Let the Sunshine In

Here's who should be eating our suet balls, instead of our canine vacuum cleaner. (Who, by the way, suffered no ill effects from her bird seed snack. She's a machine.)

We visited the Welsh dragon around the corner yesterday morning on our walk. Olga was very annoyed that there was no garbage to be found anywhere. We must have come right after the garbage men departed, because there is always trash lying around up there.

So what did I do yesterday? Well, aside from walking the dog, I didn't leave the house at all. I cleaned the bookcase in the dining room, taking down all the books and cleaning the shelves and then moving it to vacuum beneath it. This is a once-a-year task, at best.

Then, as I looked at my newly-cleaned windows, I realized how terrible the drapes looked. They've always been terrible but we've left them up in that room because if anyone stays with us, that's usually where we put them to sleep. The truth is, though, no one has stayed overnight with us in years. I can't remember the last time.

So I took down the drapes, and the room looks so much better. We're rarely in there anyway, and if we are we're sitting at the table, so who cares if people can see in from the street? Plus the house is elevated, so from the street really all that can be seen is the ceiling. The only people with a view straight into the room would be in the houses opposite. And I don't really care.

Now the only room in the house with drapes is our bedroom. I am not much of a fan of window coverings, especially when they're as dreary as the ones we have here. (All owned by the landlord.) Give me daylight!

One of my dahlias is sending up little purple sprouts. Signs of life! The others haven't sprouted at all yet, at least not above the soil, but it won't be long.

I ate two leftover fortune cookies yesterday at coffee-time, sitting out in the garden, and here was one of the messages. I thought it especially appropriate since Dave lands this morning, back in London from his adventures in Michigan.