Friday, July 10, 2020

An Up-Date.....

Friday, July 10th, 2020

When I talk about "an up-date" I am really taking about what happens daily around the house, and out in the garden.  And maybe with a slight comment about what the rest of the family is doing, they who seem to lead the normal life that I once did, and wander hither and yon about their daily schedule.

I still have that lovely little internal alarm clock that waken me just before six, and especially now, when I see blue sky and white clouds and breathe in the sweet morning air, it behooves me to reach for my slippers and an airy kimona and go and stir Bruce from his slumber.  Well, sometimes he is already awake, and we make our way down the hall and he skips down the stairs and through the doggie door, to do whatever doggies do when they first awaken. Mr too, I attend to morning ablutions and then we are ready for the first cup of coffee and a home-made biccie or two for Bruce.

This is my quiet time, and I sit around and think a lot, ponder a bit (that's more serious thinking and sometimes it involves a memory or two). It has been my habit for a long time - Charles was a late night person and not such an early riser, so many times, after the thoughtful time,  I would slip out to the garden and be knee deep in the raspberry patch, or picking peas or beans, when he would appear at the window, waving the coffee pot.

At seven o'clock my daughter phones, to touch base and discuss the night's sleep, before she goes to work.

Bruce and I have breakfast.

My son-in-law and daughter live just across the lane.  When she has gone to work he appears in the garden, collecting up bird seed to feed the birds and refilling the lady fountain whose water trickles all day and provides the birds with a place to drink, and sometimes to bathe.  Especially the robins, - they make a great fluster with droplets flying everywhere, and wings flapping around the fountain lady's bended knees.

My son-in-law comes in for coffee - he is a youngish  Cawston pioneer, and we are both well versed in the lores and ways of this little village and the people who live there, so we have all sorts of people and events to talk about before he is on his way to work, and I am on my way to whatever I have planned for the day.

But first I check my mail, and always Facebook!  A great way to catch up on village news and often little snatches of news from and about grandchildren and even the great grands....

Sometimes in the morning I bake, or stuff something in the slow cooker for supper- especially in the summertime.  But before I do anything in the house Bruce and I are out in the garden/jungle, - eagerly now when there is so much blooming and everything is green and luscious.

After a while I hear the loom room calling, or a great yearning comes over me to do some threading or sleying or to wind some warp, and I drop my housewife aura and turn into a weaver for as long as my back allows me, before it complains...

I am so fortunate, and so grateful that even as I age I have this passion that allows me to plan projects, do the math and get the warp on the loom, and then spend lovely afternoons throwing the shuttle.  It keeps my mind active much better.

Our youngest son is spending some time in the South, from his home in the Cariboo, and often he will drop in, - a wonderful conveyor of news, and groceries when I need them, and a Star performer at fixing looms and tying up treadles.

I no longer have my driving licence and have reached this "could-be-lonely age" when my dearest beloved and all my loving peer friends have shuffled off to whatever awaits us all.  With the pandemic that troubles us all I don't go shopping anymore, and the church is closed.  But I can always go to the fruit stand around the corner.

My mode of transport is Charles' cart which I have seen him do wheelies on, but I drive it much more modestly and feel much more vulnerable if I should run into traffic.  So I am thinking that I shouldn't be such a wimp, and despite my advanced age I should show a bit of courage and a lot of aplomb and just pop down the Main Street, traffic or not!!!  Ten years ago I had a friend (not quite as old as I am but much more adventurous).  She was going down the Main Street in the middle of the day when a great huge truck came up behind her, and when he passed the breeze the truck created blew off her wig!!!

I don't wear a wig, but I might lose a hat!!

Well, I will consider this in the morning, but right now Bruce is telling me it is time for him to go out into the beautiful night air, - look around for the moon, make his bladder comfortable, and say goodnight and go to bed.  Me too!!!

Tomorrow is another day!  And I am half way through sleying the threads for a towel warp, which must get before I can make that luscious mohair blanket!!!

The day beckons, - there is much to look forward to...

P.S.   I would post some pictures of the garden and the fountain lady but it is late and the blogger is being difficult and dare I say, almost obnoxious.  Certainly it does not pick up and deposit photos where I want them to go so I will do battle with Mr. Blogger another time...





Sunday, July 05, 2020

Sunday
July 5th, 2020

I have just said good-night to the garden, - turned the water off here, and put it on there for the evening

Admired the flowers that are greeting July with lots of bloom and enthusiasm.....and noticed that the garlic scapes are curly nicely and making a lovely structural picture where they are growing amongst the raspberries - don't asked me how they got there, but they are welcome, and making themselves right at home.

It has been a warm day, and this afternoon I was glad of the shaded patio out in the back garden
 - perfect place for cold drinks and cool books. I am reading (re-reading) The Language of God (a scientist presents evidence for belief) by Francis Collins, who seems to know what he's talking about. He seems quite satisfied with the theory of "theistic evolution" - many thoughts which I am entirely  in agreement with.  Well, as much as you can be in agreement when you are pondering "life, and where it arose from".

Sometimes the best you can do is just lay it down to a MYSTERY.

I have some nice McCall Smith books to lighten the reading load a little, and give my mind a rest, and some entertainment.

In the morning, when I still have more than just a shade of energy, I have been winding warps with firstly a set of lace and spotted towels and secondly a mohair blanket, the thoughts of which make me wonder if I am over-reaching my capabilities at this advanced age!  However I am game to give it a try, and am quite excited by the cones of mohair that arrived in the mail.

Before I started counting warp threads I went to online church - lovely to be able to arrive and listen to the old familiar words of the Anglican service - although I don't hear the words of my youth 

"Dearly beloved brethren, the scripture moveth us in sundry places to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness" 

 (I remember in my younger days exchanging these words for "Dearly beloved brethren, the scripture moveth us in sundry places to go and watch the donkey races, and when we've seen which donkey won etc. etc.- I have forgotten the last part about what we would do upon seeing which donkey won.  It will probably come to me in the night, when my mind rescues those little bits and pieces that get stuck along the way from my memory to my mind!!!

Anyway, without getting all dressed up for church I was able to take part in that hour that has meant so much in my life....I have to say that I did miss Charles, beside me 😐😐 or signaling to me to crank the organ either up or down, depending upon how loud it was coming through...

Life goes on, day by day and one must somehow cope with the losses and appreciate the pluses - which are pretty well made up with our children and their loving attention and care!  

And this makes me think of the other day when Bruce and I went out to sit on the bench in the back garden while my youngest son, and my oldest son, together dealt with a rat that had somehow got into the house and was causing much confusion while I slept.....well, not much, but enough to be noticeable.

Fine men and hunters, those boys!!!!  Home is now rodent free.....

I would like to leave a picture here, but this new way of putting a blog together is one I find quite stressing, so I guess I will leave things as they are, and say Good Night, - God bless,  etc.....