Monday, September 28th, 2020

A beautiful autumn day, - sunny and warm, a slight breeze. and the wonderful scent of fall in the air.

The sky that gorgeous September blue - nary a cloud!

               A large stalk of asters, humming with bees, nestled against the Mountain Ash, and

                  sheltering the bird house - empty now, waiting for next spring's house hunters...

The garden is awash with these asters

and with these bright and generous berries that are so inviting

to visiting robins.

Aster Heaven!

a few fall crocus, here and there in the borders

                              And in the house - a bouquet to brighten the front entrance

                                    Love September......and look forward to October, as well! 

             Youngest son has mentioned a drive through the mountains and up the back roads -

                                            I have the camera all primed and charged,

                  ready to go down Memory Lane as it was with my Beloved in days gone by....

 Wednesday, September 16th, 2020

I had to look at the Calendar to check the day!!

I guess this is what happens when twenty four hours rolls by, another day dawns, and look, it is just like the last one!!!

Nothing changes much when a ride up the lane on the scooter is paramount to a day in the nearby town!

Here it is, Wednesday, - the middle of the week when nothing much happens....but today was different!  

The postman was the star of the day!  The star of the month, as well!!  He left a package in the mailbox containing three lovely skeins of silken thread (two black, one almost silver, with a faint blue sheen) and six cones of weaving cotton for me to wind into a long, long warp and make tea towels 'til my heart's content.

All wrapped up in Jane Stafford's lovely tissue paper - just like a beautiful present! 

I plan to make tea towels with the bright blue cotton, and the lovely lime coloured cone.  There's a gorgeous aubergine to give it a little zing, too.  Well, the days won't be anywhere near as dull -  I  will not feel oppressed by the smoke that fills our valley as it drifts up from the awesome fire they have around Omak ( although I will feel pangs of sympathy for the people of Washington who have had to bear and deal with this terrible situation).

Today we were able to see the outline of the mountains, - indeed, for a little while there was a red, red sun doing it's best to part the clouds and smoke.  Out in the meadow across the back lane the family of deer who live in the bushes that line the creek bed came out to enjoy a little green grass, and that was a treat that lent a little sweetness to the day.

This is a springtime picture - I didn't have the camera today...

September moves along, - we are past the middle of the month and the coolness and  wonderful aura that September usually brings has been sadly lacking because of the smoke.  The weatherman says rain for Friday, and that gives cause for a little jubilation, - we haven't had a decent rain since June (I believe)  The garden will be grateful......the phlox is getting weary, but the beautiful white fall crocus are making a lovely showing in the side bed.

Well, here comes my youngest son to say "good-night"

and I shall have nice dreams about what I am going to do

with all that amazing yarn!!!

 Sunday, September 13th, 2020

Our beautiful September day has been overtaken by a horrid layer of smoke making it's way over the Border and up the valley by Cawston.   I can see across the street, but not much further, and I have such sympathy for the folk who live in the vicinity of Washington, from where it is emanating.

We have been so  lucky this year, here in British Columbia - the skies have been smoke-free and the forests safe from fire, but in the United States and down the west coast, through Washington and into California I see frightening pictures of burning forests and the fire running up the trunks of tall trees, candling those beautiful pines and running through the brush, all alit and threatening to the small creatures who call this home.

I am grateful, but it does keep one in the house and is a real deterrent to cutting down those towering Barn Flowers and putting the other plants to bed.  

Never mind, this situation speaks well for kitchen jobs!  I have made some Orange Muffins,  and have four balls of pastry thawing until they reach the rolling-out stage, when I will make some apple pies!!  Two at least, - one for anybody who comes around and the other for the kind person who left a bag of apples on my kitchen counter.

The reason I have four frozen balls of pastry is because one fine day when the baking fairy had overtaken me and filled me with enthusiasm, I had made up a whole pound of lard (or was it Crisco?) and then had run out of energy before I could make all the extra pie shells I had planned on creating.

This is a condition which seems to have overtaken me lately - running out of energy.  I have loads and loads of enthusiasm but not the wisdom yet to keep it in a halter, so it won't run away with me, resulting in a little nap, or an hour or so resting in the chair-that-rests-the-back!! Fortune has been good to me and I have reached this antiqued age, but not in an antiquated condition.  However!!!   Sometimes my enthusiasm overcomes my energy.  Or my lack of energy overcomes my enthusiasm - take it as you will! 

 Anybody else run into this state of affairs?????

