Thursday, 17 December 2020
At home
I tried to tell myself that the weather was too cold and windy to go outside. Skooter certainly did not mind being indoors.

By early afternoon, I decided the guilt for being indoors reading was too strong and that I could at least dig some potatoes. It was garbage day. While bringing the wheelie bin in, I noticed a cute truck next door that deserved a photo…

…..and a Waterlogue treatment.


After digging potatoes and feeling cold, I warmed up enough to look around the garden. It’s in shades of brown and tan now.




The Bogsy Wood is living up to its name.

With the leaves fallen from the willows at the south end of the garden, I can see through to the port. Again, I pondered if in summer I might like a gate-shaped area of the willows to be pruned so one can see through, or would I rather be completely enclosed in summer?

Now I felt energized to weed for awhile and filled the smaller red wheelbarrow. Skooter joined me. He drank some rain water next to the raccoon scarer (it flashes blinking red light at night which is supposed to make them think there are predatory eyes)…

…and had much to say as he watched me weed.
The weedy area from last time I was out:
….and today.

The sun going down over the west hill at three thirty put an end to weeding.

I was pleased at having gotten some food from the garden in mid December.
Chef Allan cooked the greens with tofu in a Thai peanut sauce, reminiscent of the “swimming angel” dish at a Thai restaurant where I frequently ate in the 1980s, and served some of the spuds as mashers. There is a kind of tofu that you can buy by mail order. Both Allan and I are enjoying the challenge of not shopping, and I imagine us not shopping until we are down to our last can of beans or spoonful of peanut butter. That doesn’t mean that if a local friend said they were going to the store and did I want something, I couldn’t come up with five things right away (plain yogurt, eggs, bananas and…and…). But it’s an adventure to not shop (made possible by mail order non-perishable groceries, including oat milk which is wonderful in cereal and coffee). I had fantasized that I was living without dairy (no milk or yogurt) until I remembered our mail ordered cheese.
Every day lately, Allan has been working on a kindle version of his boating book by taking basic maps and adding his own information to them. His 2021 edition of his book will have these maps, much better than the (credited) Google maps he was using before.

I got within 100 pages of finishing the Katharine Graham memoir and then it was time for our dinner and for watching Rachel Maddow, the Bake Off Master Class and The Repair Shop, followed by an episode of the short and very funny Derry Girls. (Dinner is at nine now instead of ten.)
I do believe the next few days will be proper reading weather.

Even though it would be satisfying to finish weeding in that section of the garden I’ve started, that weather prospect makes me very happy. This blog has entered its winter semi-hiatus; although I still find myself in the habit of almost daily blogging, it’s not on a particular time schedule anymore.
Stay dry this weekend! That truck is indeed cute! Really liked the waterlogued treatment. One to frame.
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Thanks, I’ll be nice and dry with books.
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A cozy way to spend a rainy day.
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3:30 comes far too early for me, and I’m an earlier riser than you. I’m impressed at your garden foraging and results! I adore Derry Girls – I have watched the entire short series three times now, and I’ll likely have another go if it’s still on Netflix in a few months. It’s fabulous!
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Just two seasons, right? It’s the perfect ending to our telly evening.
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It’s always a good feeling to get food from the garden in winter.
I love that purple bench with the 4 cats and tails!
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Allan rebuild it from a falling apart bench with birdhouse silhouettes on the back that someone gave us.
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I liked Derry Girls too. My motto this year is not to watch anything remotely depressing. Silly over sad.
I would love to cut view portals, sometimes I feel too enclosed and long to stretch my eyes. But it would be a view right to a neighbour’s house. You are lucky to have that expanse of port land.
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I’m reading a book about Rosemary Verey that has me pretty convinced to open that view next summer. If I don’t like it, it will grow back.
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On the northwest corner of North Kinsley Avenue and West Second Street in Winslow in Arizona, there is a mural of ‘the’ flatbed Ford. Of course, it looks nothing like the pickup next door, but is similarly distinguished, and is also a similar color.
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Nice. I like round-hipped old trucks.
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OLD?! It is merely ‘middle-aged’.
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🙂
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My mom was born in Winslow, Arizona. Sadly, she thought the Eagles included Winslow in their song because it was so much off the beaten path. Of course, she hadn’t been back since she was a young woman.
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Actually, they used the name only because it ‘fit’ into the song better than the name of another town that they would have preferred. I read about it, but do not remember what the other town was.
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I like that map a lot. It looks very clear. Will it have a scale on it in its final version? I always like to see a scale on a map as it helps me navigate correctly. That is a striking river of weather.
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Allan says thank you for the idea of adding scale to the map. I think he’s going to go back and do it. He says it’s good the idea came at this early stage. 🙂
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I really like a scale on a map so I hope that he can add one without too many problems.
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The truck is awesome and so is the treatment you gave to it..
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Aw, Skooter is adorable. Love the red truck and the cute house behind it! You have a great eye to recognize and capture that image and turn it into art. That’s great Allan is working on a Kindle edition. He has a lot of boating knowledge to share.
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