I Can See Clearly Now

As I sat on the back garden bench yesterday morning, this was my view. The sun was so bright, backlighting the green alkanet (on the right) and the teasels in the parts of our garden that I leave purposely weedy, and Olga was soaking up every ray.

I stayed home all day, doing work around the house.

Allow me to explain this photo. See that opened box of suet balls for the bird feeder? Well, it wasn't open -- at least not that much -- before Olga wandered past unsupervised. And see the crumbs of suet on the floor on the beige rug and the purple rug by the table?

Yes. Someone had a bird-food snack. And she isn't a bird.

This was my major project for the day. I hadn't cleaned the front windows of the house in a long time. They're hard to do because they're quite high off the ground, especially those top ones, and until recently we had some very large and overgrown shrubs beneath the window. But after the Russians insisted on having everything pruned within an inch of its life, I could finally get in there to clean. (I hate giving the Russians credit for anything, but this was a plus, I admit.)

I tried using a ladder, but the ground is too uneven and there was no place to safely brace it against the wall. So I switched to a chair, which worked fine. I still couldn't reach the top ones, though, so I had to do those from the inside, leaning out the side windows and sticking my arm out the top.

If I'm making this sound like a major project, IT WAS! Indoors, the window area is normally crowded with plants and the sill is full of orchids and tchotchkes. So I had to move all that stuff out of the way and do a thorough wipe-down not only of the glass but the window frames and the sill. I ran the tchotchkes -- vases and whatnot -- through the dishwasher, and then put everything back.

The windows look so good now! I keep wandering into the dining room just to admire them.

I also did the little alcove next to our front door, where I keep a collection of vases and my Rhipsalis cactus. Can you believe how big that thing has grown, from a tiny cutting?!

This all took me a couple of hours, believe it or not.

Afterwards I read blogs and finished a book and watered plants. The jury is still out on the survival of our tree fern. I still can't believe how quickly it gave up the ghost -- it went from looking fine to entirely crinkly and dry in a matter of days, but it was probably suffering from a deficit of water for a long time and we just never realized. I feel so guilty.

Today is my last full day of alone time. Dave returns tomorrow morning, and while I'll be glad to see him, I must say I have really enjoyed being able to listen to my own music, and keep the end table next to his chair clear of detritus, and access the bathrooms anytime I want.