Recently, within the last month, a little grey kitten/cat has come to live with Bruce and I. She is not a baby, but a teen-age cat who has boundless energy and can be found investigating anywhere in the house, or running up and down the hallway as if it were a racing track.  Bruce, being elderly for a dog, the same as I am elderly for a human, looks askance at her.  On the whole they get along quite well and share the back of the sofa that looks out on to the street.  They have a different response to any stray cat who might wander through the fence.........Bruce erupts in a most excited manner, - jumping up and down and barking (loudly), but Misty (the little grey cat) is just inquisitive and anxious to get out and say hello!!

Well, I do think i should go and poke my finger into those balls of pastry, to see if it is time to roll them out and fill the shell with apples and sugar and cinnamon and maybe a bit of lemon juice, and make the house smell delicious as they bake.

Would love to share!

 

 She is here, - she is here!!

Blown in by autumn breezes..

September is here, - there is just something in the air that speaks of autumn.

Bruce and I sat out in the back garden, - me with a book, and he/him with his eyes closed, stretched out on the garden bench, enjoying the sun and the cool breeze.

I am reading "Greenery Street" by Denis Macrail - a delightful book so far, - easy to read and so entertaining.  A little of that "wry humor" that I so often see mentioned in book reviews.  Denis, the author, married Diana Granet in 1917, and they lived at 23 Walpole Street. Chelsea, the setting for Greenery Street (1925).  The little inset at the back tells one that this is the first of his twenty-five novels, and that it was written in 1920.  It's success encouraged him to give up his office job and from then on he wrote a book a year, becoming "the official chronicler of the domestic preoccupations of the upper middle class in London".  With such friends as A.A.. Milne, J.M. Barrie and Wodehouse he was one of a circle of lovely writers that old people like me are so familiar with!!!  I must look for more of his books, but of course the Library is closed, along with almost everything else in town, because of this dratted pendamic.

I am thankful for the back garden!|!  Where the purple asters are beginning to blossom and the bright orange berries on the Mountain Ash tree are heavy and gorgeous, bending the branches low. I would expect to see many birds among the branches, but perhaps these particular berries  are not an enticing part of their diet.... There are five or six robins bathing in the fountain on the front lawn every morning - I suppose they are thinking of packing their bags and flying south, soon!

The street at the front was full of men in yellow vests and trucks that said "Focus" on them, - wires, and men climbing poles....  I didn't go out and ask what they were doing, but they all seemed to be quite focused, and they went away without anyone coming to the door to say"Ma'am, we've just installed Ultra Internet" and nothing seemed any different when they left, but no doubt they had something in mind, and I will ask Youngest Son when he comes to say goodnight....

Tomorrow is another day to enjoy the blue skies and sunflowers September blesses us with....

 

And the autumn leaves and vines....

Monday, September 7th, 2020

I am waiting, patiently, for September to begin to perform it's magic!!!

Somehow I am still bogged down in late August in the remnants of "old summer".

Nights are cooler, but daytime doesn't encourage open doors and windows, and that lovely scent of Autumn.  Reluctantly I turned on the Air Conditioner this afternoon, - this was after I had gathered together a book, my glasses, a cool drink, the telephone and a basket to hold them all together.

Bruce and I went out the back -

(had to leave Misty the Cat in the house, as I am not yet assured that she would not climb the backyard trees and leap over the fence and up the lane!!! - I am not in good enough shape to race after her and my calling voice is not appealing enough to challenge the excitement of being 'on the loose')

Even in the shade it was uncomfortably warm, so we came back in and found some coolness in the A/C.  

After a while oldest son and his wife arrived with a lovely, fresh fish that they had caught while in their two or three day sojourn at Logan Lake -  I stuffed it and had it for dinner.  Delicious!!!!

I thought yearningly of the days we had spent in the woods and at the lakes, and the friends we had been camping with, - fishing in the daytime and playing bridge at night.  Precious memories, and so lucky to have them..... Here is Charles, and our granddaughter, Noni - how to put a squiggly worm on the hook!  Grandpa knew it all!!

 

Tomorrow I plan to adventure with the cart, up and around the corner to the Fruit Stall, and when I come home with some apples I will make a pie - or perhaps two (one to share around)...

What is September without apple pies, I ask you now....... 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday, 

September 3rd, 2020

"Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;  To bend with apples the moss'd cottage trees, And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core......" (John Keats - To Autumn - an excerpt....)

I had to go and check to see what day it was, in September.

Yesterday I lost myself in the garden, so I couldn't decide if I had added a wonderful day to September, or somehow lost one!!   I did have a great afternoon in the garden, but it wasn't an afternoon when I relaxed and enjoyed the bees buzzing in the asters, which are just beginning to bloom, -

 I put on my forty year old aura and started making order out of chaos amongst the barn flowers and the Jerusalem artichokes and the remnants of the golden daisies and the shaggy red Bee Balm.  After a short while my 'forty year old aura' slipped away from reality and I had to come in and rest my back and have a little brandy to recover!! And re-discover, to my great chagrin, just how many years my willing body had been gardening, and how it reacted, despite my delight in being outside amongst the summer's yield of greenery!!

