Check In On Those Around You

This is a thoughtful public service announcement about mental health from Norwich City FC and Samaritans, a suicide prevention charity in the UK.

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Today began with a bang! At 5:58 am, there was the loudest, longest rolling thunder that I have ever heard. Sheba was unfazed because at the time, we were cuddling on the bed and she must have felt secure. The cats, however, were totally freaked. They wouldn’t eat and couldn’t settle; they were on high alert and scanning all around them. I went to our Facebook page and people were really freaked. Some had been terrified and run out into the rain fearing an earthquake. I’ve never seen so many posts on Facebook in the morning.

Monday went by pleasantly. I got some yard work done in the warm sunshine of the afternoon, but the morning was cool. Our walks were wonderful, and the day passed with me in great spirits. 

I’m not sure about today. There are large patches of blue sky, and the morning air is brisk. It may be an inside day as everything is so wet from the overnight rain. I can’t do a good job of cutting the grass down where it’s exploding with growth when it’s so wet. It may be a day of reading.

My eye appointment is a week today. I can hardly wait to see if my vision in my left eye can be corrected. My reading glasses work for reading, but I hold the book quite close, and I must lean into the screen of my computer to be able to see clearly if both eyes are open. I’m spending more time with my left eye closed now.

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Aaron Sorkin confirmed during a live recording of The Town podcast that he is currently working on some kind of sequel to “The Social Network,” David Fincher’s acclaimed 2010 drama about the creation of Facebook that won Sorkin the Oscar for best adapted screenplay.

“Look, yeah, I’ll be writing about this,” Mr. Sorkin said about the social media company’s recent years. “I blame Facebook for January 6.”

Butterbur? I'm not certain, but I love this new plant in my garden.

This wonderful wispy Japanese Maple is new and gorgeous in my garden.

Here's that gorgeous Maple again. It's leaves are
so slight that you can barely see them from a distance.

My natural front yard is looking gorgeous. See next photo.

Up close, you can see billions of little blossoms. The bees are happy.

My ferns are about to become magnificent again.

I love the colour the Japanese Maples bring to my yard.

Where once there was only piles and piles of garbage.

Yellow and burgundy Hens and Chickens. Yes!!!

Soon this Clematis will explode in violet blossoms.

Ranunculus.

 A beautiful Bleeding Heart.

Dull, Dull, Dull,... But Happy

Sunday was another day indoors spent reading, puttering and anxious about my eye. In the evening, I began the series Lessons in Chemistry, and I am enjoying it (and that is usually not the case when I watch a movie version of a book that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading). 

Today has dawned bright and sunny. Her Highness and I will walk with our friends this morning, and then I will get to chain sawing wood in the back of the yard behind the fence. It will be nice to be outdoors again.

Although my life has been reduced to endless days of the same thing, I am very happy in Pinecone Park with Fred, Ethel and Her Highness. And on a sunny day like today, I feel particularly good about life. Until tomorrow …. 

Hangin' Around Doing Very Little

Saturday was another day like Winter. That’s to say, when I don’t feel like being outside. All I did was read and eat and so I’ve nothing to report here.

I watched Dave and Andrew finishing their task of putting up all the walls of the yurt, and I read. The most exciting thing of the day was to notice a small songbird coming out of one of the bird boxes I put up on my trellis. She had a small mouthful of twigs that she loaded into the box. I’m hoping she has babies and that I can watch them emerge one day.

In the evening, I finished watching a pretty great TV series on Apple+ called The New Look. It is a film about the wartime and post war Parisian fashion industry, as revealed through the stories of Christian Dior and Coco Chanel. I really enjoyed it. The writing is good, as is the acting. Ben Mendelsohn does a wonderfully credible and compelling job of portraying Christian Dior, and what a story is his!

My left eye is pretty bad. I can see out of it, but poorly. I am waiting to see my ophthalmologist on May 7^th. I sincerely hope whatever is wrong is repairable.  I’m sure it will be, but I am anxious about the procedure. Don Tyrell had a detached retina and he had to spend several days on his stomach, not raising his head. We would talk into a mirror on the floor below his face. I hope I don’t have to go through that because I’ll need help from people to eat.

Today will be like yesterday, but without the rain. I don’t go on the big dog walk on Sundays anymore. It’s just too chaotic and loud. Her Highness and I walk alone now, and so off we go.

S-L-O-W Days

Thursday was a sad and quiet day. I was really sad to see Peter and Ally leave. Ally is a kindred spirit and she got me hired at Emily Carr University, and that allowed me to make a wonderful wage for several years. And we’re both adopted, but she was adopted by loving, caring, wonderfully attentive parents (who are still alive).

After they left, I felt so lethargic that I just lay on the couch and thought about things to eat. I always want to eat to forget about bad thoughts or feelings. The best part of the day was watching the walls go up and Dave and Ursula’s yurt—and watching Andrew walk around. He’s over six feet of slender, muscular, masculine beauty. He and Dave worked all day in the rain, and that’s what they are doing again today.

When Her Highness and I walked this morning, it was wonderful to be in the forest. There was a sweet floral fragrance blowing gently on my face and we walked. It was truly an uplifting walk even though the trails are full of puddles, and it was raining real rain.

Today will be slow. It feels good to have a break from working every day and going to fitness; my body is healing, and my eye is less obnoxious. It is blurry but working. I’ve 10 days to wait to see the ophthalmologist.