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The Day Before the day before Christmas

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This week to me has that sparkly, bubbly feeling that I sense around mountain streams. Without pausing to look for reasons, I dive into the sunny-ness of the first unfoggy morning for quite some time. 

No one likes global warming and no one wants a dry summer, yet a break from snow shovelling is welcome. And a lifting of the fog and cloud cover that has hung about here for days is cause for some celebration too. 

Weather permitting, Christmas morning will have me driving to a church service where not too big a turnout is expected. An evening service the night before will attract the multitude. I do not mind if there is no music and if we have to sit scrunched together in the little chapel area behind the main altar. 

I haven’t exactly started, but I know that in the new year I shall do something about the clutter I have been amassing for years… On January 2 I have the first of my cataract operations, and two weeks later the second. I anticipate a bit of down time, avoiding strenuous activity like wood chopping. I shall sort papers and clothes and kitchenware and odds and ends which I can box up for removing when I am healed. 

It will be a massive job. I am inspired. Thanks be to God, I think I can let go of a lot. 

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Addenda: On Christmas morning, I chose to lie down for a moment before leaving for the drive to church. I had been awake most of the night. To my horror, I had fallen asleep for half an hour. Arriving unfashionbably late, I  was nodded in by the celebrant. Just in time to recite the general confession.

gardencatw

Simmering Summer

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Suddenly it really is summer. Not false alarm early summer any more. But regular early summer. Days so hot I am now spending afternoons inside. Plants are growing more quickly. My first ripe strawberry yesterday! I bought bedding plants. A little late for seeds. Last night I put in kale. Tonight I will put in chard and maybe celery.

Unlike other summers, the mosquitos are fierce in the evenings. Too much long grass in the yard this year perhaps. I may try preparing the earth earlier in the day so I can transplant more quickly. 

Trinity Sunday was amazing. I got to sing one of my favourite old hymns “Holy, Holy, Holy“. I spoke to the celebrant briefly about St. Elizabeth of the Trinity. I chatted to others at fellowship time about my love for trees. 

Sewing project is to embroider some sort of Trinity symbol on a t-shirt. I have an embroidery machine. I have the shirt. I have the pattern. I have the backing. All I need is the nerve. I am afraid of the machine. For years I used an older dewing machine for embroidery and I didn’t really know what I was doing. Some disasters occurred. 

Readings from Divine Intimacy are pretty amazing right now following Trinity Sunday. My meditation phrase yesterday was:

“Even…when our heart is cold, and our mind in darkness, the Holy Spirit is praying within us…”

I keep my meditation phrases short so I remember them if I wander off from the book to do garden chores or housework. Also I try to remember it throughout the evening and the next day until I make another meditation. Out of context the phrase itself loses meaning, but I vaguely remember the content of the entire meditation in Divine Intimacy. I think it is wonderful that the Holy Spirit is there for us, in us, like a coach, guiding and encouraging us towards holiness.  

Of course it is up to us to cooperate with the Holy Spirit. We still have to work at being good and at being prayerful. How grand, though,  to have such a loving, powerful helper “within”. How kind God is to us.

Cdaycat

Merry Christmas

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Some cats are not very Christmassy. Rozsa is not a winter lover. I am not sure if she notices the decorations and lights. There were no kitty Christmas presents. She is really tired of any food but she must be eating because the food does eventually disappear from the bowls, and she is still getting up and down off the washer (a favourite snooze spot). Prairie Harvest (made by Acana), her favourite dry food, is being bought out by an American firm that manufactures less fancy stuff (Purina). I cannot confirm whether the sale has gone through.

Rozsa does not like cold weather, or snow. We went through a very cold snap and she just lazed around inside all day. At night she was more active, but would not venture out. Sometimes she will go out when there is snow. but not when really cold. At present snow is sliding off roofs, icicles are dripping, and the roads are a nightmare of slush. Today she ate a little and is now sleeping.

Visiting the Valerian Plant earlier in December

I continue to offer Rozsa wet food, much of which gets dumped in the garbage, but as long she eats some of it I keep offering. There is only one brand she likes, and then only 2 of the flavours. Cat treats she likes, but I give them out sparingly, only when she lets me brush her.

After Christmas visitors, Facetime and telephone time with relatives, it got quiet at home again. Though yesterday neighbour Tom showed up with his snowblower, and did the sidewalk and front parking area while I got a stepladder out and chiselled the snow chunks off the van roof. We keep waiting for the big storm weather experts are predicting. So far we have kept things together here. I have enough wood chopped to last for days if a blizzard does arrive. Food too.

Rosaocto

Bumpy Landing perhaps

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Yes and no… Well, it is so sunny out that I can’t bear to be in another moment but I want to insure I have the type face (wrong term I know but I like it) and alignment right for these posts. Earlier posts from another site refuse to align left. But they are far in the past in the archives list. Must run. Later.

Okay. Next day. Let’s just do a little post here. Rozsa is sleeping in her favourite indoor corner, elevated of course, all curled up. I have my laundry out in the sun. I am sure everything is fine. We had rain yesterday which cleared a little of the smoke away and hopefully dampened some of the wildfires causing the smoke. One of my tarps blew off a woodpile last night, so some of the firewood got a shower. I split a top piece open and it is still dry inside.

