Thistle

I saw the Thistle in the photos above, from my office window. I could see just a huge plant, and so I went into their empty lot to see what it was. It’s about 1.6 meters high. I took the selfie to try to show the size and failed. But the other images, showing the whole plant and just one leaf (!) give you an idea of its size.

I’ll be stealing rocks from their lot in the early mornings in order to ring the edge of my front garden that faces the house. I’d rather move rocks than weed the Fern Garden. The weeds are thick and deep-rooted; they cover every square centimeter of a large garden. It’s a total mess. But I’ll keep trying, doing little spurts of it and eventually … I’ll post a photo.

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It was twenty degrees when I started gardening. I felt very hot as I worked pulled weed after weed. It’s going to take forever to bring my Fern garden into shape. It’s full of grass and weeds and it needs more Ferns in many places. It’s going to take me a week or two to get it into shape—depending of course on my diligence, given that I have no deadline.

In the early afternoon, I went to Whalebone beach—it’s not closed—because there was a very low tide at two o’clock, exposing lots of sandbar on which Sheba and I could play fetch. I wish I had taken my camera to show you how stunning the view is!

There were two couples there, both of whom had dogs and both of whom were friendly. I spoke to all four people and it felt wonderful to have spoken to young human beings (at a distance) who never mentioned the virus.

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I have never been so idle as I’ve become over the past while. Not even the good weather energizes me. 

Before my breakdown I was the Energizer Bunny, sleeping only four-to-five hours a night and busy, busy, busy. Now I want to be idle. Yes, I do things around here. I have to cut the lawns, stack wood, water the gardens, etc. And I do those things that must be done.

But the “extras,” like weeding, I do very little each day. I tire easily; my asthma makes me breath heavily. But there’s a certain ennui in my character since my breakdown, too. I feel I should always be doing something, but I don’t want to—I just want to do a little.

Today, I found the hammock irresistible while the opera was on CBC. 

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Today is predicted to reach almost thirty degrees! Tomorrow, the clouds come and on Tuesday we’re expecting rain and I’m glad the gardens will get a good soak.

Today I have to do some shopping and the rest of the day will be gardening and walking Her Highness like every other day of the past two months.