300 Words: Thoughts of a pretired French Teacher

This is the back yard as we speak. Looking good and untouched by children. That makes me sad.

I was surprised to see that it was forty degrees when I was going out with the dog. I put on an Under Armour sweatshirt and went out. It was just warm enough to make it okay.

Last night was one of the first bad nights I have had in a long time. I was queasy, ironically after having a telehealth moment with my doctor as I had to get refills for the meds I take. It was truly odd. I kind of felt feverish, but wasn’t, I kind of felt achy, but I don’t think I truly was. I could not get comfortable in bed and so wanted to get up and read and yet I was not comfortable enough to do so. I opened up the window as I was hot. I forced myself to stay in bed until 6:30 despite 5:00 AM seeming to be the time I wanted to get up. My three mile walk cleared my head and made me feel better.

The lawn in the back has never looked better. I wonder if it is because there are literally no kids ever playing back there. I miss the grandkids terribly, especially the younger two that we have not physically seen since November 28th of 2020. We finally got a phone call from them last week. That is a long story. Divorce is on the horizon. I feel bad for us but even more so for them as they spent so much time with us and this cannot be easy.

I went back to feed the fish and check on pond clarity to find the pump in the water all plugged up and gasping for air as its intakes were filled with leaves and such. I cleaned it and started putting tap water in as the pond is very low. This is the strangest spring ever; it is a good thing that I never moved forward with my plan for growing rice. Years ago, every spring I had trouble mowing my back lawn as it was under water. That problem has dissipated, little by little, but this spring it has not happened at all.

My plan to use grass to fill in empty lawn spots was the best ever and I am continuing to harvest grass.

My clematis are doing better, now that I removed the dead parts. I still am not sure what happened there.

I am installing a Ring camera so I can see the driveway better, given that one of our vehicles was keyed on malbor’s side. I am doing so for my sanity and stress levels.

I am happy that the hibiscus is okay, what with the cold weather this morning and the temps less than what I should have allowed for the plant.

Okay, soon to Zoom on this Cinco de mayo.

We just finished the first season of Ragnarok, written by Adam Price, a fascinating Dane whose forebears came from the United Kingdom.

We chanced upon Herrens Veje or Ride Upon the Storm, a 2017 work of his, detailing the life of a family of a Danish religious person. On first view, everything looks perfect in the life of a successful Danish Minister, but to see it more closely, it is flawed and full of that from which we all suffer in our sometimes dysfunctional family lives. We fell in love with this show and with the intensely intelligent writing of Adam Price who manages to cover every important subject in very little time.

From Herrens Veje, we jumped to Borgen. Borgen means castle in Danish, and is the site of the Danish government. This is a 2010 production and it details the life of a woman who becomes the leader of a small party and, spoiler alert, manages to get to be Prime Minister. She is an amazing, beautiful, charming, and intelligent woman and she has morals and ideals. These latter attributes are compromised by the life of politics and have profound effects on her political and personal life. We loved this show, just having watched Madame Secretary and following it with West Wing binging. In comparison, although we loved the American shows, they almost don’t hold a candle to the Danish version, which I would say is a female West Wing on steroids.

MK and I don’t get into Sci-Fi but we started watching Ragnarok, a 2020 show written by Price taking place in Norway and showing a Norway that has drop dead gorgeous fjords and water that is not safe to drink as well as places that are less than beautiful. This TV program showcases a mom and her two sons returning to her home town; re-entry is not all that easy and soon difficulties arise. The odd thing about it, and this is a spoiler alert, the tall, blonde, strong dyslexic son gets tapped by a local and becomes a Norse god, in a very low-key way at first. His eyes glow and I am not going to say any more but this show becomes a very serious, intellectual treatise on good versus evil in this small town. Corrupt industry grapples with young people who are hell bent on making a difference.

MK surprised me, after the bizarre happenings in the first episode (there are seven in the first season and the new season begins on May 27th), and was as intrigued with the show as I was.

Adam Price…check his work out, you will not be disappointed.

I knew it was going to be warm. What I didn’t pay attention to was the high wind factor. The winds were so high that there were times when we were at the patio table that we had to literally hold it down.

The air conditioning is on. In between the heat and the allergies, it is a good idea to have it pleasant and cool indoors. The unseasonal heat is almost oppressive.

Our son had picked up a bunch of lipped pavers that I had used a long time ago to surround the raised beds behind the garage. One of them was actually decomposing and the last raised bed we made for the currant and raspberries was in need of some completion and of shoring up. I had not done a good brickpaver job when I put them down, I didn’t even used screenings or gravel underneath to keep them from going quickly awry. Despite that, they stayed in pretty good shape and relatively level for a long time.

I had recently weeded and removed errant trees that had taken root in the currant and raspberry raised bed and heretofore had just trimmed down instead of removing them as it was easier. I bit the bullet, this time, and pulled many of the little trees out.

I leveled out the pavers and also pulled the plants out of the playhouse, AKA orangerie, taking the citrus and putting them next to the little building, winding the passion flower through the pergola, and letting the hibiscus, which is blooming, to get some sun.

I opened up all three green patio umbrellas, giving us a more shaded patio condition. I had not put up the last one, not being able to find the attachment for the heavy, rolling patio stand, but finally located it and set it up.

The weather is hot, windy, threatening rain, although I doubt it shall, and the yard looks nice as I sit in my outdoor chair, hear children’s play noise from two doors away, and the chimes.

I still have not seen the hummingbirds…

The pond today.

The Orangerie and the plants transitioning to the outside.

It is one of those days that begins with the furnace and might just end up with air conditioning.

I was surprised, knowing what a hot day it is going to be, to go outside and feel on the edge of being cold as I wore my Under Armour hoodie. It was in the fifties and sunny and had there been no wind, I would have been hot. It was just windy enough, though and I felt the cold. The result? I moved, often having to give a polite pull to Stewie who was more interested in sniffing everywhere, something I find highly amusing in a Border collie.

I haven’t yet checked on the goldfish, but I have been pretty good about keeping up with their feeding, something new to me. The water clarity of late has been good during the cold night but clouding up during the day. I am hoping that it will stabilize soon. Nonetheless, it is better than it was in the past.

The weed that I transplanted yesterday, the milkweed, seems to be just fine. I am happy that I shall have a milkweed station in front of the house among the prolific coneflowers and Black Eyed Susans and also behind the dining room in the back of the house.

I am watching the bird activity carefully as I cleaned out all the bird feeders, be they for hummingbirds or cardinals. I am disappointed that it is May and I have not seen our faithful hummingbirds. It worries me as I wonder if they are okay in their trip back north from the south.

So, very cold this morning and it is supposed to be in the 80s today. We shall see.

Air Conditioning, anyone?