Changing Season

You'll never guess what I saw on top of the patio table when I opened the drapes this morning.  S-s-s-snow!  Not a lot but there was a dusting of those little hard icy snow pellets decorating the glass.  All of the roofs (rooves? nah.) I could see were frosty too.

The birdbath was frozen solid too.  So I took a gallon of water and thawed it out so the birdies would have a place to get a drink.

After lunch I installed the birdbath heater so that it won't freeze solid again.  Unless we have another polar vortex but we're not even going to entertain that idea right now.

This little white yarrow is the last backyard flower.  It's out there nodding in the wind and seeming not to care that it's getting colder.

 

My new tree has mostly green leaves yet but a few of them are changing colors.  I can't wait to see what color the leaves will be.  It's called a Pacific Sunset Maple so I have high hopes for its autumn beauty.

  I needed something mindless to knit tonight at Friday Knitting so I cast on another preemie hat and got it knitted up to the crown decreases so it was just the right amount of knitting for the evening.  I didn't have to start thinking and talking/listening/laughing at the same time.  I'm not very good at that anymore.

 

Tonight we're starting my last novel manuscript.  Really.  After this one I'll be back to just talking.  I've worked on this one the longest and the most, and I think it's done.  I hope you like it.

16 October--Barbara Malcolm, The Seaview. 

           I started my first full day of owning a Bed & Breakfast on the Caribbean island of Anguilla wide awake before the sunrise and unable to blame it on the rooster that laid claim to the courtyard outside my room at Sydans.  Sheer panic had slammed my eyelids open at about four in the morning, my heart was pounding, and I was hyperventilating.  I could hear the slow, reasoned voice of my son Will telling me he did not think that “sinking so much of Dad’s insurance money into a decrepit hotel on an island at the back of beyond” was a very good idea.

            I couldn’t get started remodeling the Seaview until the shipping container got to the island and that depended on the weather and the other ports where the freighter called.  The wait would give me time to do demolition and empty out broken or outdated furnishings.  The plumbing and electrical work needed to be done before all the cosmetic work started.

            I had the coffee pot ready to plug in and there was enough light from Anne’s security lights so that I could sit out at one of the tables overlooking the salt pond behind Sydans Garden Inn with my notebook and pen to begin drawing up a plan of attack.  I wanted to consult with Anne before she went off to her job as principal at the middle school to get names of two local men who were reliable and could provide the muscle.  There was a lot of work that needed to be done--tearing out the rotting walls, repainting everything inside and out, making sure the roof didn’t leak--a million things before my B&B would be safe for visitors.  I hoped that Anne would know a good plumber and electrician because I wanted to be confident in the safety of the wiring and the plumbing.

By the time the sun peeked over the horizon I had a long list of things to be done.  Topmost was to tear out all of the water-damaged wallboard, remove leaky plumbing and faulty wiring, and toss it all out.  I needed a man with a crowbar, so I listened carefully to make sure that Anne was up and moving and went to knock on her door.  I heard her shout so I cracked open the door and poked my head in.  “Anne, are you decent?  It’s Rose, I need to talk to you before you leave for school."

“I am not dressed yet.  Can I meet you in the courtyard with coffee in ten minutes?”

I smiled.  It seemed that both of us thought much better with a mug of coffee in our hands.  “I have coffee already brewed,” I said.  “I’ll be waiting for you at the back table."

Today's toss was a bag of fabric.  I know!  First I toss yarn, now fabric?  What gives?  I have a lot more yarn than fabric and what fabric I got rid of I'll never sew up because I bought it in haste with little thought.  Begone, foolish purchases!

The landscaper said he thought he'd be here today so I set my alarm and was up, yoga-ed, and dressed by 9am (which was an accomplishment) but he never came.  I'm sure he was working on a different job that took longer.  Hopefully he'll call or text when  he's on his way, not that I have anywhere to go or be this weekend.  He said they work weekends so maybe he'll come tomorrow.  If it doesn't rain.

--Barbara