Bracken

It has been a busy day - I was up early, did some exercise, did laundry, walked Xena and then was back at home in time to meet L the dog sitter. It was a bit cooler today and we actually had some rain this morning which was very welcome, it washed all the dust out of the air. The ground of the woodland where I walked today is all dry with deep cracks in the earth, and the bracken is already turning as seen here.

We go away on our trip on Monday and L is house sitting and looking after Xena, so she came by this morning just to go over things. She has looked after Xena many times although has not stayed in the house since before the pandemic. This trip has been in the planning for two years, its a special trip for my special birthday and it all started with a plan to go photograph the bears of Katmai. Along the way the plans changed and we decided not to go to Katmai but we are going to see the bears - in fact this time next week we are heading off into the back country from Anchorage on a float plane to see the bears for the day, before going on a cruise along the Alaskan coast, when the boys and partners will join us. But my excitement has to be held back as we have to do a Covid test before boarding the boat and with Covid ever present who knows what will happen. We plan to wear masks on our fights, which will not great as we have 14 hours of flying ahead of us (two flights) and wearing a N95 mask will be insufferable (the usual surgical masks are a waste of time).

After L left I made a cake for tomorrow as I am hosting a coffee morning for a friend who is visiting from Australia. Then I did the ironing and washed the kitchen floor, before taking Xena for another walk. It's been busy!

I have been 'mentally packing' all week, planning what camera equipment to take and what technical clothing will be necessary - I will only actually pack on the weekend. 

No good news from SA regarding my sister's partner following his stroke yesterday, it is very upsetting for her and very worrying.