Sunshine!

The Metropolitan Opera’s production of Akhnaten is played in cinemas yesterday. Oh how I wish I could’ve see it. Instead, I read and read and read on a dullish day in paradise.

Hannah has agreed to care for Sheba whilst I’m in Vancouver. She’ll walk her during the days and stay here overnight but it’s going to be very hard on me to leave her. I’m frighteningly close to her; we’re never apart. She’s a true life partner. (Fred and Ethel have each other. I don’t worry about them.)

Friday night I watched a program about dogs on Nova and it was really interesting. Their thesis was proving that dogs “love” us; they are not just attached to us for food and shelter. They used MRIs and a selective breeding experiment with wild foxes to prove their thesis. I loved the show. Next week they’re doing a program about cat behavior.

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The buds on my Azalea are actually starting to bloom; the pink is emerging from the green bud and it’s the middle of February! Mother Nature seems confident that Winter is over and that good times are ahead.

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Today has dawned clear and bright. We’re predicted to have a cool but bright five days, so it’ll be great to get outside and out of my books for a bit. But the day will begin with the large community dog walk. It’ll end—hurrah—with Sanditonand Vienna Blood.

In between, I’ll clear out more windfall from the Winter storms and clear the courtyard again—largely for an excuse to be outside. And I’ll start cleaning up my gardens, but it’s cool now that the sky is clear so I don’t last too long.

I’m impatient as we inch toward Spring.