and I will put it near the fountain because the sound of the falling water attracts the birds and now, they’ll have more space to bath and drink.

After cleaning the filter of the spa, adding water and having a soak, I headed off with Her Highness to walk with our friends. When I got home, I got busy with watering ahead of my 12:30 Zoom with Aidan, and once that call was done, I was off to Sandi’s to tour her garden and have some rhubarb cobbler.

It was great fun visiting Sandi. She’s a fine soul. We had a lovely visit and when I got back home, I did more watering, I finished all the planting and transplanting, and then I Zoomed with Aidan. He’s off to Chicago for a stuttering conference there, and I have homework to do—lots of it.

When our call was finished, I went back to gardening work before we went for our afternoon walk. After the walk, we went to Pete and Ali’s house, and I watered all the beds before coming home to end my day in the spa and on the couch. I was done for the day; however, these simple routine days positively thrill me. I feel on top of things, and it keeps me calm.

Today will begin with a thorough watering of the garden beds. The weather forecast shows that there could be showers today, but I have my doubts as the sky is clear. Rain is predicted for tonight and tomorrow, though, so I hope that forecast comes true. Although I water several of Pete and Ali’s beds, their entire yard is garden and I’m not watering it while they are away for ten days. I hope, for their sake, that we get rain.

After I water, I shall begin work on cleaning up all the fallen wood in the shed. Eoin is coming by at 13:00 to help me deal with the scary part—the part of the pile that is precariously still standing.

Just Another Summer Day

Tuesday morning, it was difficult to get out of bed. I felt sick of watering and the thought of re-stacking all the wood depressed me. But the brood was calling me to action and so the day got underway as Fred howled for food. The good news was that Steve is flying home today from Florida where he had a stopover visit with friends after his long visit to Spain.

Beth is coming shortly after Steve leaves, but her plans are changing every day as she hears from her other west coast friends. We have a plan now and I’m very excited and grateful to her and to Steve for coming to visit.

I had my usual lovely morning soak, and then Her Highness and I went for our morning walk. It’s lovely and cool in the mornings and we have the trail all to ourselves. When we retuned, I fed the brood lunch and then had my Zoom call with Dr. S. It was a great session, as always. I like that she said this: “You are trying to find that sweet spot between having enough social activity to satisfy our basic human need, but not too much so as to overload a soul that has learned from experience that people are untrustworthy.” 

When my session was over, Her Highness and I went over to Pete and Ali’s to water their garden beds and to do some spot watering where plants were showing signs of stress. Then we came home and I watered here forever before doing some transplanting that I will finish today.

After our afternoon walk, we had our usual eventing at Pinecone Park.

Today: more watering of course, and some planting, raking and toting, for tomorrow, Eoin is coming over to help me handle the scary part of dealing with the fallen wood pile. I’ve a lot that I want to do before Steve arrives. He is due in six days!

Really hot weather is coming. Sigh. I’ll be watering like mad. I’m taking things rather easy while I can. Hurricane Steve will change my patterns, and I’ll be busy and talking a lot, so I am treasuring these quiet days. I love my slow life. I love being solitary in paradise. But I also love my friends and I’m excited about Steve coming, then Beth, then to Vancouver for a wedding, and at some point, Dwight is coming for a short visit. Yay Summer!