Today I stayed indoors and read a bit and had the nice Thursday afternoon happy hour with my youngest daughter, when we get all caught up on the week's news and gossip!

Not much news these days, as Covid 19 constraints cause everyone to be on their toes and watch their P's and Q's, - so to speak.l  My daughter works at "The Manor", a home for people who are not confined, but are in need of assistance, and so when she first arrives there she changes her clothes and dons a mask, and her poor hands show the results of constant sanitizing.

Will we ever get back to normal?  I suppose we all have different definitions of 'normal', and I cannot complain as my life changes little.  Age makes home and garden lovely places to be, and the door is always open for company, and for family, so I am never lonely, even though I don't get out and into the village.  

There is a fruit stand just down the road and up a block, and one of these days I plan to take Charles' scooter and see what they have to offer, now that autumn is here and the peach, pear and apple seasons are in full swing.

Picking up peaches, and I always ask if they might have some over ripes out back because they bring back such wonderful memories of the orchard and the peach block and the scent of ripe, fuzzy peaches.  The children would perhaps question my nostalgia, as what they remember is Mum coming in, hot and uncomfortable and covered with peach fuzz, - not too often with a smiling countenance or in a happy mood!!   Cranky!!!  Nevertheless......there is always the shower to restore one's equilibrium.

And with that I will say good-night and go and visit with my youngest son, who has just arrived!

Sunday, August 30th, 2020

A long time since I have written here.

Somehow August has passed by, - warm weather and the usual end of August rain didn't arrive. 

The garden has been growing by leaps and bounds so that now it looks like a small jungle

with the Barn flowers reaching high above the garden fence,

 - and this lack of moisture has not been good for menacing wild fires.

I look forward to September.

Well, I have always looked forward to September!

I was always anxious to go back to school in those long ago days and somehow 

this anticipation has stayed with me over the years

and I still welcome September with great enthusiasm, and renewed plans.

A Handwoven magazine lies open upon my breakfast table

with a most inviting article and instructions for 8 shaft tea towels -

even some with overshot, which is pretty fancy for hanging on the oven door.

I find that the pandemic has joined hands with my advanced age

and between the two of them they have thrown up a barrier between me and 

any social life - although I did go to a church meeting the other day.

My "ears" got into the act, and admonished the other deterrents 

that I had managed to to avoid - I had a terrible time following the flow

and it occurred to me that my best meeting days languish in the past!!!!

I am so thankful for my looms, and the creativity they inspire..

Here are a couple of scarves I just removed, washed and pressed,and looked upon with pleasure!!!!

Oh shoot!!!  Blogger froze up on me, - again!  Is it trying to tell me something?

Am I not to post a picture of these lovely manly scarves, (?) all plaid

and one festooned with red, green and black blocks - lovely soft, fine wool.

Just great for Christmas!!!

I have decided that there is a reason for Blogger being so recalcitrant

these days, and it all has to do with age.

1.  (and the most likely) I am getting old and not as sharp as I once was.

2.  Blogger has taken on new ways that it is not quite used to, and so

     it just lies back and becomes "unresponsive"!!! (This is the reason

     I am inclined to favor as there is some hope for improvement as 

     it matures.....

3.  Maybe my computer is getting old, and it is in need of emergency

     treatment, like the installation of Windows 10, which sits here on the

     floor, beside me, patiently waiting for someone to bring it to life!!!

Whatever the reason, I have reached my limit of frustration and am off

to bed with this intriguing new book I am reading - "A Traveler at the

Gates of Wisdom"

My youngest son, who was just passing through, tells me it is raining 

outside, - I will open the window wide and listen to the pitter-pat and

be just as thankful as the poor parched plants!

Keep  an eye out for the White Rabbit, who is wending his way

through the hills and will be around to visit on the 

First Lovely Day of September......

Sunday, August 16th, 2020

It has been such a hot day, - 

as a matter of fact it is still a hot evening

and I look forward to the time when I can

open up doors and windows, -

although the fresh air that flows in

will probably still be fairly warmish!

I suppose that can be expected in the

middle of August!!

I am amazed that the garden still looks

fairly fresh, and it hasn't

taken on that droopy August lanquishy look.

Some of the asters glisten with 

the syrup from the red mites, - (at least

I think that's what causes the shine on them)

but I have had the sprayer out and hope

that they will recover!

And that when the asters bloom 

they will be fresh and beautifully indicative

of Autumn....

We spend time in the garden

most afternoons

but it usually just involves

sitting around, sipping a cool drink

and reading books.

