HEAT!🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

sunday

We went for an early morning walk together on Sunday, Her Highness and I, and when we got home, I wanted to have dinner and go to bed. The heat makes all exertion exhausting, but I had work to do, so I had a very short lie down and then an early lunch before getting into work mode on Sunday, AKA My Day, when should and musts shouldn’t exist.  But the heat trumps all my rules. It demands my attention to the garden beds.

All the remaining plants that were still in their pots are now in the ground. I did that, at least, on Sunday. And I cleaned the pump and hoses of the fountain thoroughly, and changed the water so that now it is running properly and attracting birds to it, my baths and the feeding stations. I love how bird friendly Pinecone Park has become.

I threw some of the Boxwood plants over the fence—the once that did not survive the upheaval and replanting. And I watered everything until the ground was soaking wet and quit at 3:00 to have a cool tub and to chill inside my wonderfully cool and welcoming home. And the evening was spent in stillness on the chaise.

monday

Sheba and I walked with our friends at 9:00 on a nice cool trail, and then I came home to hang up a load of laundry I’d put in the washer. And then I started watering the beds because I could see thirst everywhere regardless of all the watering I’d done on Sunday.

The nicest part of the day was going next door to Colleen’s to fetch a baster that her dog, Sosa, had stolen from my porch, and we had a lovely chat together, and then Pete arrived for a visit, so we, too, had a long chat and a walkabout in the garden. I love Pete. We both love gardening, and he is the most generous and happy fellow imaginable.

While walking with Pete I noticed how parched the edible garden beds were, even though I had given them a thorough soaking Sunday early evening. So, as soon as Pete left, I fed the brood and then did more watering to get the plans through the hot afternoon. 

At 2:00, I had my third nap of the day. I happened to search for the side effects of Clonazepam, and fatigue is the dominant effect. Perhaps that is why I am constantly wanting to rest. Mind you, everyone is saying that the heat exhausts them, so I might just be feeling heat fatigue. 

I got some things done, but mostly I watered. Today, besides watering, I want to begin the process of weed whacking, raking and toting the detritus of the backyard to the heap. It’s nice easy work and I am visible to no one except when I do the part that Colleen, next door, can see. My only other remaining tasks are to set one last plant into the ground and move two others.

Then comes chopping and sawing wood, with limits. Whooppeee. I love living in Pinecone Park.

Can you see them? Click to enlarge. There are scores of Digitalis
plants growing here.

Ocean Spray behind a mossy rock.

All was green a mere week ago, now everywhere
has that parched Summer look.

The beautiful and heavenly scented Rose that Leslie
gave me.

A Lovely Slow Day

Saturday began with a lovely cool forest walk with Stacy at 7:30. I was home by 8:30 and I immediately got busy fixing a deck chair that broke when Dwight was here. And then I swept the deck and cleaned up the courtyard. After that, I started on the watering of the front beds. I do them in the morning and the backyard beds in the evening and I must do them every day during the hot and eternally sunny weather.

I’m also fertilizing as I water, and when I get tired of watering, I prune and pull weeds. This will be my pattern for the next several days. Watering and otherwise working on the gardens is a pleasure and so the days working until Dianne arrives will ensure I get everything done that I want to do. I haven’t read a page of a book in weeks.

For the first time, I wore my new back brace to see if it helps reduce the pain that I get in my back from working in the gardens. I felt good to put on, and it really helps, but it doesn’t keep me from feeling fried from the constant working in the gardens. However, it’s a tiredness that feels good because it comes from getting work done that has long needed doing. Most of the Boxwood that Dan gave me to transplant has died. I’m going to get rid of the dead bushes today and that will be a big job done.

By 3:00 it was 32° and I was beat. But no spa! I waited until the sun was off it before I got into it. So, my relaxing after a good day’s work was in the house where it was lovely and cool. Looking out at the gardens on so hot a day brought me a great sense of satisfaction and pride because I knew they were all flush with water and a nice refreshing evening was on its way.

I loved every second of yesterday. I thrive in solitude, and nothing is more fun for this old fart than puttering in the garden on a beautiful day. I have a list of things remaining to be done, and I shall see how much I can do.

On my evening walkabout last night, I noticed that my Blueberry bushes are all growing a massive amount of new foliage. It could be due to more light from the felling of trees on Dave’s land, it could be the compost that Bronwyn applied last fall, I could be the fertilizing that I’ve been doing this year, or all these things. I planted them five years ago at least, and they’ve always looked critically ill. But not now.

This year, I’m getting a huge emotional pay-back from the gardens. From the soil up, almost ½ an acre of landscaping where there was nothing. I built a fence around the backyard and started planting on a blanket of topsoil I had trucked in.

I was regularly doing gigs with a storytelling company, having one meal a month in a haut cuisine restaurant, active with my friends and a very, very active walker. And then FND hit, and one day, 17 months after its onset, I saw an ad for this house I’m in online. I immediately sold my condo, bought the house and moved here. October 17, 2017, was my first day here.

