Today was a weird day. Not in a bad way, but, still, weird. First of all, I woke up at 9:30, having gone to sleep at 11:30, with one hour of wakefulness in the middle of the night. That is an insane amount of sleep for me. I’m very happy if I get between 6-7 hours per night usually. The long sleep might have been due to a huge Thanksgiving day feast and too much wine the night before. It’s possible.
So, it started off a bit weird, plus I was a shade hungover, not going to lie, which added to the sense of discombobulation. Then, the weather was super weird. It’s been very warm all day, as though this day was dropped into October like a visitor from July. I had to get out and work in the garden to get some things done I’ve been procrastinating on, so after my coffee, breakfast and warm-up on the trombone, I headed out there to take advantage. It was soothing to go from chore to chore in the strange warmth, with a little breeze to make it pleasant. I bundled up the branches from the tree I cut down a couple of weeks ago and sawed the trunk into manageable pieces. It wasn’t a big tree, probably no more than two inches in diameter, but it still took a bit of sawing. I could have gone to get my electric saw but I was too lazy, and just used my pruning saw. Tomorrow is garden waste collection day, so out it all went to the curb along with the weeds and deadheads I had collected.
I sprayed some plants —the bamboo, the geraniums, and the lily plants (originally bought for my water feature, but which have been overwintered inside a couple of times and seem to be able to take different amounts of watering and conditions) —with some soap solution to get rid of any bugs. I should probably have waited another day before bringing them in after spraying them, but I thought this warm day would be ideal to bring them in so they’d be less shocked. We’ll see whether they’ve brought any critters in with them.
I also planted a gorgeous, violet mum that I bought a couple of weeks ago. I hope it does well beside the yellow one that has been established for a few years now. I love having some flowering plants in the garden at this time of year. They may be ubiquitous, but I love mums and astors!
I see the cardinal outside, looking less red than usual. I think it’s the male, but it’s almost as pale as the female; is it the time of year? Maybe in the fall it changes colour to stand out less against the coming snow? Must look into it. Now that I see him from another angle, I think it’s only his wings that look a little dull, the rest of him is still pretty red.
Another item in today’s list of strange circs: while I was working outside, transplanting, and cutting the branches, there was a squirrel eating the fallen sunflower seeds under the bird feeder, as bold as brass. He kept calmly eating, just a few feet from me, but not very afraid. He looked like he was pretty well fattened up for the winter, thanks to my generosity and the birds’ sloppiness. I’m glad I didn’t look dangerous to him.
At five o’clock, when it was time to take the dogs out for a walk, I noticed that the pavement on my front walk and, in patches, the sidewalk, was still wet. There was a storm last night, according to my neighbour-who wasn’t as sound asleep as I was-but surely by five o’clock it should have been dried up? Weird, I must say. The whole day was kind of spooky, but very pleasant too.
All in all, a day worth recording. I’d really like to hang on to this day, but I know it will disappear like all the others, and soon we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled temperatures. I’m grateful for this brief reprieve.
I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving, my fellow Canadians! We have a lot to be thankful for, but to whom? When you don’t believe in God, it’s hard to know where to send that gratitude. I certainly appreciate all I have, so I guess that will do.
I love to hear from you!