(The Firmament of Time/Eiseley - at the moment)

In the morning

I try to spend some time at the loom....

have recently finished a mohair blanket...

a sticky endeavour!!!

but I am pleased with it.

Have a cone of black mohair left,

and some luscious red

and cool greens

but I'm not quite ready to 

face clearing the sheds before each throw,

--not for a while.

 

 August 14th, 2020

Middle of August, and it is certainly not one of those months that are fraught with inspiration, but rather it seems that I spend an inordinate amount of time spread out on the patio swing/ hammock with a book in my lap, and my eyes closed.  Waiting for September to arrive, when the weather is not desultory, and I am not desultory, but  am full of plans, - new warps to wind, a slight whiff of Christmas gifts to indulge in, - a lovely month.  As I am sure I have said before.....

In the many years that we have lived in this valley we have somehow come to look forward to the last two weeks in August, and the way it slides into fall with cooler nights and often a few days of rain (although I see no signs of clouds and moisture this year).

I am expecting family visitors over the weekend, and have been making plans for seating outdoors so that it is welcoming, but still at sufficient distance apart to accommodate pandemic requirements....a pain, but necessary I think.  And I can be happy that the rain is holding off so that the garden is a good place to gather!  It is indicative of my changing habits re the arrival of company, - on my grocery list is an order for diverse cookies - lots of them - and some lemonade powder, - so that all I have to do is make sure I have lots of ice cubes! Oh dear, - a sign of old age, I think, and a lack of the Joy of Cooking in August and getting the kitchen all heated up and sweltering.  It likes to stay cool!!!!!

When I have awakened the last few mornings I have had a conversation with myself about putting up some peaches to enjoy in the winter, - even if it is only slicing a bucketful to freeze and use for pies or peach upside-down cake. We haven't carried the business forward though, - it has just remained a thought in my mind and perhaps a slight scolding that I am thwarting the usual summer peach tradition.  I seem to be doing that a lot lately, - thwarting tradition!!!

The garden is bringing us all much pleasure, but also a little pain and a lot of looking up to see what we have that will battle an influx of red mites that are attacking the yellow petaled daisies.  I am late in noticing the dratted insects crawling up the stems, and I think they have got a head start on me that probably means I will not be successful in eliminating them this season, - but I will be on the lookout next year......that might mean putting up a big sign in the kitchen as I find that age is not being kind to my immediate memory !   The long term memory is doing fine - I can still remember standing in my highchair calling for my mother when she was hanging up the wash!!!  and having a conversation with the Cooper boys at the age of about four, the topic being, which is best - apples, oranges or bananas!!

But what did I plan to do in the next five minutes 😖 - confounded if I know!!!

Anyway, here is the picture I planned to put up in the middle of the last paragraph when I was talking about red mites!!!

Minnie, the little grey cat with green eyes, has come to sit on my knee and is making typing very difficult, so I will likely take the easy way out, and instead frustrating myself and Minnie, too, I will say goodnight to all - happy August!!

Tuesday, 

August 11th, 2020.

Lingering over breakfast I have been entertaining myself with McCall Snith's book, "The Geometry of Holding Hands" and increasing my knowledge (or resurrecting it) by re-reading Loren Eiseley, "The Firmament of Time" ----- a little recess from weaving, although plans for a black silk and mohair scarf keep revolving around my brain..... 

It is cooler this morning, - and cloudy.  Perhaps we will have a little respite from the recent heat.  Maybe even a drop or two of rain, which would be most welcome in the garden.

I contemplate taking my mid-morning coffee down the steps, through to the garden, and perhaps I will, when I have finished here.

I have been busy the last few days, as I complete the little mohair throw I have been making.  That sounds quite casual, as if I had just accomplished this in no time at all, but let me tell you that it was, rather, quite an endeavour, - constantly clearing sheds of fuzzy ends.  But the results were pleasing.....

If Blogger is kind I will post a picture, but so far he is being an indifferent Task Master, and doesn't listen at all to my requests to move photos around.....

As we approach the middle of August I grow more eager for September.  It has always been my favourite month - the start of school, which I loved;  the scent of Autumn and the change of colours - all those beautiful Naples Yellows and 

Flaming Scarlets.  Perfect, - I yearn for a Fall trip over the hill to Penticton, and home along the Green Mountain pass......   Drat this getting old and not having a license to drive!!

I am glad we had the foresight to have six children - surely one of them will read of my longings and play chauffeur!!!!! 

I have been casting my eye around the house lately, - borrowing my mother-in-laws critical eye, which causes me to inquire if anyone knows of someone who does windows and floors and woodwork, putting them in shining shape for the coming seasons.

