So Many Guests

That’s Sylvie on the left and Lucie on the right. There was a cool wind blowing off the water when we were at Drumbeg, so Lucie was bundled up, but the sunshine was nice and warm. Sadly, Sheba was too short for the photo.

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Our Spring arts festival, Isle of the Arts, has been cancelled due to Covid19. The impact of virus prevention and paranoia has reached us here. Yesterday I went to the village market and at the entrance there were two large shelf units that were completely empty and so I glanced at the price tags for the product that was either gone or coming. Can you guess what it was?

Yes: It was toilet paper. Evidence of the herd mentality abounds. Caution is vital but common sense is also worthwhile.

Look at that weather! What a wonderful week we have ahead of us. I’ll get some weeding done in the garden and I’ll be cutting the new lawn I laid last year in the backyard for the first time.

Flowers are out in all my gardens and the trees are about to burst with leaves; it’s hard to remember that it’s still officially Winter and that warmer temperatures are unfair to expect. But Spring starts officially on Thursday. Hooray! Finally!

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My tea with “the girls” went very well. I had savory canapés and half the cake to serve them and they were delighted with both. And Sharon, whom I barely know—she’s theÁmother of a son who thinks of me as a mentor as he is a self-employed creative professional like I was—is coming to visit with her husband this afternoon. It’s nice to be able to welcome guests and to know that my speech will be perfect and that I’ll not have a meltdown.

And I realized this morning, although I’m loath to say this for fear of breaking the spell: I’ve not had a migraine for a long, long time. Their constant presence of the past few years must have been a function of my poor mental health. I’m so, so glad to feel this reprieve.

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This morning I was up at 5:30. It was dark and a wind was blowing cold against my body as I went outside at 6:50. I could go out unwrapped because there was no light lit in my neighbour’s house. The stars were bright and the moonlight cast sharp shadows across my new backyard lawn as I slipped into the hot tub to experience the dawn in splendid warmth. What joy that spa brings me still!