2021 Life Logs, Day 90: Oops
Date: Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High 62, Low, 50 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Oops! I got a bit ahead of myself. As you well know, today was the last day of March. Not yesterday as I wrote in last night’s log. Still, it went out like a lamb. Today was the warmest day yet, sunny with blue skies, just perfect. So perfect that I just could not stay inside and write this morning. After Shadow and I did our Morning Mile, I did a little garden clean up of one of my raised beds, put a bean tower in one end of the bed, and then planted snap peas around the base of the circular tower. I then moved to a square bean tower that supports a climbing clematis in front of my bedroom window. I cleaned around the base of that tower and planted snap peas there as well. Hopefully in June the Goldpebbles can enjoy snap peas here and at home. They love to pick and eat the peas right in the garden.
Just as I got inside, a friend called that I have not talked to for months. We made up for it today by talking for more than an hour. The friend lost her husband this winter and is making her slow way back to living a good life a new way. After that conversation, I had lunch and just as I sat down to write, friend Karen Baranowski stopped by. We walked down to the dock and sat and talked, again for more than an hour. But it was so beautiful to sit in the sunshine with a cherished friend and talk while Shadow kept us entertained with his antics. I have not been spending much time sitting down by the dock recently, so seeing that the osprey had returned to her nest on what my grandkids have named Osprey Island and watching purple finches flitting around in the tops of the trees in the yard was just delightful. The dock is in Shirley’s yard, my landlord and Karen’s aunt. She is currently in the hospital for the third time in the past few months due to chronic heart failure. I so hope Shirley recovers and can come home to enjoy the beautiful sights from her deck overlooking the water. She and her 102 year-old sister Doris have been at Doris’ home since last August. Hopefully, they can return here soon.
When I picked Ollie up after school, I spent some special time with him to further support his interest in birds. I got a text from Heather at Ollie’s bedtime last night asking if I could take him bird feeder shopping after school today. He desperately wants to attract more chickadees to come closer to their house. Knowing this, I picked my friend Karen’s ‘bird’ brain while we were together today to find out what kind of bird feed and bird feeder we should purchase. Karen and Peter’s side yard is a bird paradise, so I knew she had the information I needed. And I want to make clear that it was the bird knowledge part of Karen’s brain I was probing. Karen is certainly no ‘bird’ brain.
Using Karen’s very helpful guidance, Ollie and I bought two bird feeders, bird food, a huge suet and bird feed cake and hanger for that, plus a container for the bird seed. We then headed to 43 Grasmere and found places to hang everything. Ollie and I then went to the hardware store to get some grass seed to fill in some grassless areas in the front yard. Ollie spread the seed and raked it in without any help. He knew exactly how to do it. Ollie is such a good little worker.
So, I talked part of my day away, but it was so wonderful to connect with friends. I enjoyed the beautiful warm day and got some gardening done. And Ollie and I had a great time setting up bird feeders and planting grass. Ollie told me he wants to start keeping a journal to keep track of when the feeders need to be refilled and what kinds of birds are coming to feed. Since he is temporarily on restricted activity due to the Lyme disease infection in his knee, bird watching seems like a perfect activity, so I hope to find other ways to encourage his interest.
I did get a little writing done in the early evening and will resume in the morning. What I did not get to do today was write about breaking my leg in Moorea. But since April Fool’s Day is tomorrow, not today as I thought last night, tomorrow will be the perfect day for writing about that debacle!