It is so easy to stroll in to one of the rooms that houses a loom (I have two) and close the door to the dust that is pleased I should be out of sight while it gathers to party in the living room, the dining room and even in parts of the kitchen.

There is always that "Dust if you Must" poem, which quite appeals to me, but eventually the Spirit of Fall Cleaning  comes to visit and harass me!!  I must make the most of August - the heat of the afternoons and the cool of the evenings and early mornings.  The barn flowers are loving it - unfortunately the red mites have got into some of the other plants and I am feeling that I should be out snipping and preparing to banish the affected leaves, - probably they should be burned so they don't end up flourishing in someone else's garden.

|(time out here to whinge about Blogger and the recalcitrant response I am getting from Him.....I am still hoping to add a couple of pictures to this post, but this new and uncaring Blogger seems to delight in putting obstacles in my way!!  Or just retiring to the closest shady spot and not bothering to answer my requests......being 'unresponsive' is Blogger's way of putting it, I believe)

.

Another warmish day......

Wednesday, August 5th, 2020

 The thermometer on the front porch reads 38 degrees C. and as I opened the door to look I heard a small sigh of relief that the sun had moved along and was now hidden by the neighbor's tall evergreen, with just little shafts of sunlight coming through the heavy branches. 

 Half an hour ago I wandered out to the back garden, hoping I might find some shade in which I could sit and hem (woven towels - the unhemmed pile is getting bigger) 

There was shade, but much warmer than it is in the house, with the AC going at full tilt! Was the fresh air worth it? I decided not, - that I would try again in another hour or so when the sun has moved along a little more into the valley where it sets (eventually). Inside it is a comfortable 22C. 

 I considered going to one of the looms, but found Minnie (the cat) ensconced on the six or so inches I had woven this morning. She looked at me askance, and more or less claimed the warp for her own sweet self. If I had been really serious about the weaving I would have nudged her off, but instead I though about a nice, cool drink and maybe a book to read.

 I was going to add a picture of her winsome face, but Blogger is not giving me the option of adding photos, or any of the other icons I had the privilege of using the last time I came this way.... I have to tell you, I do pine for the old familiar ways of Blogger, and can't imagine for what reason they had to make these changes, some of which are sometimes not even available (as I said, no icon for adding photos!!!)

 Well, perhaps I will wander the Internet and see if there is maybe another spot where one can express one's self without too much frustration!! Sorry I can't post Minnie, - you would love her.... 

 Here I go, - I am going to hit PUBLISH and see what happens.....

 What happened was that it all published in one squeezed up paragraph. ugh....

oh wait....here are a whole bunch of icons that suddenly appeared ?????

One of them is for photos, - maybe after all you will get to see Minnie -

quizzical Minnie!  She is really very sweet.....

There is hope for Blogger yet!

Saturday, August 1st, 2020

Oh, August ---

When the Barn Flowers are in bloom, towering above the fence line in a graceful dance whenever the summer breeze decides to visit and bring along some respite from our August heat......

With the arrival of this last summer month I have been reading "Some of the Secrets of a Witch" concerning August!!!

"...the eighth month of the current Gregorian calendar and the third month of Summer's rule, derives its name from Augustus (Augustus Caesar).  

The tradition birthstone amulets of August are the peridot and the sardonyx; and the gladiolus and the poppy are the month's traditional flowers.  

August is shared by the astrological signs of Leo the Lion and Virgo the Virgin, and is sacred to the following Pagan deities:  Ceres, the Corn Mother, Demeter, John Barlleycorn, Lugh, and all goddesses who preside over agriculture.

During the month of August, the Great Solar Wheel of the Year is turned to Lammas, one of the four Grand Savvats celebrated each year by Wiccans and modern Witches throughout the world."

I thought you might like to have this info about Witchdom, as it is quite likely not common knowledge in the 'common' world we all inhabit.

A common world, and such a HOT one these days.  Each afternoon the thermometer on the front porch reaches forty degrees C, which is well over a hundred degrees F, I believe.  It feels like it, anyway.

William Blake wrote a little verse, not about August's Barn Flower, but about the summer's Sunflower...

"Ah, sun-flower, weary of time

Who countest the steps of the Sun,

Seeking after that sweet golden clime

Where the traveller's journey is done;

Where the youth pined away with desire,

And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow

Arise from their graves and aspire

Where my sunflower wishes to go....

Somehow I forgot to plant sunflowers this year, but the barn flowers are quite gorgeous in their place.

Further words about August have been written by Jane Austen,  bewailing the weather "what dreadful hot weather we have - it keeps me in a constant state of inelegance".  Well, I can empathize there, - ladies in their nineties are probably not supposed to wear the things I don in the morning to protect me from the day's heat!!