My doors windows are open. There are no bugs (yet, the Yellow Jackets come in August), it is silent except for the crowing of a rooster, All I see is trees and the silver roof of Dave’s new yurt looking like a spaceship in the forest. It’s 29°, and the enormous bush of Ocean Spray that grows between my yard and the spaceship, is wafting its sweet, sweet fragrance that smells like an English garden is blowing through the house.

It was an impulse move, coming here. It was a snap decision. Suddenly I knew that it was time to leave the city that I thought I would never ever leave. I had to get out because I was having up to ten seizures every day. And I have built my playground, with hammock, of course, and the hot tub. Conceptually, a hot tub was anathema to me.

Todd, a very fine young man who I adore and is married to Jess, a surrogate daughter, came to help me move in. He said that he’d assemble all the furniture for me and help me unpack boxes and clean the appliances. But first for him, was the hot tub. He cleaned it, filled it (emptying my cistern) and made me a disciple of the church of the bubbling hot tub. I remain a faithful disciple.

And then came Sheba, Fred and Ethel, and paradise.

Deer Fencing Done

Dwight’s visit was perfect. I loved every second of it and my speech was often fluent. It was exceptional to enjoy fluency with him and to be with him in person, as opposed to on Zoom. In the morning, yesterday, I showed him how to access my computer and to change my fingerprint for his, plus I showed him where my legal documents are. Then we went for breakfast, and he rode off to the ferry whereas I went to the pharmacy, the nursery, the deli and then came home to take on a fencing task.

It was 30° as I started work improvising a system to protect my Virginia Creeper from the Deer while, at the same time, not impeding its growth up the northwest wall of the house. On my first break for rest and a cold drink, I fetched the stand fan from the studio, and it is now fanning me as I write at my desk. Then it was back to work before doing some watering in critical areas before calling it a day and heading to my chaise for the evening.

I have 10 days, all of them predicted to be sunny and dry, to do work around the house. I am doing no reading at all. There are too many demands for me in the yard and gardens—weeding, pruning, staking and repairing things like the Virginia Creeper fence. I hope to get a lot done, and done slowly, during these days I have to myself, so that then, when Dianne comes, I can really enjoy my time with her as I did with Dwight, just chilling and doing Summer things together in the parks and trails.

How I love the fan!

I finally finished my yard work at 4:30. It’s been going flat out since 10:30, and I got a lot done. I’m pleased with my Creeper fencing, and I watered the entire backyard before quitting. But man-oh-man, it was hot. It was 32° when I stopped working. I earned my evening on the chaise!            

There’s a ton of work to do. I’m going to see how it goes, doing it myself. If that fails, I’ll call in Bronwyn. However, mt primary job for the foreseeable future is watering. We are entering a heatwave situation, and so I’ll be on duty morning and evening, and mid-day, I’ll be working on the gardens if all goes to plan. I’m going to do things that are in the shade.

The benefit of this kind of weather is sleeping in the wind. I open three doors that are screened and cat secure, and many of the screened windows. My logs keep the house cool and feeling the breeze on my face when I go to bed, and again when I wake, is heavenly.

Today is going to be hot again. I will be doing yard work all day. I’ll be watering the plants, fertilizing them, pulling some weeds, and pruning shrubs that are expanding a little too much. But of course, the day will begin with a dog walk with Stacy. We’re departing at 7:30 so as to avoid the heat.

Beautiful tiny blue flowers are covering one lawn
and lining my new garden bed. (Click on the photo
to enlarge it.)

The Ocean Spray is in full bloom and very, very fragrant. 

The new Virginia Creeper is beginning its job
of covering one wall of the house. This batch
is in the backyard and needed no fencing.

This is the new fence I built to protect the other Virginia Creeper
plants from being eaten. Every bit of them all was eaten last year
by Deer, so I needed something sturdy to protect them. 

More of the little blue plants around the yard. The big blue 
blossoms are perennial Geranium. 

Another Ocean Spray plant adds fragrance and
height to the garden bed under the trees.

These spectacularly beautiful Crimson Campion are wildflowers
that are growing all over Pinecone Park.

More Ocean Spray.

The Hydrangeas, Lavender and fruit trees are slowly growing
and making this part of the yard look better each year.

The new bed with the Ocean Spray behind.

The little blue gorgeous flowers are everywhere.

Only Photos for You

Dwight's film taken at Sandwell beach where we

went for lunch and to chill for part of the afternoon.

Another film from Sandwell. Note: This is mid-day

and we have the entire beach to ourselves.

The cake I made.

Dwight with a wildflower that grows here. I don't know what
it is called but it is huge and it's growing outside a neighbour's
fence. Below, are Digitalis and a beautiful blue wildflower.

This is the pasture on one side of Buttercup Street. Buttercup is
the road into and out of my little community. It's always an
uplifting and calming site.

This, and below, is the other side of the street. It does not
do justice to the beauty of the Daisies and Dandelions that
grow in gorgeous abundance here. 

This is another shot of the pasture on the same side of the street
as the shot of the Daisies above. It is a stunning way to approach
Pinecone Park through these two beautiful pastures.

Below are shots of our walk yesterday morning.

There's a Walnut Tree growing in the 707 Park.

Last and least, is a photo of Steve looking 
resplendent in his July 4 outfit.