This and That

The week has passed in a haze of smoke, some days more dense than others as the wind shifts.

On Wednesday morning the day dawned clear and bright, but soon there were thunderclouds forming to the north and evening brought a great crashing and lightning show that stole away all power from the valley for three hours.

We hunted up the candles and the LED lights and sat out on the deck in the candlelight, watching the sheet lightning and listening to the complaints of the thunder, rumbling off in the distance.  Just as we went to bed the power came back on, so I was able to have my pre-sleep read by lamplight.   I have a Seven Day book from the library, - Joanna Trollope's 'The Other Family'.  I am enjoying it in snatches and have put away 'Surprised by Hope' by N.T. Wright, a book that requires a little more thought and mindful reading.

There are a couple of fires in neighbouring valleys, and occasionally we hear the helicopters and the water bombers, but seldom see them through the smoke.

The days pass quickly and when I realize we are a week into August I am needled into picking up my knitting to resume the sock marathon.   The sock stash grows and then diminishes when birthdays arrive and it is so handy to parcel up a pair of handknit footwear.  It is a project for which my enthusiasm also grows and diminishes, and I hid it all away during the heat of July, but now I have cast on again!

I was also seduced into playing the piano every day when Charles remarked that he hadn't heard any Scott Joplin in a long while and I thought 'Yes - we are missing that joy from our lives' so now I have made room for some practising  in the morning as he gets ready to go out and do the things he really feels must be done!!!
This week involving the tractor!!!

Was he always this disciplined about accomplishing something important every day?  Surely I remember the wonderful cool mornings we went golfing, and the Saturdays we spent at yard sales, and fishing, and bridge games......well, we can't golf any more, and we don't need anything to tempt us at yard sales, and the friends we played bridge with have all been lost to either death or dementia, so I guess these accomplishments are a good compensation.  And they do contribute to our togetherness as I don my Go-fer Hat.

Yesterday a friend needed some help sorting out medications so Charles came with me and we went on a little camera oriented drive, around the back benches and through the ranching meadows.

In the evening I went out to take a picture of a cloud that had caught Charles' eye, and ended up strolling through the garden, noting how it is changing from a summer garden with all its lovely Monet colours into the shades of fall.

I am off to pick some white phlox and Prairie Princess roses for the altar tomorrow.

and to take some coffee to the man on the lawn tractor....