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Little Man is spooked….
It is a good thing, to be up early. I say so often enough, but there is early and there is too early.
Too early for me generally means any time before 6 am since, after all, I don’t put my light off until midnight or later.
So this morning’s shattering BANG, CRASH, rumble, rumble, was not a welcome sound.
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My half-awake mind must have been mistaken, but I thought I also heard the yowling that indicates a cat fight.
The girls who sleep upstairs are a placid lot, so this was unlikely, but I was propelled out of bed and rushed to the scene filled with dread.
Rather than two bloody corpses, I found Muffin poking around on the kitchen counter hoping for a meal.
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Note to self:
Do not leave metal bowls on the counter at night.
Metal crashing onto tiled floors is not recommended as a wake-up call.
We leave food out for Muffin because she needs to eat frequently but being a cat, she wants something fresh.
So by morning, she is clamouring, and for such a small creature she makes a lot of noise, even without the aid of metal bowls.
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Muffin got her snack and by then it was 0550, therefore getting light, so there was no possibility of going back to sleep and besides the whole house was now awake.
Including Little Man who came cautiously upstairs and checked every corner to see where the monster was.
Eventually he took refuge in his favourite Chewy box.
He has taken to shredding it.
“Well, it does say CHEWY!”
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On Monday, road work in Greenwich altered our route slightly but this afforded us a view of reflections on the Hudson.
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Being an Aquarian, I am a fan of all things aquatic.
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With a great fondness for reflections.
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As we journey along frequently travelled routes, we greet particular trees which are mostly referred to as mine, as in: “your tree”.
This one though, is Grant’s tree.
Which I like also, but I can’t possess them all.
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Trees of course cannot be possessed, any more than animals can.
But they can be and should be cared for and appreciated.
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In their various shapes and forms.
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Even the really humble ones.
Maybe because I am such a hopeless gardener, it is especially satisfying to me when I manage to nurse a tree or plant back from the brink.
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True, it has only happened on rare occasions, but I once rescued a rose bush that had been crushed beneath a falling tree.
All that remained was a broken stem, yet it recovered and produced flowers. Leaving it behind when I departed from Washington was one of few regrets I had about that move.
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Regrettably, I inherited none of my mother’s many talents.
She was a great cook, skilled with her sewing machine and could knit and embroider beautifully.
But flowers were her passion.
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As you can see from her needlework.
A friend gave her some squares of fabric which she turned into pillowcases and bedspreads.
In fairness, I did quite enjoy embroidery myself, but had to abandon it when cats came into my life, which in my case was not a great loss!
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As much as she loved her flowers however, my mother was very demanding and did not tolerate poor performance.
When planting she always exclaimed:
“Now grow!”
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Plants that did not thrive were soon marked for ejection.
In the case of deeply-rooted bushes or trees, this was my father’s job, not something he enjoyed, but he did it willingly.
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While he may not have cared for the hard work or the expense of running a garden, Dad did like the end result.
And it was with flowers that he ingratiated himself with my mother, the way my uncle had won aunty Kay’s heart by making a fuss of her dog,
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Now here is the shortest of videos. The best I can do for now…
Thank you, Carolyn, for the interesting post! I love trees with a passion, and your admiration for the trees you see on your trips resonates with me. I think that your little boy is very clever, being able to read what is written on the box. Your mother’s artwork is indeed beautiful. I am not sure what I can see in your short video is normally welcome, unless they are away from your house!
Joanna
It may be short but it’s super!
As so often – a simple post. Yet with so much going on!
Thanks for adding the video, loved it! I can’t seem to keep any plants alive, so I have decided to let the weeds grow instead. They are plants, after all. 😊
Best wishes, Pete.