I rise early, - before six o'clock while the night's coolness is still with us.  Bruce and I went out into the garden and picked golden flowers, and sweet peas to put on Charles' little memory shelf.

We have a new resident in the house, but we didn't take her with us as she is small enough to squeeze through the fence and I am not spry enough to chase after her.  She is a sweet little grey kitten (8 mos) who has made friends with Bruce. but has only been here a few days.

The white rose we planted on Callie's grave is starting to climb up the nearby fence, and between that and the new kitty (Minnie) we keep her in our hearts....

Minnie is also proving herself to be a dear companion in the loom room, - climbing all over the Glimakra and peering down at me from its height.  We are making a mohair blanket on the loom, - a very slow process and one I shall be pleased to finally finish.

I don't have a picture, except for one on Facebook, but soon I shall remedy that and will post her smiling face.

In the meantime I must go and see what's in the fridge that would make a nice evening snack, and perhaps I will have a lovely cool ginger ale and brandy to finish off the afternoon!!

A few more August words from John Bohrn, Late August.

"Let me enjoy this late summer day of my heart while the leaves are still green and I won't look so close as to see that first tint of pale yellow slowly creep in.  I will cease endless running and then look to the sky ask the sun to embrace me and then hope she won't tell of tomorrows less long than today.  Let me spend just this time in the slow cooling glow of warm afternoon light and I'd think I will still have the strength for just one more last fling of my heart."

Friday, July 24th, 2020

It is evening, and the thermometer has gone down a few degrees.

There is a slight breeze,  a VERY slight breeze but enough to encourage me to open the house to the faint flutter of the leaves - windows and doors open, - all the fans on low, but whirring persistently.  How one welcomes the evening coolness after a hot, summer afternoon.

Mornings are lovely.  Bruce and I were out early and I had my "Begone-Thrip/Mite Sprayer" tucked in the walker basket, all set to do battle with the bugs.  I started with the lovely white climber rose that marks Callie's grave and went on to hopefully demolish all the red mites that were crawling up the stems of the yellow daisies (I may have written about this skirmish before, as it seems to be a daily occurrence!)

Bruce disappeared back into the house, and I sat for while and enjoyed the garden and the summery hills that have not yet turned brown and sere.  I snipped a few lilies to take back into the house, and some of the lovely perennial sweet peas that make up for their lack of scent with gorgeous shades of mauve and rose and cream.

Saturday, July 25th, 2020

8.15 a.m.

Lovely visitor interruption, and now it's morning - cool and pleasant and the bathroom smells of lilies.  Good world - take it as it is and enjoy because Monday they say the temperature is planning to rise to 36 degrees C!!!!!

Woke early, - had a delicious bowl of fresh peaches with toast, for breakfast.  Brought back many memories - some wonderful memories of peach upside down cakes and fruit, fresh off the trees, with the delicious juice running down your chin as you bite into them.  Other memories not so pleasant of being tired and sweaty and covered in peach fuzz as we picked for the market and the packing house.  A shower was always a must!!!!!

What a wonderful surprise to open the door and find it cooler this morning.  Before I had breakfast I stopped by the Glimakra (loom) and did some sleying so that later in the day I can tie on and weave a bit.  Will it stay cool, - if so I will dust and mop and weave, - ---   If the sun decides to descend upon us and the temperature rises I will find a cool spot with some lemonade and a book.....

Off to the garden to inspect the stems of the yellow daisies, and hopefully the dead mites and aphids that should be clinging to them.....

It should be cool and refreshing in the garden this morning, - inviting for morning coffee and a little session with the current book - a re-read of the Language of God.  I would enjoy a McCall-Smith but that would have to be a re-read too, as I await the publishing of his new book.

On the other hand I am inspired to tuck these peaches into a pie and make a chocolate cake to to with them......

This hot, hot day....

Fishing and other things to do on a hot, hot day!!! Our oldest son and our youngest son went up into the mountains to fish today, and they will be enjoying the coolness of the lake and the greenery surrounding it.  

Here it is hot!

 The thermometer said 45 degrees C on the porch, where the morning sun was shining.and it still says 45 degrees although the sun has moved further to the west and is not broiling the immediate vicinity. I just went and poured some gingerale,fizzing on a couple of ice cubes, - just the sound of it made me feel cooler!! Before I brought it in to sip I held my wrists over the sink under the cold running water, and it reminded me of by-gone summer days we spent on the Cawston Bench with all the rest of the Veterans who had settled there, along with all the resulting children! It was not the thing to stay home and swelter, when we were young- there was far too much going on during the summer months, and too many young ones needing adult supervision and participation, - but I can remember holding my wrists under the cold water in the Community Hall, and the little cool respite it provided before going back into the fray!!!

