MAKING MY OWN MUSIC

October can be such a beautiful month. I remember we had some fine sunny warm days into Halloween. Today it is such. It is sunny at 11℃ with a promise of going up to 16℃. Sun and warmth is the forecast for the next 2-3 days. Hellelujah! It warms the cockles of my heart.

The day has sped away on me. That was this morning after coming home from my exercise class. I love that time of day when I can savour a cuppa tea and some reflections before making lunch. I harvested small lettuce from the raised bed toward our salads. This summer hasn’t been too good for lettuce. It was good in spring but they got old quickly in the summer heat. Then the birds devoured the new plantings. I can’t complain though. We had enough other greens to make up for the lettuce.

The greenhouse is still thriving in this October weather. I harvested some Swiss Chard, green peppers and a cucumber to add to the salad. My bitter melons are going crazy producing lots of little baby melons. I pollinated them all with my little brush. It’s as if they could sense their end is near and they’re producing like mad. They did that last fall, too. I wonder if they will have enough time to grow big enough to eat. It’s interesting watching how things are growing. They’re teaching/showing me their life/time line.

It’s almost 6 pm again. I’m falling short on my do-list. I will not be able to do any grape juicing today. However, I did raked up some leaves in the front yard. It wasn’t on my list but I saw the need. I put in 20 minutes of practice on the piano this morning. I started piano lessons at a very adult age and had abandoned them almost 20 years ago after 4 years. Now I want to pick it up again. I have all those music books and I can take my time. If I had kept it up all those years, I might be a fair musician by now. I still have time. It’s never too late to make my own music.

ON HAPPY

October 12th, a cool sunny and breezy day at 7℃. I’m a happy camper, snug as a bug in the sunroom. It’s toasty warm here even on a cold day if the sun is out. Cutting down the spruce trees made a lot of difference. It created an ideal south facing space for a greenhouse. We didn’t realize how much shade and cool the trees provided until they were gone. Then the yard and the sunroom warmed and it up. In the heat of summer I had to keep the sunroom blinds closed for most of the day. It was still well lit as the 2 topmost windows had no blinds.

I’m a lover of light and space. Having these spaces and the sun today, I’m feeling tres mellow. It’s what happy feels like to me. Such a good sensation. I shall relish this moment and remember what happy feels like. I don’t always have it. Happy is not about having stuff or status because my stuff and status does not fluctuate while my happiness quotient does. So what does that mean?

THANKSGIVING, THIS AND THAT

Oh boy! How to start a conversation again. That’s what happens when you are interrupted by life. This time life was Thanksgiving and our family gathering. It’s our first Thanksgiving together in 3 years. The last being in 2019 before Covid. That’s enough to be thankful for and such a nice warm October day is another. Being absent from here for 3 days makes my conversation a little slow and stuttering. I hope I can get warmed up and flow more smoothly.

In my last post, I talked about making scalloped potatoes and Jamie Oliver’s curried squash and chickpeas for our Thanksgiving meal. The potatoes turned out really well. I had trouble with the squash and chickpeas by adding too much water. I doubled the squash and chickpeas as the recipe was for 4 servings and I was feeding 12. I didn’t double the called for coconut milk as I didn’t have any more. I added half the amount in water. I shouldn’t have. I should have waited. But I didn’t. So it was a bit watery but the taste was fine. I had alot left over. They are jarred and in the freezer. No one complained about the food. It was all good. We were together. Conversation and drinks flowed. We had a lovely evening.

I think our fine October days are coming to an end. Time to finish harvesting my 2 Roma Tomatoes and 2 pepper plants. No point in messing around covering them every night. They will not get much bigger or ripen. Best save my energy for other things like finish washing the windows. Yesterday I washed all but 3 in the sunroom. Today I did the bedrooms and bathroom. It felt good getting these jobs done. I feel I got my feet back on firm ground and dealing with life again.

That’s all I’ve got now. Time to close up and go to bed. Tomorrow is another day.

BEING PREPARED

All good things, like warm October days, come to an end. It’s the natural order of things. I’m ok with it. I’m prepared. I haven’t hunker down yet. It’s too early. But the most of the garden is prepped for the winter months. The garlic has been planted and mulched. I dug out the rosemary from the herb spiral this afternoon. It’s potted and in the greenhouse along with 4 peppers and a few other plants I want to winter over. They will go inside the house when we close the greenhouse at end of November.There are still 2 Roma Tomatoes inside their Kosy Koats outside as well as 2 pepper plants. They have quite a few fruit on them. They are well covered with extra row covers and table cloths from the Dollar Store. The forecast is for -4C tonight and -3C tomorrow night. I shall see if they can survive those temperatures. It’s worth the sacrifice to find out.

Meanwhile, the greenhouse is still doing very well. It is toasty warm while the high today was only 11℃. I feel so happy stepping into it, seeing all the tomatoes and peppers hanging down. It is our second year and I’ve learned alot being so excited, not being afraid to experiment and try everything. I’ve trimmed off alot of the tomato and cucumber foliage to let in more sun and prevent mildew. I’ve brought in the water buckets as temperatures are dropping below 0 the next 2 days. They will freeze outside whereas in, they will help to moderate the temperature in the greenhouse.

AN EXTRA CUP OF TEA – Day 71 in a year of…

Day 71, October 1, 2016 @9:56

What is it about tea and me? What is it about that cup of brew that brings so much pleasure and comfort? Is it the pause it offers me – the time to put the kettle on and wait for it to whistle? When it does, then pouring the hot water over the teabag, fishing out the bag, spooning in honey and powdered milk. Little pregnant pauses – full of deliciousness of time suspended.

Perhaps my next doing different could be learning/developing my own tea ceremony. After all, I am Asian. I came from the land of tea. I have a kimono. I have a teapot. I have tea. My cupboard is filled packs of loose tea leaves from Sri Lanka – gifts from a friend. I have been too lazy and too impatient to do the process. My friend has discovered my laziness. Now she gives me teabags from Sri Lanka.

My extra cup is finished. I meander but it is Saturday. It is October 1. It is another new month, another new beginning. It is reason enough to celebrate. It still feels like a special day off, a suspension from the cares of the week. I shall relish it. How are you spending this Saturday?

GIVING THANKS

I love October mornings like today. The morning air is crisp and refreshing, the sun bright and the sky, an incredible blue. How can one not feel thankful for Nature’s generosity?

I give thanks to the Heavens above, my arms reaching up like these bare branches. The golden leaves are floating down on my head, blessing me, surrounding me, protecting me.

And I know that everything is copacetic still….even if I am feeling some discomfort, even if I feel a slight dissatisfaction, even when I am unhappy with myself. I sit still with the feelings of it all. This, too, will pass.

To everything, turn, turn, turn. There is a reason and a season for everything. It is as it should be. And I am thankful in this season of harvest and colours.

onethousandandtwo

Looking at Infinity

October