Section Three Underway

My swollen throbbing wrist!

I awoke to disappointments: It’s cloudy, so working in the yard is less fun for me. And last night something stung or bit me. My wrist is swollen; it both burns and itches. Sigh.

Ethel loves the sunshine by my desk.

I, like millions, am a devoted Joni Mitchell fan. 

I saw her once walking her dog with a friend and a cigarette on the beach in L.A. I desperately wanted to say something to her, but what, I wondered? All I could think of to say was something she’d probably heard a million times before and it was my need, not hers, that we speak. So I did nothing and it hurt to watch those brave enough to speak to her. She was gracious to each one of them.

This morning I came across this video on YouTube and I could not believe my luck. It’s Joni singing Coyote. And get this: She’s singing in Gordon Lightfoot’s home. They were there whilst part of the Rolling Thunder Revue, the Bob Dylan tour that involved various guest artists in each city it visited. Dylan and Roger McGuinn, front man of The Byrds, accompany Joni as she sings. 

This photo doesn't do justice to the beauty of
this Rose growing in my backyard.

Finally … Section three got well underway yesterday and it’s immensely satisfying to see how much better my yard looks—at least to my eye. In patches, up to three meters square, I rake away the moss and old Fir needles to find pristine construction gravel that’s four inches deep. I have to remove wheelbarrows full of it and thin that which remains with soil I steal from next door. There is precious little soil on my lot.

It’s clear that I’ll be buying soil mixed with fish manure to scatter over the areas I’ve exposed. It’s money I’d rather not spend, but it’ll better support the kind of lush lawn I want. A nice lawn will serve me well for the rest of my time here and it’ll add value of the house when I sell.

Sidebar: I’m considering doing 4 workshops in my studio for which I have lesson plans and support materials all prepared from when my book was hot. I’d put an ad in the local paper and hope to earn the money it takes for me to lay the backyard lawn. 

Today I’ll be back at it. I see some patches of blue sky.Rose

This is the Ocean Spray one one of my fences.

This is my second summer but it’s the first time I’ve seen the massive orgiastic bloom of Ocean Spray that is happening now on Gabriola.

Ocean Spray is a “weed” bush that grows large and abundantly here and this Spring must be the ideal, in terms of sunshine, rainfall and temperature, for the massive bloom that’s going on right now everywhere—everywhere!  It’s a magnificent show!