The Nuthatches came back today. I filled the feeders once the rain stopped and one of the tiny birds decided that it wanted to peck away at the peanuts. I don't think it made any headway. The Bluejays came too but got chased away by the squirrel with the broken tail. Then the jay went back to the cobs of corn but the picture was blurry so you'll have to picture the bright blue bird on the vivid yellow corn.
I don't remember the name of this grass. I know it isn't Pampas grass and it isn't Phragmites which is a scourge along the highways that spreads like wildfire and burns like an inferno if it catches fire. It's an invasive species but my grass isn't. I tried my best to get a good picture without the streetlight pole but didn't manage.
After I did my writing practice this afternoon I turned on Netflix to watch Call the Midwife which has caught my fancy enough that I find I'm only holding my knitting and staring at the TV instead of knitting and listening. That's okay. After supper I turned on cable (reruns of Maine Cabin Masters) and finished October Preemie Hat #2.
17 October--Barbara Malcolm, The Seaview.
I enjoyed the awakening of the day as I sat there. The gulls cried from their high lazy circles waiting for the fishermen to come ashore with their catch. The clouds turned from gray to pink to white as the sun streaked the sky pale yellow and then robin’s egg blue. A breeze from the sea rattled the palm fronds and Old Reynaldo’s goats nibbled the grass on the salt pond dike and bleated at the lizards that hunted in the early morning cool. Jim will love this, I thought, but then remembered that he'd been dead for three years. The last time I sat watching this patch of sky turn from dawn to day, he sat beside me and we talked about someday retiring to Anguilla and turning the Seaview into a Bed & Breakfast. Six months before Jim turned sixty-five he'd contracted a lung fungus and was gone in less than a year. I had spent the last few years settling our affairs and when I retired at sixty-five last year came to realize that I needed to follow our dream without him at my side. My tears fell while I told him how beautiful the day was.
Soon I heard Anne’s quick footsteps on the courtyard tiles and smelled her flowery cologne before she slid into the chair beside me, a wide grin lighting her face. “What is so important that you have to try and sneak into my bedroom?”
She sipped the coffee I poured into her mug and uncovered a basket with two muffins nestled in a napkin. She offered me one and I took it. Making the list had made me hungry.
“I need a man with a crowbar and a dumpster,” I said. “I have just laid down more of my money than I probably should have to buy the Seaview and I want to get started clearing it out so that when my container arrives everything is ready and we can get right to work. I also need a licensed electrician and plumber; I don’t want someone who just knows about wiring and plumbing, I want professionals. I want my hotel to be safe, like this one."
Anne nodded her agreement. “I know any number of men with the muscles you need. We just have to figure out which one would be the best for you.”
“What do you mean?” She sounded like a matchmaker instead of someone recommending a workman or two.
“Well, I want to find someone who will work well for you.” She took another sip of her coffee. “Mm, this is good, thanks.” Anne set down her mug and went on. “Sometimes island men do not respond well to a woman telling them what to do. I know this, I have worked for years in the school, and the custodians and sometimes even the male teachers have discounted me because I am a woman.” She shook her head at the foolishness of some men. “They are a first draft, I think. After all the Lord did make Adam first and then refined His design when He made Eve, don’t you agree?”
I nodded, but kept my lips pressed tight together so that my laughter did not wake the sleeping guests. “I won’t need the electrician and plumber until after the demolition.”
“Give me the day to think on who to suggest for those jobs. Rose, do you care if one of them is not so young?”
“No, of course not,” I said. “Why?”
Anne brushed muffin crumbs off her blouse and drained her coffee cup. “Because one of the gentlemen I am thinking of is a bit over sixty years old but he is a very good electrician and carpenter. I can easily find you a muscle man to wield a crowbar and mallet to tear things down. I can take you to meet one today, but you need an experienced man to put that place back together.”
She stood, picked up her coffee mug and the muffin basket. “Margaret will be in to clean the rooms and answer the phone in a few minutes. If you want to follow me into The Valley I can introduce you to my nephew, Silas. He needs a job but does not want to work at a restaurant or a resort. I think he will jump at the chance to use his young muscles to help you, and he would not be too expensive.”
Before she had even finished her sentence I had picked up my mug and pad of paper and was halfway across the courtyard toward my room. “Give me ten minutes to brush my teeth again and I’ll throw on some clothes and be ready. Thanks, Anne, this is going to be great. I can tell.”
Today's toss was a small tote of quilting scraps and some random pieced pieces that I'm never going to do anything with. I have one quilt put together that needs more machine quilting and binding and another one that is just blocks (I think, maybe I started sewing it together) and despair of ever finishing them.
I brought in the patio umbrella today (that danged thing sure got heavy over the summer) but I can't put the chairs away until I swap the lawnmower for the snowblower and I'm not ready to do that yet. I suspect that I'll have one more lawn mowing yet this fall.
--Barbara
1 comment:
If you didn't have photographic proof of that snow, we'd think it was a figment of your imagination. I'm calling it an isolated incident. That unknown grass in your yard looks like some we had a landscaper plant around the pond back on Bald Eagle. It didn't "take" somehow so maybe it's just a weed.
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