 I am one of those weird people who do not sweat, and not having my own little air conditioning helper I am inclined to get quite hot and bothered when the thermomenter passes 30C 

The house is lovely and cool. The AC is working away valiantly and I have three hardy fans blowing the hot air into something moving breezily, rather than settling in stolid heat. 

 This morning I rose early (as is usual when the weather is warm, warm, warm) and even before I had breakfast I snaffled the two bananas on the counter that were getting soft and spotted and morphed them into some delectable muffins. Then I quickly turned off the oven and decided that was it for baking today, at least.

 I heard a rumour that there might be showers tomorrow, but my SIL squashed my hopes by saying he had heard officially that tomorrow would be just as hot as today!! Despite the heat the garden is blooming with great abandonment, and if I can snatch a few pictures from my Ipad I will show you...... My regular camera needs a new Flash Card, and confined as I am to home, and the restrictions this pandemic has placed upon traveling, I foresee going without one for a little while. 

Callie's white rose is doing beautifully, = climbing up a garden cone, and despite a horde of red mites all the yellow flowers are flourishing. Especially the Barn Flowers that are taller than all the rest and wave gracefully in any breeze that might favour us!!

 Well, I will try to retrieve a few photos....this new Blogger really baffles me and I have to apologize for shortened lines and odd paragraphs....and I can't find an icon that indicates photos!!(sigh) oh yes, there it is!

Sorting old photos

I spent the majority of the afternoon with one of the boxes of old photos (which I do treasure) on the table beside me, sorting through these precious snaps and making sure that the people in them were identified, and perhaps adding a small note as to time and place and memories. 

 For some reason I found as the afternoon passed I was getting more and more depressed, and this was a puzzle, as most of these photos are of places or people that I have been fond of, and one would think they would bring back affectionate memories. Well, they did that. At least some of them, - even the graveyard pictures. They reminded me that I have work to do on genealogy and as one ages you just simply have to face the fact that time is limited, and you can't put off these things forever!!!! 

I rescued many of these pictures of the older generation from a cousin who was on the verge of throwing them away!!!  How could he!!!

 Perhaps that was what was causing my blue mood? The realization that the photos depicted the past, and as wonderful as the memories were, in many cases the chance of making more memories with these same dear ones was long past.... I have a little file of photos of grave sites of grandparents and great uncles and aunts and cousins, and even parents. They are precious to me, but a lingering reminder of time and its habit of "passing" - never to be retrieved. It leaves in its wake these dear nostalgic memories. 

There is a picture of my great grandparents "gingerbread" house, and a whole raft of relatives on the porch, in the picture below, - my father, his sister, for whom I am named, my grandparents, and my uncle Bob, leaning nonchalantly against a post, and a couple of aunts who were swept away when both were just newly married, by the pandemic of 1918/19.

And the young girl sitting on the steps, who is the image of my own granddaughter.

I muse over a picture of one of my grandmothers, standing close with her own mother, - and a dear, sweet photo of another grandmother at the age of probably two, seated on her mother's knee and looking so much like my sister.

 

 Oh time and genes,- how they accompany us into the future and the inevitable end, when only memories remain ...maybe THAT accounts for my nostalgia, which was a little bit morbid as well as grateful for the past. On the other hand, that time and those genes and that future bring the joy we all enjoy in the present, - despite that darned pandemics!!

This and that

Saturday, July 18th, 2020 Oh, it's been a hot, hot day!!! Out the back, early in the morning, it was cool and morning coffee was a pleasure. I took some shriveled up lettuce leaves out of the two big pots I had planted with daisies and various kinds of lettuce greenery, and I went to inspect the bodies of the red mites and white aphids that I had murdered yesterday. I found I wasn't too good at that profession, - a few mites and aphids lying dead, - a few more looking sickly, but the majority were snipping away at the roses and the stems of the yellow daisies. My youngest son and I had buried Callie at the bottom of the garden, and planted a lovely white rose above her (it has turned out to be a climber, so should make a dear little spot of remembrance. However, those sweet buds needed another insecticidal spraying, so I did that; picked a few raspberries to have for breakfast, and Bruce and I sat for a while to watch the birds and the bees and the butterflies while we breathed in the sweet, cool morning air. In these pandemic days there was a service of sorts for a friend from early days who had died a few months ago, and not being able to attend, but wanting to send a remembrance (and not having any sympathy cards in the house - drat it!) I spent the rest of the morning struggling with printable cards, the printer that didn't want to cooperate, and a search for the right size envelope wherein to put said card!!! By this time my six o'clock breakfast had kept me satisfied for long enough, and it was time to renew my energies with lunch......lunchtime already, and no weaving done!! However, I made up for that in the early afternoon. Washed the warp that the same number four son who helped me bury Callie had just taken off the Glimakra. and admired the free style weaving he had accompished. That loom is empty now, and I am excited about preparing the mohair warp for a lovely warm, fuzzy blankie!! And I did a few inches on the lacey tea towels I am making... I began to realize it was fairly warm in the house, and after checking the thermostat I went out to peer at the air conditioner which was buzzing away but not accomplishing much except making ice around its' hoses. I have a little note stuck to the wall, next to the therostat and it tells me what to do if that condition should arise (as it has before) so I did what I was instructed (I think the instructions on the reminder came from Charles so I was careful to follow directions) I do miss him so.... The afternoon didn't get any cooler, - the sun shone down upon us and the air was still, - not a leaf moving or even the slightest breeze blowing. I had a quick supper - peeked out the door to see if the temperature still hovered around the lower thirties Centigrade. It did, so here I am with a fan blowing at my back. I have had my nightly telephone call from D - dear daughter - and I am readyfor whatever the evening brings. Sometimes in the day time evening tasks come to haunt me and I resolve to start sorting and marking snapshots, - especially those of people who will not be familiar to the younger generation, and who I especially want to be remembered..... A little cello music will make a nice background, - Hauser, probably....his music is so very beautiful! I think there is not much chance that tomorrow will be cooler, but it is July and it's fine to embrace the summer days!!

