We had lots of rain on Wednesday and Thursday. Very welcome, of course. Wednesday morning, we spent time dealing with leaves in the gutters and cleaning off the roof because we knew rain was on the way. I am going to have to nudge Don to start raking leaves this week because they are everywhere! He likes raking. I do not.

It’s always surprising how quickly the seasons change. Too quickly in some ways, though I love autumn. We live on property that is filled with trees, at least a hundred – maybe more. For the most part, we just let the leaves fall and stay where they are. But we do clean up the front lawn and the corral area. I leave them in the garden beds as they protect the plants and provide shelter for all sorts of critters.

I’ll be mowing this weekend, but not today. It’s still too wet out there.

Yesterday, around mid-morning, Don went outside. He was going to run to the grocery store. As he looked across the yard to the shed area, he noticed that some trash bags were ‘loose’ – the trash can had been toppled. He immediately assumed it was the work of raccoons. As he walked the few feet to our car, he realized there was a bear going through our trash! The bear was nudging bags with his head, trying to figure out if there was anything worth eating. Needless to say, Don was staying very still. Then, in the blink of an eye, the bear disappeared. Don couldn’t believe how quickly he left and that he could completely disappear. These sightings are so rare and they’re really magical. I was upstairs after having taking a shower, and I missed the whole thing. Don didn’t have any time to alert me and he sure wasn’t going to make any noise.

I wonder if some of the previous visits that we attributed to raccoons were really bears?

This package finally arrived from China. It’s a doll head, a wig, and eyes. The doll head matches Ruby’s, which is why she is trying to see inside the box.

What a saga this was! I pre-ordered the head about 7 months ago, and when it was finally ready to ship in August, the creator suggested we wait until after September 3rd because there was going to be some sort of military parade in Beijing and the post office there said customs approval might be especially tough during this period. I was busy coaching the play, so I agreed. She had already wrapped it as a gift with a charming personal note in English. That was her brilliant idea. Then, when we reached September 3rd, we were both concerned about tariffs and China was no longer shipping small packages to the US. So she found a forwarding company and they shipped it to America. It landed on the west coast and Fed Ex delivered it. The box had a Singapore airlines sticker on it, so I assume it was forwarded to Singapore.

To save money, I decided to do the faceup. This one will be tricky, because it’s much smaller in size than the Little Keiko heads I previously painted. I suppose I’ll be starting in on this project on the weekend. Wish me luck!

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

It’s not sunny today because it’s raining. That is exciting news for our drought-stricken area. It rained overnight and we’ll have a few more showers today with thunderstorms tomorrow.

We are now vaccinated for the flu and Covid. The druggist who gave us the shots was very nice, but they hurt! He didn’t have the lightest touch. Our arms are sore and Don, as expected, had a much stronger reaction than I did. He felt achey, not unlike flu symptoms, and was generally miserable yesterday. I didn’t have any reaction other than to wake up way too early yesterday morning, which is probably completely unrelated to the shots. So I felt very sleep deprived, but Don felt truly miserable. He’s much better today. Glad that’s done with!

Since one of our favorite things to do is walk up and down the aisles of a drugstore together (I know…it’s wierd) we did just that after we got our shots. By the way, there’s an episode of King of Queens  where they go to the drugstore on a Saturday night just to walk up and down the aisles because that’s their favorite thing to do.

Then we drove across the street to the grocery store and picked up a few things. Then…we got old-fashioned donuts at Dunkin Donuts. That was our little Monday morning date. Shots, Walgreen’s, the grocery store, and donuts. It doesn’t take much to make us happy.

I returned Katabasis  to the library yesterday and am now reading The Hallmarked Man. Katabasis  was wonderful. Beautifully written. I didn’t want it to end. It’s definitely one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. Anyway, I drove to the library, then realized the gas level was very low, so I continued on to the gas station, then I decided to run to the store because Don was just about to run out of his coffee. I only bring this up because we only have one car now, which is mine, I’ve been having a little battle with Don about when to fill the gas tank. He lets it get very low – waits for light to come on. I do not. My dad taught us to add gas as soon as it was down to a quarter of a tank. In the good old days when gas was much cheaper, he refilled when it was down to half a tank. So…I’ve told Don to never let it get lower than a quarter of a tank.

But he does. And then I get ticked off. Especially when I’m the one who has to run to the gas station.

Not a big deal, of course. But, depending on the day, either mildly or very irritating.

Okay. Enough of the mundane.

Sorry I didn’t respond to comments on Monday – too busy, too tired.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

We’re off to get vaccinated this morning, so I’m posting early.

I took this picture a couple of weeks ago. I loved seeing the plant that’s across the room reflected on this wall. It was a ‘perfect timing’ kind of thing.

We took it easy on the weekend. Something happened to my neck and a muscle in my upper back – most likely from sleeping funny – and I was having a lot of pain. So I was very careful for a couple of days and now it’s almost back to normal. So what do I do? I proceed to get shots in my arm, which will be sore, along with my neck. Thankfully, I can stay home and get through any reaction I might have without any work obligations.

I’m almost done with Katabasis. I’ve really loved reading this book. I will finish it today.

Ever hopeful, I sow morning glory seeds every year. There have been changes in our climate in the past several years and morning glories don’t bloom – if they bloom at all – before October. They used to bloom in late August/September. Last year, for the first time in a long time, I had an actual flower and lots of buds which were promptly destroyed by an early frost.

Now, it’s the last week of September and I see no signs of flower buds. Will there be any?  I even planted the seeds a week earlier this year. I don’t know what will happen. I do miss the masses of morning glories I used to get.

Fingers crossed.

Okay. Have to make our second cup of coffee before we head off to Walgreen’s.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.