Thursday, June 29

 
 
YEAR:  2017 | Tags:  | | |
 
 

 
 
 

Garden, 15:05

 
 

Sunshine woke me at 7:45. I dozed again and got up at 8:30, looked out of the window, and realised that we had bright sun and no wind or clouds. I checked Supersää and discovered that the forecast had, once again, changed drastically.

I leapt out of bed, fed the cat, washed and dressed and then set about sweeping and washing the new terrace. When I had done that I went in and had breakfast. After that I painted the terrace slowly and carefully. The oil soaked straight into the wood, despite the fact that I had painted a first coat weeks ago.

Yesterday I felt lucky to not to have wear a cardigan when I ventured into the garden. Today, for the first time, I worked outdoors with my shirt off and felt sun rather than wind. By 12:30, and two Bruce Cockburn albums, I had finished the terrace. Twenty minutes later I had also repainted the steps to the sauna-house. I sat in a chair and had an ice-cream in the sudden heat wave.

Having sat in the sun, wandered around pulling up weeds, cleaned the toilet (no spider-webs there now), collected the newspaper, removed some dead flowers from the house, and fed the cat again, I check the terrace to see if it has dried yet. Not quite. I notice that a long stalk of grass remains just in front of the terrace next to the artfully planted tree stump. I wonder whether to leave it or not. I decide to photograph it before deciding.

I will look at my phone and notice that the weather forecast has changed drastically again. This morning it told me that we would have bright sun and no rain until Tuesday. Now it tells me that we will have torrential rain from 7:00 tomorrow until 16:00 or 17:00 with no sun available through the clouds; and that Saturday and Sunday will also star cloud, rain and wind, with occasional brief guest appearances from the sun.

I will rethink my plans for the next twenty-four hours. I will collect together all the rubbish, consolidate the water in the three containers, and at 16:30 I will catch the ferry to Tirmo where I will throw away the rubbish and fill the one now-empty water can. When I get back I will make sure I have filled all the buckets in the sauna and kitchen, because I have no wish to walk back and forth filling them in a storm.

By 18:30, when I next check, I can walk on the steps into the sauna, and could walk on the terrace. I decide to leave it untouched to make sure I don’t leave any irritating marks on it.

In the evening I will have a phone call with Irma. At 22:56 Sunshine will return wanting food. By that time I have washed, got ready for bed and checked everything, so I will feed him, climb into bed and fall asleep within two minutes.