Tuesday evening, July 14th, 2020

A few months ago I cane across a book of poetry written by Jane Kenyon.

Her name was new to me, as was her poetry, but the few poems that were available to me interested and touched me, and I sent away for her Collected Poems.  I have been enjoying them immensely ever since, and was sorry to read that she had died in 1995.

I had marked Page 248 with a little slip of paper, to remind myself to go back and read her poem "Not Here", because it reminded me of a little calamity I had experienced, (and  I will tell you about after you have read Jane's account of her experience)......

"Searching for pillowcases trimmed

with lace that my mother-in-law

once made, I open the chest of drawers

upstairs to find tthat mice

have chewed the blue and white linen

dishtowels to make their nest,

and bedded themselves among embroidered dresser scarves

and fingertip towels.

Tufts of fibers, dropping like black

caraway seeds,and the stains of birth

and afterbirth give off the strong

unforgettable attar of mouse

that permeates the old farmhouse

on humid summer days.

A couple of hickory nuts

roll around as I lift out

the linens, while a hail of black

sunflower shells

falls on the pillow cases,

yellow with age, but intact.

I'll bleach them and hang them in the sun

to dry.  There's almost no one left

who knows how to crochet lace.

The bright-eyed squatters are not here.

They've scuttled out to the fields

for summer, as they scuttled in

for winter, along the wall from chair

to skirted chair,  making themselves

flast and scarce while the cat

dozed with her paws in the air,

and we read the mail

or evening papers, unaware"

Well, my calamity happened in the dead of night, but it was while Callie was still with us, probably deep in sleep on the couch.

I had been busy weaving, as usual, and had made a scarf that I was especially delighted with,,,  Along our hallway my oldest son put a railing at elbow level, to discourage falling, but I found that it was just the thing to hang folded scarves and tea towels and other weavings, straight off the loom.

This is where I had put the scarf in question, so I could admire it!

Here is a picture of the fringe that hung on each end!!

Some time during the night a little mouse (or a little rat) came along and chewed each fringe from one end of the scarf - right  to the hemstitching on the end!!

So now the scarf sits in my Hope Chest (although I don't have hopes that it will grow a new fringe) -

and some day soon I will snip off the fringe from the other end, and hem both ends neatly.

So there is my tale of woe which is quite as soul searing as the damage done to Jane Kenyon's mother-in-law's lace edged pillow case.

Oh look!!

Blogger and I are starting to get along quite nicely 

and I was able to capture a garden picture

and put it just where I wanted it!

It's been a nice Sunday - I went to church online this morning

and afterwards spent a few hours on the loom -

I made a real mess of threading a lace pattern

and so am ignoring the lace threading and 

making a pretty kitchen scarf in plain weave

before I get up enough courage to cut off the warp

and re-thread it to the proper pattern.

I suppose it doesn't really take courage ---

Just a weary acceptance of the fact that I have

created a little monster

and I must spend time re-threading.

But then, what else is there but time

with this on-going pandemic that only seems to

affect us with a little "lockdown" that discourages

us from gadding!

Lovely afternoon of music on the TV .....

Enjoyed a young man's violin music

and Pressler - the 96 year old pianist

who plays the piano like a young and vigorous man.

I admire him greatly, - he has such a sweet smile, too.

Oh, if life is kind to us oldsters

we do make the most of our gratitude!!!!!

I

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 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.....