The vegetation along the lakeshore is starting to look very autumnal. I visited a distant beach and walked along the sand barefoot. Yesterday I walked down to the shoreline close by. The grasses are turning golden. Lots of deer footprints, some very large. A magpie found my presence undesirable and told me so. A duck was slightly more friendly.

Post okay. With featured image. Probably should reduce pixels somehow though. Loading slowly. Next time! Purr will be cat blog for now.

Lakeshore field in late afternoon sunlight
windowcaredw

Hot Times

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Long ago when my children were very young, the older began repeating a line of a song: “we’ll have a hot time, in the old town, tonight”. She probably heard it from me, for I am often repeating lines of songs I remember. Usually I can only remember one line of songs I heard as a child. For some reason some little bits just stay in my mind and never go away. At least I hope they never go away.

Now then, where was I? Oh yes, hot times. It’s certainly a hot time around here. Although not as bad as other parts of the world. And yesterday we had a very brief, thunderous downpour which saved me from watering the garden. Today the sun is back in all its glory.

The tall grass has become a mosquito and flea paradise. Just thinking of them (fleas) makes me feel itchy. I felt so bad for Rozsa scratching away that I broke down and got Advantage II from the Vet. I followed her around the trailer as she avoided me. As soon I touched her she would walk away.

I persevered and my kitty finally stayed still long enough for me to apply it as directed. About a second. It was a tiny tube. I am in the process washing bedding, and vacuuming. She is no longer scratching. But I am.

Yesterday I walked to a shady beach, and as soon I sat down, the mosquitos came. Only when I went back up to the sunny train tracks did they leave me alone.

rosared

YEAR TWO

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Rosalee celebrates by rolling on her hot spot stones.

Calicocats.ca will drag on for another year. I couldn’t decide whether or not to renew and procrastinated to the point when auto renewal kicked in.

There is much to celebrate here. First and foremost we have had rain. Enough to turn brown grass green again. Enough to clean the smoke out of the air. Enough to cool the temperature too. It got a little uncomfortable here this summer. Like a lot of places in the world.

I purchased a lovely cedar board from a new sawmill, oiled it, and stuck in the bedroom to hide and protect the water pipes which run along the wall. A project I have been planning for a long time. The bedroom was emptied for a new bed, which has yet to be delivered. I have my grab and go kit there now, with a yoga mat and Rosalee’s carrier. Rosalee has taken it over for a cat room. I have been sleeping in the sewing room all summer.

Today I saw a baby fawn. Deer were feeding on fallen apples in the pasture on the next street. I photographed discreetly from a distance. The deer got jittery but didn’t run off.

Depending on how long it is rainy, I hope to get my shed painted before fall. I washed off all the chalk art that daughter, grandson and I made on it this summer. I was looking at the part of the plywood wall today and see a pattern… I hope I can do it. I am a terrible artist, but I really want to try to make a simple mural.

A Windstorm

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Well, here we are. The fire is going. The snow has stopped snowing. The electricity is humming along after a 3 day outage. I heard a snow plow on my street earlier. And I heard a neighbour’s snowplower start up awhile ago too. Lucky me nipped into town for groceries yesterday when it was sunny.

What, me worry?

Rosalee and I have had our ups and downs this year. My are pretty standard: family, money, home maintenance, keeping warm, keeping healthy, being there for Rosalee… The threat of Covid hangs over us all out here. Dependence on electricity, internet, and driving is our way of life. When a big windstorm comes along, it is scary,

Rosalee woke me at dawn. She was unsettled. I thought I heard someone on the porch. Someone opening the door. I called out. I got up. The screen door was wide open. The shovel I keep by the door had blown down the steps. The heat was off. Brrrr!!

What to do first? I pulled the screen door shut tightly. Then checked the phone for Hydro messages.

I got dressed and got the fire going. I had heard branches falling on the roof. I went outside. What a wind! I staggered around the yard picking up blowable things, tucking them into sheds. I took down the clothes line. The support had blown over and the line was at eye level. Not safe. I walked all around the yard, then went out on the street for a better view of the roof. No visible damage. Only small branches seemed to have fallen. A few birds were calling from the shelter of trees. They sounded afraid.

Later I went out walking. No people outside! A group of turkeys trotting down a back lane was the only sign of animal life. A gust of wind made me stagger once but I kept my balance. My favourite tree, a very old fir which some people want cut down, was standing tall, looking very strong and safe.

This tree could be 100 years old. It is growing on an unused public fire lane.

I ate sandwiches for lunch, moved food out of the fridge into buckets and put them outside. I put a bit wet towel on top of the freezer. By then Hydro was predicting a few days before the lines could be cleared.

The winds stopped about 3 p.m. Had I been energetic, I could have made a little snow house for the frozen food (all fruit plus a few loaves of bread). But I didn’t. I figured my electronic gadgets would last three days before I had to start the van to charge them. I hunkered down.

My candles and flashlight were ready. I cooked a bit on the stove even. Something I once did a lot.

After three days the power was back. The frozen fruit had melted. I am going to chuck it all out,. Garbage or compost, not sure. It is frozen again now. No need to decide right away,

I think the most amazing thing of all this was that I went out in the garden and was able to pick some cabbage and kale leaves. Usually in January the garden is under several feet of snow. Not this year.