My Exciting Day

Well here’s one of those Daily Life shots, sometimes known as an EB, or Emergency Blip. Here’s what I see most days, especially if I’m sitting outside in my chair, reading. Today was The Last List of Mabel Beaumont, by Laura Pearson. I mention the title because I just loved this book so much; I want to say Everybody Go Read It, but it’s none of my business if you do or don’t. I just never wanted it to end.  The writing was so straightforward and clear, and it was comforting to read something true about an old woman. It’s like seeing a movie that finally has a good part for a great older actress.

Here is a garden waking up. The plum tree in back on the right has flowered magnificently this year, a blizzard by the back fence; there was enough breeze today to loosen so many petals that it looked like it was snowing all over again. This is the time we hope the fruit has set. It’s supposed to rain this weekend: will it damage the fragile flowers or will it nourish the tree and make for good juicy fruit?  The vegetable bed on the right is overgrown and going to seed. A little kale and collards can be salvaged, some cilantro. No need to rush and clean it up; tomatoes won’t go in for a few more weeks. Up top there are still some kiwis on the vine. There are 3 more fruit trees along the fence, over there by the daffodils. I didn’t do any wash today, but I did do a fair amount of weeding for an old tired person. Nothing you can see here. I did have the sense to stop after lunch and come out here to sit in the sun for awhile. It gets windy after about three, even in spots that you would guess were sheltered, so I moved around a bit.  Here is something that is not in the picture: I spent a good amount of time trying to wash the scale and ants off a section of one of the citrus trees. Today’s excitement. It’s a messy job and the ants run up your arms in a panic, but I was told to get the scale off, so that’s what I was trying to do. The ants act as porters, I think, moving the scale around on the plant and eating the secretions from the creatures. I find a lot of nature too gross to dwell on, so my simple description will have to do; I’m not going to look at any more illustrations and explanations. It’s icky, it’s bad for the plant, I love my Buddha’s Hand tree and I don’t want it abused by crawlies that, I’m sorry god, have no redeeming value.  So, a window into my day… it was a good one.